Lee 309 115rf questions

[TaylorTN]

Ok, this is my first gas-checked mould. I slugged the first 3" of my Marlin 336 micro-grooved 30-30.. The slug measures .305 and .307 ( lands and grooves)as you rotate the slug in the caliper.

My mould is dropping the boolits at .311 aircooled WW. I'm going to water drop some next week when I get back from a trip.

My question is: If you were to shoot them unsized, how would you seat the GC?

I have a .309 lee sizer that makes very pretty GC'd boolits. I'm going to shoot them on Monday and see how they do sized and lubed with JPW or LLA. (only lubes on hand)

I have the cast bullet data from Lee's 2nd manual. They list loads with H4198. I have 8# of IMR 4198. I know not to swap data and powders for heavy loads but for medium or reduced loads, where can I find data or info for this powder. I also have some Unique, Reddot, Greendot Bluedot, Universal, etc to play with if I can find printed data.

Any info you can point me toward is appreciated.

TM

[KCSO]

I shoot thses in everything 30-31 caliber. I like 4.5 of Unique or 6.0 of Red Dot and for a full load 11.5 of Red Dot will duplicate a 32-20. In my Krag these will shoot into 1" at 50 yards and have dropped a lot of rabbits, squirrels and other small game. I run mine through a Lee push through sizer to seat the g/c and for the Krag I size to 311, for the 30 Rem I go 309.

[mooman76]

If you want to gas check and keep unsized run them through a sizer that is the same size as they are dropped. i.e. 311. I'm not sure how well the GC's will stay on though with that much difference.
I use the Lyman manual allot for cb's. They have allot of data. Unfortunately it doesn't have data for that light of a bullet in the 30-30.

[Leftoverdj]

IMR 4198 and H 4198 are close enough for starting loads to be interchangeable, just be a little wary as you work up. The Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook has plenty of data for fast pistol powders and an 115 grain GC bullet. Data for cast bullets for modern rifles is a lot less critical than other loading because you should never get anywhere near dangerous pressures. Bullets cast of air cooled WW will become wildly inaccurate long before the limits of the case or the rifle. For the .30-30 and 115 grain cast bullets, you can safely start with 6 grains of Unique or anything faster.

If you want to crimp GCs but leave the bullets unsized, just run them through a sizer at or just over the as cast diameter. If you have a supply of the obsolete Lyman slip-on GCs and are very lucky in the shank diameter, you don't need to crimp them.