Bullet shape

[kris smith]

Scenario. I?m loading plinking ammo for my m1 rifle. Light loads not looking to make any long range match ammo. That being said, how important is bullet shapes ? I got 1k from American reloading .308 pull downs in a mix of 147 and 150 grain. I sorted them and 99% of the 150 grain projectiles are very similar to the hornaday 150 FMJ bt I have already there?s maybe 10 flat bottom bullets in the mix and are easy enough to separate. On the other hand the 147 pile that?s maybe 200 projectiles are all over the place on length and base type. And cannelure placement. Does the base really play a major part in loading them for a light load plinking round? I plan on separating further down to base types and oal now that they are separated by weight.

[jsanch03]

If the bullet profile are all fmj pointed bullets you?ll be fine. The issue will fall on how long you load your bullets. I to just bought and received a few thousand of the pulled 147grs from American reloading. I saw the mix with the 150s but went with the 147s because the picture provided looked like the bullets had minimal marks and no sealant around the bullet to deal with. I haven?t started loading for my M1 Garand in 308 with this batch of bullets but when I do it?s going to be on the single stage press not the Dillon so I can adjust the OAL as I see fit. Since you have a decent batch of bullets that are consistent you?ll more then likely be fine loading up without having to check length on a consistent basis. Now for the 147s you have that are all over the place I?d measure the lengths of the bullet and see what average you get. If it?s all overall still then load the bullets to the length that allows you to feed in your gun.

Sometimes American reloading will go into really good detail about the bullets and sometimes they just say ?pulled? and the consumer is left to gamble. Those 147s could be from contract demilled ammo or could be seconds aka rejects but still are safe to shoot.

[kcheung2]

For your stated purposes, none of that matters.

But...

In another post you mentioned you're trying to duplicate M2 rounds, which is not a light load. Shape isn't a factor but weight could be.

Your experience with the variations in 147 vs 150 reinforces my belief that 147s are only good for flinging lead downrange, while 150s are more useful if you're actually aiming. So if you're going to sort them out, you should load them with those different purposes in mind.

[ar15barrels]

Scenario. I?m loading plinking ammo for my m1 rifle. Light loads not looking to make any long range match ammo. That being said, how important is bullet shapes ? I got 1k from American reloading .308 pull downs in a mix of 147 and 150 grain. I sorted them and 99% of the 150 grain projectiles are very similar to the hornaday 150 FMJ bt I have already there?s maybe 10 flat bottom bullets in the mix and are easy enough to separate. On the other hand the 147 pile that?s maybe 200 projectiles are all over the place on length and base type. And cannelure placement. Does the base really play a major part in loading them for a light load plinking round? I plan on separating further down to base types and oal now that they are separated by weight.

The bullet shape effects how much case capacity it takes up at a given OAL.
In order to get the same velocity from different shape bullets (even of the same weight), you will have to adjust the powder charges to match the case capacities.

[kris smith]

What I meant by light loads is charge weights on the lighter side of the published data. Not a full top end load or a load that would hurt the op rod. I see a lot of 3006 loads that exceed safe for m1 velocities

[kris smith]

@jsanch03 this two boxes were the last they had of the 145-150. There was maybe 2 bullets that weighed closer to 145 than 147 so I just put them in with the 147s. There was a 174 and a 168 in there. None had sealant but all had some form of pull mark on them but that isn?t an issue for me as I?m not going to super accurate in a 70 year old rifle and with my terrible eyes. Plus my local range I go too is only 25 yards. And all my milsurp rifles sling brass forward of the firing line and I don?t want to lose any of my brass so they seldom get shot.

[bigbossman]

Well, you're loading plinking ammo for a rifle that, even with the best ammo, is a 2-4 MOA rifle. And your shooting it on a range that only goes out to 25 yards.

None of what you are asking about will make a difference. Pick a lighter load, and load to the same COAL. You're good.

[IronsightsRifleman]

If they have a crimp cannelure, seat them to that depth.