I took a flier on some Midway “blemished” projectiles and afternoon receiving them I noticed the site suggested you measure the bullet diameter as they may not be perfect. I did, and found interesting results.

The bullets that were overwhelmingly likely to be Hornady ELDM were very consistent, and maybe 2/100 were measured at .0005 greater than stated diameter (.2245). The others were OTM and are either Berger or Sierra- like most of the box of 100 was around .0005 under sized (.2235).

Is this any cause for concern? My guess was factory projectiles probably vary like that too even if they pass QC. Should I be more concerned?

Also, has anyone here used these bullets?

The only way to know what you have is what you have already done.

Now, knowing what they are... and if that should be a concern... is up to you.

If you are nervous about blems, then my advice is you either learn to experiment with them to determine if you are okay with them, or leave them to others.

Experimenting means accepting the risks that they foul, errode, or just perform poorly.  A sort should eliminate the ones that are dangerous.

When the Sierra factory was nearby, I used to load my 3/4T Suburban to the suspension limits with factory seconds.

Did I find ones that scrapped out, yes. Did I find ones that performed poorly, yes but not so many that this was a waste of time.

In fact, I was very grateful to get that much more trigger time for the money. The pistol and rifle bullets I got there were a bargain to say the least.

However, that said, save the really ugly ones for the short distances. Shooting very loose can lead to erosion and fouling issues, in addition to poor performance. Try and limit yourself to +/- 0.0006" of the spec diameter and approach with caution.

Didn't measure mine butt the blem seemed to be imperfect tips....small burrs on the soft point.

Not all blems are the same as some are advertised to have cosmetic problems only which do not affect performance, others might be extreme.

Thanks for the advice. I culled out one slug because the polymer tip broke off and made it an Extremely High Drag projectile.

Boy oh boy I wish I lived close to Sierra or Hornady’s factory and could come by factory seconds.

Most blems I've been around had weight variances.  + - .5 to 1 grain.

When that factory was near here, they were happy to show me around as I was in the Defense Business and I got tours of most of the companies making government ammo, warheads, propellants, etc.

What I saw was that the folks starting (and ending) a run, were careful to scrap what was supposed to be scrap or a liability, and that the source of these "seconds" was often the tails of the curve when processes were still stabilizing but not perfectly in spec or before catching adjustments or tool wear that had drifted out of tolerance. Those account for blems and seconds that I am trying to say are not just there for cosmetic reasons.

Sometimes, well formed bullets would be cosmetically rejected, but some of the stuff was slightly off for real specs like length, weight, diameter, etc., but not so far off that they would get them a lawsuit for selling something dangerous intentionally.

I did find some real unshootable scrap in various batches, so if you don't plan on sorting the stuff very closely, do not venture into seconds or blems blindly thinking they are all just tarnished unless they have specifically been screened as such. So be careful as there are really two kinds, ones with cosmetics that are otherwise 100%, and ones that have real spec issues but are close enough for sale.

Caveat Emptor certainly applies to factory seconds and blems.

I quit buying seconds for most purposes many years ago. Some, you will give up measuring on after 100 or so because everything is good to go, other lots, not even sorting can seem to save them. It isn't worth the hassle and hair pulling. For self defense ammo, oh hell yeah, for real precision, no.