Cast Bullet weight question ?

[scottjge]

I am casting some conical bullets for my muzzleloader. After I had them all cast I started weighing them to see what they actually weighed. How much deviation  in weight should I accept as keepers ? The mold that I have is suppose to cast a 320 gr. bullet, and the bullets that I cast range from 320.0 gr to 323.6 gr.  Is 3.6 gr acceptable for accuracy or should I just keep within a certain deviation range ?

Any help or advise would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Glenn

[Graybeard]

Yup all are keepers and way inside the keeper range. You can live with a good deal more than that without any problems.

[jhalcott]

 What percent of 320 is 3.6 grains?? Take a few of each end (lowest weight and highest weight) and shoot them for practice and testing for accuracy at the same time. After you check those targets ,see if a few segragated by weight bullets do any better! If these are for hunting they are fine. They should work very well as target  ammo also!

[scottjge]

Thank you for the reply and information. I didn't know how much difference to expect with a total of 3.6 grains when shooting from the lightest to the heaviest bullet. I guess I am trying to to be too particular and picky. They will probably shoot more accurate than I can hold the gun anyway.

Thanks for the reply and help,
Glenn

[Terbltim]

Yup all are keepers and way inside the keeper range. You can live with a good deal more than that without any problems.

Someone many years ago gave me a similar answer to the same question.
Good advice, which I ignored in my youthful enthusiasm.
I then proceeded to work & worry myself to death over bullets that had as much as 1.5gr variation in weight.
After some years of that foolishness I realized that all my efforts weren't showing me anything definitive so...
I began to experiment in the other direction, how much difference makes any difference?
After about 8 years of working on that question I still can't give an answer without many qualifying remarks.
I don't bother weighing them anymore unless they're "ugly". Then I'll weigh them.
If they're within about 5.0gr of the average weight range I load 'em up.
Haven't found any reason to regret relaxing my outlook yet.
I think most bullet casters go through this in some way.
Enjoy the journey.

[Graybeard]

Following Terbltim's comments let me generalize a bit more.

Long years ago when my best friend Billy Doss (now deceased) and I were casting bullets for hunting and NRA silhouette competition we tossed those that didn't look right but didn't weight them. Billy really hated bullet casting even more than me and really hated to see a bullet go to waste. He challenged me to do a test to see if we should toss them or keep them. My test was with my S&W 29 with 10-5/8" barrel and iron sights. We both shot these guns and shot them well.

Group one was perfect bullets within a 1% weight range, Group two was good looking bullets but well beyond 3% weight range and Group three were really junky looking bullets all of which we'd normally toss back into the pot. Test was shot at 25 and 50 yards from a rested position. Bottom line was Group three actually turned in the best group of them all closely followed by the other two. In other words no noticeable difference. From that day on Billy refused to toss a bullet back once we'd cast them whether wrinkled, not filled out or whatever deformaty it might have. Oh he got a random flyer at 100 meters I'm sure but never complained that it cost him a ram in matches. He or I one or the other usually came in first in most all matches we shot and often we were one and two.

So unless you are shooting some long range game like NRA BPCR competition or cast bullet bench rest matches I'd not worry about your bullets so much. If they look OK don't waste time weighting them. They will do just fine. Be more concerned about the base than the nose.

[scottjge]

Thanks for the replies. That is very helpful and will save me a lot of time from here on out. I weighed every bullet and sorted them into groups. I thru about 20 bullets back in the melting pot because they were wrinkled but looked good other wise. Not anymore after reading your experiences. I thank you again.

I only plan on using the bullets for hunting and maybe some serious plinking from now and then but nothing like a competition shoot or anything and not more than 100 yds, if that far.

Thanks again, I appreciate it very much.

Glenn

[jhalcott]

  I did about the same as GB. I weighed my bullets in ONE grain increments. loads were carefully worked up. Then on a whim, tried some from each group for accuracy.SURPRISE! The groups were the same as segrated groups.!.Now I don't weigh them as carefully.

[mechanic]

This is why this forum is so valuable to us all.  Saves a lot of worry and time when you get to share the knowledge that some here like Graybeard have compiled over many years of experience.  The only other way to get it is your own experience.  This way we save time, money and frustration.

[Drilling Man]

  I use to be HEAVY into silhouette shooting with my 44 revolver, out to 200 meters.  I also weighed my cast bullets to get "max" accuracy, BUT i saved the culls and shot them for practise.

  My practise scores were the same as my "good bullet" scores, as long as i pitched any visually deformed bullets, back into the pot....

  DM