Cast bullet quality

[blacksmithden]

Over the past few days, I ran off around 1000 200 grain .310" cast bullets. Tonight I wanted to lube and gas check a couple of hundred for a trip to the range next weekend.

I finally decided to be a little more fussy about what I was going to shoot. I would usually do a pretty rough quick check to make sure there were no serious dents or other flaws, lube, gas check and size them. With this method of (in my opinon, sloppy) quality control, I'm getting 1.3" groups out of my Stevens mod 200 in 300 win mag. Not too bad considering my somewhat shaky hands.

Tonight, I took a long hard serious look at every bullet. I looked for any obvious dents or wrinkles. I also looked for any inconsistancies in lube groves. Took a long hard look at the base. Rolled each bullet to make sure it didn't wobble. I was still letting what I'll call micro-flaws pass.

WOW!!!!!! I found myself passing about one in seven!!!!! That's it. For every one that went through the press, I was putting 6 back into the re-melt pile.
Even then, if there was greater effort to push any of them through the die, I chucked em. All said and done, I would guess one in eight were actually getting to the finished product stage.

Now, I didn't think I was too bad at casting. I've had other guys look at my stuff and compliment me. What I'm wondering is, am I being too fussy? What's been everyone's experience with shooting bullets with minor flaws in them??? Does it make a huge difference if there's a little nick here and there......a slightly thinner spot on a lube grove?????? It'll be interesting to see how these shoot in a week.

 

[H4831]

Well Denny, in the first place you have been making excellent groups! 1.3" is really good. I doubt if those group sizes will improve.
I have played around with bullets also, and some very noticable flaws don't seem to matter that much, but that is dependent on where the flaw is. I think the most important place to have it right is on the base. Any off balance at the base seems to set them off course.
I have pulled bullets by using side cutter pliers over the press, putting ugly looking grooves in the two sides. I then reloaded and shot them, finding out they didn't enlarge my group size!
I am wondering what kind of molds you are using, to have so many to cull out? I use Lyman and I probably cull out only one or two in ten, when I think I am being fussy! And knowing you, you probably have better control of the hot alloy than I do.
Be sure and let us know how they went at the range.

Bruce

 

[brnolvr]

I cast for both rifle and pistol, What I found was keeping my mold at a consistent temperture was the key to making bullets without any rejects.

I also found lee molds were the hardest to keep at a proper temp, I have 3 Lee mold but rarely use the now I have a good selection of Iron ones, they are much nicer to use, once you get use to the way each mold casts, rejects are almost non existent. (no two molds cast the same)
Rejects are maybe 3 in 100 for me.

Rejects are wrinkled, poor fill out, poorly formed base, These go back in the pot for another go.
The base is very important part of the bullet.

I also have found some molds like to be filled with a ladle instead of my usual bottom pour melting pot.

As for accuracy, 308 win, 205 gr lyman 311299 gas checked sized .310 lubed in a Lyman 450 using Jakes red bullet lube, 1950 fps.

10 shots, 9 will go into an inch with one flyer to open it up to 2 inches, 100 yards

 

[Boomer]

I think you'll see minimal or no improvement in group size and the effort you are going to put into creating "perfect" bullets may very well take away from the enjoyment you get out of casting. Tweaking your load might produce greater results than being over critical of your bullets. Still, experimenting is great fun, and from time to time we learn something.

Some things to consider though when you are selecting your keepers:
The base of the bullet is more critical than the nose.
The gas check, if you use one, must be seated squarely.
Separating the bullets by weight will help reduce the extreme velocity spread of a group.
Choose a fluffy powder that takes up the most room in the cartridge case, but one that gives you about 1600 fps without excessive pressure. (I've had good luck with Unique in large capacity cartridges)

 

[John Y Cannuck]

by all means, after seating that gas check, set the bullet on a flat surface, and see that it stands straight. Tilted gas check will really throw you off.
I'm not that particular with my cast bullets either, as long as accuracy stays within reason.
As already mentioned watch the base more than anything. Separating them by weight can open your eyes too.
Throw out any really light stuff, voids in the cast.