Weighing and Sorting Bullets

[FTRRookie]

Not sure if this is the right place for this question, but I just finished sorting a couple of boxes of Berger .30 cal 168gr VLDs by weight (variance of 167.9 to 168.2) and I wanted to see whether I should be grouping them in 0.1 gr increments, or if not what the variance within a group can or should be.

Should I also be measuring them with my comparator, and if so what's the acceptable level of variance within a group from base to ogive?

Thanks in advance!

Scott

 

[ultimate_monkey]

how good are you? compete or just like to hit steel from a long way away? how capable is your rifle?

sorting bullets is all well and good if your a top lvl shooter, but a varians of .3gn on the extremes probably wont net you ANY noticable gain from any thing less then a high end custom build with top level shooter behind it.

just my .02

 

[manitou210]

Measuring weight your bullets seem to be within 3/10gr for me that would be okay but you could put in two piles the higher ones and the lower ones.
More important is ogive lenght Tubbs says sort within 3k to point bullets is fine,Hoover says 2K I like to keep them at 1k before pointing or sorting.
Some Berger bullets I have seen up to 24k differance of ogive as well some Hornadys, If you seat bullets just kissing like a lot of shooters seem to like, it possible without measuring and sorting bullets by ogive you could have a 20000 jump or 24000 jam into lands.you will have lots of elevation problems at 1000y.
People used to want to buy bullets from same lot # but the people like Berger & Sierra now when making a run of say 155gr 30cal will have maybe 3 or 4 presses running at once and all bullets go into a common bin then boxed thus you end up with different ogives
I shot some new Bergers Palma Match that ogive was close to custom bullets in ogives new bullet last year and guess dies are not worn to much yet.
Got some custom bullets measure ogive on box of 100 unbeleivable
.5K and weight within 2/10gr pay more for custom but no measuring & sorting (nice) do they shoot better have not tried them yet ?? been to cold
manitou

Not sure if this is the right place for this question, but I just finished sorting a couple of boxes of Berger .30 cal 168gr VLDs by weight (variance of 167.9 to 168.2) and I wanted to see whether I should be grouping them in 0.1 gr increments, or if not what the variance within a group can or should be.

Should I also be measuring them with my comparator, and if so what's the acceptable level of variance within a group from base to ogive?

Thanks in advance!

Scott

 

[scout]

Plus sensitivities of your instruments and you ... put them into 0.5gr groups and be happy with them for now. Main advantage I find in weighing bullets is culling the extremes (any mass produced product will have some spread), then grouping the remainder into like weights. Same for brass.

Save the culls for fouling and sighting in.

 

[yodave]

1 percent on weight and ogive. sort by either one first then sort again by the other.
don't be surprised when it takes 1000 bullets to get 100 in a group, but then what do you do with the others????

Really at the end of the day sorting bullets only makes sense depending on just how your throwing your powder charges, that seams to be more important then a 3 tenth of a grain variance on bullet weight, but heck YMMV.

It does take yet one more variable out of the equation when trying to figure out why you had a flyer or two, but how did your prep your brass and what dies are you using?

Most importantly is just what rifle and barrel are you shooting and will all of this even add up to more then what the rifle is capable of?????

Some guys living out east have had to long and cold a winter and have started over thinking the most simple of things.

Just to add something to the mix, and many people have witnessed the claims that are about to be made. I have a 30BR rifle, I have shot mixed brass and sorted brass, sorted bullets against unsorted, weighed things and just grabbed at random, played with seating depth, shot groups of mixed seating depths, shot variances of 1/2 a grain of powder charge.....at the end of the day at 100 and 200 yards there was no speakable differance in anything, maybe it plays well into long range shooting, as I know if does, but if your not in that game then stop thinking and start loading. Nothing and I mean NOTHING is going to replace trigger time on a actual range, if your not out performing what the rifle is capable of then no matter how much you weigh, no matter how much you measure is ever going to make any concievable difference no matter what range your shooting.

Hope this helps just one person............

 

[Mystic Precision]

Holes in paper dont lie.

Sort as you see fit. Shoot them and see what happens.

Until you keep your powder charges to the same levels of consistency, everything else doesn't matter.

But if you are ALL dialed in, you might (emphasis on might) see a very small difference over a long set of groups at LR

Jerry

 

[FTRRookie]

Thanks for all the feedback. I made a decision to invest some time this year and try to eliminate as many variables as I could, which meant an electronic scale, neck turning, etc. I figured sorting bullets was one more thing I had control over, and since I'm waiting for my rifle to come back from North Shore anyway I've got some time.

I already have a set of Redding dies, a good single stage press (RCBS RC), etc. so if I'm doing things right my ammo should be pretty good. The gun is still a question mark, but if Sean's other work is any indication it should better than 1/2 MOA if I can keep it pointed straight.

If the difference it makes is that minimal maybe I'll just save the sorting and weighing for competitions.

 

[manitou210]

1 percent on weight and ogive. sort by either one first then sort again by the other.
don't be surprised when it takes 1000 bullets to get 100 in a group, but then what do you do with the others????

Really at the end of the day sorting bullets only makes sense depending on just how your throwing your powder charges, that seams to be more important then a 3 tenth of a grain variance on bullet weight, but heck YMMV.

It does take yet one more variable out of the equation when trying to figure out why you had a flyer or two, but how did your prep your brass and what dies are you using?

Most importantly is just what rifle and barrel are you shooting and will all of this even add up to more then what the rifle is capable of?????

Some guys living out east have had to long and cold a winter and have started over thinking the most simple of things.

Just to add something to the mix, and many people have witnessed the claims that are about to be made. I have a 30BR rifle, I have shot mixed brass and sorted brass, sorted bullets against unsorted, weighed things and just grabbed at random, played with seating depth, shot groups of mixed seating depths, shot variances of 1/2 a grain of powder charge.....at the end of the day at 100 and 200 yards there was no speakable differance in anything, maybe it plays well into long range shooting, as I know if does, but if your not in that game then stop thinking and start loading. Nothing and I mean NOTHING is going to replace trigger time on a actual range, if your not out performing what the rifle is capable of then no matter how much you weigh, no matter how much you measure is ever going to make any concievable difference no matter what range your shooting.

Hope this helps just one person............

Yodave
next time your coming west to Ottawa you bring your 30br and you bring your dies and load your ammo like you said from your quote below we will supply presses and scales etc

Below are your words
Just to add something to the mix, and many people have witnessed the claims that are about to be made. I have a 30BR rifle, I have shot mixed brass and sorted brass, sorted bullets against unsorted, weighed things and just grabbed at random, played with seating depth, shot groups of mixed seating depths, shot variances of 1/2 a grain of powder charge.....at the end of the day at 100 and 200 yards there was no speakable differance in anything,

We will shoot at our range off benches at 200 & 300 yards 5 shot groups.
You bring 3 dozen lobsters and if you win any more of the best groups we, will pay you double for the price of the lobsters and you can eat with us and we will supply beverages

 

[NormB]

Yodave
next time your coming west to Ottawa you bring your 30br and you bring your dies and load your ammo like you said from your quote below we will supply presses and scales etc

Below are your words
Just to add something to the mix, and many people have witnessed the claims that are about to be made. I have a 30BR rifle, I have shot mixed brass and sorted brass, sorted bullets against unsorted, weighed things and just grabbed at random, played with seating depth, shot groups of mixed seating depths, shot variances of 1/2 a grain of powder charge.....at the end of the day at 100 and 200 yards there was no speakable differance in anything,

We will shoot at our range off benches at 200 & 300 yards 5 shot groups.
You bring 3 dozen lobsters and if you win any more of the best groups we, will pay you double for the price of the lobsters and you can eat with us and we will supply beverages

Yodave... you better watch out for manitou.. he is always trying to pry my wallet open with his bets. He got me pretty good for awhile, but not so much last year, barrel must be going south. BTW I.m still waiting for tips#4 and 5.

NormB