Why some bullets do not work

david1976

Well-Known Member
Possibly daft question here but as I cant find the answer im having to ask it :oops:

I have read a lot of posts on here from various members saying that certain bullets do not suit their particular make of rifle and they cant get a good group e.g. 80g federal or 100g privvi whereas other bullet makes of the same weight give excellent groupings.

What I wondered was if you were to take the bullet head of whatever bullet you are using that does not group well, pour out the powder and then reload with different charges working up or down could you get a proper grouping?

Does that make sense?
 
In my limited experience, i would say that removing the bullet and replacing with a different profile or weight of bullet could make the rifle shoot the round better, but as i found out recently, it wasnt the amount of powder that was the problem, nor was it the bullet itself, but it was the OAL of the round and my rifle. Ive also heard people talking about the bullet struggling to stabilise in flight due to its weight and length of barrel.. Its a fascinating subject.

Answer to your question is that it could help, but theres a multitude of other variables too.. Which is why reloading can be rewarding..
 
JCS:-I find this a bit confusing, factory ammo as a rule, because of different makes of rifle (we're talking of a specific calibre say 243) these rifles have differing leades, so the factory ammo will always "jump"into the rifling, on some rifles this may vary between say 030" and 020" now that I understand, now we come to the "jam", he's allocating that on some bullets to jam 015" into the rifling, surly this will create tremendous/dangerous pressure in the chamber and a danger to the shooter and anyone in the vicinity........., sorry JC, I should have stated it's the rilfemans blog that I'm referring to......callie
 
Possibly daft question here but as I cant find the answer im having to ask it :oops:

I have read a lot of posts on here from various members saying that certain bullets do not suit their particular make of rifle and they cant get a good group e.g. 80g federal or 100g privvi whereas other bullet makes of the same weight give excellent groupings.

What I wondered was if you were to take the bullet head of whatever bullet you are using that does not group well, pour out the powder and then reload with different charges working up or down could you get a proper grouping?

Does that make sense?

It makes sense but you are changing only one variable. When you talk of factory loaded ammunition VS a specific bullet (projectile: I hate the term "head") not working there are far too many things going on with factory ammunition to simply change powder. When it comes to certain bullets working better than others in handloads it is true: some work better than others and there is no concrete answer for it. You must simply accept that rifles are like women: they like what they like. ~Muir

PS: A fellow named Mann (a dentist, I believe) spent his family fortune trying to answer a similar question: why a rifle firing a good load will toss a bullet out of the group. He used the finest target rifles of the day and went to absolute clinical methods of measuring bullets and loading and yet he still found it to happen, regardless of the care he took. His work is a real study in frustration: "The Bullet's Flight" Dr. Mann it is in reprint for those with a taste for such writings.~Muir
 
I'm currently working up loads for my newish .270 with interesting result's. With regards to your question on loading up or down the powder charge I noticed that the faster I drove one my boattailled speer bullets that the accuracy improved but I won't have conclusive info untill tomorrow when I get back on the range. On another note I had bought some Hornady flat bases for cheap on a whim, bleeding things shot under .5" from the word go! the charge is still light so I'll increase it and see what happens to accuracy. Phil
 
As Muir mentioned there are far too many variables for a hard and fast answer.

As a for instance no matter how good a load profile i put together, due to the way the barrel of my rifle heats up the third round of a group always gets thrown out of the group. This isnt an issue for me as i dont spend much time on a bench and don't take 3 shots at a beast but its just the nature of my barrel.

Whats the real difference between 85gr 87gr and 95gr bullets? Not much but i cant group 85 or 95gr bullets and i can group 87gr ones.

Its all trial and error but the one thing I would say is not to get too hung up on it. Alot of people strive for the sub MOA grouping when in reality a 1.5" group is perfectly fine to shoot a deer. I am all for accuracy leading to a humane kill but sometimes it can be taken a bit far.

ATB

Pat
 
it's all down to the shape and bearing surface. Flat base bullets often give much better precision than the boat tailed ones. The most accurate bullet that I found to use in the old .303 British is the Hornady 174 grain Round Nose soft point. It seems to shoot well in just about any old .303 rifle. About the most frustrating bullet to shoot in these ols .303's is the Boat tailed match bullets. They of course have less bearing surface and do not seal the bore so well. bullet length also comes into it and the more pointy the bullet the longer it is for the same weight as a blunter bullet.

The way the powder ignites and pushes the bullet into the leade will also have a quite dramatic effect on accuracy and precision. It's all smoke and mirrors..................................................... smoke and mirrors. One could almost say Voodo :D
 
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