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Discussion Starter · #1 ·
I'm weighing out some bullets from a Lyman mold (429421) and they have been sized and heat treated. My question is ,does it make a big difference if the weight is different by a few grains ? The weight is from 250-257gn. How should i sort them?? Thanks.
 

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Commercially available cast bullets vary that much from box to box, and it doesn't make a detectable difference in a handgun as well as I can shoot.

I had a scope on my Marlin M9 Camp Rifle for a while, and that would group around an inch at 50M for a clip full of almost anything, but shot the best with a hard cast 124gr from the now gone Carrol Co. They usually varied by a couple grains over a box of 50.

My guess is that weighing them and sorting into narrower segments might pay if you were shooting 125gr cast from a K-38, but a 300gr bullet from a .44 would not be so critical.
 

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Most folks were not awake during the 1.5hrs between your post.

That said, I also highly doubt that you would notice much difference in accuracy or pressures. Just for grins however it might be worth the time to separate a lot of each and try them out. At least then you would know for sure. IF your like me the loads are generally more accurate than I am so I generally try and concentrate on the latter most of the time.
 

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Discussion Starter · #5 ·
Thanks..Your right.Most people were sleeping or doing something else then weighing bullets on Sat night-Sun. morning.LOL. I did separate them into four different cans.(253-254gn---255-256gn.).Your right about the bullet and gun (SBH-4.5/8) being much more accurate then I am. So do you think there's that much difference in pressure using say a hot load like 20 gn. 2400 over 249gn-261gn..Throw them all in a can and forget about it ? Most of the time they will be for pulking..Just want to be safe here..
 

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Thanks..Your right.Most people were sleeping or doing something else then weighing bullets on Sat night-Sun. morning.LOL. I did separate them into four different cans.(253-254gn---255-256gn.).Your right about the bullet and gun (SBH-4.5/8) being much more accurate then I am. So do you think there's that much difference in pressure using say a hot load like 20 gn. 2400 over 249gn-261gn..Throw them all in a can and forget about it ? Most of the time they will be for pulking..Just want to be safe here..
For the most part even though you can get some top end pressure loads from 2400 it is a pretty forgiving powder over some of the other powders used for cast bullets. I wouldn't worry about anything except leading, and that will become apparent very quickly if your getting anything significant.

I would try those bullets with the lower end charges and work up in about .2gr increments for accuracy. Watch for leading, as it can come at either end of the load. Once you get something working that is accurate and not showing much if any lead in your barrel just go with it and have fun.
 

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If you haven't checked, see if the cavities in your mold are throwing the same bullet weight? If the proportion of heavier ones to lighter ones is proportional to the cavity count, then they are likely slightly different. It's not enough to matter in most instances, as long as the bullets are round. In this instance, I'd ignore the difference.

If the number of heavies is simply most of the bullets, then the lighter ones may have dross inclusions making them lighter. That can make them less accurate because the dross is lighter than lead and isn't usually located dead center, so it can unbalance the bullet in flight. In that case I would set those lighter ones aside for plinking rather than accuracy testing or serious target work.

If it is the heavy ones that are in the minority, it is most likely you got a bit of dirt or a flake of metal between the mold blocks so they didn't close 100%. In that case these bullets will be wider across the diameter between the flashing lines from the mold than the lighter ones. Again, just set them aside for plinking rather than serious target work.
 

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Discussion Starter · #15 ·
Thanks NIck. Most of them were right in the middle about 254-256gn not lubed. For serious target work would the three gns. make much of a difference ? I'm in a club with monthly shots.We shot the NRA 25 yard timed and rapid pistol targets. If it were you would you brake them up 254, 255 and 256gn.? Thanks for your help.I need it.Getting old and don't want to blame it on the gun.LOL../
 

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The only issue is whether the weight error is symmetrically distributed? If a bullet is a couple of grains light, the weight error itself isn't enough to matter at pistol ranges, but if that couple of grains is all missing from just under one spot near the surface on the side of the bullet, its spin will make it wobble in flight. That is, its path will describe a helix around the trajectory it would have had if it were balanced. The helix is OK if it isn't too big, but if it's big enough it can make a bullet flip in flight and keyhole at the target.

Unfortunately, you'd need to make a bullet spinner (dynamic balance tester) or a horizontal torsion balance to measure CG to figure out if you have a problem with a bullet in advance of firing (Harold Vaughn's book, Rifle Accuracy Facts describes these devices). Someone also makes a sonic bullet tester, but these types of devices are more geared toward precision rifle match shooting needs. I would make a piece of paper with with bullet weights in .1 grain increments ruled on the bottom and place each bullet above its weight or above the last bullet of its weight. You'll end up with the bullets making up a histogram; a bar graph of bullet columns showing weight distribution. If there is just one central peak tapering off evenly at both sides, the error is pretty much likely to be random and ignorable. You could go to the trouble to calculate a Gaussian bell curve to see how it fits the peaks of the bullet columns, but mainly you just want the visual aid of the graph. You may see a small separate peak on the heavy side. That indicates something was stuck in the block when those were cast. You may see a few bullets obviously too light and separate from the group, and should be suspicious of inclusions with those. You can separate them out and shoot them separately to see how they group? If they do well, ignore the problem in the future. If they do poorly, pick them out and recycle them into the melt in the future.

Below is a simplified example of what I mean using half grains instead of 0.1 grain increments. You might get two peaks near each other because of having two cavities, but you'll get the idea. The heavy clump on the right is when the molds were jammed open. The scattered ones on the light side probably have inclusion or didn't fill the mold well. I would recycle in either case.

 

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Discussion Starter · #17 · (Edited)
Your the man!!! Thanks..That's the way I separated them in the first place.I was doing 300+ bullets at a .5 grain written out on a piece of paper and then throwing them in a can when the pick became to long.Tonight I will make a bigger chart to see what's up. Now I have something to do tonight . Thank you so much for taking the time to show me this.
 

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As for shooting, if you are shooting at 25 yards, the weight difference really won't make much of a difference. As long as the bases are clean and well filled out. With your full power load, the weight difference won't matter.
 

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I have had a project where I was machining down some bullets. They were 500-ish grain .45 rifle bullets.... the interesting thing was how often I found air pockets in the bullets. Makes me wonder if that isn't somewhat normal? I did not cast the bullets and can't remember where I got them, so can't endorse the quality.

Food for thought.
 
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