What has been your experience on this ?

[Ben]

In your experiences, what is the most accurate .30 cal. cast bullet you've fired in your .30 cal. rifles. Do you have a particular load ( Pet Load ) that has consistently shot well in several different rifles of the same caliber ?

Thanks,

Ben

[abunaitoo]

I've been experimenting with Unique powder (got #9 for a good price). I've found that 11.0 to 12.0 seems to shoot well at 50 yds with no leading. 13.0 and 14.0 shoots just as good, but it's starting to leave a little lead.
Haven't shot to many 100yd groups. I'm trying to get consistancy at 50yds first.
Lee .30cal, .309di, WW, water cooled, Hornady checks. I started with Lee alox tumble lube, but am trying pan lubing with white lube from Lar45.
1917 Enfield- 1" to 2"
1889 S/R - 1" to 2"

[BruceB]

A very good question.

In loading the .30-40, .30-06, 7.62 NATO, and even occasionally using it in the .303 British, I'd have to say that my best results to date ON AVERAGE have been turned in by Lyman's 311466, the nominal-150-grain Loverin design (short pointed nose and MANY lube grooves).

Right now, the 311467 (466's 180-grain brother) is shooting famously well in my M1A, but results in other rifles so far have been mixed.

311291 is a great favorite with many people, too.

I reckon I must have easily a dozen or more .30-caliber moulds, and enough projects ahead with them all to keep me going for years. And then there all the other calibers, too! Handloading jacketed ammo was never like this; probably, that's the charm of casting.

[StarMetal]

In my 30-06's, 30-40 Krag, and 7.62x54R Finn39.....hands down...311284 and 314299.....with medium power loads with rifle powers.

Joe

[Ben]

I too have found that 11 - 12 grs. of Unique in the 06' with a Lee HCB 210 Spire , sized .309 dia. shoots extremely well ( a ragged hole ) @ 50 yds.
Currently I'm shooting 11.4 grs. of Unique with the 210 HCB.

I've also had read good luck with SEVERAL 308 Win's. shooting the Lee 200 gr. RN with 18.0 grs. of IMR -4198. About 20 yrs. ago there was a good article in , I believe, Shooting Times Mag. about a fellow that was testing .30 cast bullets in the 30 - 30 Win. and .308 Win. That particular writer put me onto that load.... a real winner in every .308 that I've shot it in to date.

Thanks,

Ben

[David R]

311466 seems to shoot well in both my 30 cal guns. 311644 Shoots Awesome in my 308. Its a perfect fit between boolit and gun. Every gun is a law to its self. NO boolit is going to shoot great in everything. 311291 shoots best in my 30-06 enfield.

Like BruceB, I have many 30 cal molds from 113 grain soupcan to 220 311284.. I am thinking of one more, a TL or plain base version so I don't have to mess with gas checks. It will be driven by Red Dot. I have the 311410 but have only shot it in my 32-20. It works as well as the sopucan in the same gun with out the gas check and no leading.

David

[NVcurmudgeon]

My current favorite .30 cal. boolit is Lyman 314299. Originally bought for the .303 British No. 4 rifle, I frequently got groups of less than three inches at 100 yd. when sized to .314". Then I sized some .310" and gave them a try in my NRA Sporter Springfield. Here the better iron sights helped to deliver a number of groups right on the edge of two inches. Next up was my sporterized Krag, converted from rifle to carbine. With boolits sized to .310" groups run well under three inches at 100, and sometimes much better. I caught lightning in a bottle recently and the Krag gave me a TEN-SHOT group of 2.14". All of this was with the same load, Ed Harris' go-to load of 16.0 gr. Alliant 2400. No fillers were used, and all groups were fired with 60+ year old eyeballs and iron sights. Research continues, I have some samples of Lyman 311467 and a like-new 311466 mould. Watch this space.

[JDL]

Lyman's 311644 is great in my .30'06 M.70 Target. 12 grains of Unique produces MOA every time! 31141 has been good in several .30 cal. from .300 Savage to '06. -JDL

[Ben]

Based on several of the above comments, looks like the 311644 needs to be added to my already growing number of .30 caliber bullet molds !

Thanks for all the replies,

Ben

[45 2.1]

Rcbs 308-165-sil

[sundog]

30-180-SP, but mine is just barely big enough with my alloy to be good. I've mentioned on at least several different threads about how well this boolit does in the 03 with N120 and 4227. That said, I have had very good success with 311291, 311284, and 308-165-SIL. I'm just now starting to mess around with 311644 and SAECO #301, and initial tests are very promising. If I was told that I could have ONLY one .30 mould for here on out, it might have to be the 311291. BUT, since I don't have to make that decision, I'll just keep playing with ALL of them. sundog

[Char-Gar]

Lyman 311467, 311291, 311284 and RCBS 165 Sil have all been consistant performers in a number of 30 cal. rifles. There is no one magic, stretch sock (one size fits all) bullet, but if a traditional 30 cal rifle won't shoot at least decent with the above bulletx, then it won't shoot anything.

[Urny]

If I had to pick just one mould that has done well in every thirty caliber it's been tried in, it would be my old Lee C309-174, now labeled as a 180, I think. It's a single cavity though, so doesn't get as much use as it should. After that, 311284 and 311291, hands down.

[Maven]

Ben, I too have obtained excellent accuracy from #311644's in my '06 cast from three different molds. It performed equally well from at least two .308Win.'s and another '06 that I have personal knowledge of. Said results in my '06 were obtained with:

21.5gr. WC 820
22.0gr. AA 5744
24.0gr. IMR 4198;
48.0gr. WC 860 (mag. primer)
48.0gr. IMR 5010 + 1cc poly filler (mag. primer)

[Ben]

Thanks Maven:

Looks like I'm going to have to come up with a 311644. Mid-Way's D/C 311644 is $49.95 ...Is that about as good as I'll find ?

I continue to read in a variety of places that it is a fine bullet.

I have several of the powders that you listed.

Sounds like more trips to the range.

Thanks to all,

Ben

[Will]

I'm a new poster but had to sign up when I read this post. I've been using the 311291 for about 40 years and get real good groups in my 06 with 20gr 2400. I looked back in my notes and found a 50yd 5 shot group of 3/4" with 4 of them in 3/8". I use 16-18 gr in my 30-30. I also like the 311284 with 40 to 50 gr of 4831 for long shots or for busting through brush. The 40gr load will start to keyhole out at 300yds but is real accurate short of that. The 50 gr load comes close to a jacketed load but needs a hard bullet.
Will