Bullet weight consistency

[MrMag355]

Afternoon all, I purchased some 124gn FMJs from Precision Delta back in 2013 and have now just got around to using them. I noticed the weight varies between 123.7gn to 125gn, with the average being around 124.6gn. My question is, is this normal with PD bullets, or any bullets for that matter? Is this something I should even be concerned about? Thanks!

[turtlehead]

I'd be happy with that.

[Gary Wells]

I reload & shoot .45 auto only, lead only, but that seems to me to be exceptionally consistent. I've seen swaged 185 gr lead SWC as consistent as .4 total variation for 100 bullets randomly selected from 1K bullets & weighed, but that is the exception rather than the rule.

[Snyper]

There's always variation in bullets unless you pay a premium for "match" ammo.
Even then there's a weight range.

I used to separate my rifle bullets into 3 groups; light, correct and heavy.
Most would be in the "correct" group.

If you shoot a lot of the same bullets, you'll eventually have enough of one of the "off" groups to make it worth loading a batch of them.

Does it make a real difference in accuracy?
It's hard to say.
It's just eliminating one more variable.

[Hammerhead]

That's less variation than a batch of Speer Gold Dots I bought last winter, but a little more that a batch of Rainier .357" 125 plated FP's I was comparing my GD's to. The Gold Dots were pretty disappointing, they also vary in length quite a bit.
I've been happy with the consistency of Rainier since being forced to try them during the 2008 shortage.

(in other words I think your bullets are fine)

[Hammerhead]

Welcome BTW

[AzShooter]

That's a good average weight and should shoot very well for you. Much better than what I got with Berry Bullets.

[NoSecondBest]

Here's something new to many: In statistical control every gage has some error that can be measured and calculated. All industries that count on accurate measurements do what is called a Gage R&R study to find out how much error is built in to the gage. FWIW, all gages have some "error" built in (not intentionally, it just exists). So, some of the variation you're getting is the result of your gage and some is the variation in the bullets. Variation is normal. Every "identical" part varies throughout a range of parts. That too is normal. Unless you're getting some really extreme differences in weights I wouldn't worry about it. Also, to see if your gage is not acting up you need to get a range of check weights and calibrate it once in a while.

[Reloadron]

This is a pretty good read on the subject, as good as others I have seen anyway. Seems everyone is making bullets these days offering the shooter a nice choice. Unfortunately manufacturers don't always seem to want to share their manufacturing tolerances, including their allowable bullet weight limits. Unfortunately the link has a focus on mainly rifle bullets.

It's not unusual for the serious shooter to sit down with several boxes of the same bullet and sort them by weight. I doubt it matters if they all weigh 168 grains for example as long as they all weigh the same be it 167, 168 or 169 grains. I have never noticed a large group deviation shooting handgun for example at 7 to 10 yards but when we start shooting 50 yards the quality of bullets and loads in general begin to become more important.

NoSecondBest makes a good point as to the gauging or instrumentation used to check bullets or any reloading component for that matter. The simple rule here is as long as any allowable error of the gauge does not come in light of the measurement things will be fine. For example in the link I posted they point out what scale was used:

Method
A Sartorius GD503 Analytical Balance was used to weigh each bullet individually
in grams to a resolution of 0.1 milligrams

They make another good point where they mention:

Of course, there are other possible measures of
bullet consistency: bearing surface, length, etc. In some ways, bullet weight is appealing, because it easy to measure and a reasonable proxy for overall consistency of bullet manufacture.

So are deviations in parameters normal? Yes they are as long as a deviation does not come in light of of something's intended use.

Ron

[MrMag355]

Wow! Thanks for all the input folks!

[DMY]

When I received my first order of .45 ACP projectiles from Missouri Bullet Company, I weighed each one in the 500 round pack. The weights were 199.7 - 201.0. I emailed the Customer Service Dept and received a prompt reply from the company owner. Long story short, I was told MBC tries to stay within +/- 10% of the bullet weight. Since that time, I noticed similar quality control from Berry's, Extreme and (for .223s), Hornady bulk packs. On the other hand, my single 100 rd box of Hornady 75 gr FMJ match bullets and my Hornady 500 rd bulk pack of 68 gr FMJ match bullets were either spot on with just a few of them over by 0.1 gr. While I do not have a lot of experience weighing bullets from manufacturers, I hope that most bullets which advertise as "match" are as consistent as the Hornady Match bullets.

[NoSecondBest]

When I received my first order of .45 ACP projectiles from Missouri Bullet Company, I weighed each one in the 500 round pack. The weights were 199.7 - 201.0. I emailed the Customer Service Dept and received a prompt reply from the company owner. Long story short, I was told MBC tries to stay within +/- 10% of the bullet weight. Since that time, I noticed similar quality control from Berry's, Extreme and (for .223s), Hornady bulk packs. On the other hand, my single 100 rd box of Hornady 75 gr FMJ match bullets and my Hornady 500 rd bulk pack of 68 gr FMJ match bullets were either spot on with just a few of them over by 0.1 gr. While I do not have a lot of experience weighing bullets from manufacturers, I hope that most bullets which advertise as "match" are as consistent as the Hornady Match bullets.

You can't compare the consistency of cast bullets with jacketed bullets. Cast have a lot more variation than jacketed. That's "normal".

[cw308]

Cast or FMJ was not the question. I have weighed bullets, I shoot bench rest only 308 cal. using Sierra 168 gr. HPBT bullets. They fluctuate slightly, long range shooting 400+ I would try to keep every load as close to exact as possible, 100 - 400 using match bullets I don't weigh. Sierra 168 & Hornady A-Max 168 work just fine for me.

[Stats Shooter]

I'm not a Quickload salesman, but if you have it, it helps answering this question...

When you load, differences in bullet weight will affect internal ballistics (inside the chamber and barrel), and external ballistics.

But, even with all that, it takes a big bullet weight difference at longer ranges to make a remarkable difference on target.

I shoot F-CLASS 1k yards...I use 225 gr bullets. With the bullet I use, at my average velocity, it takes over 0.6 gr weight difference to make a 1" difference at 1000 yards. At 500 yards it takes almost 2gr to make a 1" difference.

Weight sorting bullets is really only useful in precision shooting matches or to cull any extreme outliers.

I'm not telling you it's pointless, just that it takes a a lot of variation, or a lot of distance to improve accuracy. But weighing to cull extremely light/heavy bullets will sometimes help eliminate fliers.

[BigJimP]

I think what you are seeing is very good !

With most electro plated bullets like Rainier or Xtreme -- on a 230 gr bullet, i have seen as much as 5 or 6 grains both plus and minus...

Montana Gold has been the most uniform bullet i have seen -- based on weight and shape