To the guys who are weighng their ammo???

[wksinatl]

How are you going about sorting them by weight? I plan on weighing (Wolf MT)for an upcoming Match and was wondering what are YOUR tolerances.

I just weighed a few Wolf MT rds and got 51.8gr, 51.4, and 51.5gr. I checked 3ea of the 510's and they are all the same. WTF???

Is + or - .1gr GTG? + or - .2gr? Or is yours dead nuts on?

thanks,
Keith

 

[donws2]

Re: To the guys who are weighng their ammo???

Check some more of the 510's. I don't think they will ALL be the same. I've weighed MT and it helps. Let's say you average two fliers per box. A weighed box will only have maybe one. It's still not going to be as good as Eley or Lapua high end ammo but it will be better than if you don't pull out the odd ball stuff. All the lower end target 22 ammo I've ever weighed out has shot better than if just shot out of the box. My experience is that Wolf will be about 1.0 to 1.2 grains overall different. I only shoot the very middle weighed ammo in a match, lets say about .3 to .5 grains between each shell. You will not know where the middle is until you start to weigh them as I'm seen that change from lot to lot also so I can't just say shoot this and practist only with that. Get about 12 small plastic bowls or parts boxes and just write the weight on them as you go along you will see where the middle is real fast as the bowls fill up. Donald

 

[sabre]

Re: To the guys who are weighng their ammo???

I use a mettler lab balance with 0.0001 gram (0.0015 grain) absolute resolution but a good powder balance can do as well.
The SK standard plus rounds I use now are in the weight range between 3.305-3.375 gram = 51-52,2 grain

The rounds I select for competition are in the range 3.335-3.325 gram =51.31-51.46 grain thats 0.15 grain spread.
This is the statistical median value of a full brick of 500 like don sais.
It means your balance should be able to differentiate 0.015 grain.

And yes it worth the time on budget rounds like the SK specially if you also measure rim thickness, for RWS R100 or R50 I doubt if it is usefull.

(sorry for the odd european values)

 

[wksinatl]

Re: To the guys who are weighng their ammo???

Thanks Don and sabre,
That was the kind of info I was looking for.

One thing that prompted this was last range session we were shooting at 200yds. My shootin' pard was shooting his Sako Range (with can) next to me. He was 9/9 hits on about a 2" rock. On his 10th shot even before he groaned because he had missed it (missing a 10 for 10 hits) I said, "Man, that sounded weird". He said that round went short and wide left. He was shooting Wolf Match <span style="font-weight: bold">EXTRA</span>, I was shooting Wolf Match Target. I feel it can't do anything but help with these oddball fliers.

thanks,
Keith

 

[95LTZ]

Re: To the guys who are weighng their ammo???

I have saved/scrounged extra 22 ammo boxes. I put down a long piece of Scotch tape on the edge of the desk & write the weights in Sharpie on the tape then just add or change the number of boxes you need. IIRC the biggest share of Fed. #510 in the 51.7 - 51.8 gr range. I separated mine into boxes with the same weight. If I didn't have enough for what you are doing then you can pick a box either a tenths over or under depending on supply. While it doesn't remove all flyers (in my case driver error), I find that the groups are definitely more round at distance.
Semper Fi

 

[wksinatl]

Re: To the guys who are weighng their ammo???

Have any of you guys shot your extreme spread ammo over a chronograph and logged how much the Velocity varied?

I just weighed a brick of Wolf MT and have the following:
total range was 51.0gr to 52.1gr
majority were in the 51.2gr to 51.8gr

I would like to shoot a controlled group with all of the same weight over the Oehler. Log all of the velocities. Then shoot some of the rounds from the extremes of the scale and see if they produce fliers and strange velocities. If this helps I don't mind doing it but I'd rather be doing something else if the benefits aren't seen.

Keith

 

[donws2]

Re: To the guys who are weighng their ammo???

Keith that is something I keep saying I'm going to do. I believe that there is reason to believe the SD will be much larger with the odd ball and non-weighed ammo as to the weight seperated ammo. I can't believe the bullets weight varies much so that leaves the powder charge. A change of .1 or .2 is a large percent of the charge weight for a 22 as compaired to say 44.5 of Varget for a 308. Anyway that's what I've seen. You may have to shoot 15 to 20 rounds to find the low power rounds and get usefull SD data. Donald

 

[Larry Burchfield]

Re: To the guys who are weighng their ammo???

Weighing ammo should help you determine if all the shells have enough powder(a large problem with some 22 ammo). but unless you can tell the amount of lube on each bullet you could be shooting instead of weighing ammo.
I weighed ammo years ago and I thought it helped me but whether it did or not I'll never know cause I'm to old for it to make a difference. I buy a little better than bottom grade ammo and just shoot.
If you can find some Lapua center-x you should give it a try. If you can't find any locally let me know and I will put you in touch with someone that can help you.
MHO
larryj

 

[TOP PREDATOR]

Re: To the guys who are weighng their ammo???

i am convinced that weighing the ammo works. i usually break it down to .1 grain lots when possible or combine a "multiple tenth lot" example: if the ammo range weighs mostly between 50.0 and 51.0, i'll put 50.1,50.2,50.3 in one lot, 50.5,50.6,50.7, in another , 50.8, 50.9, 51.0 in another. whatever is left will be for foulers. i'll then pick the best weight or combined weight lot for my paper compitition shooting, my second best for silhoutte, 3rd best for practice, etc.

when shooting through a chrony, that's really where the proof is in the pudding, recently did an ammo test aguila ammo test (i was just about to post pictures of the targets)that shows the average fps of the different weights, however doesn't show that when a "flyer" accurred, either the fps spiked either on the high or low side.

that led me to believe that weighing them doesn't weed ALL of the lower or higher fps rounds that caused the flyers, but it DID weed out MOST of them.

the fps range on that particular test was low 1020's to 1068, which the really different fps showed up on paper.

so you are on the right track, i can't seem to remember what the best wolf weight was out of my rifle, however i do remember that the range of wieght was substantially lower than many other brands which i also believe leads to why wolf is accurate.

weighing, lubing, and lotting cheaper ammo really makes it perform better, or at least more consistant.

i just use a digital grain scale.