Point me in the right direction for 308

[BACKTOSHOOTING]

Would this Boolit work for me ?Lyman 311413, 169 gn 84053

I have just placed an order for a Tikka T3 hunter in 308 win and would really like to cast my own Boolits for it but have no idea where to start.
99% of my shooting is going to be benchrest targets from 100-300 yds.

I cast for 9mm, 357,40 and 45 in acp and colt have lots of equipment including a LAM2, Just no knowledge in the rifle casting arena.

The barrel is 22.25" with a 11-1 twist

My questions are do i have to GC or can i use PB, What mold would you recomend, would like to be in the 150gn area, What BHN would you recomend, What lube would you recomend, What powders would you recomend.
Not really looking for max loads but for accuracy.




Any other things i need to know to consider before hand ?

Thanks, Steve

[Piedmont]

Buy a gas check mold. It will be much more versatile and if it fits the rifle well with a long bearing surface you can load it sans check with very light loads for accuracy out to 100 yds. anyway. Since you are new at this I would wait until I had the rifle in hand before deciding on the mold. Then I would seat a jacketed bullet backwards so it will just barely chamber. This will tell you how much bearing length you will have from the base of the neck to where the rifling begins. Then start looking at designs. Unless you are going with an all body bullet, like an LBT, I would go heavier than 150 grains for better accuracy at a distance and more impact at the target.

[olafhardt]

I suggest you buy some cheap equipment and start. Cheap is generally spelled L-E-E and teach yourself to cast boolits. There are many here who have worked their way up. If this isn't fun to you you may as well shoot j-words. I never thought I would like to cast. I got started to save money. Now one of the criteria for a new gun is my casting ability and I can proudly say I never saved a damn cent.

[Tatume]

The Lee MOLD DC C309-170-F has been very accurate in my guns. There are several other Lee 30-caliber molds I'd like to try, such as the MOLD DC C309-200-R. I just haven't had the time.

[BACKTOSHOOTING]

Edited OP

I cast for 9mm, 357,40 and 45 in acp and colt have lots of equipment including a LAM2, Just no knowledge in the rifle casting arena.

QUOTE=olafhardt;2426361]I suggest you buy some cheap equipment and start. Cheap is generally spelled L-E-E and teach yourself to cast boolits. There are many here who have worked their way up. If this isn't fun to you you may as well shoot j-words. I never thought I would like to cast. I got started to save money. Now one of the criteria for a new gun is my casting ability and I can proudly say I never saved a damn cent.[/QUOTE]

[tomme boy]

The LEE 200 gr. will be a cheap easy to start place. If you have COWW, water drop them will be a good start. This has been a really accurate design for me in two different 308's. I size all of mine to 0.310" and use gas checks from Blammer almost exclusively. I also use TAC1 lube from Randyrat on here.

You will have to try many powders to find out what your gun wants. I use a lot of 4895. Hodgdon and IMR. Seat to your throat and work from there.

[cbrick]

My 308 loves the RCBS 180 gr, there are two, A SP and a FP and for targets I use the SP and routinely shoot to 200 meters with it. This boolit cast of air cooled clip-on WW+2% Sn with 19.0 gr SR4759 and standard rifle primer shoots much better than I can.

Rick

[WILCO]

I Just no knowledge in the rifle casting arena.

My questions are do i have to GC or can i use PB, What mold would you recomend, would like to be in the 150gn area, What BHN would you recomend, What lube would you recomend, What powders would you recomend.
Not really looking for max loads but for accuracy.

Any other things i need to know to consider before hand ?



Steve,

Get this book:

[10x]

Edited OP

I cast for 9mm, 357,40 and 45 in acp and colt have lots of equipment including a LAM2, Just no knowledge in the rifle casting arena.

QUOTE=olafhardt;2426361]I suggest you buy some inexpensive equipment and start. Inexpensive is generally spelled L-E-E and teach yourself to cast boolits. There are many here who have worked their way up. If this isn't fun to you you may as well shoot j-words. I never thought I would like to cast. I got started to save money. Now one of the criteria for a new gun is my casting ability and I can proudly say I never saved a damn cent.[/QUOTE]

Fixed that for you.

I would start with a 311 diameter bullet - any of the lee molds in 30 caliber will do.
A lee dipper lead pot works well as does the Lee ladle.

When you get a Lee aluminium mold, wash it in hot soapy water and rinse it extremely well. I suspect that sometimes soap film will give wrinkles.
Lee gives instructions to "smoke the mold". This is done with cold mold blocks and all that is needed is smoke from a hardwood splinter. Do not use matches with wax or any thing oil or wax based to smoke. If your mold looks sooty , clean it in acetone or brake kleen and start over.
Make sure the mold is pre heated - holding a corner of the mold in the pot until lead does not solidify and stick to it gets the mold close to casting temperatures

When casting, pour lead til there is a large sprue almost covering the sprue plate, you can watch it harden, count to ten slowly after it goes solid, break the sprue ( i use an insulated leather glove and push the sprue plate with my thumb), then open the mold and drop the bullet. If the bullet sticks, use a wood dowel to tap the hinge on the handle.
a smart, gentle tap will do. (Make sure the sprue plate is not holding the bullet in the mold.

Choose a gas check bullet. After several thousand plain base and gas check bullets down the bore I have discovered that gas check bullets give better accuracy and are more forgiving.

For 30 caliber rifles I size to 311 or 310, seldom under that diameter and only if the loaded case indicates that the bullet is to large for the chamber in neck.

Select a bullet depending on what sort of shooting you want to do. I shoot a Lee 120 grain at 1200 fps as a low noise plinker - and a 200 grain 314299 in my 303 as a hunting bullet.

I have found the 185 grain 30 caliber cast bullet using H335 at 1700 fps to be very accurate in a couple of rifles - it does not matter if the mold is Lee or lyman.

I recommend the Lyman Cast bullet hand book 3rd edition to start. The Lee second edition manual is good.
The Lyman 4th edition is good but not to my taste in lower velocity loads.
RCBS has a cast bullet manual as well if you can find one used.

There is a great deal of myth, rumor, and misconception printed about cast bullets.
I have one cast bullet article with a photo of a soot covered mold - it is obvious the author had no idea of what he was doing.