How much do Bullets really matter

[JamesnTN]

i had an eye opening experience yesterday morning. As I was load developing for why I call Stubby (26" 6 JDP) I had some fire form loads I needed to run thru as well so after I finished up my old developing tests at 300 yards I shot this 5 shot group with junk Bullets, and what I mean by junk is they are pulls dropped Bullets of all sorts of weights and styles. Weights ranged from 103-108 and I shot BT VLD, hybrids and some VT I had laying around. Nothing special on seating depth at all just grabbed them out of my junk bullet pan and seated them.
They all were shot using 31.0 grains of Varget and a BR4 primer.

FF at 300 yards



For some that may say it's a fluke. Here's another 5 shot 300 yard group




Ok and some gonna say what's it going to do further out? Well after my testing at 300 I went to 600 yards testing yesterday evening. After my testing I had some more fire form loads to shoot thru. So I got a good zero with the loads and 8 out of 10 shots hit a 2" swinger dead center 1 shot hit the stem of the swinger roughly 2" high and the other missed all together.
No pic of the swinger sorry.
Makes one scratch his head a bit thinking about what I shot on paper and then on steel. Would I do that in a match? No but hell a ballon busy or egg shoot may just work for such junk FF loads

 

[dragman]

You answered your own questions with the 10 shots. for the most part 8 or 9 out of 10 in a really good rig they will do what they are supposed too. But 10 or 20% that just do something stupid isn't gonna work for any real competition.

 

[284winner]

Your good with most bullets out to 500. After that you will see how much bullets are different. Especially past 600.

 

[normmatzen]

You just re-discovered one of the constants of long range shooting with non-saami cases.
Every fire forming shot is better than the final case wrt accuracy!
So, one should reserve fire forming to club matches!

 

[Homerange]

You bet the right bullet matters.

Old L56 Sako varmint barrelled 222 shoots 0.3" groups @100 yds all day long with flat based Hornady 50gr #2240 with basic load development BUT it likes eating nothing else. Nothing at all. Boat tails, no way. Grumble grumble.......

 

[1shot]

I was told many years ago by a shooter, rifle smith a designer and legend, that only three things really count in accurate shooting. The the three B's.
Bullets
Barrels
Brass
Somehow, that always stuck with me.
Lloyd

 

[ebb]

My 6PPC has shot several 5 shot groups in the 0s with 65 grain Berger's. Was fire forming with Hornady's and about 3/4s of an inch is the best with the Hornaday's and not the burgers.

 

[22BRGUY]

All bullets have to land somewhere.

 

[noylj]

Even ugly cast lead pistol bullets can do well out to 100 yards--if the base is completely filled out.
As long as the base of the bullets is in good shape, you'll be surprised just how well dinged/dented bullets can shoot. They may not be match winners at the top level of competition, but they'll do quite well.
The problem folks forget is when some top level match shooter opines about accuracy, he/she is talking about 0.05" or smaller effects. Most will never see any effect on target from most of things they consider important. They are correct for their level of shooting.

 

[WyleWD]

That is an eye opener James. Seems to me I've seen this before, where the rifle was well smithed, skilled reloader and shooter. WD

 

[jonbearman]

James what is a 6 JDP cartridge made from and what does it look like?

 

[JamesnTN]

James what is a 6 JDP cartridge made from and what does it look like?

It's similar to Sam Halls 40* BR except mine has less case capacity

 

[BOBC]

I was told many years ago by a shooter, rifle smith a designer and legend, that only three things really count in accurate shooting. The the three B's.
Bullets
Barrels
Brass
Somehow, that always stuck with me.
Lloyd

I shot NRA High Power in the 60's 70's & 80's. I believe the slogan then was, Bullets, Barrels & Bedding.

 

[tclaunch]

That is an eye opener James. Seems to me I've seen this before, where the rifle was well smithed, skilled reloader and shooter. WD

I`m starting to really like this guy......!

 

[K22]

Assuming quality equipment and a powder suitable for the caliber; in my experience bullet selection is the single most important factor in group size. The Lyman Reloading Handbook also makes the assertion which I've found to be true.

 

[Tim Singleton]

I up and decided this past winter I was going to take up bullet making.
How's that going for ya? Some might ask. Well the answer is not to good

How much do bullets really matter. IMO one of the most if not the most important.
I went to my first two matches this year shooting my new shiny bullets. Went from doing fairly well at the end of last year to the bottom third of the field this year but fast.
Started out this years Shamrock with three straight groups in the mid .3s before I had all I could stand. Loaded up some trusty Bart bts and shot a .140 the next group followed by a .240.
Fought hard the next three yard ages and pulled myself up from 40 something to 17th.
Bullets matter

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Bullets are equally up there with barrels. There is a huge difference in a fine handmade bullet and bullets that were shoveled from a bin into a box.

 

[DRNewcomb]

Some friends of mine once got a bucket full of Mexican Match pulled bullets from a contact in the National Guard. These were really nasty. They had been pulled by running into press and clamped onto with a pair of vice grip pliers then the press pulled down. Most of the bullets had the teeth marks from the pliers and some were misshapen. They tested them and found that most shot good enough for 100 yd reduced NMC practice matches.

 

[Steve Ladino]

My pet loads always have the best (Custom & Berger ) bullets in them.....wouldn't consider anything else for competition purposes.

 

[mac86951]

I'll just add that bullets matter a little at least. Otherwise you might find someone trying 100 BR with pistol powder, COW, and careful wads of TP wondering the difference between Charmin and cottonelle...