Bullet-Making — Producing Winning Bullets on Your Own
Forum regular Al Nyhus has tried his hand at bullet making, producing custom 30-caliber projectiles for his 30 BR match rifles. With help and guidance from his “guru”, bullet-smith Randy Robinett, Al has produced some very impressive bullets. This demonstrates that with patience, determination, and the right tools and components, amazing results are possible, even for a novice bullet-maker.
Al writes: “My 30 Caliber bullet making adventure [has] been a lot of fun and a real learning experience. I’d like to thank Randy Robinett for all his patient teaching and guidance. The bullets have been working well in competition, being used in the Varmint for Score portion of the IBS Wisconsin State Two Gun Championship win a few weeks back.
NOTE: Al’s 30 BR rifle was smithed by Stan Ware of SGR Custom Rifles.
Here are two photos from recent testing. In the 100-yard, 15-round target, the wind velocity was purposely ignored and the group was fired only with the same flag angle, trying to determine how they worked in the wind. Winds were 12-18 mph from 4 o’clock.
This 200-yard group was fired in near perfect test conditions — overcast, early in the morning, with no mirage. We usually have a small window of what I call ‘Happy Hour’ before the winds crank up.”
Measuring Group Size
Note how Al measures his groups. Look at the top photo. You’ll see Al starts with the extreme outside edge of the hole, including the gray edge or ring. Then Al subtracts .290″, the TRUE size of one bullet-hole in the paper, as opposed to .308″, the nominal bullet diameter. If you simply subtract a full bullet diameter you will get a smaller number for your group size. That is good for the shooter’s ego, but Al’s method is more accurate because a bullet normally will cut a hole that is smaller than the actual bullet diameter.
FYI,
Randy has a new website. Well, it’s actually a year old now, but it’s got more info than the old one.
http://www.bibullets.com/
I know this because I set it up
I can’t possible understand this concept?? My bullet is .308 at it’s widest point, when it cuts paper the hole will measure .308 from outside edge of one grease ring to the other grease ring. I just measured 20 holes this way & never got a measurement of .290.
Simple common sense suggets that if a .308 diameter bullet cuts through the paper, the hole HAS to be .308 in diameter. I have just taken an unfired .308 AMAX bullet and slowly lowered it though one of the holes in my last target….it completely fills the hole even out to the edge of the grease ring. So, why would I want to subtract .290 instead of .308?? Maybe, I just don’t understand…….
EDITOR: Next time you’re at the range shoot one bullet, all by itself, into a clean target paper. Assuming you get a nice round hole, measure the hole outside edge to outside edge. Almost certainly that measurement witl be SMALLER than the nominal bullet diameter. This is because spitzer bullets (unlike pistol wadcutters) do not create a clean hole like a punch exactly one caliber in diameter. Instead part of the paper is removed, part is deflected, and part flexes and rebounds. Since you actual hole size is less than the diameter of the bullet, you need to use that for future calculations.
Going back to that one bullet hole, you can see why. If, for example, the measured single hole on paper is .290 (not atypical), and you shot a second bullet in EXACTLY the same hole, and then you subtracted .308, you would end up with a negative number for the group size, and that’s impossible. Conversely if you subtract the actual group size (with two bullets in the same hole) you’ll get a .000 or “zero” group, which is the best you can do. If you are just subtracting one bullet diameter from edge to edge measurement, you’re probably under-stating your group size by .10 to .15 inches. I recently measured a target for a Forum member. He marked it as a 0.302″. In fact it measured 0.463″ using a center-to-center plot with a scanner.
I’m going to post a target on some “cardstock” paper next week & shoot at it to check out what your saying. Hopefully, the thicker paper will help demonstrate what your saying versus shooting at normal papertargets.