Pointed Bullets or Tipped Bullets

[Lynn]

I would like to hear everyones thoughts on the two methods for evening out the bullets consistency.
What do you like or dislike about pointing your bullets?
What are your thoughts on adding tips?
If you were at square one which way would you go? Why?
Waterboy

[Greg Culpepper]

Lynn,

I like the idea of pointing or uniforming/pointing bullets. Some bullets benefit more than others. I point with a borrowed die and haven't always had pointed bullets on hand. When I haven't got them I load what I've got and go to the match with a happy heart anyway. I don't know how to add points or how to get them to add so for me It seems like a lot of trouble but that is an uninformed position. Tooley says the points work but I haven't been motivated enough to do the work to get there myself.

Greg

[Dave Tooley]

I haven't installed tips in quite awhile. With a precision bored collet to hold the bullet I can do 100 per hour if I hustle. As hard as I try not every tip is centered they way I would like. What ever tool you use to open the meplat will follow the hole on the interior of the meplat.The jacket never folds in a uniform fashion so you're fighting concentricty all the time.

I know a secondary pointing operations is working for many but I think there're many ways to hurt the accuracy potenial of the bullet and the shooter will never know it's a self inflicted problem.While giving up some BC I found trimmed bullets shoot just as accurately as tipped and I can trim 300 per hour.

The ideal solution is a bullet with tip installed by the manufacturer. Horandy has some killer 7MM's out there. Joe Thelein from Hornady has been dominating this year in the Lt. gun class shooting a 7MM. Sub 5" groups on a regular basis. Sierra tried it with bullets for David Tubb in 6MM and couldn't get the bugs worked out well enough to suit David. Joe and I have had many discussions about tipped bullets and the manufacuring process. Some day the consistancy will be there across all calibers.

In the mean time, trim, tip or point up which ever you're comfortable with. The target will tell you how you're doing.

Dave

[Big Al]

Many's the slip from the shipping point to the reloaders bench and bullets sure get whacked around in the mail. When you add the way they go into a point up die and the material itself, it's a wonder they do as well as they do out of the box. Once you give up the ultimate control of making your own and buying from somebody else, it's always down hill from there.

[Leroy Johnson]

Lynn, I use meplat trimmed and pointed bullets. I like them.

Tommy Leroy Johnson

[German Salazar]

Lynn, I use the Whidden pointing tool and have seen a consistent, repeatable and discernible improvement in the elevation spread of my shots from 500 to 1000 yards. I no longer shoot unpointed bullets, so my comparisons aren't super current.

If I lost my Whidden tool in a flood (unlikely in Phoenix) I would just buy another one, there's no sense in changing a good system.

I used to do the meplat trimming but it was a much slower process and the improvement was not as significant. The pointing is simpler, faster and less susceptible to error in my opinion - and that's all this is: my observations and opinion.

[Leroy Johnson]

Lynn, I have a little more time now to answer your questions.
I dislike having to trim meplats to get uniform lengths from base to tip, my current lot of bullets vary up to .060 from base to tip.
I like the pointing dies avalable they are very easy to use, the points are very uniform under magnification.
I like the improvement in vertical at 1000 yards from about 8 inches to
2.3 inch best group by changing to meplat trimmed and pointed bullets using the Whidden system.
I know nothing about adding tips.
From square one I would trim and point, some bullets may only need pointing.
Tommy Leroy Johnson

[Lynn]

Tommy Johnson
Check your private messages when you get a chance.
Lynn aka Waterboy

[billyonpark]

Originally Posted by Lynn

I would like to hear everyones thoughts on the two methods for evening out the bullets consistency.
What do you like or dislike about pointing your bullets?
What are your thoughts on adding tips?
If you were at square one which way would you go? Why?
Waterboy

Lynn as you know I used a Hoover tipper in the Sacramento match .I shot 60 rounds and av. 8.522 .In montana in aug. I shot 40 rounds and av. 10.16 with out the tipper . So I am totally sold on the hoover tipper.Billy

[Lynn]

Billy
This is all your fault.If you shot poorly I wouldn't be doing this.Charles Greer had a little influence as well with his back to back 99's and 7 X's on one target and 3 X's on the other.
I have a source for tips but don't know if I want to go that route.I know Henry Childs was tipping his bullets for more uniform bc numbers but I also remember hearing about guys bulging the middle of the bullet by pointing them.I think Dave Tooley implied that above as well.
You certainly had a great match!!!
Waterboy

[Dave Tooley]

Lynn

It's always the 80-20 rule. Take care of 80% of the problem. The other 20% can be costly and painful to sort out and everything is a compromise of some sort.

Dave

[Bob Pastor]

Lynn,

Check your email.

Bob

[Tony Shankle]

I use to do the meplat trimming and then pointing but like German I now just point my bullets. I also sort by bearing surface which along with pointing showed me the best results for my efforts.

[Rustystud]

Has there been a comparison done between the two?

I know the Hoover system is bullet specific and the Whidden system is caliber specific so there is some cost difference.

My question is whether there is any performance differeance?

Nat Lambeth

[Greg Culpepper]

Whidden now offers three different pointing inserts with different angles to accommodate bullets across a range of ogive shapes. Brian Litz worked with him to determine the angles provided. You can see a description at www.whiddengunworks.net

Greg