Bullet pointing

[Alpha1]

I have been reading up on bullet pointing. I know bullet pointing dies/systems can be bought but how do they actually work. I also know they are expensive. Has anyone made a bullet pointing system themselves that works?. So whats involved.

[kevinww]

I have its not hard, used a 303 sizing die as a host, basically a bullet sized sleeve that fits in die, a mandrel with a tapered hole in the end to squeeze the point on bullet, a couple of springs and retaining nut. also need a flat case holder for press.

i got a 1 moa decrease in elevation between pointed and standard bullets, also slightly more group consistency. I can get some pics and post them later if you want.

[johngarnett]

Try David at Shooting Shed and on here. His works. Slight decrease in group but all points uniform.

JohnG

[Alpha1]

I have its not hard, used a 303 sizing die as a host, basically a bullet sized sleeve that fits in die, a mandrel with a tapered hole in the end to squeeze the point on bullet, a couple of springs and retaining nut. also need a flat case holder for press.

i got a 1 moa decrease in elevation between pointed and standard bullets, also slightly more group consistency. I can get some pics and post them later if you want.

Pictures would be good thanks.

[Ovenpaa]

I have made several through the years using Redding or Forster micrometer dies. I typically see a vertical gain of around 1MOA at 1000 yards for a reasonable 6,5mm. Windage does improve although it is difficult to quantify, however the impressive part is groups seem to reduce in size, probably because you are shooting bullets that have effectively been batched to length and meplat form.

[Alpha1]

I also see you can buy meplat trimmers would you use both methods or is there a reason to use one over the other.
All very confusing.

[Ovenpaa]

Personally, no I do not use a trimmer whereas I know someone who trims, drills the meplats, points and then trims again. Life is far too short for such things so I simply batch them, point and load.

[WelshShooter]

I also see you can buy meplat trimmers would you use both methods or is there a reason to use one over the other.
All very confusing.

Meplat trimmers would be beneficial to open tip bullets such as Lapua Scenar's. Despite Scenar's being incredibly uniform in terms of mass, I find the meplats to be anything but. I reckon that trimming the meplats and pointing these bullets would make a marked improvement for cartridge uniformity, but not sure how much improvement you'd get down range as they are pretty good in my experience!

For tipped bullets like the Hornady A-Max there would be no point (pun intended) in pointing or trimming meplats.

[Ovenpaa]

I point 123 and 155 grain Scenar without trimming.

[kevinww]

Despite Scenar's being incredibly uniform in terms of mass, I find the meplats to be anything but.

Precisely the reason I built my pointing die.

Anyway here are the pictures

Components

mandrel in sleeve

assembly