Casting Question's

[Pea Shooter]

Hi

I have recently begun ordering some stuff to start casting for our Pistols. I will be casting for 357 Mag, 45 ACP, and 9mm luger. i have not casted before so If I ask something stupid forgive me.

#1 : Do I have to have a mold desighned for gas checks to use checks or can I crimp them on a any boolit?

#2 : Can I use tumble lube on bullets with lube grooves?

#3 : Concidering casting for My 303 British. Would be using for whitetail hunting. wondering if anyone else does it?

[1Shirt]

#1. Plain base blts without gas checks will do you just fine. Read some of Elmers writtings on the subject. You can learn a lot.

#2. Yes, with emphasis on the Lee blts. designed for LLA. You can also use it on other than the Lee multi groove blts, but will normally take a second lubing after the first semi dries.

#3. No reason you can't hunt deer with cast in 303Brit. There are many Canadians and Ausies who I am sure will vouch for same, plus I am sure a number of Americans. Have limited experiance with 303, so can't relate to first hand knowledge.

Good Luck
1Shirt!:coffee:

[454PB]

You do need a gas check design mould to use gas checks, unless you are willing to do some special sizing.

[OneShotNeeded]

For the 45ACP I've had really good luck with Lyman 452374 is 225gn it comes both RN and HP. 452486 is 193gn has 2 lube rings and works quite well. 452488 is 196gn has one lube ring and I've found it works well but you have to play with the seating depth or it won't feed properly.

Along with those moulds I've been using the Lee Lube and sizer die kit available from Midwayusa.com for about $14.00 comes with 6oz Lee Alox Lube which works great but I find that if I lube size and re-lube I have very minor leading in my barrel.

I've been using Blue-Dot in a Little Dandy powder measurer #15 rotor and getting 9.7gn. Works real well and get to use up my old powder. Hope this helps some.

[pdawg_shooter]

#1. Plain base blts without gas checks will do you just fine. Read some of Elmers writtings on the subject. You can learn a lot.

#2. Yes, with emphasis on the Lee blts. designed for LLA. You can also use it on other than the Lee multi groove blts, but will normally take a second lubing after the first semi dries.

#3. No reason you can't hunt deer with cast in 303Brit. There are many Canadians and Ausies who I am sure will vouch for same, plus I am sure a number of Americans. Have limited experiance with 303, so can't relate to first hand knowledge.

Good Luck
1Shirt!:coffee:

I hunt a lot with a 303, mostly coyote. I use a 111446, BNH 14.0 to 14.5, sized .304 and patched back up with 16lb paper. Great game bullet at around 2550fps.

[grumpy one]

#1. Plain base blts without gas checks will do you just fine. Read some of Elmers writtings on the subject. You can learn a lot.

#2. Yes, with emphasis on the Lee blts. designed for LLA. You can also use it on other than the Lee multi groove blts, but will normally take a second lubing after the first semi dries.

#3. No reason you can't hunt deer with cast in 303Brit. There are many Canadians and Ausies who I am sure will vouch for same, plus I am sure a number of Americans. Have limited experiance with 303, so can't relate to first hand knowledge.

Good Luck
1Shirt!:coffee:

1Shirt, there are no deer native to Australia, but several species have been introduced and are reasonably viable in the wild. However the usual ones are very much larger than whitetail. They can't legally be hunted with anything under 30 caliber, and the deerstalkers' association recommends nothing below 375 H&H unless they've changed their doctrine since I discussed it with them years ago. It seems fairly common to hunt with jacketed 308W loads, and is successful in the hands of an expert. The main trophy species, sambar, is the size of the waipiti, which is called elk in the US, or the English red deer.

[Leftoverdj]

Pea, you may be able to cut initial expense by using the same bullet for both 9mm and .357 Mag. I shoot the discontinued Lee 356-153-2R in both. I happened to get a mould that cast large enough to do that. You would probably be well served with a .358 RN or TC mould between 125 and 158 grains. Most 9mms need a bullet larger than .356, anyway.

[Pea Shooter]

Thanks guy's .

This really helps. I was planning to buy gas checks, I'm glad i aksed before I spent the money and ended up with Me trying to seat one on a boolit that shouldn't have one.

i guess I also need to look into some 303 load data for cast, " I didn't think you could push them that fast with cast". Gonna give it a try as taking deer sounds like it may be a bit of a challenge and I like a challenge. Have to do some research first though.

Thanks a million

Pea.

[Bret4207]

First thing you need to do is review the "Stickys" here and do some reading on the main posts. Most of your questions are addressed numerous times. Each post has a slightly different angle to it and you'll pick up on the little details as you go. Getting a copy of Lymans "Cast Bullet Handbook" is almost a must if you hope to pick this stuff up quickly. The CBA has a beginners book too.

Start with a Lee PB (plain base) 150-160 gr boolit for your 357. Wheel weights work fine for alloy and Lee Liquid Alox (Mule Snot) works fine in the 6-1100 fps range in most guns. Pick a simple load to start, something like 3.0 Gr Bullseye in 38 Special brass or 5.0 gr Unique in 357. Work your loads up and down and find something you are satisfied with. Then cast, cast, cast. You'll get the hang of it soon. For the 303 it's a bit trickier due to varying bore size. A good start is the Lee 311-180 (not sure on mould numbers, it's listed for 303 Brit) Shoot that one with tumble lube, with as little sizing as you can, with 12.0-13.0 gr Red Dot or 15.0-16.0 gr 2400 to start. The rest is playing with powder, OAL alloys, brass, etc, etc.

When you have a question feel free to ask or use the "search" function here. Then enjoy, it's supposed to be fun!

[shotman]

if you are just starting in reloading why not buy some boolets of different weights to find out what you like i have loaded for 40yrs and i have only one boolet per cal now i am sure there are many on here that will sell you a hundred to try i also have gone to the Lee lube for everything rick

[Lead melter]

"For the 303 it's a bit trickier due to varying bore size. A good start is the Lee 311-180 (not sure on mould numbers, it's listed for 303 Brit) Shoot that one with tumble lube, with as little sizing as you can, with 12.0-13.0 gr Red Dot or 15.0-16.0 gr 2400 to start. The rest is playing with powder, OAL alloys, brass, etc, etc."

Bret, I believe the mold you are discussing is the Lee 312-185-RN. This is a gas check design boolit that will accept a 30 caliber gas check.
While I have done no hot-rod tests with this boolit, it works well in my Moisin-Nagant which should have about the same bore as a 303 Brit.
I have discovered a little trick to making it work. If sized to .311" it will shoot patterns, not groups in my M-N. What I do now is to cast, lube with LLA, seat the gas check, then size just the gas check portion base first in a Lee .311" sizer. Run the base in about 1/4" until you feel it start to drag, then tap the boolit back out with a wooden dowel and hammer. The boolit will have a diameter of about .312", while the check narrows down to about .315". Lube with LLA again and allow to dry.
I use the Lee Universal Expander to open the case mouth, seat the boolit and shoot. It sounds kind of sloppy, but 50 yard groups of 1" to 1 1/2" for ten shots don't lie. Yeah, powder charge is famous....12 grains Unique.

[Bret4207]

LM- Thats the one and your method sounds a lot like mine. I used the RCBS LAM and just started the base into the sizer then popped it back out. Same thing.

[Kraschenbirn]

Pea Shooter...

First thing you need to do with your .303 is slug the bore. Due to war-time manufacturing variances and accumulated wear, there's a fairly broad range of bore sizes out there.

Like Bret and Lead Melter, I'm using the Lee 312-185-1R in my .303. Out of the box, mine dropped .313-.3135 boolits from my "hard" alloy (3 parts Lyman #2 to 1 part linotype...water quenched) which was just a tad undersize for the .3135 bore of my Longbranch #4Mk1. So I lapped the cavities (Barkeeper's Friend, toothpaste, and patience) to drop .315+ boolits which are then sized .315 in my Lyman 450.

Fired some test loads using this boolit over H4895 day before yesterday. After a couple of fouling shots, the first five rounds went into under 3/4" @ 50 yds. Second five went into just under an inch. Two groups fired at 100 yds were both under 2 1/2". Not too shabby for a 1942 mil-surp with battle sights and original barrel!!

Only had 25 rounds...I said these were a "test"...so I didn't chrono this load but from the result of similar in my K-31, I'd estimate it's running right around 1900 fps.

Bill