Safe in my 3030?

[Elbow]

So I just did my first cast boolit reloads. Useing 50/50 pb WW out of a Lee c309 170 f mold I loaded them over 26 grains of 4064. Boolits sized to .308 with a gas check. Question is the boolits show rifling marks in the lead when cycled through the action. Is this a concern? Are they ok to shoot? They chamber ok in my circa 1939 winchester model 94. Just checking about the rifling marks before I fire them. Thanks, craig

[Blammer]

I usually put the 30-30 IN the safe.

[Monttexan]

Sounds like the Overall Length of the rounds might be a bit long. It depends on how much the rifling is engraving the boolit and what your rifle likes. My reloading experience to date is limited to jacketed. I'm sure someone with more boolit specific information will share it soon.

[largom]

26 Gr. 4064 is starting load for a 170 Gr. JACKETED bullet so should be OK for your cast load. If engraving is severe you might pull a boolit from an unfired case. If you only see light rifling marks you should be good to go. You could always seat .005 or .010 deeper unless you have crimped. Good luck on your .308 size, my gun likes .310 or .311 size.

Larry

[runfiverun]

I want to see rifling marks on my boolits.
if they chamber and de-chamber easily you are good to go.

[Ben]

Sizing to .308 ", Yea.......Good luck, you'll need it ? ? ?

[dverna]

Wow, 19,000 posts for r5r.

The most interesting item in this thread.

Don Verna

[Scharfschuetze]

Elbow,

Some boolits shoot well when placed into the rifling and some don't. Give 'em a test and see what your results are. Like runfiverrun, I generally like to have my cast boolits slightly engraved and have, on average, found better accuracy this way in both a Marlin 1893 from 1905 as well as my Model 94 circa 1956. If they are cycling through the action, extract well if unfired, and they shoot well, you'll be in good shape.

As suggested in a previous post, if you have a slightly larger diameter boolit sizer, say .309" or .310" diameter, give it a try once you establish a baseline for accuracy with this load at .308." My 30/30s all shoot well with a boolit sized to .309 inches with good accuracy and no leading, although I use slightly faster powders than your 4064 in the cartridge. No matter what others post, only your rifle can tell you what it likes so experiment and find the load that works for you.

You might also take a look at this thread about neck expansion for the 30/30 in this post:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?231413-expander-for-30-30-question

[Wayne Smith]

I load mine (Marlin) with a boolit that is so tight that it is difficult to close the lever - but it doesn't stick when I unload. Very accurate in both of my rifles.

[DLCTEX]

I also recommend sizing larger. You may get leading at .308. I size .311 for my Marlin and the nose engraves on the rifling. A good crimp will hold the bullet in place if it isn't jammed into the lands too hard. With cast there is not much pressure spike caused by engraving the boolit, but work up loads carefully.

[Baron von Trollwhack]

I want to see rifling marks on my boolits.
if they chamber and de-chamber easily you are good to go.

BINGO ! Especially with micro grooved barrels.

BvT

[cwheel]

I have a similar Lee mold ( 309-150 ) that engraves rifling when loaded to the full listed OAL. Mine stick so bad that will pull the boolit trying to extract a loaded round. To make mine work, I had to load rounds almost 1/8" shorter than the OAL Lyman listed for this boolit. Do they work this way, sure do, but far from ideal. Your Winchester 94 is a 1939, mine is a 1940, just before the war. Think some machinist at lee missed a size on the boolit nose when cutting the cherry to make these molds. .003 less on the OD of the nose of the boolit and it would have worked out fine. Here is the danger. If you were to stick a boolit in the bore while hunting, and follow it up with another loaded round, could have a big kaboom. My temporary fix is deeper seated boolits, I'm loading with 28 gr. of 3031, far away from max load. Another thing I don't like about deeper seated is the gas check is well into the case, check falls off in the case, could be another problem. My mold was free from the passing of a neighbor, don't think he had a chance to use it much. Thinking my mold is worth exactly what I paid for it. I'll start looking for a Lyman 170 gr. mold ( 311041 ) to replace this Lee mold for my next batch. In my case, boolit nose is to large. You can make the cavity larger, but not smaller, and that is what this lee mold needs, smaller. Quite a few comments on your choice of what to size the boolits. I happen to have a .309, and it has worked great so far, but I wouldn't be surprised to see leading in your bore sizing down to .308, think I got lucky having .309 work out OK. Back to the boolit, the boolit nose on mine measures .3015, and that is why you get the engraving on the boolit if yours is the same size. That size is bigger than the minimum size of the bore ( lands bore=.300 ) Some folks like to have lite engagement with the rifling with their rounds, with a hunting rifle, I don't. More often than not, a hunting rifle will get loaded and unloaded many times during a hunting trip. I don't want to remove a stuck boolit from the bore during a hunting trip, or worse yet, blow up the rifle. If you just bought this mold, I'd return it. Can't return it and still want to use it ?? Seat the boolit deeper. My Lee 309-150 will make ebay as soon as I get the Lyman here to replace it.
Chris

[JeffinNZ]

Sizing to .308 ", Yea.......Good luck, you'll need it ? ? ?

I think what Ben was trying to say was sizing to .308 is a shade to skinny for primo results. .310-.311 is usual. My Husqvarna will load .312 inch.

[bhn22]

I want to see rifling marks on my boolits.
if they chamber and de-chamber easily you are good to go.

Light engraving on the bore riding section of a cast bullet in a rifle is quite desireable. It's telling you that the bore riding section is at the ideal diameter. As long as the loaded rounds eject easily, you're good to go. As mentioned earlier, the 30/30 is one of those happy cartridges that allows use of jacketed loads for cast bullets. It's one of the best balanced cartridges out there for cast bullets. I'm not excited about sizing the bullets to .308, .311 is usually the best starting point for .308 bore 30 calibers.

[cwheel]

Remember that the "engraving" is happening with the small part ( .300 ) of the bore and not the .308 dia. Smallest part of the bore and the size of the boolit nose. A rifle bore is drilled and reamed ( in this size ) to .300 before the rifling process. The .004 removed per side in the rifling process still leaves the .300 bore after rifling. The nominal major ID of the bore after removing .004 per side for rifling is .308. ( this is the size you get when you slug the bore ) If his boolit nose on that mold casts a size larger than.300 it will engage the rifling what ever amount the boolit is oversized. This isn't the size on the grease grove rings that is being sized and lubed in the sizing process, this is the front of the boolit in front of that area lubed and sized. If it's big enough to grab the rifling and pull the boolit extracting the loaded round, or won't chamber smoothly, it's far from a good thing if this rifle isn't being used on a bench as a single shot.
Chris