Posted by Anthony Hall on Apr 09, 2013; 1:47am
URL: http://oldforum.flyshooter.com.au/bullet-pointing-tp5706994p5706995.html

Hi Mitchell,

Great question and you will probably get varied answers ..... some are believers, some are not....

In my experience, it depends on the projectile and the distance....  I believe that at distances of less than 300m it does not make enough difference to warrant the effort.....

With my .284 using Berger 180 grain projectiles.... there was a significant improvement in group size and a slight improvement in bullet drop at 500m (about 2")  I believe that the improvement in group size probably came from the meplat trimming and the improvement in BC came from pointing.  I would not shoot the Berger 180's at 1000 yards without pointing and trimming them.

With the 6BR and copperhead 103's, the difference was less dramatic for me.  At 300m, I can't tell the difference..... at 500m there appears to be a slight improvement in BC and group (about .75" less drop).  I think if I was using less consistent projectiles the difference would be more noticeable....

What is does for me, is gives me peace of mind that I have removed as many variables as possible, that alone makes it worth the effort.

If I were going to do only one of these, I would trim the meplats..... it is easier & cheaper to tool up for and probably provides the best improvement for the effort.

My procedure is as follows.
Sort projectiles into groups by base to Ogive first.
Set up the whidden pointing die to point them to where I am satisfied that the meplats are closed as much as possible without causing any distortion of the projectile (use a magnifying glass), then back the die off about 5 thou and point the whole batch. You will find that they are now about 4 or 5 thou longer than unpointed ones.

I then find the shortest one and set the Meplat trimmer (Wilson micrometer case trimmer with whidden meplat trimmer attachments) to take about 3 thou off that one and trim them all the same.

I then wind the pointing die back down the 5 though and point them again to clean up the edges from trimming.

It sounds complicated, but I can do 50 projectiles for a match in around an hour or so. (I have never actually timed it, but this is a fair guess)

Cheers

Anthony