Inconsistent bullet weight

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  • Sticky

    Beware of Dog
    MDS Supporter
    Mar 16, 2013
    4,501
    AA Co
    Interesting... I rarely see that much variance, but I don't often weight other than my casts... those I sort by .1gr steps and remelt the rejects, but... I have a bunch of boolits, a couple different Extremes (1 coming tomorrow) and several pistol and rifle factory boolits. I'll do some weighing this week. I have several scales, including and old OHaus.
     

    Shoobedoo

    US Army Veteran
    Jun 1, 2013
    10,962
    Keyser WV
    Are your scales accurate? Just for fun and curiosity I've weighed handgun and rifle bullets and none of them were 10 grains off from each other or the advertised weight.

    Same here. I weigh mine fairly often, at the very least when I'm working up a new load or starting a new session with a different caliber, powder, or brand of bullet, and I've never found any more than plus or minus a grain or so, grain and a half tops.

    10 grains is A LOT, I'd be seriously concerned about loading bullets with that much variance, you could easily get in to dangerous pressure territory very quickly.
     

    Sticky

    Beware of Dog
    MDS Supporter
    Mar 16, 2013
    4,501
    AA Co
    Out of curiosity, I plucked 15 random Extreme 147gr HP plated out of a box of 500 that I just got... was loading some up anyway, so what the heck..

    Here are the results of those 15 bullets, measured on a digital powder scale (cause it was the quickest way to measure em to within 0.1gr)

    147.5
    147.1
    147.5
    147.5
    147.1
    147.5
    147.5
    147.5
    147.8
    147.9
    147.5
    147.1
    147.5
    147.1
    147.5

    About what I would expect from decent bullets, 147.5 +/- 0.4gr

    I have some Extreme 230gr 45cals too, I'll check some of them a bit later. I also have some Acme cast and coated boolits that I have been loading, I'll check some of those as well. I expect they may vary a little more, being cast..
     

    Neutron

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Nov 20, 2014
    1,532
    severna park
    Feeling stupid

    Boy do I feel stupid. I was reading the scale wrong. I was thinking the little slider on the right side was whole grains and not tenths. So most of my bullets are within a gr or so of what they should be. Sorry for the mix up.:facepalm:
     

    Doobie

    Ultimate Member
    Jan 23, 2013
    1,777
    Earth
    Boy do I feel stupid. I was reading the scale wrong. I was thinking the little slider on the right side was whole grains and not tenths. So most of my bullets are within a gr or so of what they should be. Sorry for the mix up.:facepalm:

    It's all good:)...things like that happens to everyone sometime or another.
    I questioned your scale on my reply because even though I've only been reloading for a couple years, I have never seen a 10 grain difference in bullets that were suppose to be of the same weight.
     

    Jmorrismetal

    Active Member
    Sep 27, 2014
    468
    Boy do I feel stupid. I was reading the scale wrong.

    You should give yourself a pat on the back for figuring out the problem, there are too many these days that would just put the blame on the bullet or scale manufacturers.
     

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