Has anybody here separated factory ammo to sort it into smaller more consistent batches?

In other words sorted the ammo into the same weight and/or over-all-length?

A guy in our shooting club has weighed hundrets of rounds of various calibres and sorted them to weight classes.
I have seen the results recently in .22lr, with his Sako Finnfire he shot 1/4" groups consistently at 50m using his batched ammo.

Matt

If you're going to sort by weight you really need to sort the components.  If you sort a loaded round you can have 2 rounds that have the exact same weight, but one might have a heavier bullet and lighter powder charge than the other.  In my centerfire stuff that I compete with I sort the cases by weight after deburring the flash hole, truing the primer pocket, and trimming it to length.  I don't bother to sort the bullets, though it might help, I just haven't tried it.  

As for rimfire ammo I don't sort by weight as I feel that it's a waste of time.  How do you know if the weight is different due to primer compound, case, bullet, or powder?  I sort rimfire by rim thickness.  The only exceptions to this rule is when I use SSK Match Gold or Eley Tenex, they're made to such tight tolerances that it's just not worth the time to sort them, but you do pay a hefty price for this stuff as well.

Robert

Quoted: If you're going to sort by weight you really need to sort the components.  If you sort a loaded round you can have 2 rounds that have the exact same weight, but one might have a heavier bullet and lighter powder charge than the other.  In my centerfire stuff that I compete with I sort the cases by weight after deburring the flash hole, truing the primer pocket, and trimming it to length.  I don't bother to sort the bullets, though it might help, I just haven't tried it.   As for rimfire ammo I don't sort by weight as I feel that it's a waste of time.  How do you know if the weight is different due to primer compound, case, bullet, or powder?  I sort rimfire by rim thickness.  The only exceptions to this rule is when I use SSK Match Gold or Eley Tenex, they're made to such tight tolerances that it's just not worth the time to sort them, but you do pay a hefty price for this stuff as well. Robert

Yeah I know, I reload too. But Im not looking to do all that. Just looking for a slight improvement with inexpensive ammo, that doesnt cost anything additional to do.

Of course the case weights, powder, primer will have slightly varying weights. But loads with all the same weight and OAL I would think will be more consistent than unsorted ammo. OAL alone will definitely make a difference, I put together 30 rounds of cheap Guatemalan 223 with the longest OAL, shot noticebly better groups. Im not an expert but I would think the biggest variable in factory ammo would be the powder.

As for rimfire, Ive used 22 ammo that was sorted out. The Federal Ultra Match (UM1000?) was awesome. They used to sort these out by case dimensions and weight. Any that werent up to par were packaged then sold as the Gold (Metal?) Match. Even these were great shooting. Wish they still made this stuff.

Quoted: A guy in our shooting club has weighed hundrets of rounds of various calibres and sorted them to weight classes. I have seen the results recently in .22lr, with his Sako Finnfire he shot 1/4" groups consistently at 50m using his batched ammo. Matt

What brand of ammo was that?

@ jaymeister,

I gotta ask him, will post late on wednesday 14th.

Matt

It was the Lapua Biathlon ammunition.

Matt