Projectile weight vs accuracy?

[Koda]

How much does 1/10th grain affect accuracy/precision in projectile weights?
Most of my supply weighs + or – 1/10th than nominal and Ive been only using the exact nominal weight to develop my load recipe... and running low. Im trying to decide if I need to buy more bullets to finish my load development with the exact nominal or pick one side to finish the load dev. Its frustrating that the exact nominal isnt at least the majority of the supply and odd that they are in the middle between + and – 1/10th…
Note: 25-06 with 120gr Nosler Partition

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[TTSX]

Enough to cost you the gold medal but probably not enough to determine whether a deer lives or dies

 

[Koda]

Enough to cost you the gold medal but probably not enough to determine whether a deer lives or dies

the OCD in me just wanted to confirm, but I figured this was what it would come down to. Part of me wants to strive for perfection since Ive gone down this reloading path.

 

[thorborg]

Without a Ransom rest or the like, (and maybe not even then) Even in my younger years, It would be difficult for me to claim accuracy upset over .1 grain difference., Though I hear your quest for perfection, and can relate..
Not being concentric, unbalanced, poor seating or other manufactured or procedural failings would be a different story.

As an aside; I have been using primarily Nosler polycarbonate tipped projectiles on most all my rifles without issue for their game expansion, and accuracy, since they first were made available to the public. (You'd think I'd own stock by now) I have long since stopped measuring and weighing them considering them "good enough" for me....again, for me.
Not to suggest anything disparaging about Speer, Hornady or Barns which I have also had good performance with, but keep going back to Nosler.

There was a benchrester, nearly a hundred years ago now, that went to trials and hand loaded the same brass shell over and over till the match was finished. That seems somewhere between dedication to perfection and insanity.

 

[ma96782]

IMHO.....
Just buy a $#@* load from one lot # and do your loading development.

Because.....
Maybe.....next time.....the bullet (even from the same mfn) will/might just change a bit. Yeah.....look at the shape (ogive) and/or the placement of the crimp groove just to start.

Aloha, Mark

 

[fredoesway]

do you weigh and sort your bullets to +/_ . of course you do if you want precision. so do you adjust powder charge to each bullet. by +/_ . HMMMM...........

 

[DizzyJ]

I highly doubt you'll see any difference in the flight path of those bullets.

In other words, load em up!

 

[Longwalkhome]

Sometimes folks stand too close to get a good look at what they are doing. Accuracy comes from everything being the same every time it's done, that isn't possible. Each shot changes the conditions for everything to be the same and time controls everything.

At best a man can repeat his own performance just a few times in a row, then he starts over.

Just opinion

 

[Koda]

So Im still very new to reloading and I started weighing and sorting my bullets as a part of improving my own consistency and technique. I have no idea if +/- 1/10th of a projectile weight affects my precision but on my first range trip with sorted bullets I achieved more than one sub MOA 3 shot string... but that could be only from the better brass I switched to, better case sizing consistency, seating depth, and charge weight im focusing on... for the first time ever, I achieved strings of fire with single digit extreme spread and standard deviations. I dont want to jump the gun (pun intended) and reach any conclusions yet with still such few data points, so why I asked here before I reject most of my bullets. I figure now I will probably load up the rest within a +/- 2/10th tolerance of projectile weights as a tolerance for my load recipe and call it good.

 

[Longwalkhome]

How much accuracy is "good enough"

 

[Koda]

How much accuracy is "good enough"

when you've reached your full potential...

 

[DizzyJ]

How much accuracy is "good enough"

This is good enough for me.

 

[41mag]

Part of me wants to strive for perfection since Ive gone down this reloading path.

So were my own original intentions. In standing handgun Joe Rangegames Guy, though, the 0.001" here & the 0.01g there are of less influence on perfect target than the individual daily fluctuations a psych professor liked to call "Incipient reticulation". Tiny random variables may be identifiable, and perhaps even quantifiable, maybe even correctable. Sometimes.
Yet when all factors are within measurable spec, and we still miss
that perfect group, then what?
The high precision x-ring pistol shots are at their competitive best for a modestly short period. While still most excellent in a posse of "Joe Rangegamers" he can tell the pristine edge has escaped at some point.

I don't believe that point is only a matter of 0.001 specs.

 

[Koda]

Tiny random variables may be identifiable, and perhaps even quantifiable, maybe even correctable. Sometimes.
Yet when all factors are within measurable spec, and we still miss
that perfect group, then what?

Then you average things out for a practical application. I'm just a hunter, and occasional recreational shooter... except I enjoy trying to improve my skills rather than just wasting ammo on tin cans calling it good enough. Im not a perfectionist though, ive learned to discard up to 30% of my shots or shooting days as just off.
I also dont have anything else to do with my new reloading gear once I develop this hunting load. If I can quantify something that improves my precision, I'll do it.

 

[JuglansRegia]

Keeping things as consistant as possible will not hurt accuracy, but with a projectile designed specifically for hunting, your efforts might be in vain.

 

[Koda]

Keeping things as consistant as possible will not hurt accuracy, but with a projectile designed specifically for hunting, your efforts might be in vain.

Its important to distinguish the difference here between accuracy and precision. For this topic Im only interested in learning what an acceptable projectile weight tolerance range should be? The partition is a hunting bullet yes, but there are some outliers in the supply that weigh as much as 0.4gr off of nominal. The Partition is capable of sub MOA from what Im seeing so far, if I can identify and exclude my own inconsistencies. Whatever the partition is capable of in my rifle, I want to exclude anything that exceeds that. I dont intentionally charge +/- 0.4gr of powder just because its for hunting... I dont see why the projectile weight would not have a tolerance range as well.

 

[Longwalkhome]

just a fun test of your full potential.

5 clay pigeons at a hundred yards shot on demand from each shooting position.

Standing
Kneeling
Squatting
Prone
Sitting

Have fun.

 

[DizzyJ]

just a fun test of your full potential.

5 clay pigeons at a hundred yards shot on demand from each shooting position.

Standing
Kneeling
Squatting
Prone
Sitting

Have fun.

Squatting or kneeling I'd probably be screwed. Lol

 

[DizzyJ]

For bigger game hunting, my loads are more generous as far as group size goes. I think anything sub moa would be good to go for large game.

For sage rats, not so much.

I still go through the load work up pretty much the same way. I'm just less picky with the final result.

 

[Certaindeaf]

There's an old article in American Rifleman where they removed metal on the noses of rifle bullets of different equal amounts and also degree of angle and very little effect on accuracy was noted. When the same was done to the bases, horrible accuracy was gotten with just the slightest damage to the edge of the base.

Also, Chapter 29 in Vaughn's book, (bullet weight variation) he talks about it a bit..

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