Measuring Bullets

[Ccrider]

Find out how an ibs SOY measures them like @BartsBullets

Yes. That would be most informative. Please hel us out some @BartsBullets.

 

[rkittine]

Since I have the King Set up to do bearing surface rather than just base to ogave I do it. One of the things that I learned from shooting with Andy at Williamsport.

Bob

 

[David Christian]

Have you ever measured "quality" bullets ? If so,please tell us which ones you have found to be perfect .

@daleboy, Come on man, you know there is no such thing as a "perfect bullet." The OP has 18 posts and is asking what tools to use. Not everyone on here shoots competitive LR bench rest and will be able to see micro differences in either OAL, BTO, weight, etc.

Yes, could I invest the time and take all of these measurements, sure. Would I rather practice more trigger time, flag and range conditions to improve my scores? Yes.

 

[BartsBullets]

Yes. That would be most informative. Please hel us out some @BartsBullets.

As Far as sorting...
Short range custom bullets nothing.

Long range custom bullets I use a caliper and sort bullets by overall length into batches that are within .003 of each other.

Pretty much all this other stuff is a waste of time. But guys feel better doing it and they aren’t hurting anything.

Bart

 

[Dave Way]

I like the Holland’s Comparator. It measures base to ogive. I get very repeatable measurements and it’s really pretty quick.





Dave.

 

[Richard Prince]

I like the Holland’s Comparator. It measures base to ogive. I get very repeatable measurements and it’s really pretty quick.

View attachment 1174435

View attachment 1174436

Dave.

As Far as sorting...
Short range custom bullets nothing.

Long range custom bullets I use a caliper and sort bullets by overall length into batches that are within .003 of each other.

Pretty much all this other stuff is a waste of time. But guys feel better doing it and they aren’t hurting anything.

Bart

thanks Bart

 

[JMayo]

After weighing and sorting I chose a weight then sort them, sticking them in my calipers with hornady #23 for 6mm and compare one to another. Being boat tail I do not want the bottom to add length
Then line them up in categories.
Boatail To O =
50.s, 55.s 60.s ......and on. (My measurement/competitor)
I shoot five at a target so I want five like together.
The ones on the end IF there are any loaners go to sighters.

 

[dcali]

In my opinion, sorting by overall length is most meaningful. Thankfully it's also the easiest, and you only need normal calipers.

And a word of warning - if you want to measure diameter, you better be good at it. Measuring bullet after bullet to the tenth with a standard micrometer is not easy. (Many bullets are tapered, by the way). A better, but very expensive alternative is an indicating micrometer. And even with one of those, I wouldn't want to measure a bunch. Good bullets should be pretty darn close to each other anyhow.

Base to ogvie measurements are also difficult. Different bullets are easier or harder to measure based on the ogive shape. Doing it repeatably requires a light touch for some bullets, and is fairly easy on others.