I’ve never been one for sorting my bullets. I don’t compete and I’m not convinced I’m a good enough shooter to see a benefit. However I’ve been loading some Speer 125 tnt out of a 500 count box and have noticed some pretty bad bullets. I’m a little concerned that it’s even to the point they could fly apart in the air as fast as they are sometimes run out of a 308 Winchester. I’m no expert so see the attached picture to decide for yourself. Either way I highly recommend giving them the once over before seating them. They are super cheap so I’ll keep shooting them.
Sort your Speer 125 tnt
- Thread starter chevytruck_83
- Start date
When you start checking these things you will find that almost all factory bullets are off in weight , some by a bunch or what we would call a bunch.... I just simply match a enough for a box and move on , doesn't really take that much time with a digital scale... I have seen even pistol bullets so far off that even the manufacturer said it was not possible , I informed him , well it's a digital scale soooo.... I sent them a thousand pack back they sent me a new pack plus an extra 250 for my time... Said they would use them for training..... Don't be scared to call them and ask them about how they look , Q/C has pretty much gone down hill in everything anymore...
Maybe cull by sight the real bad ones out , then make contact with the manufacturer... My only concern would be losing a nice animal over a bad bullet.... As far as weight sorting I find when combined with matching that with measurements on bearing surfaces then sorting them by those two things it makes a difference if you're trying to put five bullets in one hole , if not then it's a lot of work if you have a six inch sweet spot and +/- a half inch or even an inch meens nothing... There's alot of animals taken every year with a $13 a box of core-lokts which I would say don't even come close to your hand loads....
Maybe cull by sight the real bad ones out , then make contact with the manufacturer... My only concern would be losing a nice animal over a bad bullet.... As far as weight sorting I find when combined with matching that with measurements on bearing surfaces then sorting them by those two things it makes a difference if you're trying to put five bullets in one hole , if not then it's a lot of work if you have a six inch sweet spot and +/- a half inch or even an inch meens nothing... There's alot of animals taken every year with a $13 a box of core-lokts which I would say don't even come close to your hand loads....
I have also sorted the 125 TNT's by weight and BTO and didn't see a difference in groups in the BR. Never saw what looks like a bristle off of a wire wheel impressed in the point up though. I'm sure if you have several from a box that Speer would replace them, maybe all. "Shootem, shootem"
If they keep selling them for this price I’m not even gonna complain. They’re still plenty worth it. I just want others to be aware that are shooting them.
Those jackets were not properly annealed before cores seating/point forming in the swaging process. I see the same thing when I make .224 bullets from 22lr cases and do not anneal properly before core seating and point forming. The jackets fold over because they are not soft enough to properly form an ogive.
When I first started swaging jacketed bullets from 22lr cases I had quite a few of these misfits during the learning curve. Shot them all without issues through several AR15 barrels and a Steyr AUG. All made holes in the target and did not come apart along the way.... The thing that surprised me was that they were just as ''accurate'' as the properly formed .224's (between 1 and 2 moa @ 100m). Go figure....
Kind rgds from the Netherlands,
BolloX
When I first started swaging jacketed bullets from 22lr cases I had quite a few of these misfits during the learning curve. Shot them all without issues through several AR15 barrels and a Steyr AUG. All made holes in the target and did not come apart along the way.... The thing that surprised me was that they were just as ''accurate'' as the properly formed .224's (between 1 and 2 moa @ 100m). Go figure....
Kind rgds from the Netherlands,
BolloX
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