Acceptable weight variations in pistol bullets?

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evan the cdn

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What do you guys consider acceptable when it comes to the variation of weight for your pistol bullets? I just opened a new box of 147 gr bullets and weighed twenty to get an idea of how consistent they are. From the twenty, the lightest was 144.9 gr, the heaviest was 147.7 gr, and the average was just below 146 gr.

Is an average of 1 grain light with a variation of 2.8 grains common?
 
For pistol I wouldn't worry about it. Look at the bases and toss any that have voids if you are worried about the odd flier.

Mic a couple to make sure that the diameter is consistent. That would make more difference than a couple grains in weight.
 
a good pistol bullet should not vary in weight more then 0.5 grains in my opinion. however i do know that some manufacturers deliberately make their bullets weight light to allow for people who overload.

personally all i would use bullets for that varied by 2.8 grains for is practice.
 
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Are there any other opinions? So far we've got one for and one against. I need to decide if these are the bullets I'll use to work up a competition load or if they'll just be for fun trips and practice.

If these aren't acceptable in your opinion, can you recommend some better 9mm projectiles that are currently available?
 
Well, variation isn't 2.8gr but +0.7 and - 2.1gr.

At my last match with chrono, my 124gr bullets were at 123.6gr average when pulled. The heavier the bullet is the more discrepancy you might see. But quality bullets won't be inconsistent to the degree you mention. I'd not worry too much, just inspect them on visual flaws, load a tiny bit hotter if need to make PF and go shoot :D
 
I would agree that it isn't an ideal variation. With my rifle bullets I look for less than 1% deviation in weight.

You could do some testing by seperating a few handfuls of bullets by weight and shooting them off a rest to see if there is a noticeable difference in group size or point of impact.

Unless you are talking about some high level bullseye shooting I don't think that you will be able to see a difference. At the same time shooting is a mental sport and having confidence in your ammo is very important too.
 
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