Trimming and pointing: I'm stumped

[jsthntn247]

I just trimmed and pointed a box of bullets. I sorted all bullets base to ogive first and got no more than .0015 difference but I sorted anyway. I then took the shortest base to tip bullet and set the trimmer to take .004 off it which cleaned it up 100%. I trimmed all bullets at this setting. After trimming I set up the pointer and pointed in small increments until I saw the bto measurenet change. I tried two bullets and both times bto changed. I the backed off the die .010 and pointed 10 bullets and got no change in bto. I then pointed the rest. I now have bullets that vary in base to tip length by .011 which is exactly how much variance I saw before trimming. The meplat opening is noticeably smaller on the longer bullets and gets more open the shorter they are accordingly. I know these won't shoot good but where did I go wrong?

 

[Terry]

There are many ways to do this. With the one you selected, I would sort and shoot them.

I like to just point to a 50% closure of the tip and shoot.

Do what works for you.

 

[jsthntn247]

There are many ways to do this. With the one you selected, I would sort and shoot them.

I like to just point to a 50% closure of the tip and shoot.

Do what works for you.

Undoubtedly dont know what works Terry. This is what i was told to do by Hoover. Seems the biggest differences in oal comes from the ogive to the tip.

 

[Erik Cortina]

I just trimmed and pointed a box of bullets. I sorted all bullets base to ogive first and got no more than .0015 difference but I sorted anyway. I then took the shortest base to tip bullet and set the trimmer to take .004 off it which cleaned it up 100%. I trimmed all bullets at this setting. After trimming I set up the pointer and pointed in small increments until I saw the bto measurenet change. I tried two bullets and both times bto changed. I the backed off the die .010 and pointed 10 bullets and got no change in bto. I then pointed the rest. I now have bullets that vary in base to tip length by .011 which is exactly how much variance I saw before trimming. The meplat opening is noticeably smaller on the longer bullets and gets more open the shorter they are accordingly. I know these won't shoot good but where did I go wrong?

Have you shot them? How do you know they won't shoot good? I think you will be surprised how well they will shoot.

 

[XTR]

Don't get too wrapped up in internet reloading. Let the targets tell you what matters.

 

[jsthntn247]

I just trimmed and pointed a box of bullets. I sorted all bullets base to ogive first and got no more than .0015 difference but I sorted anyway. I then took the shortest base to tip bullet and set the trimmer to take .004 off it which cleaned it up 100%. I trimmed all bullets at this setting. After trimming I set up the pointer and pointed in small increments until I saw the bto measurenet change. I tried two bullets and both times bto changed. I the backed off the die .010 and pointed 10 bullets and got no change in bto. I then pointed the rest. I now have bullets that vary in base to tip length by .011 which is exactly how much variance I saw before trimming. The meplat opening is noticeably smaller on the longer bullets and gets more open the shorter they are accordingly. I know these won't shoot good but where did I go wrong?

Have you shot them? How do you know they won't shoot good? I think you will be surprised how well they will shoot.

Haven't got a chance to, I don't remember what the sun looks like, it's rained every day with 20mph winds here lately. Wish I could get a Bob Green comparator for this caliber I believe the longer bullets would show up sorting with it. I measured some more since posting this and thinking on it. I took some of the longer bullets and trimmed them on the same setting. 6/10 trimmed to 1.252 which was my intended trim length and what the shorter bullets trimmed to as well. However, the other 4 would only trim to 1.258. There is something about those that are different but I can't measure it.

 

[kev77]

I agree with Eric shoot them first.. I dont trim just point.

 

[1shot]

My comparator measures from the boat tail/body junction to the ojive. I have found that the boat tail portion can vary the amount you are speaking about. There are several ways to isolate different parts of the bullet to determine where the variable is. The reality is you want them all the same, regardless of where
the variance is. The pointing part of the process just raises the BC
I hope this help,
Lloyd