Bullet sorting - how much sorting is enough?

[Ahhnother8]

In the next five weeks there will be five major long-range matches in California, so the 2000 Sierra bullets below should all be gone by the end of April. They are sorted first by weight, into 1/10 grain batches. Then each batch is further sorted by length. It's really not important what each pile weighs or how long they are. What is important is to load and shoot each pile separately. In theory, it will result in smaller group sizes, more points and a higher X-count. At least that's what I read on the interwebs...

[highpower790]

Are those all 155s?,they look bigger.

[Kablemodem]

My come pre-sorted by Nosler and Sierra. Each box has the bullet weight in grains printed on it.

[LynnJr]

Lane
Let me know which bullet your shooting and I will sort you a sampling done to Bench rest standards with all the tricks done.
You shoot some groups and post your results either way.
I will spin them trim the meplats point them and sort them.
You load them and seat them using a comparator in neck turned brass that I spin on the Juenke.

[Mike402]

Good Lord, 1/10gr batches. Is this for benchrest competitions?

[rm1911]

Just curious, what is the standard deviation? I'd figure with these being built on fairly decent equipment it should be pretty small. I'm wondering what the range is as for a 168 a .5 grain difference would be .2%.

[stilly]

Ahhhah ha ha.

I see the science coming to the surface a little more in here!

[highpower790]

Good Lord, 1/10gr batches. Is this for benchrest competitions?

Palma Rifle long range!

[SonofWWIIDI]

I've wondered the same thing. Especially since I watched a documentary about military snipers and the loading that they do. Guy was weighing each bullet and putting them in different batches according to that weight.

So, tagged.

[highpower790]

I've wondered the same thing. Especially since I watched a documentary about military snipers and the loading that they do. Guy was weighing each bullet and putting them in different batches according to that weight.

So, tagged.

Yeah ,Ive watched that too,but I think in the field snipers are going to get what ever comes out of the box from L.C....M118 175gr or similar for a 223 with a 77gr bullet.

[Yreka]

I've wondered the same thing. Especially since I watched a documentary about military snipers and the loading that they do. Guy was weighing each bullet and putting them in different batches according to that weight.

So, tagged.

Remember the name of the doc by chance ? Sounds interesting

[Ahhnother8]

We shoot .308 rifles from 300 to 1,000 yards. Some of the ranges compete out to 1,200 yards. The international rules (Palma / Fullbore) we compete under require an unmodified .308 chamber, with 155 grain bullets. It is also all with iron sights and a sling.

Sierra 155 grain Palma bullet - #2156

The three piles are:
154.90 - 154.99 grains
155.00 - 155.09 grains
155.10 - 155.19 grains

This is very good consistency and sorting was not really necessary for this lot # of bullets. That is not always the case and I am looking for that one bullet that slipped through and will cost me a point in a match. Each weight class is then sorted by overall length and put into ziplock bags. I loaded some ammo today and started at one end of the spectrum and will work through them in sequence.

Lynn, I appreciate the offer, but have a few issues. These bullets have the tips almost completely closed, which you might be able to see in the picture. You could not even get the finest needle made through that hole. About four years ago, I pointed a bunch of bullets at Tierney's and we didn't close them up this much. Sierra has been getting them better every year. I am interested in what could be done to make them all the same, rather than having to sort them and shoot them in sequence. Although, before we pointed them, we did have to sort them all anyhow and adjusted the bullet pointing die for each batch.

From the other picture, you can see the bullet bearing surface is only about .165" into the case neck. I full-length size the brass and the neck bushing only sizes 75%+- neck, so the lower 25% of the neck is always just fire-formed. It is Lapua Palma brass, but I am considering neck turning it. Not looking forward to doing 2,000 cases though. I have not neck turned anything in 10+ years. Any thoughts?

Shooting with a sling and irons also makes testing a bit more nebulous. It is easy to tell if the BC is different, as the group will form higher or lower. August is the Long-Range World Championships, so I am looking for anything/everything that will put more bullets closer to the center.

[LynnJr]

Lane
In longrange benchrest we would calculate your 0.3 grain bullet weight variation in order to get a better BC number. We would then calculate the vertical due to BC variation and the muzzle velocity variation associated with varying weight bullets to give us a number in inches.

I like that you had to re-adjust your pointing die for each batch of bullets. A lot of shooters trim meplats and point without sorting and they end up with bullets all over the map and no improvement in grouping.

The only step you might consider due to your rules on the rifle itself would be spinning your bullets and brass on a Juenke if you havent done that already just to get rid of the fliers?

2000 bullets is two barrels in benchrest.

Neck turning just allows you to keep the bullets centered in the bore but with 2000 pieces of brass you would need another month.

If you need a Juenke let me know.