Grain Size
Can someone explain to me why there are various grain sizes in the same caliber and what heavier or lighter does? I am not sure why you would want a light bullit in a handgun and a heavy one in a rifle? Still new and trying to get my facts. As always thanks.
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If lyou haven't already, you need to get a book on reloading. Any one will do if from a bullet maker. Read it until you understand it. If you ask someone else you will get an opinion which could influence your decision. If I read your question correctly you are asking about the weight of the bullet measured in grains? There are a variety of reasons for different bullet weights. Generally speaking lighter bullets can be driven faster. Faster bullets have less bullet drop at determined distance. Lighter bullets have a tendency to break up easier on impact. Lighter bullets use less powder and you can use faster powder. Heavier bullets have deeper penetration but are slower and have more drop. The fun in loading your own is to tailor the bullet and load to your expectations. Again these are generalities. Start slow, define your objective and work toward it. Be very careful about listening to other people. I have heard people offer unasked for advise that is dangerous and down right stupid. Good Luck 0 -
I'll just give you a brief explanation on your question. The lighter bullet travels faster, further, and drops less than the heavier bullet. If you shot a light bullet that has a 1" drop at 100 yards, a heavier bullet fired from the same rifle would have maybe a 5" drop at the 100 yard target.
Lighter bullets have less knockdown power than a heavier bullet. Such example is the .357 magnum. The .357 shooting a 125 grain JHP bullet has the best "one shot kill" in the handgun world, but the same shooter that realizes this will not carry this .357 mag into grizzly country. You would want to carry a .44 mag with a 230 grain bullet, or one of the new S&W revolvers in .460 or .500 caliber with an even heavier bullet. This is just a basic answer to your question. There is many that can explain deeper. Welcome to the forum.0 -
Well you want a bullet matched to what your intended use is.
Lighter bullets usually (not always depending on the amount of powder used) move faster with less drop. Lighter bullets can also be used to create lighter loads for different sized shooters.
With heavy bullets you usually get more energy and penetration on a target. Heavier bullets usually have more drop and also have more recoil.
Again matching to what you intended use is what you need to do. Example take a .30-06 (very common in hunting) which has lots of load available for it. While a 130gr bullet would make a great varmint round a 180gr or 200gr bullet would make a better round for big game like Elk.0 -
quote:Originally posted by Jerecole
Can someone explain to me why there are various grain sizes in the same caliber and what heavier or lighter does? I am not sure why you would want a light bullit in a handgun and a heavy one in a rifle? Still new and trying to get my facts. As always thanks.
Different bullets are intended for different purposes.
The same bullet you use to hunt a squirrel with wouldn't be appropriate to hunt an elephant with, right? For the squirrel you want a small light bullet and for the elephant a big heavy one.
More relevant to North American hunting, you can hunt virtually anything with a 30'06 rifle. While you can use the same rifle, the type of bullet you'd use ought to be appropriate to what you are shooting. If you were hunting a moose, you'd want a bigger heavier bullet than if you were hunting a groundhog (etc).
Speaking *in general* heavier bullets hit harder, penetrate deeper, travel slower, drop faster, and offer more recoil.
Lighter bullets don't hit quite as hard, don't penetrate as much (note that this is NOT necessarily a bad thing. . .depends what you are shooting at), travel faster, drop slower, and offer less recoil.
For handguns, as an example ONE possible reason why you might choose a heavier bullet in a pistol is because the heavier bullet will travel slower, possibly slower than the speed of sound (eg "subsonic") and therefore be easier to quiet down using a suppressor ("silencer").
Another possible reason why you might choose a heavier bullet in a pistol is because you want to use said pistol to hunt large game and want maximum penetration.
One reason you might want to use a lighter bullet is because it offers less recoil, making it more pleasant to shoot (eg for target shooting, practice, etc). Lower recoil also means you can probably get off multiple shots faster since there is less recovery time between shots.
Often (but not always) lighter bullets are cheaper, another advantage for practice ammo.
Another reason you might want to use a lighter bullet is because they offer less penetration. For example if you were shooting indoors, having bullets pass through walls and such might be a BAD thing.
Etc. . .0 -
Thank you all this has been very helpful and a learning experience. This is why i come to this site 0 -
quote:Originally posted by SP45
Lighter bullets use less powder and you can use faster powder.
That statement isn't true. For a given powder- let's say 4895 in a good old 30-06 as an example- with a lighter bullet you use more powder, not less. So for a 150 gr bullet, you'd max out at about 50 gr. For a 100 gr bullet, you could go up to about 55. More powder. Lighter bullet.
Also you can use powder of whatever burn rate you choose, fast, slow, or otherwise, with a bullet. However you must adjust the charge for the weight. So in a .38 special, while I usually use HS6 with my 158 gr loads and Bullseye with my 125 grainers you can use bullseye with either. Just a lighter load for the heavier bullet.
In point of fact a safe load using even the fastest powder is possible, it just won't be a very exciting load.
In the end you see, it is all about pressure. Generally speaking, for a heavier bullet, you use a slower powder as you can use more of the powder to get a given pressure. Let's return to the 30-06. A common load for the gun- say the one I referenced above- produces a pressure of about 50,000 psi. That's your max. Whether you realize it with 50 gr of powder and a 150 gr bullet, or 55 gr and a 100 gr bullet, or 40 gr and a 250 gr bullet, it doesn't matter. The heavier the bullet, the higher the pressure for a given powder charge.
Really it gets into a lot of stuff. Pressure waves and peaks and such, burn rates and crimps and bullet weights and bearing surfaces.... a lot goes into what makes a load safe or not. Again, read up on the subject any number of good books.
Any published load in any of the big name reloading manuals should be safe IF you start at the start load and work up from there. Don't deviate from the manuals until you get REALLY experienced and know what you are doing- and even then only within sense, i.e. don't say 'ok I can dump more powder in than the recipe dictates'.0 -
You got all the education you need here rom some savvy people. But truth be told, there are way too choices of bullet weight for the average person to comprehend. Not to mention hundreds of calibres, each of whic has too many bullet choices. Too bad vwe can't just have small, medium and large. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by RtWngExtrmst
You got all the education you need here rom some savvy people. But truth be told, there are way too choices of bullet weight for the average person to comprehend. Not to mention hundreds of calibres, each of whic has too many bullet choices. Too bad vwe can't just have small, medium and large.
I say there still isn't enough. And since each fills a niche we can fill more niches with more stuff.
With each strength comes a weakness as well. Lighter faster bullets, in each caliber, tend to lose velocity in the long run much faster than heavy bullets. As noted above, heavy bullets don't have flat trajectories for the short-medium shots.0
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