Tom Myers
04-18-2006, 10:37 PM
My Lee 6 cavity 7mm Soupcan Group Buy Mold arrived today and I just had to try it out before it got too dark to see.
I cleaned, deburred, lubricated and pre heated the mold while the pot was warming up and then proceeded to start making bullets. After about 10 fillings the bullets started coming out crisp and clean. All 6 would drop from the cavities with a light tap on the hinge bolt. The mold worked flawlessly and in no time I had about 50 or 60 clean, crisp castings. 10 of them weighed between 132.5 and 133.5 grains so I took them all to the Old Lyman 45 Lubrisizer, lubed with FWFL and sized all to 0.285". The hornaday checks were all a nice snap fit on the shank, So far, no problems at all.
The bullet nose drops from the mold at 0.283" and the rifling lightly engraves the nose right up to the first drive band. Again, no problems.
There was just enough Alliant 2400 powder left in the can to load up 8 rounds with 14 grains so that was the first problem today - not enough powder.
Took the Browning Medallion out to the bench along with the 8 rounds and discovered the second problem of the day. A @#%&* bear had torn up my 100 yard target stand. Went down and hammered it back together and stapled up an aim point on a sheet of typing paper.
Went back to the bench to set up the chronograph and found the today's third problem. No charged batteries for the Chrony to be found anywhere. (Does anyone know about how fast 14 grains of 2400 will push a 133 grain lead bullet out of a 280 Remington??)
Started shooting and found the next problem. The first three shots printed far right in a 3 inch vertical string, I thought "gosh, golly, darn, this bullet isn't going to perform well at all". Then I noticed that the barrel was touching the right side of the forearm, Now what?. Got my screwdriver and, sure enough, the stock screws had loosened up over the winter. Snugged everthing up, went back to the bench and proceeded to fire the remaining 5 rounds in the fading light.
I was feeling quite glum on the way down to the target, as I had not been able to spot any bullet holes in the dim light and surmized that I was missing the target altogether.
When I arrived at the target there was a sight to behold (For me anyway).
All five shots were in what appeared to be a group under an inch. Placing a sheet of paper over the target I punched out the bullet holes and the aiming point, and hurried back to my computer to score the target. That 5 shot group went a long way toward making up for all the problems of the day.
I am very pleased with the grouping of the first load that was tried for the new mold.
Over on the Custom Molds forum, some interest was shown in a dimensional sketch of the castings from the new group buy mold, so I am inserting those images here along with a screen snapshot of the digital target scoring of the first 5 shot group fired with bullets from my mold.
Respectfully,
Tom Myers
Precision Ballistics and Records (http://www.tmtpages.com)
http://www.tmtpages.com/LinkSkyImages/7mm%20Soupcan%20target.gif
http://www.tmtpages.com/LinkSkyImages/Lee%20Mold%206C%207%20mm%20Soup%20Can%20%20134_gr. gif
http://www.tmtpages.com/LinkSkyImages/Lee%20Mold%206C%207%20mm%20Soup%20Can%20%20134_gr_ Sketch.gif
I cleaned, deburred, lubricated and pre heated the mold while the pot was warming up and then proceeded to start making bullets. After about 10 fillings the bullets started coming out crisp and clean. All 6 would drop from the cavities with a light tap on the hinge bolt. The mold worked flawlessly and in no time I had about 50 or 60 clean, crisp castings. 10 of them weighed between 132.5 and 133.5 grains so I took them all to the Old Lyman 45 Lubrisizer, lubed with FWFL and sized all to 0.285". The hornaday checks were all a nice snap fit on the shank, So far, no problems at all.
The bullet nose drops from the mold at 0.283" and the rifling lightly engraves the nose right up to the first drive band. Again, no problems.
There was just enough Alliant 2400 powder left in the can to load up 8 rounds with 14 grains so that was the first problem today - not enough powder.
Took the Browning Medallion out to the bench along with the 8 rounds and discovered the second problem of the day. A @#%&* bear had torn up my 100 yard target stand. Went down and hammered it back together and stapled up an aim point on a sheet of typing paper.
Went back to the bench to set up the chronograph and found the today's third problem. No charged batteries for the Chrony to be found anywhere. (Does anyone know about how fast 14 grains of 2400 will push a 133 grain lead bullet out of a 280 Remington??)
Started shooting and found the next problem. The first three shots printed far right in a 3 inch vertical string, I thought "gosh, golly, darn, this bullet isn't going to perform well at all". Then I noticed that the barrel was touching the right side of the forearm, Now what?. Got my screwdriver and, sure enough, the stock screws had loosened up over the winter. Snugged everthing up, went back to the bench and proceeded to fire the remaining 5 rounds in the fading light.
I was feeling quite glum on the way down to the target, as I had not been able to spot any bullet holes in the dim light and surmized that I was missing the target altogether.
When I arrived at the target there was a sight to behold (For me anyway).
All five shots were in what appeared to be a group under an inch. Placing a sheet of paper over the target I punched out the bullet holes and the aiming point, and hurried back to my computer to score the target. That 5 shot group went a long way toward making up for all the problems of the day.
I am very pleased with the grouping of the first load that was tried for the new mold.
Over on the Custom Molds forum, some interest was shown in a dimensional sketch of the castings from the new group buy mold, so I am inserting those images here along with a screen snapshot of the digital target scoring of the first 5 shot group fired with bullets from my mold.
Respectfully,
Tom Myers
Precision Ballistics and Records (http://www.tmtpages.com)
http://www.tmtpages.com/LinkSkyImages/7mm%20Soupcan%20target.gif
http://www.tmtpages.com/LinkSkyImages/Lee%20Mold%206C%207%20mm%20Soup%20Can%20%20134_gr. gif
http://www.tmtpages.com/LinkSkyImages/Lee%20Mold%206C%207%20mm%20Soup%20Can%20%20134_gr_ Sketch.gif