Bullet sorting tip

[Tim s]

Coleman Fuel/White gas is petroleum based(has oil) that gets the heavy stuff off, but leaves a film also. The Acetone gets them CLEAN and without residue. a 2 step process
Do this test
2 Terri towels, folded,take 50 bullets , place on towel,SPRAY Coleman, with the palm of you hand roll the bullets on the towel,let dry,
repeat the same way with the other towel (clean) with Acetone

Just a little FYI for you regarding cavalier use of acetone, particularly using you hands.
Once it gets on your hands.....it's in your heart in 15-20 seconds.
You might want to give that a little thought.

 

[ClassCat]

Just a little FYI for you regarding cavalier use of acetone, particularly using you hands.
Once it gets on your hands.....it's in your heart in 15-20 seconds.
You might want to give that a little thought.

My Heart is fine, but 5 years after i was using Acetone my &^%$ grew 3 inches. HHMMM

 

[L W P]

IMO I would choose a process similar to what the bullet smiths use. I would wash a bunch of bullets in a Dawn and Lemonshine , agitate briskly and then rinse completely. However I wouldn't stop there. After drying all the water off I would put them back into a plastic jar and add a bottle of alcohol and shake them up. The alcohol would absorb any left over moisture from the hollow point cavity. Then I would funnel the used alcohol back into the bottle for the next time, and dump the bullets onto dry towels, wipe them dry and then let them sit while all the moisture evaporates away. The last part you may want to do in well ventilated room. Wouldn't want to create an explosive atmosphere.

That's the same method that I use before I moly coat my bullets. Works great.

 

[stifffingers]

That's the same method that I use before I moly coat my bullets. Works great.

I'm starting to wonder if it would be better to use Methanol, aka Drygas.
It absolutely will take out all water and will evaporate much faster than watered down rubbing alcohol as sold in drug stores.

 

[Buckeyedoc87]

When sorting base to ogive you should be aware that all bullet manufacturers when finished with the swaging they wash and rinse the bullets, dry them and package. There is a residual film that forms on the bullet depending on how efficient the rinsing was. Sort fifty or more bullets, most likely you will have two main groups about .001 apart and some that spread out some. Now borrow your wifes nail polish remover and a few Q tips and clean off the comparator and end of the indicator stem. Resort the longer bullets. I'll bet they are not the same as first measured. That residue tends to build up ever so slowly on the comparator and we are not getting a true measurement. Just be sure to let the acetone evaporate fully or wipe the units with a cloth to dry them. Copper and acetone don't like each other in the long term.

We need a guinea pig to test a batch of 50 each bullets for real world mal-effect...1. 50 cleaned and sterilized and 2. 50 Right out of the green box, factory crud and all(all same lot/weight and remaining parameters identical). I think the point is periodically wipe down your comparator working ends to keep the crud thickness down and you may find most of the bullets are essentially the same?

 

[L W P]

No, it's dirt on the bullets and lube left there. Matt

I guess I better start cleaning my Wilson bullet seater stems. I might be seating my bullets .010" deaper than last year? To confirm I'll seat 10 rounds before cleaning and then 10 after cleaning just to see if there's a difference.

 

[dkhunt14]

I guess I better start cleaning my Wilson bullet seater stems. I might be seating my bullets .010" deaper than last year? To confirm I'll seat 10 rounds before cleaning and then 10 after cleaning just to see if there's a difference.

It has nothing to do with seating. It is a buildup you get in the comparitor insert from dirt and lube on bullets when sorting to ogive. It will cause the numbers to change as you measure bullets.

That would take a lot of buildup to seat .010 deeper. Matt

 

[L W P]

It has nothing to do with seating. It is a buildup you get in the comparitor insert from dirt and lube on bullets. It will cause the numbers to change as you measure bullets. Matt

How does it get on my Comparator and not on my seater stems? Since both of these tools touch the bullet at one point.

 

[spife7980]

I'm starting to wonder if it would be better to use Methanol, aka Drygas.
It absolutely will take out all water and will evaporate much faster than watered down rubbing alcohol as sold in drug stores.

What I use to mix up my lube, dries fast
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZCCYTWG/?tag=accuratescom-20

 

[dkhunt14]

How does it get on my Comparator and not on my seater stems? Since both of these components touch the bullet at one point.

I measure every round I load from base to ogive so i would see if it changed seating depth. The seater only touches a little towards the tip. When you stick a bullet in the comparitor it slides in and scrapes the lube and dirt off. It tends to buildup and it doesn't take much to make it change a .001. Matt

 

[L W P]

I measure every round I load from base to ogive so i would see if it changed seating depth. The seater only touches a little towards the tip. When you stick a bullet in the comparitor it slides in and scrapes the lube and dirt off. It tends to buildup and it doesn't take much to make it change a .001. Matt

I'm sorry I just don't think that anyone can shoot any difference between .001" seating depth. IMO

 

[stifffingers]

I'm sorry I just don't think that anyone can shoot any difference between .001" seating depth. IMO

Ah Ha, their it is finally. At some point we are getting all our bullets into two groups only .001 apart. Then what's the need to do all the sorting. All the bullets would be seated within .001 and within your accuracy window. Happy shooting. Paul...Yes their are sloppily made bullets that need sorting, but by now we all should have found out who makes them, so we can avoid wasting time and money.

 

[dkhunt14]

I'm sorry I just don't think that anyone can shoot any difference between .001" seating depth. IMO

What happens if one bullet has more lube left on then another one? What does it do going down the barrel verses a cleaner one? How much difference does that make at 1000 yards? When a gun can shoot 3 inches at 1000 yards and you can lose a relay by .001, do those things matter? Matt

 

[Bart B.]

I measure every round I load from base to ogive so i would see if it changed seating depth. The seater only touches a little towards the tip.

Checking base to ogive dimension, do you measure on the ogive at the diameter where it centers in the rifling a few thousandths less thsn bullet diameter?

 

[dkhunt14]

Checking base to ogive dimension, do you measure on the ogive at the diameter where it centers in the rifling a few thousandths less thsn bullet diameter?

I don't measure from base. I don't measure the boat tail on the bullet when sorting. Just the actual bearing surface. Matt

 

[Bart B.]

My bullet's bearing surface to groove diameter were most always longer than the straight side of bullets from heel to ogive start. Their diameters were up to near .002" bigger than groove diameters. Worst case, .3075" groove versus .3093" bullet. They got squeezed down then lengthened a smidgen.

 

[okie]

my sorting technique is a little atypical---if my sausage fingers dont fumble them they get loaded. If they find the floor, they sit there and age harden until its time to have one of my kids gather em up. those get loaded in the next batch of cases. probably not worthy for a competition but fine for crows and hawgs....

 

[Eddie Harren]

Winter sure takes its toll on people. Normal, rational people will start to think about the damndest things. Some will even think about whether they own any type of measuring device that is capable of distinguishing between .001" and .002". It usually turns out to be a set of dial calipers.

Bettern' the funny papers.

 

[stifffingers]

Checking base to ogive dimension, do you measure on the ogive at the diameter where it centers in the rifling a few thousandths less thsn bullet diameter?

You are pretty much at the mercy of who makes the comparator that you are using. If you were to measure the same loaded round on comparators from five different manufacturers you would get five different readings. You only buy one and only use that one for all your bullets of the same caliber. That makes all you measurements relevant to you. I bought two 6mm comparators from Sinclair about four years apart. The measurements are .051 different, Had to burry one so I couldn't use it by mistake. Would it be advantageous to be able select where you are measuring from on the ogive, you would have to ask a ballistician. That question is like asking your Mom if she used one or two pinches of salt in your cup of soup.

 

[Bart B.]

You are pretty much at the mercy of who makes the comparator that you are using. If you were to measure the same loaded round on comparators from five different manufacturers you would get five different readings.

Exactly like cartridge spinners measuring bullet runout. None i know of use a front reference like shoulder headspacing cartridges have when fired.

Which is why my 30 caliber comparitor has a .305" to .306" diameter reference hole. That's where lands touch them most of the time. I don't think theres a better place.

But I measure from the case shoulder as its against and centered in the chamber shoulder when fired. Case head's got a thousandths or more spread in clearance to the bolt face at that time; not a repeatable reference.