Do you folks that cast your own bullets weigh them afterward? Does it make a difference in the loading of them if there is, for instance, a 5 or 10 grain difference in weight between bullets made from the same mold (different batches of the same bullet)?

Thanks in advance.

Yes, I weigh mine.
A 5 or 10 gr. difference is actually a pretty big error margin. I have some .177 gr. airgun pellets sitting on my bench that weigh a little over 7 grains, melt one of those down to a ball and imagine an air pocket in a bullet of that size! I try to keep mine to within a grain.

If I have to add more metal it will depend on what it is if I seperate them from the other batches. Say for example I'm casting from a pot and add ingots from the same batch of alloy that was in the pot, they should be about the same. If the alloy wasn't from the same batch, or If I throw in a bunch of odd ingots or wheel weights, they get seperated and weighed on their own.

]Handgun ammo at normal distances and you aren't going to see a difference in the target. Long range, over 100 yards, maybe.

If some of the loads that were shot in yesteryear were chronographed, we would see big ES and SD numbers and still were as accurate as all get out.

If you have a 2gr difference in bullets from the same mould, that is as Jelly said, huge. It usually means that you aren't getting good fill out somewhere and that speaks to your alloy or mould venting/temperature problems.

Put your light ones back in the pot and keep going!

The alloy will make a difference in the weight and SIZE of the boolits that come out of your mould. Harder and lighter also equals bigger. Softer is heavier and will be smaller. The spread for this is maybe .002" in diameter. If you have a gun that needs bigger boolits, you can adjust your alloy to a point. If you try to push too hard a boolit too light, bad things can happen if it barely fits.

FWIW

It is not really necessary for handguns (don't cast for rifle yet) but I do weigh mine.

I take the weight that I have the most of then allow up .5gr and down .5.

I usually keep 99% of what I didn't visually cull (bad fill, wrinkles) that way.

I have never weighted my cast handgun bullets.
BUT I do weight and seperate by weight the bullets I cast for target shooting in my rifles, as I do find that it makes a difference is group sizes.

ANY cast bullet that shows any defect is recycled back into the melting pot, and is not weighted or used.

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Semper FI

My cast boolits get a 100% visual inspection, and random samples are weighed. If your casting technique is reasonably good, the weight variation won't be significant.

After lube-sizing, more samples are weighed to determine suitable load data.

If you want to research some serious bullet casting, look at what guys do for BPCR matches. 10gr variance would be an instant reject I imagine. Bullets or boolits for handgun at short ranges, you can get away with a lot more and still be accurate enough.

If you enjoy doing that sort of thing, by all means do it. It certainly can't hurt anything.

But it will be a long time before you'll be able to tell the difference on a target between two groups, one weighed, the other not.

The alloy will make a difference in the weight and SIZE of the boolits that come out of your mould. Harder and lighter also equals bigger. Softer is harder and will be smaller. The spread for this is maybe .002" in diameter. If you have a gun that needs bigger boolits, you can adjust your alloy to a point. If you try to push too hard a boolit too light, bad things can happen if it barely fits.

FWIW[/QUOTE]



Softer is harder?????????????????


Nope. Hard alloy(Linotype for example) gets more "spring back" than softer alloy, and will grow by about .001 per bullet with time.

Softer cast bullets will weigh more than hard cast bullets in the same mold(S). "Spring back" will be almost nonexistant.

"Softer will be harder"......Nope ?????????????????????????.

"Harder and lighter" will be bigger? No, it all depends on the content of the bullet alloy. The weight of the bullet has absolutely NOTHING to do with regard to hardness and the size of the bullet, unless you change the alloy content.

Just a wild guess, I think Skip meant to type "heavier", not "harder".

Back to your regular programming

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ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

Gentlemen and Ladies,

If I can not correct, incorrect information, on this forum, I have no desire to post here.

Just let me know that you wish to dwell in ignorance, and I will let you do so, with no interference from me.

Softer equals harder and will be smaller? I can not correct that without BS from someone on this forum? Are you serious? If so, this is not a foum(A place for the free exchange of ideas and information).....It is a place for the exchange of dictatorial comments from those that run the alleged Forum....right or wrong. No corrections permitted.

I asked if softer is harder was a typo. Did someone miss that?

Yes, that is what I was saying, since Skip has not revisited. Sorry if it was unclear to you.

The rest of your post is not worth addressing.

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ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

I believe 2hawk is correct. Skip understands lead alloy properties, and is trying to share this with others.

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dd884
JMHO-YMMV

WOW, I am getting senile PB! I will go back and fix the typo.

It should have read, softer equals HEAVIER! DUH, sorry for the confusion!



Then let me explain what I was trying to say from the jump. With the normal materials we casters get out hands on, wheel weights, Linotype, for the most part, and some tin, bullets from the same mould will respond like I mentioned in the other post. Now, I'm not talking about water quenching or oven heating to make the bullets so, I'm talking straight alloy. If your alloy will cool off harder, the bullets will be lighter. They are harder because there is less lead content, most likely, in the mix. Because of that, there will be less lead properties associated with them, such as shrinkage. One, the harder bullet alloy, will be at one rate, while the softer alloy, will be at a different rate.

Now, I am truly sorry for the confusion. It was a typo in the original post that caused this though, but there is no apology for stating what I just did. I'm talking for the home caster, with the same exact mould, with different alloys. Not techniques or proceedures.

I am not the only one that has this "opinion". It would be a simple thing to prove out in your moulds as well. Take straight stick on wheel weights, which are almost 100% pure lead, try to cast with it without any additions to the alloy. Weigh and measure a bullet. Do the same with straight Linotype or start adding tin until you get to that level of hardness. Weigh and measure those bullets. After doing so, let us know what happens from your moulds. I already know what happens from mine!

I had a beautiful original H&G #503, gave over $200 for it used. It cast too small for my Marlin 1894 so I set out to make bigger bullets without "Beagling" the mould. It wasn't too much of a gain, about .002" was all I could get, but it still wasn't near enough to fill the big bored rifle.

So, once again, with hat in hand, I apologize for the other post where my "fat fingers" got ahead of my pea brain.

Have a good day!

2hawk,
Thanks for the correction, friend!

Smith Crazy is correct. A bullet made of straight linotype will have a harder BHN then one made of of wheel weights or #2 alloy and will be a lighter bullet.

BIN is the measurement used to determine hardness much the same way that pounds is used to determine weight.

I refer to this site

http://www.lasc.us/CastBulletNotes.htm

NRA - IHMSA Handgun, Rifle, Air Pistol Silhouette Shooting. The Excitement Of Reactive Steel Targets At The Los Angeles Silhouette Club

for a lot of information and you may also find it useful, both links go to the same site but the top link is a direct link to the cast bullet section.

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Semper FI

I cast the Lee 230 gr. FP for the .45 ACP out of their two cavity mold. Using range scrap, my bullets weigh right at 245 grs. That's a pretty significant increase in bullet weight.

I recently cast up a bunch of bullets for my .45-70 out of a borrowed RCBS mold. I cast all my rifle bullets out of wheelweights and these bullets weigh 425 grs. Looking at current RCBS mold offerings I do not see anything that is supposed to throw a 425 gr. bullet and my finished product looks identical to what is supposed to be the 405 gr. bullet.

I cast the 255 gr. SWC out of the RCBS mold for .45 ACP and .45 Colt. I use wheelweights only for these bullets and they weigh exactly 255 grs., just as advertised.

Based on my experiences, I weigh everything I cast, whether for rifle or pistol.

Dave Sinko

I guess I didn't think about weighing them INITIALLY to determine a load for them. I do do that. I just don't group them by weights to make special loads for each weight bullet.

OK, but I noticed you had to reply.

This was a simple post to correct an error. Is there a problem with that?

I think that if your read the posts after it, like from "Smith Crazy" , You will find that he confims what I posted.

Nothing was unclear to me.

Perhaps something was not clear to you.

Try BHN sir.

It has been corrected. My fingers didn't type what they were told to type

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Semper FI

PB,

Just a word to the wise. Posts to correct grammar or other typos are needed, that's true. It just is going to be a miserable habit to get into. Thank you for it but, maybe it would be better if you tried to help the OP with his original question than using the "red pen" to correct posts by others.

I don't have any problem admitting when I am wrong, or type faster than my brain is going, and thanks for bringing it to my attention. I hate being unclear or incorrect and sharing it with others. Becoming the "school marm" is going to put you in a bad light when I believe you have something to contribute.

Again, just a word to the wise.

Have a good day!

If the bullets are going to be swaged should the weighting be after that operation?

Are you saying sized after casting? If that is the case you will want to do it befire any sizing as that is where lube is applied, unless you are using Lees' lube and size set-up in which case the lube is applied before the sizing operation. That's how I do it anyway.

I would like to know if the weight of the bullet is determined before the lube is applied or after?

Surely the lube would add something to the total weight of the finished projectile, bullet, slug, boolits, lead thing.

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Still Running Against the Wind

I weigh and determine loads off of the cast bullet (boolit) only. The lube isn't that much. Haven't checked that in a while but .5gr maybe?

I'll check it out later and post it for the bullets (boolits) I cast in 44 or 45.

Ok, how exactly do I do that without offeding someone....like anyone?

It would seem to me that errors need correction even if they offend someone. I apologize if I offended you or others.......that was not my intent.

There is a lot of misinformation on the net....some if it is dangerous for those that take is as gospel. You have seen it and so have many others.

I really do not think I am a "school marm" as you think I am....but if that puts me in a "bad light" so be it.

You are very knowledgeable as I am, and I respect that.

Ditto. We all need to be corrected at times. Most of the time, things are just typos. Correction from other "go to" folks are usually very well tolerated in these areas if we remember that 99% of the people posting here are sincere in trying to get out good information. The other 1%, and they will rear their ugly head here from time to time, need slapped down. I've done it BUT where it was or rather what it was over was safety.

Discourse, courteous discourse, is possible and required when dealing with things that could just be typos. Safety issues need dealt with abruptly and yeah, maybe harshly, most definitely quickly. We have new reloader "lurkers" here that have to be kept from dangerous information. Over loads, deep seating, magnumizing standard calibers, yada, yada, yada, are a much different situation than the errors found in this thread.

Sorry, and I'm not the Management here by any stretch of the imagination, but I will not sit idly by while someone posts dangerous data or information. I'll correct them harshly if need be and publicly. A newby isn't going to see a corrective PM!

PB, I am not offended in the least by your comments or corrections, honest. Corrections have to be made from time to time, we are all human and suffer from "fat finger" disease. Look at a post and try to determine what the poster might be trying to say and address it accordingly.

Like this old saying: "When the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail."

Some problems won't be fixed that way, it will just seem like someone is "hammer happy". If you get my drift.

Thanks, it makes sense to me to weight them as cast also. I wondered about the lead taken off during the sizing process but that's probably has miniscule as the weight of the lube added.

Well you guys got me a bit curious so I went down to the basement and weighed a bunch of my commercially made hard cast bullets from Meister Bullets Inc. The 230 grain .45acp RNL bullets varied by about 1.5 grains (+ or -) which for a bullet that is supposed to be 230 grains is around one half of 1 percent. I think that should be well within tolerances, and more than likely most of that differential is the bullet lube and not the lead itself.

chief38