Now THAT Explains a Lot!

[nicholst55]

I recently pulled the J-word bullets from some click-BANG! .303 British ammo that I bought from Sportsman's Guide some time ago, and was loading the bullets into commercial cases for plinking ammo. I had encountered what I thought was a problem with some Privi brass that I had - the cases wouldn't hold some of the bullets tightly.

It never occurred to me to mike the bullets until AFTER I had deprimed, annealed, and collet sized that brass again, only to encounter the same problem. Some of the bullets were a slip fit in the necks.

I miked a random sample of bullets, and found that most were right at .310". However, a few ran .306"! I pulled a couple of the loose bullets from my assembled ammo - .306"!

My ammo has two headstamps, and now it appears that one of the two has smaller bullets! I never paid attention when I was pulling the bullets, but some (Kynoch) repeatedly slipped out of the collet in my bullet puller. Wonder if they're the .306" bullets? I still have a couple hundred rounds left, so I guess I'll have to pay attention from now on, and segregate the bullets by size. :roll:

[jonk]

A .306 would be a loose fit even in a regular .30 cal rifle, much less a gun that nominally should be .311 or so. Between the click bangs and the poor consistency and quality control, it's a wonder that stuff does as well as it does.

Tell me, are you re-using the cordite?

[nicholst55]

A .306 would be a loose fit even in a regular .30 cal rifle, much less a gun that nominally should be .311 or so. Between the click bangs and the poor consistency and quality control, it's a wonder that stuff does as well as it does.

Tell me, are you re-using the cordite?

I haven't been, because my understanding is that they first inserted the cordite and THEN necked the case down. Supposedly there's no way to get it all into a case that's already bottle necked.

It's certainly tedious to pull out of the cases, I do know that!

I'm going to find another use for the rest of the .306 bullets - like melting the lead cores out and scrapping the jackets!

[dmftoy1]

FWIW - I was shooting some "Brown Bear" 7.62 x 54R and couldn't hardly keep it on the berm let alone the target. I came home, pulled a bullet and at it's WIDEST it was .306/.307. Made alot of a sense as to why the accuracy was non-existent in my M44. I cast up/sized some boolits at .312 and voila . .accuracy!

[EMC45]

Pulled some bullets (800) from some 7.62X54r that are yellow and silver tipped and some came right out and some were a beast trying to get out.

[Junior1942]

Some surplus 8x57 ammo I thought was cheap would smoke a primer every few rounds. So a little dectective work showed bullets varying +-.003" in diameter and several grains in weight. The powder charges also varied more than 4 grains. Someday I'll pull the bullets and use the powder. But I won't shoot any more of the cheap rounds.

[wonderwolf]

I save all live ammo I find at the range as well as duds I produce from Milsurp. I pull the bullets and put the brass in a "Live primer scrap bucket". Bullets are sorted per caliber and boxed. I save the powder in my junk powder can (4th of July fodder). I use every part of the buffalo lol

After a while you get a nice "sampler pack" of various bullet weights and shapes. Often several dozen of one make...helps later on when you want to try out a load in that area.