I pre-apologize for this question. I know opinions will vary and also, because I ask a lot of bullet measuring questions. Buuttttt. , in the recesses I’d my mind a thought hit me about pointing or trimming bullets. If the lengths are not the same, they will trim or tip differently? Does this give a whole new meaning to measuring the bullet? And which measurements would be important for this process?
Bullet tipping based on bullet length?
- Thread starter DngBat7
- Start date
Ned Ludd
Silver $$ Contributor
Yes - they will end up with different length points. You can sort by bullet OAL into groups of about one and a half thousandths, set the pointing die mic and point away without changing it for all the bullets of a single length group. That is what I do, primarily because I don't like trimming bullets. I usually get about 6 to 7 length groups from a typical Lot of Bergers.
Alternatively, you can trim all your bullets to the same length first (usually based off the shortest bullet in the Lot). However, you end up with a similar problem in that after trimming, the bullets that were much longer to begin with will have a much wider meplat than the ones that were shorter to begin with. That difference may not always be made uniform solely by pointing as the next step. IMO - the best approach is still to length sort bullets into groups by OAL first, then either point directly, or trim and point, whichever you decide to do.
Alternatively, you can trim all your bullets to the same length first (usually based off the shortest bullet in the Lot). However, you end up with a similar problem in that after trimming, the bullets that were much longer to begin with will have a much wider meplat than the ones that were shorter to begin with. That difference may not always be made uniform solely by pointing as the next step. IMO - the best approach is still to length sort bullets into groups by OAL first, then either point directly, or trim and point, whichever you decide to do.
Last edited:
pirate ammo
Guaranteed to take the wind out of their sails
easy was yesterday,,
Ned Ludd
Silver $$ Contributor
It is easy - you can sort several hundred bullets by length in an hour while watching the news on TV. Once you find the correct die micrometer setting for any one of those length groups, all you need to do is re-adjust for any other length group based on the OAL difference. If you have length-sorted bullets and know the proper die micrometer setting, the pointing process itself is relatively painless.
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