Sorting bullets

[Jerry Snyder]

I usually only shoot out to 200 yards. For my 6 Dasher, I shoot the Berger 105 hybrids. Would sorting bullets by overall length do me any good? I seat the bullets using the BTO process. I opened a box and sorted them anywhere from 1.244 to 1.259 inches. What makes sense? If sorting by overall length, do you group certain lengths together, and maybe use the outliers for blow off shots or fouling the barrel? Thanks for your time.

 

[ShtrRdy]

If you're going to sort bullets by length, measure the bullet base to ogive. Most high quality bullets will be quite consistent in this dimension.

 

[Ranger188]

Your first question, no.
Second question, sorting by OAL, for that distance I'd sort to .002
Group them up should get 4-5 piles and shoot the piles together.
Weed out any really long or short and use them as foulers.
But shooting out to 200 yards, I wouldn't waste my time. Not far enough
to see much difference.

 

[quest450]

Good timing I just sorted some bullets today by OAL before I trim and point them

 

[RegionRat]

Would sorting bullets by overall length do me any good?

Short answer. Typically, no, not at 200 yards with a Berger 105 Hybrid.

The types of bullet-sort concepts you are mentioning are associated with exterior ballistics and time-of-flight going out on the trajectory that are factors farther than 200 yards. Those parameters on the Berger 105 Hybrid are not going to show up at 200 yards.

All the folks who can take completely random 105 hybrids and shoot 200-10X or better at 600 yards should give you an idea that you would be into a very rare discussion to detect any benefits to sorting at 200 yards.

I'm not telling you there is something wrong with using the 105 Hybrid at 200 yards, but I am telling you there are better bullets to run if your goal is 200 yards.

 

[Rwfish]

As I purchase bullets from a high quality custom supplier for my HV 30br I didn’t think sorting was going to be necessary. Decided to do an initial weight sort on the 1K I just received, 118gr .308. All were 118.0gr to 118.3gr with 80% being 118.2/118.3gr. BUT, I pulled 3 that were at 125.4gr!! WTH? Measured the bullet profile dimensions and they match the others.. Lessoned learned, now have to determine if there is any advantage to doing a dimension sort on these also…..

 

[DaveTooley]

OAL is a function of the pointing operation and how the meplat is formed. IT MEANS NOTHING. Spend yout time uniforming meplats. At distance that means something.
Ogive to base may/will mean something. When I did testing measuring the differences in BC, influenced by the meplat, I saw no difference in BC numbers of bullets that varied as much as .030" OTB. That's not to say OTB should be ignored but at 200 yds a lot gets lost in the noise.

 

[quest450]

Can’t get my phone cam to focus on the meplat but you can see the difference between trimmed and pointed bullets

 

[DaveTooley]

Good timing I just sorted some bullets today by OAL before I trim and point them

View attachment 1673122

When you trim the meplats, what area of the bullet are you using as a reference point?

 

[mikecr]

What attribute of your bullets do you want as consistent?
Base Diameter, base length, base angle, bearing length, nose length, ogive radius, meplat diameters, BTO, OAL, weight, diameter, Sg, BC?
Simple OAL means nothing in particular about each, nor their summation to result.

 

[quest450]

When you trim the meplats, what area of the bullet are you using as a reference point?

I use CTK Precision caliber specific trimmer attachment that indexes of the ogive, I sort my bullets into.003” piles then trim .010” before pointing

 

[quest450]

What attribute of your bullets do you want as consistent?
Base Diameter, base length, base angle, bearing length, nose length, ogive radius, meplat diameters, BTO, OAL, weight, diameter, Sg, BC?
Simple OAL means nothing in particular about each, nor their summation to result.

I shoot custom bullets so thjey're pretty consistent right out of the box, I sort by OAL and run them on Bullet Genie to eliminate any outliers

 

[DaveTooley]

I use CTK Precision caliber specific trimmer attachment that indexes of the ogive, I sort my bullets into.003” piles then trim .010” before pointing

View attachment 1673462

Sorting by OAL and then indexing off the ogive is a waste of time. Using the ogive as the constant reference point through the entire process , trim, sort OTB, then point. everything uses the datum point. I assume your pointing die references off the base of the bullet which makes the OTB base measure key to lot sorting.

 

[quest450]

Mr Tooley.....I'm glad I'm not an engineer I guess, I try not to overthink things I'll leave it to shooters like you Sir, I go by what the target tells me and it has been working for me but thank you for your input.

 

[JEFFPPC]

I hear a difficult part of making the bullet is drawing out the tip. Using Bob Greens tool designed to measure this to the fourth decimal pont I separate into usually 3 piles. The last 500 107SMKs where so consistent I did 2 piles but it reality they where all within .0001. Then I separate those piles by base to ogive normally into 3 piles based on 3 decimal points. My loaded rounds measured base to ogive with be within plus or minus about .0025. The last 3000 107s have been remarkable less one 500 box. Must have been the culls, lol. All from the same lot. Separated into about 8 different piles plus about 20 relegated to sighters the remaing piles shot fine. Yes they need sorted because maybe 1 or 2 every box become sighters normally, some times crazy different. But I have done well since I switched to them about 6 years ago. The tipped versions have been a step up. I sorted custom bullets also. That one bad one will cost you a match.

 

[DaveTooley]

Pointy up a bullet is supposed to be simple. Uniform lube, uniform press stroke. That get's you uniform OTB measurements. Then other variables come into play for the meplat. Mostly jacket related. pinch trimmed or parted off. Berger does it one way, Sierra does the other. Then metallurgy, soft-hard, how does it fold/flow as it is run into the die.

 

[Mulligan]

Mr Tooley.....I'm glad I'm not an engineer I guess, I try not to overthink things I'll leave it to shooters like you Sir, I go by what the target tells me and it has been working for me but thank you for your input.

And, it darn sure works for you!!!!
CW

Edited to add the word “for”

 

[Mulligan]

This is a super good thread, many thanks to all the reply’s and the OP for asking the questions.

Mr Tooley, I’m trying to follow along with your advice (thoughts).
Assuming hand pulled bullets, If the long range bullets all come off the same core-seat die and point-up die, is there much room for variation in the base to ogive measurements?
Should short range bullets be sorted differently than long-range bullets?
Thanks
CW

 

[paulT]

Anyone pointing 200.20x with the Hoover die ifso how many thousands from zero are you selecting on the hoover die when pointing.

 

[quest450]

I’m not BUT I’m in the process of trimming and pointing 133 gr Berger EH as we speak
I’m trimming them.010” and pointing them.020 on my die