Pointed some bullets

[bench]

Thought as I had a ton of time on my hands so I decided I would prep some 90gr VLD for my 223 FTR rig.
Pointed a batch of 1000
Weight sorted
Base to ogive sorted
Even weighed all the primers
weight sorted brass
And now my targets look like I shot at them with a shotgun
WTH just happened
Took some of my old loads to compare at the same time and the non pointed loads shot great just like they always do.

 

[Stumpy1]

No way to tell what is going on long-distance, but it is possible that you pointed them too much, crushing the tip. Best to leave a bit of the point open. You really need to sort by overall bullet length first, and point the longest ones first, adjusting the die as you get to shorter bullets.

If you haven't seen this, perhaps it will help

http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2015/09/pointing-basics-how-to-use-a-bullet-pointing-die-system/

Hope this helps,

Frank

 

[Jet]

It's been my experience that not all bullet designs respond the same to pointing. Treat pointing as part of your tuning process. Do all your standard load development first. Once you have a good tune, conduct a pointing test similar to running a seating depth test. Start with a slight point and increase slightly for each test group fired and see where that takes you.

Test at the distance you compete at if possible.

Good shooting.

Rich

 

[Richard Coody]

need a little more practice. easy to overdo it. practice on some cheaper bullets. VLD's don't need pointing. here is a good read.

http://www.6mmbr.com/bulletpointer.html

 

[USMCDOC]

In my experience with all of the 90's that i have shot, i didn't really see the need to point them up. Yes, i saw a difference in elevation, but i don't think that there was that much of an improvement in the wind to warrant the effort. So i stopped pointing them up. On a lot of the larger caliber bullets, pointing works, i just don't see the point (pun intended!) in doing so with the 224 caliber 90 grain pills.

 

[bench]

Thanks fellas
Well I got a pile of pointed bullets and sure dont want to throw them away.
Do you think I should revisit my seating depth now that they have been pointed??????

 

[dmoran]

It doesn't take much pressure when pushing down on the bullet when pointing to deform the boat-tail and/or bearing diameter. Any deformation of the boat-tail will greatly effect the way the bullet flies. It's very easy to "over point" bullets causing deformation, that typically can be felt in the amount of force applied in the press handle's stroke.

Personally when I point bullets I am only after uniforming the tips, not after the increase to BC. When I adjust the pointing die down I want very minimal to no force to be felt in the press handle stroke (at the bottom). I also always test the amount that I point and let the target tell me how much to point, and if to point at all. A 0.010" closing to the meplat/tip is typically about the most I ever point my bullets.

My 2-cents
Donovan

 

[jsthntn247]

I screwed up a bunch of 90's in the past. What was your pointing procedure?

 

[bench]

I feel that I pointed correctly and still have the hollow point left open about half of what is was when I started pointing.
I do not feel that I deformed the bullet in any way I just wanted to uniform the point.
Now I have a pile of bullets that shoot like hell and will try some seating depth changes to see if I can salvage these bullets.
I also have a box of sierra (500) which I see are also pointed from the factory and may give them a try.

 

[dmoran]

@bench -

If your sure you did not deform them, another option you could try/test trimming them, letting the target tell you if it improves there accuracy and by how much to trim.

Good Luck
Donovan

 

[johara1]

Over all length has a lot to do with it I have seen some so called bullet makers with .050+ difference in length. Measure the shank and at the heal of the boat tail before you point and after, if it changes it is junk. I try to hold a couple of thousands in length and run them and set again if the length changes much. You are sitting on the boat tail and the bullet is not supported so be gentle ...... Jim

 

[XTR]

I'm going to be the odd man out here and say you did something else that messed up your load, not pointing the bullets. If you didn't try to close them to a needle point and just closed up all the tips a little it's something else.

I've never shot 90VLDs past 300 yards that were not pointed. I've screwed up my load before, but I've never felt the pointing hurt them. Compare your seating depth to your working load.