I'm looking for the information on the results of weighing cast bullets. I particularly need the results for heavier cast bullets, over 299 grains. Light is good too. Maybe 22 and 25 caliber bullets. The ideal information would have mold maker/number, and the weights, sort of like this:
Lyman 457125
524.0      1
524.1      0
524.2      6
524.3      8
524.4      19
524.5      32
524.6      76
524.7      41
524.8      28
524.9      11
525.0      12
525.1      7
525.2      2
525.3      0
525.4      1
525.5      2
All responders will receive proper attribution. 
Thanks;
joe b.
joeb33050@yahoo.com

Joe,
  I'll even do you one better. Below is a test I did several years ago when several of us on BP-L got to wondering if the pot lite, going on or off, would have any bearing on wgt. variations. The following should be self-explanatory.

PETE

  Bullet is the Lyman 457125

------------------------------------------------------

The casting session is normal except for the following. ALL bullets are in
the test. This means I did NOT discard any at the beginning of the test. I
usually throw back 10 or so to get the mould hot and get my technique
smoothed out for the session. All visual rejects are also left in...
something I would normally throw out. They will be marked! About halfway
thru I fluxed the pot again to throw in a non casting time period to see if
that had any influence on the results. When I do flux during a session I
will discard about 5 or 6 before keeping any. This line will be noted in the
test. Normally I quit casting when the pot level is about 2/3rds empty. I
like a full ladle to pour into the mould so usually quit there. This place
is also marked. This time I kept going till I got two visual rejects, or, I
just could'nt get enuf lead into the ladle to fill the mould. The latter
happened first.
  An interesting aside.... Maximum temp. of the pot was 860 degrees F. at
the beginning of the session. When the pot was down about a 1/3rd the temp.
came up to about 880 degrees F. When the pot reached the halfway point the
temp. stood at 890 degrees F., and stayed there till I quit. You can make of
that what you will.
  Casting session lasted an hour an fifteen minutes.
  Average of ten randomly selected bullets was 523.8 grs. With my .5 gr. +
or - acceptance allowance this will put the bullets I keep out of this
session at 523.4 grs. to 524.3 grs.
  So without further ado:....


   X = pot lite on
   0 = pot lite off
   VR = visual reject
   WR = weight reject


       520.4   WR      VR
       521.0   WR      VR      X
       522.4   WR      VR
       523.5
       523.7
       524.5   WR
       524.6   WR
       525.4   WR
       525.3   WR
       524.8   WR              0
       524.7   WR
       524.3
       523.7
       524.3
       524.2
       524.3
       523.9
       524.3                   X
       524.2
       524.1
       524.3
       523.8
       524.0
       523.7                   0
       523.8
       524.3
       524.2
       524.2
       524.3
       524.1
       523.9                   X
       523.5
       523.5
       523.9
       523.3   WR
       523.7
       523.5                   0
       523.7
       523.9
       523.8
       523.8
       523.9
       523.7
       523.8                   X
       523.9
       523.3   WR
       523.9
       523.9
       524.1
       523.9                   0
       524.1
       524.0
       524.0
       524.0
       523.6
       523.5
       524.0
       524.2                   X
       523.7
       524.0
       524.3
       523.2   WR      VR
       523.8
       524.1
       523.6                   0
       523.9
       522.4   WR      VR
       524.1
       523.9
       524.1
       523.8
       523.9
       523.7                   X
       523.8
       523.7
       523.9
       524.3
       523.6
       523.1   WR      VR
       524.1
       524.2                   0
       523.9
       523.7
       523.9


                70 SECOND BREAK TO FLUX THE POT. NORMAL PROCEDURE FOR ME.


       524.5   WR
       524.2
       523.9
       523.9
       523.9                   X
       524.0
       524.1
       523.8
       523.7
       523.8
       523.9
       524.2
       524.0                   0
       524.0
       524.2
       524.1
       523.1   WR
       523.5
       523.8
       522.9   WR
       523.3   WR
       523.1   WR
       523.5                   X
       523.4
       523.7
       523.5
       523.2   WR
       523.5
       523.8
       523.7
       523.5
       523.0                   0
       523.7
       523.9
       523.8
       523.4
       523.8
       523.0   WR
       523.8


               THIS IS WHERE I WOULD NORMALLY STOP THE SESSION


       523.6
       523.6
       523.6                   X
       523.6
       523.2   WR
       523.4
       522.7   WR
       523.3   WR
       523.5
       523.2   WR
       523.6
       523.4                   0
       523.4
       522.4   WR      VR
       523.5
       523.5
       523.7
       523.1   WR
       523.1   WR
       523.3   WR
       523.2   WR
       523.4                   X
       523.4
       523.3   WR
       522.9   WR
       523.4
       523.3
       523.4
       523.7
       523.6
       523.6                   0
       522.7   WR
       523.5
       525.3   WR      VR
       523.9
                       END OF TEST


   In a regular session the VR's, or visual rejects, would'nt have made it to
the weighing session. The first ten would have been automatically rejected,
and I would have discarded 5 or 6 after the second fluxing, and I would have
normally stopped where I stated.

Pete's info is sort of what I need, numbers rather than words. I'm writing an article about variation in bullet weight during a casting session, hence the need for numerical data. I don't cast many 45 bullets down here, longest range is 100 yards. Thanks, and please send that info.
joe b.

Joeb,

  Here's another test that I ran about the same time as above. A question was raised that you ought to take the top 60% of your casting session and reject the rest. The below is where I'll pick up from a rather lengthy post on this.

  To clarify what you see..... The number at the left is the lightest bullet I found in the casting session. I increased this number by .1 gr. until I got to the heaviest bullet in the lot. The number on the right is how many bullets fell on that wgt. As you can see some numbers didn't have any of that wgt. The rest should be self explanatory and if you care to plot it out you will get a pretty good Bell Curve.

PETE

-----------------------------------------------------

  As a caster I don't tend to think along those lines exactly. For bullets
over 400 grs. I'll take an average of the whole lot and go up or down 1/2
gr. from that and anything falling outside that I'll reject. As the bullets
weigh less I tighten up my criteria till they get to below 100 grs. I won't
except any variation. I don't recollect ever having done a bell curve on a
lot to see just exactly how they do fall.
  Chris is right when he states there probably should'nt be any bullets over
your spread limits, but as you'll see in a bit, this does'nt hold
true.....at least for me.
  I think it was Marc that did this before but I think that there are enuf
new people on here since a year ago that it could bear repeating.
  What I did was to run a lot of 120 Lyman 457125 bullets and weigh them.
That's about all I can get out of a 20 pd. pot comfortably. I fluxed once at
the beginning of the session and that was it. I next selected 10 at random
and established a base line of 523.6 grs. A 1/2 gr. above and below that
puts the range I'll except at 523.2 to 524.1. Here's how the whole lot came out.


    522.6 - 1
    522.7 - 0
    522.8 - 0
    522.9 - 0
    523.0 - 1
    523.1 - 2
    523.2 - 9   lower limit
    523.3 - 9
    523.4 - 15
    523.5 - 25
    523.6 - 17
    523.7 - 13
    523.8 - 14
    523.9 - 4
    524.0 - 3
    524.1 - 2   upper limit
    524.2 - 0
    524.3 - 3
    524.4 - 2

Joe 
Here is the results from a short casting session. The mould is a Brooks .40 in Cabin Tree mould handels.  The aloy is 32 : 1 lead to tin. The mould is set on the pot rim to warm as the aloy melts. When the aloy is at temp. (760) I start to cast. I cast 12 bullets and check for weight. If my weights are in the correct range I start to keep what is cast. This is the results.

433.8          434.0          434.4
433.8          434.1          434.4 -
433.6          433.4          433.5
433.8          433.8          433.3
434.1          433.8          433.6
434.3          434.1          433.7
343.1          434.1          433.5
434.0          434.3          433.7
434.0          433.9          433.7
434.2          434.0          433.6
434.1          434.2          433.2
434.3          434.7 -        433.7
434.1          434.6
434.1          434.5
433.9          434.5
433.9          434.4
434.2          434.4
434.1          434.6
434.0          434.7
433.8          434.7

When I discovered that my bullets had gotten heavier I went back and checked my closing tention. It was loose When I tightened it back up the bullets came back down to the right weight range.