uncrichie said:
"...how they go straight is beyond me but they do..."
Thats the purpose of the rifling...the constant spin balances out minor imperfections as it is never in the same place long enough to affect the flight. If you want a real shocker that will end any concerns you might have about minor imperfections try this.
Seat a few balls and pull them back out (one at a time of course) and notice that the ball puller screw spirals up a lot of lead high above the surface of the ball, and leaves a huge, I mean huge void...an excavation really...where it had augered into the ball.
The take them to the range, patch and seat each one like you normally would with all that junk on top, and you'll be shocked to see them go right into a 50yd bullseye every time.
I average pulling 35-45 balls a year, after I've finished all the day hunts...and I save them for use at the range...and if sonmebody else loaded them for me I would have guessed they were new Hornadys.
After 2-3 years of doing that in different calibers, I've learned from hands on experience that the average shooter can't possibly see an accuracy difference on a 50 yard target just from a difference of a couple grains weight from one ball to another that a tiny void might cause.
So I just waste my time weighing and measuring and worrying about such things...might make somebody "feel good" to do all that but at the end of the day the average shooter will never see it on a 50 yard target.
Just go try it, then you'll know first hand.
