Lyman 311467 in 308. Need help!

[Anonym]

So I've been trying to shoot some of my boolits out of my bolt action 308 and need some help! I'm getting a very random "pattern" at 50 yards with no sign of any kind of group.

Boolits are 50/50 coww to pure lead, water dropped and gas checked with 338RemUltraMag checks, sized to .311.



In order to stay out of the leads in the bore, I have to seat to an OAL of 2.70, putting the check below the neck.

I've loaded them with Winchester LRPs over 13.5, 13.8 and 14.5 grains of Unique with no luck. I also tried a 33 grain load of IMR 4895, but I think that was too fast. I have some R15, Benchmark, Universal Clays, 4320, 4350, H110, and some Blue Dot I could try at someone's recommendation.

I'm shooting a Ruger M77 VT with a 1:10 twist barrel. Anyone able to steer me towards anything resembling a group? I'm taking care not to swage the boolits while I'm waiting for my buckshot expander plug...

Thanks!

[runfiverun]

two things.
let the boolits go ahead and get into the rifling.
this helps with alignment.

and drop the 4895 load down to 28-29 grs, and the unique load down to about 10 grs.

[Char-Gar]

311467 is a great bullet but not without it's problems. It is not a good choice for the 308 Winchester though. If you want to shoot a Loverin design bullet in the 308 Winchester, the lighter 311466 would be a better choice. Better yet is the RCBS 165 Sil.

The top three bands of 311467 are smaller than the rest of the body, but still to large to engrave on the top of the rifling. I started sizing the top two bands .301 to engrave on top of the lands and accuracy took a big jump and it also enabled the gas check to say in the neck of a 30-06 case.

When I designed 311407 Mod (Modified) several years back I designed it with the top two driving band .302 to engrave on the lands and it has worked very well.

[Anonym]

Thanks fellas. Going to adjust seating depth and lower the charge. Seemed like the bands were mashing in the throat when seated to engrave the rifling.

[BruceB]

In my loooooong thread on the .308 M1A rifle ("CB Loads/Military Rifles" forum), 311467 gave me the tightest grouping of the entire series.... that was some thousands of rounds.

That best group was 0.60 inches for TEN rounds, iron sights at fifty yards. The powder was H4831, velocity around 2000 fps (without going and actually looking it up).

If that load worked well in the autoloading M1A, I expect it would likely do fairly well in a bolt-action rifle. I now have such a rifle, and perhaps I'll give it a "go".

EDIT: I got curious and went back to my "best-group" report in the M1A thread. The actual speed was 1694 average and not "around 2000fps" as posted above. The charge was 35.0 grains of OLD H4831 with the CCI #34 primer.

If the gas checks are secure on the bullets, I routinely load rounds with the checks below the necks.... or even below the case shoulders....

[Maven]

"I've loaded them with Winchester LRPs over 13.5, 13.8 and 14.5 grains of Unique with no luck."

Anonym, I'd drop the charge of Unique to 11grs. and maybe work toward 13.0grs. If no joy with lesser powder charges, I'd suggest sizing to .309" or .310". Of course, this begs the question, Have you slugged your bore? Btw, I don't think the problem is intrinsic to #311467.

[Anonym]

I didn't get to today, but I've been receiving some good coaching here. Going to give it another go as soon as possible. Think I'm going to start at 10 grains and work up.

[HARRYMPOPE]

char-gar is correct its often too fat for commercial bolt gun 308 throats. 10-12g of Unique is a pretty good load for a 308 with 150-200g bullets BTW.I have also used 28-30g of 4895 is two gas guns with good luck(no filler)I have owned a 311467 for over 25 years and never saw it as the best for the 308.The 180SP and 165 SIL RCBS are my top two.

George

[Anonym]

Thanks George. I may have to consider a smaller sizer die. Might consider trading the mold for a more suitable one.

Justin

[HARRYMPOPE]

If you have a .308 sizer you can run it nose down to reduce the front end a bit. I got mine to shoot after I tapered it in a custom die to fit the rifling. But it didn't shoot any better than other ones I like and the extra sizing step want worth it.Now in older 30-06 military guns or longer throated 30 caliber it works very well.

[Char-Gar]

A few years back, I bought a Remington 700 VS (308 Winchester) specifically to use as a cast bullet rifle. It has proven to be a good rifle delivering reliable MOA (10 shot) groups with either jacketed or cast bullets if everything is done right. It wears a 12X scope. If I wanted to split for a custom high end barrel to replace the Remington barrel, I could shrink those groups, but I am too cheap to do that.

The best overall results I had had in that rifle and the three other 308 Win. rifle (2 Win. 88 and 1 Savage 16) has been the RCBS 165 Sil sized .310 which is the size it falls from the mold. I don't know if this bullet was designed for the 308 Win. but it sure fits the short case neck and the nose rides the lands right well.

I like 16/2400 for low end loads and 50/WC872 for 2K fps loads. With selected bullets I have put ten rounds in .75" with the second load on many occasions. Even on a bad day, they open up to 1.25". I am talking 100 yards.

[rintinglen]

I had decent results with the 311-467 and 12.0 grains of Unique, but 17.5 grains of 2400 worked better.

I have to concur with those who choose other boolits, though. My Savage did much better with the 311-466. It grouped half the size of the heavier 311-466. The 311-291 also did better than the 311-467.