Author Topic: Bullet weight? (Read 388 times)

crashresidue · « **on:** December 29, 2004, 12:25:37 PM »

Cheers,

As a Christmas present to myself, I got a digital scale from Sportsmans Guide.

As I had nothing else to do, I started weighing a bunch of cast bullets for the Sharps. All were cast on the same day from the same batch of alloy.

What I discovered was that the bullets fell in two catagories of weight. They either grouped around 550gns and below or 560+gns. Each slug was within 4 gns of each other. Nothing in the 550-560 weight. How come?

Only a few of them were identical in weight, so I have to ask what the workable spread of weights is? I know it depends on the type of shooting you do and since I just plink, it won't matter to me. But I'm curious.

Thanks for any information.

Gentle winds,
Russ

fffffg · « **Reply #1 on:** December 29, 2004, 04:22:31 PM »

time will tell. get a micrometer and see if that helps.. check the diametr around the outside diameter at different circumfrences to see if that gives any clues.. mainly if the heaveier ones are out of round. a cold mold is smaller than a hot mold, but this wouold give a range of wieghts.. shoot groups from each bunch and see what groups the best.. the bigger bullets are probably a small peice of lead between the mould halves causeing a bigger bullet.. the light ones could be an air bubble becouse of too small /shallow of sprue. hard to say, but time will tell. i sort bullets in 1 grain lots.. .. good luck dave

Ray Newman · « **Reply #2 on:** December 29, 2004, 05:48:35 PM »

FWIW--I have a PCT digital scale. HereÂ’s what IÂ’ve learned:

Let it warm up before using.

Keep it out of drafts, wind currents when in use.

Calibrate it ea. time you use it.

As to your casting problems it could be that your alloy was too cool to begin w/ & as it heated up, the mould cast a heavier bullet.

Or your pot did not hold the proper temperature.

Do you dip or bottom pour?

How much alloy did you start w/?

I donÂ’t know how long youÂ’ve been casting, but a better bullet springs from casting experience. See the below link for a very helpful casting article:

http://www.longrangebpcr.com/8Phases.htm

Lead pot · « **Reply #3 on:** January 15, 2005, 04:36:52 PM »

Ray is right with the temperature fluctuation, but also how consistent you are with the pour, no matter if you cast with a ladle or bottom pour. How long you hold the head pressure with the spout of the ladle or pot on the sprue plate. And a few other things you don't do consistently.
Be consistent, and stir the mix when ever you dip the ladle. Tin will separate and float to the top.

Kurt