Bullet weight consistency - The Firearms Forum

ramdino · 02-14-2011, 08:15 PM

I bought some 55 gr lake city 223 fmjbt. after I weighted several I found most to be underweight by .3-.5 gr. Anyone know if that is within standards or are they junk? I am just using them for plinking and they seem to be holding good groups at 100yds. What would the expensive bullets, ie Hornaday, consistency be?

muddober · 02-14-2011, 10:42 PM

Unless you are buying match bullets the ones you have are well within tolerance for production bullets. The key thing is they are grouping well for you. As for Hornady they too are production bullets and + or - a 1/2 grain is acceptable. Some real serious target shooters weigh every bullet and segregate them into groups by weight and then shoot a match with only bullets from that group. For me personally I cannot shoot well enough that it would make any difference.

Several years ago in one the gun magazines I recall some test that were done by doing things to bullets including bending over the lead point on soft nose jacketed bullets and cutting off the tip. None of which seemed to have much affect on accuracy. What did affect accuracy was damaging the the heal and or base of the bullet.

Ron

JLA · 02-15-2011, 09:47 AM

Dont get too concerned with what the actual weights are compared to the sticker weight. just weigh and separate the bullets into groups and load one group at a time. If you do your brass the same way and hand weigh all your charges youll end up with as close to 100% custom match ammo as you can get without doing a bunch of tedious neck turning, primer pocket swaging, annealing, flashhole deburring, and using benchrest primers... or to put it simple, youll be making ammo that has more accuracy potential than you or the weapon you shoot them in...

02-14-2011, 08:15 PM	#1
ramdino Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Shelby NC Posts: 12	Bullet weight consistency I bought some 55 gr lake city 223 fmjbt. after I weighted several I found most to be underweight by .3-.5 gr. Anyone know if that is within standards or are they junk? I am just using them for plinking and they seem to be holding good groups at 100yds. What would the expensive bullets, ie Hornaday, consistency be? __________________ Romans 8:28 -->

02-14-2011, 10:42 PM	#2
muddober Advanced Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 1,436	Re: Bullet weight consistency Unless you are buying match bullets the ones you have are well within tolerance for production bullets. The key thing is they are grouping well for you. As for Hornady they too are production bullets and + or - a 1/2 grain is acceptable. Some real serious target shooters weigh every bullet and segregate them into groups by weight and then shoot a match with only bullets from that group. For me personally I cannot shoot well enough that it would make any difference. Several years ago in one the gun magazines I recall some test that were done by doing things to bullets including bending over the lead point on soft nose jacketed bullets and cutting off the tip. None of which seemed to have much affect on accuracy. What did affect accuracy was damaging the the heal and or base of the bullet. Ron Last edited by muddober; 02-14-2011 at 10:43 PM..

02-15-2011, 09:47 AM	#3
JLA TFF Moderator/Host Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Heart Of Texas Contributor Posts: 17,319	Re: Bullet weight consistency Dont get too concerned with what the actual weights are compared to the sticker weight. just weigh and separate the bullets into groups and load one group at a time. If you do your brass the same way and hand weigh all your charges youll end up with as close to 100% custom match ammo as you can get without doing a bunch of tedious neck turning, primer pocket swaging, annealing, flashhole deburring, and using benchrest primers... or to put it simple, youll be making ammo that has more accuracy potential than you or the weapon you shoot them in... __________________ It takes 43 muscles to frown, 17 to smile, and 3 for proper trigger squeeze. The latest caliber or gear is no substitute for experience and skill. Rifles and cartridges don't make hits -- shooters do. Fact of life: After Monday and Tuesday, even the calendar says WTF!