Just getting started...

[craig61a]

I've been looking into cast reloading for a while, and am ready to start. I have a Lee pot, mold, which I will begin using soon. I bought some Hunter's Supply 165 gr. .311 bullets a while back that I want to use in my M39's. These have a crimp groove near the front of the bullet with no gas checks. I have reloaded copper bullets for a number of years, but have never loaded cast.

For my first load I am using 16 grs. of AA2400 with 1 gr of Poly-Fil. I seated a bullet at 2.850"and it's not touching the lands. The question I have is would it be better to seat the bullet farther out or to seat it in farther and crimp the bullet in place. I realize that it will take some experimenting in order to get the best load. I read somewhere that I should seat the bullet down enough to where it's base will be down near the neck base, and I have also read that cast should be seated so they are touching the lands. My concern is that the air space in the case could cause problems if seated so far out. So, any words of wisdom for somebody just getting their feet wet?

Thanks!

[Wayne Smith]

It might help us if you told us what you are shooting. I can assume Ruskie M39, but there are a lot of similarily designated weapons.

Have you slugged your barrell? We need to post somewhere to newbies that this will automatically be one of the first questions asked! When shooting cast boolits Fit is King - if you don't know the dimensions of your bore you are missing the single most important piece of information needed. And, if you are shooting Ruskies, the bore could be anywhere between .308 to about .320!

Unless you are shooting Black Powder, and I doubt you are, you don't need to worry about airspace.

[craig61a]

Finnish Mosin M39, built on a Russian receiver; the bore is .3085, hence the selection of a .311 bullet. Well I'll just experiment with the seating...

[Wayne Smith]

Finnish Mosin M39, built on a Russian receiver; the bore is .3085, hence the selection of a .311 bullet. Well I'll just experiment with the seating...

Probably your best approach unless someone chimes in who has already done this with the same rifle/bullet/powder combination. You apparantly know what you are doing. Bass or Tom or someone else might have data.

Please keep good records and report back to us what you have found that your rifle likes. These things tend to be dependent on throat wear, for instance, and are specific to one rifle so other's experience will only be suggestive to you anyway. Likewise your data is suggestive for someone else who has a similar situation. You would likely get a good starting point for your own experiments if data were available from someone else.

[craig61a]

My loads for the 165 .311 Hunters Supply bullets leaded up the bore; it didn't take long to get dinner plate sized groups at 50 yds. I will most likely try 10 gr of AA2400 next time and see how that works. These bullets are 15 brinell hardness without gas checks. I did try some other bullets I got from an aquaintance and those were gas checked and a little harder. Shot dime sized groups at 50 yards out of a different Finn M39. I was pleased with my first outing using cast bullets.

[462]

Craig61a,
Welcome.

I'll venture that the leading was caused by the non-checked boolit.

For what it's worth, I seat all rifle boolits to engrave the rifling.

Others will have differing approaches.