lots of newb questions.

[joshf]

Im sorry if these seem questions seem dumb but the threads I searched up did not really clear things up for me.

Ok I have a #1 enfield that has been sporterized almost beyond recognition. I thought it would be a cheap toy but it actually really grew on me so I want to cast for it.
My first attempts will be with Lee's c312-155-2r. I used 2 of the lee ingots made of wheel weights and added 45 inches of lead free solder. Which according to the manufacturer is 95% tin - 5% antimony.

1. I water dropped these and tested for hardness with my Lee hardness tester. I got an impression of about .040 which should be around 33 bhn.
This doesn't seem possible for WW with some solder added. Am I doing something wrong?

2. I drove one of these through the barrel to measure bore diameter. The largest part measures .309 which seems very small for a 100 year old rifle. All of my reloading manuals list it at .311 or larger. Also the slug was significantly tighter at the muzzle. It was loose and moved much more easily as it got towards the receiver.
Did I do this wrong?

3. Provided I didn't screw up either of the preceding does anyone have a recommendation for loading this bullet with either winchester 748 or imr 4064?


Sorry for the long winded questions and thank you in advance for any suggestions.

[30cal]

Im new here myself and one of the very first post I read was that if ur not shooting long range to stick with softer alloys say mostly purish with just a small amount of ww.This is good since ww are getting harder to come by.Also quenching with water seems to be a waste of time if ur going to size them since the squeezing down of the driving bands undoes any of the hardening u were trying to acheive in the first place.Im gonna go back and read up on sone lead recipese.Sorry if this doesnt answer evrything.If you look around here you will also fing plenty of info on loads and slugging.

[Reload3006]

there are a lot of things that are unclear to even the "Experts". Though if you stick to a few basics you will be doing great.
1) size is king. IMO it is the most important consideration of all does the boolit fit your bore if it does not you will have leading.
2) You want to slug your bore with pure lead. Because a harder alloy will want to spring back which could be the reason your either checking large or small. however .309 is not out of reason. If it is count your self fortunate. and try your boolits sized to .310 - .311 a good lube and you should have a fine shooting rifle and zero leading.
3)looser at the chamber and tighter at the muzzle would seem logical to me as an old rifle is going to have some throat erosion
4) There are lots of powder choices and if those are the 2 that you are determined to use I would start at the minimum charge for a jacketed bullet listed in a good manual. and see what I got. Lead is going to operate at lower pressures than jacketed so you would be safe. Not saying it will not cause leading. But that is part of the adventure finding out what works and what doesn't.
Good luck and happy shootn

[southpaw]

If you don't already have one you will want to get one of the lyman castboolit reloading books. Like Reload3006 said use pure lead for you slugging. Also make sure that the slug is bigger than the the barrel that you are slugging. You can start the slug in the muzzle and drive it in a couple inches and then push it back out. Then try one in the middle. And last you can push one in from the chamber side a few inches. This should let you know were you barrel is bigger and smaller. If it is bigger on the chamber side all is fine just size .001-.002" bigger.

33 bhn seems a bit high for water dropped ww. Experimenting will tell you if you need to water drop them or not. You might even try 50/50 ww and pure air cooled and water dropped.

Jerry Jr.