Does anyone use the Lee C312-185-1R?

[armoredman]

It's the only Lee mold listed for the .303 British, and I am interested in starting to cast for my No4 MK1*. I also found a local reloader/coworker who is thinking of getting into casting, and owns a .303. I wanted to know if it worked well in anyone's No4, and if there was anyway I could bum/buy a short handful of cast WW to try before spending the dough on the mold/sizing kit/gas checks? Do they need gas checks, or can they fly with light loads without? Moving up to rifle casting, making Buckshot happy, not casting for itty bitty cases.[smilie=1:

[hunter64]

Do a search on this site, there was someone else not that long ago over on the Military Rifle section that was trying to get the same bullet to work and was having no luck. I basically had the same question and so I searched on 4 other gun related sites also and 90% of the time they are just to small to work good. You will have to slug your barrel and see what the gun needs, usually a .303 wants at least a .314 to start to shoot half way straight without leading, one of mine needs a .316.

http://www3.sympatico.ca/shooters/castsstory1.htm great write up on cast bullets in .303's.

[KCSO]

Yes and no: if you have a tight bore it will work fine, but it casts about 312 max from the mould and theyre aren't a whole lot of 303's that will handle 312. Most of mine like 313-316. The good news is that it works fine for most 30 calibers even though the nose is a tad smaller than I like.

[armoredman]

I guess I should have said mine loves the Hornady j-word 174gr FMJ/BT which is a .3105, which is why I thought the .312 cast would work well. Thank you for your replies.:)

[KCSO]

J and C are pretty far apart in the alphabet and samo samo for shooting. I have had probably 50 303's since 1967 and have shot most of them with cast at least once. Most had bores of 312 or more and if you want a bullet a little bigger than the bore OR fitted to the throat you neeed at least a 313 bullet in most cases. I currently have a sporter that I am working on, trying to copy a Lee Speed, and it runs 311 on the nose. A 310-311 jacketed slug will shoot fine in a 313 bore, but not so with cast. With a worn throat i like an even bigger bullet and i had a 2 groove that shot best with 317 slugs. I would slug the bore on the rifle and figure at least 2 thou over the bore and depending on the throat up to 4 thou.

[Kraschenbirn]

My Lee C312-185-1R mold just arrived yesterday, so I haven't had a chance to run off any bullets but I'd pretty much accepted that I might have do some "Lee-menting" when I ordered it. The bore of my 2-groove Longbranch #4 Mk 1 runs a tad over .313 and the throat close to .315 so I figure .314 sized dia. is probably good for starters. From what I've gathered from others' experiences, depending upon alloy, this mold design has been known to drop anywhere from .312 to over .314 out of the box. Will probably cast up a few bullets over the weekend using the 3 parts Lyman #2 to 1 part linotype mix that works well in my 7.5 Swiss and .308 Win. Will post results.

Bill

[quasi]

I have one, it is .314 unsized.

[RU shooter]

Armoredman, I have that mold also it drops .313 with WW alloy and YES they can shoot well without a gas check yesterday I fired 2, 10 rd groups into 2" each without a GC and a light load of Bullseye at 100M in a 03A3 PM or email me your add. I can send you some if you wish.

[Johnch]

I have one
I lapped it out to drop a .315 bullet

It shoots fine

I also have a 303 with a tight .310 bore
That shoots the same bullet out of another mould great , alsoI shoot the bullet designed for the 7.62 x 39 , it drops a .312 150 gr bullet

John

[4570guy]

If you have a 2-groove barrel (which most Mk1*'s were), you need to watch the bore riding size. My lands measured .304. The bullet only measured .303 and is a "loose" fit on the lands. Together with my over-sized throat, this bullet was an abject failure in the Enfield. That said -- it shoots absolutely GREAT in my Krag with the .312 bore/.302 lands.

BTW -- Armoredman -- I boxed up 20 bullets for you, but didn't get them in the mail before the post office closed on Saturday. I'll try and get them out to you on Monday.

Ken

[Kraschenbirn]

Fired up the pot this afternoon and ran off a few bullets from my brand new C312-185-1R.

Using 3 parts Lyman #2 to 1 part linotype, unsized bullets weighed out at 173 gr (w/o gas check) and measured .314-.3145 at the driving bands with a .302 dia. ahead of the bands.

As the bore of my 2-groove #4 MK1 slugs .313+ in the groves with .302+ lands, I did a quick "Lee-Ment"...one layer of aluminum tape...and cast another test batch.

Second cast (same alloy) ran a consistent .315-.316 and .303, respectively. My plan is to size half this batch to .314 and load over 18 gr. 2400 and load the other half, unsized, over the same charge.

Unfortunately, looking at my schedule, there's no way I'm going to get to the range to test fire these before next week but will post results just as soon as I have something.

Bill

[armoredman]

Thank you, 4570 guy. My No4Mk1* is a 4 groove barrel, FTR in Faz, no year for the FTR stamped on the reciever I can see.

[9.3X62AL]

Late pile-on here.....my Lee 312-185 barely goes .312" x .301", so no-go in my fat 30's. It shoots SUPERBLY in my 30-06 (Win 670), so it isn't delegated to paper-weight status. Every bit as good as Lyman #311291 in the '06.