Need some advice from you fine folks....

[John-n-va]

I want to start casting for my Garand. I have done the search and read just about everything I can find on casting for that rifle. I have pretty much settled on the 311299 or the 314299. I know the Garand likes a .310 or .311 boolit. I have read some stories about the Lyman .311 molds casting WW's at .309 so I was thinking about a NOE 311299. Swede doesn't have any 2 cavity molds in .311 so the wait could be long.

Would sizing down a .314 to .311 be excessive and would I be able to get gas checks installed properly on the bigger boolit? What are the thoughts or experience with the Lyman .314299?

I definitely want the finished size to be .311.

[Jim Flinchbaugh]

I definitely want the finished size to be .311.

Have you slugged your barrel and determined what size is needed rather than what you want?
Do that first.
My Aregentine spec says .311, slugging says .3123. I got the NOE 314299.
A chamber cast would be the most beneficial as then you will know your throat dimensions and get the nose diameter correct as well.

[John-n-va]

Yeah, I slugged it before I did anything. Its .309 which it should be for a Korean War Garand that shows very little wear anywhere. That's why I want a .311 boolit.

[Ford SD]

if your rifle has a bore of .309, you might be able to get away with a 309 mold

If you get a mold at 309 it also might have a smaller nose
the smaller nose could be good depending on your rifle

and you can always lap it out to a larger size (i have done it)

I am shooting 2 308 cal rifles that the mould drop at 309+- and the sizer sizes the gc at .3095 and i get no leading and at 2000+ fps

Lapping the sizer die out with too fine lapping compound took a long time but it is mirror bright

if i have a problem I now have a courser grit lapping compound

[Larry Gibson]

The 311299 is a very fine bullet for the '06 and M1 Garand rifle. My mould drops them right at .3115 on the driving bands and .299/.300 on the nose with WW + 2% tin alloy.

Larry Gibson

[runfiverun]

my 314299 mold pours out to just over 313 on the body but 304 on the nose.
i have sized it 310 with no problems except the nose was so big i couldn't chamber the round.

[Jim Flinchbaugh]

Yeah, I slugged it before I did anything. Its .309 which it should be for a Korean War Garand that shows very little wear anywhere. That's why I want a .311 boolit.

Sweet!
I only ask because of your low post count , keepin' ya outta trouble!

[John-n-va]

I don't know what the throat size may be without doing a chamber cast like Jim suggested. From what Larry and runfiverun said I think I will stick with the 311299.

I haven't done much "white powder"cartridge casting but have lots of experience with black powder cartridge and know how critical it is to oversize the boolits a couple thousands to prevent leading.

You guys are the best!:bigsmyl2: