So what do you get in a big bag of cheap bullets?

[Dougan]

I bought a bag of 500 174gr HPBT for £90 - and decided to see how consistent the weights were:

I ended up with 4 categories:

From the left:

1 - 51 bullets, between 173.3 and 173.8.
2 - 164 bullets, +/- .2gr of 174.0
3 - 205 bullets, between 174.2 and 174.7
4 - 70 bullets that were over (but not too much) 174.7.

I only totally rejected 10 (will use for seating testing) - the heaviest being 175.6, and the lightest was 172.5.

The diameters were reasonably consistent: between 0.3105 and 0.3115, but some of the canelurres were deeper than others. A lot of them had little 'dings', but that's what happens when you put 500 bullets in a plastic bag and send them by post.

Generally I'm happy with what I got for the money - I have more than 100 'plinking' quality (can use to practice the 'mad minute'), more than 200 for load development and practice, and over 150 I can use for comps.


I'm going to get 100 Sierra Matchkings, to do a comparison with (also, shot groups comparison). I want to see if the lack of a cannelure, and the greater quality make a difference to the accuracy. Midway is sold out...any suggestions?

[dromia]

Kranks have them in, I got 500 last week.

[Dougan]

Kranks have them in, I got 500 last week.

Cheers Dromia :)

[ovenpaa]

Any idea who's bullets they are, they are boat tails so I think that excludes S&B, can you pick them up with a magnet? I have a couple of boxes of .311 SMK's if you get stuck and I do find they work better than the cheaper ones but you certainly pay for the experience.

[tikkathreebarrels]

Seems like a reasonable haul. I used to play about weighing brass and sorting it but then I got a lfe!

I used to have a local source of bagged surplus .303 rounds sold by weight and allegedly from some old railway truck in what used to be called Yugoslavia. Those contents did need sorting. AP, tracer, some Russian calibres. Happy days eh? Might still have some somewhere.

[bnz41]

Hi.

You measured the weight of yours, I bought 500 174gr .311dia HPBT in a plastic bag labeled S&B from a dealer at the Newark show. Only just started to use them, checked the weight they were ok ish, but they are of differing lenghts from 1.23" to 1.27" cant remember how many of each, but had fun when seating them getting the AOL to match. Had to go through the lot putting into size boxes. May I suggest you check yours. I will not buy cheap again sticking to Match king...

[Dougan]

Any idea who's bullets they are, they are boat tails so I think that excludes S&B, can you pick them up with a magnet? I have a couple of boxes of .311 SMK's if you get stuck and I do find they work better than the cheaper ones but you certainly pay for the experience.

No you can't pick them up with a magnet (phew!) - didn't think to try that...

I got them from 'Peter Lawmans' (really nice to deal with ) -No specific make was given, but they appear to be identical to the ones I pulled from the PPU rounds I've been using.

Cheers for the offer on the SMKs :) - I'll give Kranks a call in the week first though.

I understand that the SMKs are hollow in the tip, to distribute the weight backwards for better stablisation (and want to compaire that to the cheap ones (may have to saw the tip off one to have a look)) - I've seen that they leave a tiny hole in the tip...does this not adversely affect the aerodynamics?

[Dangermouse]

I did this last year with 100 x 190gn SMK's this is what I found:


1 weighed 189.6
1 x 189.7
14x 189.9
43x 190.0
19x 190.1
13x 190.2
8x 190.3
1x 190.4

After asking around, on other Forums - FB UK was still to be born, the general consensus was that it does not make enough difference at 1000 yards to be worth wasting your time over.
Of course some will argue, and like so many other re loading topics that we discuss, if you think it helps your game, then crack on.
Personally I find it too time consuming to be worth doing and there are probably other tasks which are more important that take precedence.

(Bench rest may be a different matter)

DM

[Dougan]

Seems like a reasonable haul. I used to play about weighing brass and sorting it but then I got a lfe!

You're not wrong there - it took several nights, and was v boring :roll: - but beer, music and the forum helped

I'm still fairly new to reloading, so am still 'keen', and while most of the info I'm discovering is already available, I'm enjoying looking at some of the details myself.....which is why, after what bnz41 has just said, i'm going to have to get the calipers out :geek:

[Dangermouse]

I have all but given up on the 175gn SMK's due to difficulty seating them. It was the motivation on getting the reading precision dies and moving away from the Lee - I know know it had nothing to do with the dies.

I found the 155gn SMK's to be very consistent and have been a joy to load.

I have know bought some Berger 155.5's and although I have only loaded some test rounds, they also appear to be inconsistent - which is a real pain in the behind.

The problem I find with trying to measure them is that depending on how hard/soft they are placed in the callipers & comparator the reading can differ quite a bit and it is possible to get a number of different readings for the same bullet. If anyone knows how to prevent this I would love to hear from you how you do it,

DM