blemished bullets worth the money?

[LCazador]

A shooting friend recently asked me this. I had an incident that happened to me a few years back after COVID. I bought some blemished 6mm varmint bullets and after seating a few I started getting some weird cartridge base to ogive measurements. After some serious head scratching and measuring a few bullets from that same lot I found the lot varied by as much as .040" in bullet base to ogive! Never would have thought about dimensions being a "blemish".

 

[243winxb]

lot varied by as much as .040"

If manufacture is running 2 or 3 machines on the same bullet type, forming/finish dies may be different?

Some 2nds of 224 fmjbt bullets i bought, had the cannelure at 3 different places.

 

[markm87]

I gobble them up. Just depends on the end use. I avoid pulled bullets now though. I had a bad batch of pistol pull downs with .355 mixed with stuff in the .358 range and in between.

 

[Gary in MD]

Maybe for blasting or fire forming
Otherwise, Nope

 

[SKWERLZ]

I shoot quite a bit of blems/seconds, certainly not for high level competition but for boasting steel they are just fine.

 

[CF Junkie]

I have had mixed results but the problems are relatively rare.
I have had good results recently with Nosler RDFs "seconds".
I haven't noticed any variations in the RDF bullet OALs, or base to ogives lengths.
They might be a bit off OAL specs, but I find slight variations of 0.005 in bullets that are not seconds when I measure lot to lot.
A buddy bought some 'blemished' Sierra TMKs at a very good price and, when he got them, he found that they had cannelures. (TMKs don't have cannelures).
They shot pretty well so he was happy, but, wisely, didn't load anywhere near the cannelures.

 

[nmkid]

I have always had good luck with Nosler blems. I would buy them every time they came up. However, my shooting is just varmints and not competition. I made one of my farthest (575 yards) kill on a coyote with a blem.

 

[ShtrRdy]

The way I look at it, it depends on what you're doing with that caliber. For any of my rifles that shoot good and have a barrel life under 1500 rounds I like to only use known good bullets .

 

[RabbitSlayer]

I have shot about 600 50 gr vmax blems from midway for fireforming. Dang things shoot better than any of my 53 gr vmax loads.

 

[jds holler]

I have shot about 600 50 gr vmax blems from midway for fireforming. Dang things shoot better than any of my 53 gr vmax loads.

Kinda makes ya wonder if all that fire forming is doing you much good?
I've also experienced the "phenomenon?" of burning up powder and bullets for the purpose of ironing out brass to achieve that sweet fit in the chamber, and realizing that the load and accuracy is plenty good for anything I'll be doing with that rifle. jd

 

[Bill Norris]

A shooting friend recently asked me this. I had an incident that happened to me a few years back after COVID. I bought some blemished 6mm varmint bullets and after seating a few I started getting some weird cartridge base to ogive measurements. After some serious head scratching and measuring a few bullets from that same lot I found the lot varied by as much as .040" in bullet base to ogive! Never would have thought about dimensions being a "blemish".

I ran into this issue sometime back with some regular run bullets. Found as much as .008 - .010 variations between bullets. Sent them back to the manuf. and they replaced them.

 

[Dgd6mm]

I have shot about 600 50 gr vmax blems from midway for fireforming. Dang things shoot better than any of my 53 gr vmax loads.

I recon your barrel likes the 50 better than the 53.

 

[RabbitSlayer]

Kinda makes ya wonder if all that fire forming is doing you much good?
I've also experienced the "phenomenon?" of burning up powder and bullets for the purpose of ironing out brass to achieve that sweet fit in the chamber, and realizing that the load and accuracy is plenty good for anything I'll be doing with that rifle. jd

Its a 223 AI. If I tried to stuff 26.5 gr of n133 into a 223 case, I think it would flow out onto the floor and then blow my face off....

 

[RabbitSlayer]

I recon your barrel likes the 50 better than the 53.

I think all 4 barrels like 50s better.

 

[AckleymanII]

Seconds can also come from machines being changed over from one bullet to another. The setup does create various ogive lengths, as it is very similar to adjusting a full-length sizing die. Point up on Spitzer-type bullets is another issue with some lead bleed out.

Years ago, at Sierra, they would segregate all bullets made on one machine as a lot#. The bean counters took over, and several machines were combined with a specific tolerance between all machines to save money. Dies wear, so different machines will have that as an issue also. Cheap labor becomes another issue, causing issues.

 

[LCazador]

I have shot about 600 50 gr vmax blems from midway for fireforming. Dang things shoot better than any of my 53 gr vmax loads.

50 grain VMax shorter than 53 grain. They will stabilize better in 14 twist.

 

[RabbitSlayer]

50 grain VMax shorter than 53 grain. They will stabilize better in 14 twist.

All my barrels are 8 twist. I think the 53 just has a more extreme shape that makes it picky.

 

[SSL]

The only "Blems" I have tried were some 6mm, 80-grain Nosler varmint bullets I picked up several years ago. Bought 400 if I recall. Real good price and they shoot nearly as well as the Hornady 75-grain VMAX my rifle prefers. Only blemish was some discoloration. Wish I had purchased more of them.
Bullets with other issues such as scratches or other damage I would avoid.

 

[Tommie]

When it’s all said and done, precision is about the bullet hitting the correct spot. Variables throw a monkey wrench into the equation. I’m out on the blem thing since the definition seems to have changed to “anything from cosmetic to total reject”

 

[Bob3700]

Have used Sierra 107 seconds for yrs. I do sort them n they shoot just fine.