Saeco 315- Universal for 30 cal?

[waltp]

The 30 cals that I cast and load for are the 30-30- Rem 788 (311041), 30-06- 03A3 (311291), 30-40- Target Conversion (311284), 308- Rem 788 (311299), 7.5-Schmitt Rubin (Saeco 315)and 7.62x39- Small Ring Braz Mauser (Saeco 315). I have been checking out the country wide cast bullet military postal and club match results. I have noticed that the Saeco 315 is a popular design being used in many of the 30 cals. I am wondering how it would work in the other of my 30 cals?

[NVcurmudgeon]

I confess to no experience with Saeco 315, but have my own candidate for a universal .30 (and .31) boolit. Lyman 314299, 200 grain. It casts .314" and is a perfect fit in the .303 British I bought it for. Sized to .312" it is very accurate in the 7.65 X 53 Argentine. For .30/40 Krag and .30/06 it gets sized to .310" and still delivers match winning accuracy. For all of these rifles I use C.E. Harris' universal load of 16.0 grains of Alliant 2400. Muzzle velocity is +/- 1500 fps.

[Maven]

waltp, I'm not sure whether Saeco #315 is universally applicable in .30cal's., but it is one of the most accurate CB's in my K-31's and .30-30 (Marlin #336 wi. Microgroove rifling). It has done well in my '06, but I need to retest it. Unfortunately, it casts too small for my Finn. Nagants and SKS.

[Sailman]

waltp

I have for all practical purposes finished developing a match load for my 303 British Enfield and am ready to start playing around with my 30-06 and 308. I have cast a good supply of Saeco #315 bullets. I have ordered a Saeco #301 mold and when I get that mold I plan to do a lot of comparative testing between the # 301 and the # 315.

What is interesting about the # 315 is that the driving bands ( or compression rings if you wish to call them ) get larger ( diameter ) as you proceed from the front of the bullet to the gas check. I measured the driving bands ( as cast ) of a # 315 bullet starting at the nose or front. The following are the measurments: Nose=.303, first band back=.305, second band back=.3068, third band back=.308, forth band back=.310, and the large band in front of the gas check area=.3126. The bullet was cast from wheel weights.

Depending upon what diameter you size the bullet, you will get a taper fit bullet leading to the diameter you sized the bullet. I suspect this is what makes the # 315 bullet a popular and useful bullet.

At any rate, I am looking forward to playing around with the # 315 bullet.

Sailman

[Scrounger]

That SAECO #315 would be a good group buy mold. Say make it .312 diameter...