Inauspicious 1st cast boolit launch.

[blixen]

Any guidance for a greenhorn?
I loaded up 15 of my first batch of casts for my Argentine Mauser Sporter. Hardly scientific, but I figured what the heck, get my feet wet and learn a little.

LEE DC MOLD C312-185-1R. Boolits come out of mold at just under .314 and were not sized.
NO gas check--I hoped a light load would do ok without.
Pan lubed with 70-20-10 beeswax-candlewax-olive oil that I use for BP.
16 gr of Alliant 2400.
Bore of the Arg. is .312 (boolit .314) I didn't size the brass, just eased the boolits into the fire formed neck.

ONE OBVIOUSLY PROBLEM: If seated to the listed overall length for the Argentine round, the boolit is barely in the neck. I seated them with two grease grooves in the neck--leaving a sizable jump to the rifling.

Result: 7-8" grouping at 50yards!

I shot some jacketed 150s with same load to make sure the scope wasn't loose and got 2 inch groups at 50.

Obviously, There's dozens of corrections i can make, including seating the bullet as far forward as possible, gas checks, sizing, and maybe using a faster powder like 11 grains of Unique. I might beagle the mold to throw out a bigger boolit, then size it down to .314-right now the slug slides through the Lee sizer without much change.

[btroj]

Change only 1 thing at a time. That way you know what does, or does or, help.

A GC will make a huge difference. A better lube would be good too but with the right alloy,pressure, and fit that can be overcome.

You are well on the way to learning. Try some loads with different variations, one variation per load, and go shoot. This is how one learns what does, or doesn't, work.

I would like to congratulate you for shooting first, asking second. You have to actually shoot to really learn. Keep on trying, never be afraid of failure.

[Wolfer]

I've had better luck shooting GC boolits without the check with a lighter load of faster powder such as 5 gr of clays or bullseye.

Put a check on your boolit and 16 grs 2400 may amaze you but I don't think any of my guns would shoot an unchecked boolit that fast

[HangFireW8]

I agree with Wolfer, I bet if you make btroj's first "change only 1 thing at a time" adding a gas check, you'll find accuracy pretty quick. I have had great luck with exactly that boolit and load in my .310" bore 30/06. They have some jump as well, not as much as yours.

HF

[williamwaco]

First thing I would change is to size those necks.
"eased the bullets into the fire formed neck"
"leaving a sizable jump to the rifling"

I am not familiar with that cartridge but if seating near the published OAL leaves the bullet barely in the neck, it sounds to me like you need a longer bullet.

Lyman lists this exact bullet with an OAL of 2.87

If you size the necks properly and the bullet only enters the neck a quarter of an inch or so, it will be very easy to get the loaded bullet out of line with the case.

I am thinking a long jump to the rifling would be much better than a bullet that was not aligned with the case.

Do not worry about how many grease grooves are in or out of the neck. If you can keep them clean, grease grooves outside the neck will not cause any problems.

8 to 10 grains Unique would be a good thing to try. ( Based on nothing but experience with other similar cartridges, I would not use 11 grains of Unique as a starting load.)

[runfiverun]

size the neck and get some gas checks.
you could probably use a 240 gr loverign design sized to about 323 in an argie and still not touch the rifling.
however they will still shoot well.
i use the 314299 sized to 313 with a 304 nose over 18 grs of 2400.
the jump is something like 3 or 4 ' but they will shoot cast at least as well as they shoot jaxketed and usually better.

[blixen]

I got some gaschecks on put them on some .314 sized bullets for my SMLE No. 4 and my old Argentine mauser.

At 50 yards, I was able to a couple 2-inch groups out of the Argentine and 3-inch groups out of the SMLE. I'm pretty happy because it indicates with some tuning it should improve---i was shooting Red Dot to lower the velocity and I've never used it before. An old Lyman reloading manual recommended starting at 8 grains in the 303. IIRC.

I tumble lubed the boolits in 50/50 alox/paste wax before sizing then pan lubed the grooves in beeswax/parafin/olive oil.

i'm going to cook up some loads with the old standby 2400 and see if the gas checks will allow a little more speed.

[mpmarty]

Don't know about those oversize 30 caliber rifles but my 308 Win. does 2100fps more or less and makes nice one hole groups at 85 yards (all the flat room I've got here) with no checks and 23 gr of 2400. Lubed with 50/50 mule snot/jpw. Never had a trace of lead in the barrel and it shines like polished silver inside.

[runfiverun]

blixen any load for the 308 will work in the argie.
just try using one or the other lubes.
you don't need that much lube...
i'd just go with 17 grs of 2400 a large rifle primer and do the tumble lube after g/c.
seat the boolit enough so you can't move it around in the neck and will feed from the magazine.
then go shoot it.
if you get 2" or so groups at 100 with a scope, and 3" or so with open sights i'd be cool with it.
they specced 4" with ball ammo at 100 as a standard.

[Wolfer]

What R5R said. That will work in almost every gun.
Too much lube is not better.

[Thumbcocker]

6-7 grns of red dot with that boolit and no gas check might do a bit better.

[MtGun44]

Use GC.

Bill