So it has been said

[avidflyer]

We had a good conversation about bullet sorting, and my take from some of the very experienced/ to include custom bullet manufacturers is...if your going to sort bullet, OAL is a more effective / productive number to sort by than base to ogive. Still not a sorter but was debating sorting some over winter.

 

[Joe Salt]

If you're pointing I suggest you do exactly that!

Joe Salt

 

[avidflyer]

If you're pointing I suggest you do exactly that!

Joe Salt

No pointing just sorting and shooting

 

[BartsBullets]

No pointing just sorting and shooting

That’s what I do 90 percent of the time. Occasionally I’ll trim them, but I do not point.

Bart

 

[shoot4fun]

I shoot @BartsBullets in 600/1,000 yard IBS matches and, after some random measuring, feel no need to do any sorting, trimming or pointing.
I do shoot other matches outside the BR arena and it's mostly Berger that gets the nod. I sort BTO instead of OAL because I feel, especially with VLDs, the ogive measure is more important when bullets are going to be in the lands. Not sure that makes sense to anyone else but it's just what I do. For some rifles it is the Hybrids and those get sorted same and then trimmed and pointed (in that order).
The Atips found their way into my 6.5PRC and, for my 6 Dasher repeater, I just finished testing them with excellent results. Maybe more expensive but, so far, I've seen no need to do all the time consuming work on them before hand.

 

[AJC]

That’s what I do 90 percent of the time. Occasionally I’ll trim them, but I do not point.

Bart

I was curious the value and or ease of trimming for even meplats vise going through the additional effort of pointing. My reason being even drag not maximum performance. Also seems like trimming would add enough additional effort without all the errors possible in additional pointing.

 

[BartsBullets]

I was curious the value and or ease of trimming for even meplats vise going through the additional effort of pointing. My reason being even drag not maximum performance. Also seems like trimming would add enough additional effort without all the errors possible in additional pointing.

If I trim bullets I do it with a Girard trimmer. Which is pretty fast and accurate.
I’ve tested pointing using several different methods. Bottomline, its very easy to screw up a bullet while pointing. So for me the slight increase In BC isn’t worth the risk of a bad Bullet.

Bart

 

[muleman69]

Question? What is pointing?

 

[ShootDots]

I have some thoughts on bullet sorting. As Joe Salt stated "if you point your bullets, you NEED to sort base to tip"! If you do not do this, you will have bullets going into the pointing die where you could easily collapse some jackets and do almost nothing to others. I use a Plus / Minus of 1 thousandths for my pointing lot. Now as far as "Base to Ogive", I see nothing wrong with that, however, if you are using a tangent ogive bullet, that are "very jump tolerant", why spend the time? Now weight sorting may be another story. I have found bullets to be pretty dang consistent. However, I know of one very renowned F-Open shooter who was weighing some 180 Hybrids and found 1 that was 9 grains LESS! That would most certainly screw up your group or score. How often that happens, I have no idea. I don't weight sort them.

 

[Ned Ludd]

Question? What is pointing?

Pointing (or "tipping" is the use of a die that looks something like a cross between a re-sizing die and a seating die. Such dies generally have a re-sizing die-like body, with a micrometer top. Inside, there is a cylindrical steel insert that has a cone-shaped cavity that fits over the nose of the bullet. When the micrometer is set properly, the die insert will press down on the bullet nose and close up the meplat, resulting in a cone-shape "point" on tip of the bullet. This has the effect of reducing drag caused by the meplat, and can often increase the BC of a bullet anywhere from about 2% to 6%.

Specific inserts are selected based on the ogive profile of a given bullet so the cone shape of the pointed tip isn't too abrupt . Below is a cartoon depicting the cone-shaped cavity on two different pointing die inserts that gives a rough idea of what the pointing process accomplishes. Bullet meplats are often ragged and non-uniform, so some reloaders choose to trim them so as to create a more uniform meplat prior to pointing.

 

[watercam]

Pointing (or "tipping" is the use of a die that looks something like a cross between a re-sizing die and a seating die. Such dies generally have a re-sizing die-like body, with a micrometer top. Inside, there is a cylindrical steel insert that has a cone-shaped cavity that fits over the nose of the bullet. When the micrometer is set properly, the die insert will press down on the bullet nose and close up the meplat, resulting in a cone-shape "point" on tip of the bullet. This has the effect of reducing drag caused by the meplat, and can often increase the BC of a bullet anywhere from about 2% to 6%.

Specific inserts are selected based on the ogive profile of a given bullet so the cone shape of the pointed tip isn't too abrupt . Below is a cartoon depicting the cone-shaped cavity on two different pointing die inserts that gives a rough idea of what the pointing process accomplishes. Bullet meplats are often ragged and non-uniform, so some reloaders choose to trim them so as to create a more uniform meplat prior to pointing.

View attachment 1140054

Great treatise! Short and sweet.

 

[muleman69]

Pointing (or "tipping" is the use of a die that looks something like a cross between a re-sizing die and a seating die. Such dies generally have a re-sizing die-like body, with a micrometer top. Inside, there is a cylindrical steel insert that has a cone-shaped cavity that fits over the nose of the bullet. When the micrometer is set properly, the die insert will press down on the bullet nose and close up the meplat, resulting in a cone-shape "point" on tip of the bullet. This has the effect of reducing drag caused by the meplat, and can often increase the BC of a bullet anywhere from about 2% to 6%.

Specific inserts are selected based on the ogive profile of a given bullet so the cone shape of the pointed tip isn't too abrupt . Below is a cartoon depicting the cone-shaped cavity on two different pointing die inserts that gives a rough idea of what the pointing process accomplishes. Bullet meplats are often ragged and non-uniform, so some reloaders choose to trim them so as to create a more uniform meplat prior to pointing.

View attachment 1140054

This was great, always something to learn on this site.Thanks

 

[47WillysGuy]

We had a good conversation about bullet sorting, and my take from some of the very experienced/ to include custom bullet manufacturers is...if your going to sort bullet, OAL is a more effective / productive number to sort by than base to ogive. Still not a sorter but was debating sorting some over winter.

m

How anal are you or how anal do you want to be? By length, weight, bearing surface, base to ogive, or all.

I sort “bearing surface” because that part of the bullet is what touches the internal barrel surface. I measure bearing surface because I’ve had a 0.015” difference in my process of sorting.

Measure and test, measure and test.

And if you sort bullets, why not primers, too. I look for the oddball weighed primers. They don’t all weigh the same.