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Very Hot Topic (More than 25 Replies) Casting large vs small bullets (Read 1238 times)
gunlaker
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Re: Casting large vs small bullets
Reply #15 - Nov 6th, 2026 at 2:05pm
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I would disagree that no one casts super tight spreads like +/- 0.2 or 0.3gr.   I do it all the time.  If after the first 15 or so bullets, if they spread a lot more than that it's because I wasn't paying attention to the thermometer or my casting timer.  I just grabbed a couple of boxes of bullets off of the table.  Saeco #740's cast out of 20:1.  After the first 15, they are all 409.5 to 410.0gr so a spread of +/- 0.25gr.   A set of 540gr Money bullets I have 91 saved at 539.5 +/- 0.3gr.    The 32 cal bullets are generally a lot tighter than that.   I believe that just like shooting, casting gets better when you try to control all of the details. 

Chris.
  
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oneatatime
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Re: Casting large vs small bullets
Reply #16 - Nov 6th, 2026 at 4:24pm
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What kind of a scale do you use? Is it digital?
  
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gunlaker
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Re: Casting large vs small bullets
Reply #17 - Nov 6th, 2026 at 4:37pm
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oneatatime wrote on Nov 6th, 2026 at 4:24pm:
What kind of a scale do you use? Is it digital?


I've gone through a few scales over the years, but yeah digital.  I watch them for drift as I go.
  
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oneatatime
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Re: Casting large vs small bullets
Reply #18 - Nov 6th, 2026 at 5:25pm
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Does it read out in .1 grain or in .2 grain?
  
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gunlaker
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Re: Casting large vs small bullets
Reply #19 - Nov 6th, 2026 at 8:27pm
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0.1 grains
  
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JHand
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Re: Casting large vs small bullets
Reply #20 - Nov 6th, 2026 at 9:29pm
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I use a frankford arsenal scale that goes to .1gr, but I don't think I'd trust it enough for powder. For bullets, its good enough,  and gives piece of mind that they are close
  
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oneatatime
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Re: Casting large vs small bullets
Reply #21 - yesterday at 1:33am
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Yes, plus or minus .05 grain should really be good enough.
  
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gunlaker
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Re: Casting large vs small bullets
Reply #22 - yesterday at 8:12am
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Yeah I think most of our digital scales aren't that great.  If you don't watch them constantly they'll drift. I keep mine on 24 hours a day now which seems to improve it quite a bit.  I wonder if the really high end ones popular with the f-open and benchrest shooters are less susceptible to drift.
  
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Re: Casting large vs small bullets
Reply #23 - yesterday at 7:21pm
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I’ve been weighing bullets for quite a few years, using a digital scale. I’m on my 4th scale. Yes they can and do drift. Check weights and frequent tare monitoring are essential.

But if I had to use a beam & balance type of scale, I wouldn’t bother, I’m too impatient!

Oftentimes I ask myself….
would bullets slightly out of tolerance (%) negatively impact group size? Talking myself into doing my own testing with my rifle, my bench set-up, my loads and me. This to determine one of two things…. Is the concern for out of “spec” bullets based on actual test results or….do I do all of the weighing because of what others say what we should do?

Waiting for spring!

Tom
  
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texasmac
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Re: Casting large vs small bullets
Reply #24 - yesterday at 8:47pm
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You guys that are concerned about bullet weight spread vs accuracy should read this article about an experiment I ran a few years ago.
(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

The bottom line is shooting 535gr bullets with a weight spread of up to 9.5grs (+/- 4.8grs or +/- 0.9%) resulted in a worse target vertical spread of only 2.3moa at 200yds vs a target spead of less than 1.2moa for identical weight bullets.

Due to the results I no longer weigh my bullets which typically vary +/- 0.5gr on a good day up to +/- 1.0gr on a bad day of casting.

Another way at looking at the results is bullets with a weight varience of up to +/- 4.8grs only degraded accuracy by 1.2moa, and that's with the weight change in the base.  When the same weight change was in the bullet nose, the accuracy improved.  A result I'm unable to explain.

Wayne
  
NRA Life (Benefactor & President's Council) Member, TSRA Life Member, NSSF Member, Author & Publisher of the Browning BPCR book
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gunlaker
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Re: Casting large vs small bullets
Reply #25 - Today at 9:33am
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To me that accuracy change is significant.  The 25 ring on the 200 yard target is about 0.75 moa and I have to shoot it at 219 yards because my range is metric.  I haven't scored a 250 yet but I'll take every advantage I can get.

Chris.
  
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