LEE 230 grain Blackout mold

[dubber123]

Hello all, I am hoping someone can tell me what the LEE 230 grain 30 cal mold commonly used for the 300 Blackout measures on the nose, or bore riding section? I have just started powder coating for an AR, and the only mold I currently have that works is the RCBS 165 grain silhouette mold, and the nose is a bit fat after coating and a loaded round is hard to extract.

I'd like to try the LEE, but only if its not going to have the same issue.

Thanks.

[glaciers]

Go to NOE's website and look into Al's sizing dies. He makes nose sizing dies for the problem you describe. i just purchased a few nose dies for the 35 caliber, but have not had time to try them.

http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/index.php

[mto7464]

I have two of the Lee mold and they both cast WAY undersized. Even after powder coating they barely touch the .309 sizer. I would not recommend it too anyone. Good design just not carried out well. Seating can be a problem after PC'ing them, but not as bad a the typical bore rider.

FYI Mihec has a group buy on a 300 BO mold. Its closed but you may be able to get in on it. Trust me you will pull your hair out trying to get the Lee boolit to work. Unless you get lucky and get one that drops a good bullet.

[Moonie]

I have that mold, it's awful. Many have tried to get accuracy out of it. I'm not aware of anyone that has succeeded.

[dubber123]

Mostly what I have heard.. A few reported success, so I thought I might give it a whirl. If it was a problem child, i was going to chuck it in the mill and see if I could improve upon the design, the big boat tail looks like a good place to start. I just didn't want to waste my time if the nose was going to be too fat after PC. Thanks for the replies fellas.

[Lloyd Smale]

never tried that bullet myself but shot a bunch out of my buddys ruger American last week. He had a plate out at 300 yards that was 6x8 in and if you put the cross hairs on it you heard a quite pop then a bang when the bullet hit steel every time. So doing the math that load has to be at least 2moa. Never asked him what his load was but I know he was using 1680. He also said it ran perfectly through his 300 bo ar15. Cool thing was watching behind him with a spotting scope you could see the vapor trail all the way to the target. LOTS OF DROP

[popper]

Might try the SIL with BLL vs PC. I pushed a 145gr FN above 2100 (H110)with BLL Labor Day, decent accuracy but more testing needed. Mom passed that day just a month shy of 100, I wasn't really in a good mood. Yea, that Lee is a PITA. IIRC NOE has a 240ish that does good.

[reddog81]

I've haven't shot any yet, but I was loading up a batch yesterday and did not run into any issues when manually cycling through my rifle. I powder coated and then sized to .310. I had a couple bullets that barely touched the sizing die but 98% were being sized down at least .001 or .002. These were with a light coat of Translucent copper from Smoke4320.

The nose does a pretty quick taper after the driving band ends.

For $20 it seemed like a no-brainer to at least try it, as it was developed for 300 BO. After reading a number of reviews it seems like many are disappointed with it...

[mto7464]

you got lucky and got one that drops large. It should work well. Mine don't.