first cast with NEW 243-095-SP mold

[grampa243]

RCBS 243-095-SP

today i broke in my new rifle mold for the 243win. they drop at 100 grains with strait lead. may be to soft for full speed loads but i'm going to try in a reduced loading with out a gas check.
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64910
sorry for the low res. took with my cell

[.22-10-45]

Hello, grampa243. I don't have a Win. 243..but I have worked with a Win. 6mm Lee-Navy straight-pull sporter. I am using an early Lyman 245495 cast of fairly soft range lead & G.C. Rifle has open buckhorn rear & blade front, so testing was at 50yds. 10.0gr. H4227 shot to sights & gave 3/4" groups. 10gr. IMR TrailBoss gave same results..but with less muzzle blast & cleaner case necks..didn't chrono., but felt about like a .222 Rem. on steroids!..Lots of fun!

[nhrifle]

Careful sizing those. Long skinny boolits can bend real easily when running though the die.

[runfiverun]

not if you push them from the back.
you might want to push one in and all the way through then do the next one.

[reloader28]

Mine drop at 100gr from straight WW.
Really like that boolit. Very accurate.
If you want a good varmint boolit, HP with 1/16" bit 3/8" deep. Almost as good as any V-max and mine are only going 1750fps!.:smile:

[grampa243]

10gr. IMR TrailBoss gave same results..but with less muzzle blast & cleaner case necks..didn't chrono., but felt about like a .222 Rem. on steroids!..Lots of fun!

I'm hoping to get some TrailBoss when buying craze slows down :)

[grampa243]

they dropped at .245 and my bore is .244 so i'm going to lube and try as is.

lubing with my Marvel-Mystery-Oil-lube http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?190530-Marvel-Mystery-Oil-as-a-lube-additive

[Doc Highwall]

I have both that mould and the 243-100 that I have not cast with yet because I have too many irons in the fire. But at least I have both especially the 243-100.

[grampa243]

loaded up a few test sets now i just have to make it to the range.

you can see that the seating stem is putting a bit of a ring in my soft boolits.
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[Doc Highwall]

The ring can be cured with a small amount of JB Weld or other epoxy inside the seating stem.

Are you using a neck expander die like Lyman M-Die? If you are not or only flaring the case mouth, this causes too much resistance when seating the bullets causing the ring. Further more it will size the bullets down, even causing gas blow by and result in more run out making your groups larger.

When I size my bullets for my 308 Winchester I size them .310” and my expander is .309” making for a .001” press fit of the bullet into the case neck. I would suggest having your expander to be no more then .001”-.002” smaller then your sized bullet.

[grampa243]

well i made it to the range today. i guess it's back to the drawing board.
couldn't hit paper at 25 yards.

i'm guessing between the pure lead being too soft and the fact that just using a Lee Universal Expanding Die made the neck swag the boolits down to .243[my bore is .244] <--pulled one to check size.

so maybe a harder alloy will help.
and i'm thinking an 'M' die might be a good idea too.

[grampa243]

p.s. the 3 that hit paper/wood frame key holed :(

but no leading in the barrel to speak of.

[Doc Highwall]

I have been shooting 30:1 alloy in my 308 between 1700 - 2000 fps. with great accuracy. Remember "Bullet fit is KING".
Soft lead or hard lead makes no difference, you still need the proper bullet fit to prevent leading and get accuracy.

The biggest trouble with most dies is they are made for jacketed bullets that are .308 diameter. To undue the neck I.D. being too small you need to use a Lyman M-Die.
Some people here for their 30 caliber cartridges buy the one for the 303 British and use that with their lead bullets.

Re-read what I said about expanding dies in post #10.

[popper]

M die for 243 will still be the size for jacket bullets. I tried JB to build up the diam doesn't work.. I did use epoxy based paint that worked well, several coats and dry completely (40SW RCBS plug, dipped and held vertical to dry). Still good after ~ 2K rnds. You need some SB to harden them even at the slower fps.

[wallenba]

Careful sizing those. Long skinny boolits can bend real easily when running though the die.

For sure, I learned that lesson well. I only began to notice AFTER I had seated about a dozen. Now I push all those long missles through a Lee type.

[Doc Highwall]

For a 243 you could use a M-Die for a 25 Caliber and file it down using either a drill press or a hand drill and polish it with sand paper.

[grampa243]

umm. are you guys crimping to hold the boolit?

i loaded one shell in to the gun then took it out( hoping to look at rifle marks on the boolit)
but the boolit stayed in the chamber so i had to pop it out with a rod.

i'm thinking this will get worse when i use the 'M' die.

i have never crimped for 243.

[Doc Highwall]

I have a Browning 30-30 between a tight bore and a bullet nose that is .301" will not chamber unless I size the nose .300" and the rifling still leaves a mark.

Have you slugged you rifle and what size are your bullet noses?

[grampa243]

slugged at .244

don't know boolit nose size as they are back in the melt.

it just barly made rifling marks.

the point being that i was able to pull the boolit out of the shell by hand, so these is no neck tension to speak of.

so if I size the necks up so as not to swage the boolits with seating what's to keep it form being shoved back in the case when chambered??

i'm thinking the alloy needs to be harder[then pure lead] and roll crimped.?.

[Doc Highwall]

I am shooting 30:1 alloy in my 308 at 1700 fps+ so you don't need it to be too hard unless you are trying for over 2000 fps. I am using AA5744 powder in my gun.

[grampa243]

i was using pure lead in the boolits in this thread.

[grampa243]

I've got a working load for the 243 now :-)
7158771586first five
71585adjusted POA

first off i'm using range lead with 95/5 solder added. 24 to 1
air dropped and aged two weeks.
lubed with Ben's red.
GC and sides to just over .2445 (that's what the Lee push through sizer is doing with this alloy.)
16 grains of H335
fixed the case neck sizing problem by annealing my shells and it may be aiding the accuracy.

prepped the barrel with a lubed patch.

[reloader28]

Nice job.:drinks:

[Marlin Junky]

first off i'm using range lead with 95/5 solder added. 24 to 1
air dropped and aged two weeks.

What kind of range lead? 22LR range lead?

What was the shooting distance to those targets?

MJ

[Jim..47]

Interested in your thread on the .243, since I have one. Its a Rem 700 with factory 26" barrel.
I also have a 2nd barrel, Hart custom tight neck to I think .242 meaning I have to turn the necks.

What mold are you using and what kind of accuracy should I expect?

Have you tried other weight molds?

Thanks Jim

[vmathias]

Just bought the same mold. I did not size mine and they shot beautiful through my American and where very accurate with 0 leading. They measured .244 from the mold.

[vmathias]

loaded up a few test sets now i just have to make it to the range.

you can see that the seating stem is putting a bit of a ring in my soft boolits.
65112

Thing of beauty arent they. :-)

[grampa243]

What kind of range lead? 22LR range lead?

What was the shooting distance to those targets?

MJ

the range lead was a mix of 22lr and jacked with no cast boolit lead( i sorted out anything that looked like hard cast for a later date.)

that was at 30 yards on the paper. i was also able to hit a 4 inch steel plate at 100 yards with that load. next trip to the range will be for 100 yard grouping and sighting.

[grampa243]

Interested in your thread on the .243, since I have one. Its a Rem 700 with factory 26" barrel.
I also have a 2nd barrel, Hart custom tight neck to I think .242 meaning I have to turn the necks.

What mold are you using and what kind of accuracy should I expect?

Have you tried other weight molds?

Thanks Jim
the mold is RCBS 243-095-SP it's the only one i have so far for the 243. my gun really likes 100gr j-words so i picked the mold for weight and bullets length.
as to what to expect this is new to me. the first time out with this caliber. I've cast for the 45-70 and black powder but just starting on the 243.

[grampa243]

you can see that the seating stem is putting a bit of a ring in my soft boolits.
65112
i fixed the seating stem rings by lapping the sharp edge off the inside. even looks nice on my J-words now ;)