I don't routinely but the CHEAP way, my way BTW, is to take a case that has been sized sown enough to be a tad under bullet diameter. I use a mandrel and size one so it is 0.001 below bullet size and just slip it over the tip and put the bullet base on my caliper arms. I did this the other on some Hornady 55 grain FMJ stuff. I found variation of up to 0.020 in bearing surface and up to 0.035 in tip to ogive, which matters virtually not all BTW. I shot some of them looking for an accurate plinker for a fellow out of Oklahoma and to get some more perspective on it. Not good results. I am shooting some Winchester FMJ tomorrow as a check.
I have checked out of the box good stuff and it was only varying 0.005. I doubt if the 0.005 would make a difference. I can say that a variation of 0.20 might be seen a bit at longer range.
The other part of the equation is the weight that may or may not be a big deal depending on the range. 100 yards is nothing but 1000? Well it is 1000 so that speaks volumes right there. In most cases the variation won't matter one bit. Ritch has shot some BR groups using five different weight bullets in one hole so I guess at that level of equipment it won't make much difference. I haven't seen wide swings in weights in a box of bullets more than about 0.5 grains when I have weighed a few over the years.
As an aside teh AMU weighed LOADED ammo and segregated it at one time. They found ammo with total weight the was very close actually grouped better than the not close stuff. Just a interesting twist in my mind. I know it works for the RF guys.
Greg
