Thank You All! Now questions

[Jeffrey]

Poured some hot sweet silver streams this afternoon into a Lee 309-150-F mould. First time casting boolits since before K (that B!^<#). Plan to use them for plinking loads in 30-30 and 30-06 over 10gr or so of Unique. Am going to size and gas check them in a Lee push through sizer. Alloy is 10:1 wheelweights to lino, air cooled. Should I 1) worry about removing the LLA from the gas check shank before seating the check? 2) Push them through the sizer base first to better assure the check is square to the base? Thank you in advance for all your help and advice. AARRGGHH Jeffrey

[quilbilly]

I think you may be over complicating the process. I use the Lee 165gr mold and it shoots very well in my 30/30 with either 5744, Unique, or 3031.
I just cast them and after cooling tumble them in Alox. After drying the lube I just attach the gas check and run them through the Lee sizer nose first. I then re-lube and they are ready to load after the second drying.
My lead alloy is a tad different than yours but that should not matter.
For the record, the MV of my boolits in my 30/30 is about 1490 fps. It is great fun to shoot. I gas check all of my calibers if I plan to send the boolits faster than 1250 fps whether they need the checks or not.

[geargnasher]

first, you probably don't need alloy that hard, but it will work. Second, go read this: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=67654 BEFORE you tumble lube. I highly recommend Recluse's formula and method, and if you follow it, there won't be enough accumulation on the base to worry about.

Tumble and dry. Add check, size, tumble and dry again, load.

You might get better alignment going nose first, you'll just have to try and see. A lot of it depends on how much lateral play is in the press ram, too. For what you're doing, I doubt you'll know the difference when shooting.

I'd start with less than ten grains of Unique in the .30-30, that's not what I would call a plinker. I'd start with seven grains, no check, and some solid lube in the grooves if it were me, but my favorite is the 311041 with anywhere from 27-30 grains of 748, just don't try that with LLA. YMMV.

Gear

[Jeffrey]

Thanks for the reminder about re-lube after sizing. Jeffrey

[noylj]

First, slug your barrel so your bullets are 0.001-0.003" larger than groove diameter.
Nest, I would get an Outer's Foul-Out III to remove any leading. I hate using abrasives to clean out leading.
If your as-cast bullets have an O.D. larger than the groove diameter, I would shoot them AS-CAST. Tumble lube 10, load them, and see how they do. I would try it without the gas checks and stay at 1400fps or less.
If you need to run them through a sizer to seat the gas checks, I would use a sizing die the same size as the bullet or 0.001 larger. I just have never gotten better accuracy with a sized bullet than I do with an unsized bullet.
You really should work up in complications as you determine if you have a problem with a simpler approach.
I have seen .30 caliber bores have groove dimensions from 0.307 to 0.313"—slug your barrels.

[XWrench3]

i agree with above posts. leave the checks off for low speed plinking. tumble lubing works fine, however i give mine 2 coats. and forget the lino for plinking. save it and the checks for hi-speed shooting. if you are shooting a marlin, shoot them as cast. if it's a winchester, you will need to squeeze them down a bit. the best thing to do is slug your barrel. my boolits measure 0.311: as cast with that mold, and with the micro-grooves, you will need some extra squeeze to make them work right. my bore measures 0.308". but if i size the boolits, i get lots of leading. save yourself the greif. i also bough a 0.311 sizer die, strictly to install checks on the boolits for shooting higher speed rounds.

[Jeffrey]

How do I slug a barrel? My '06 is a Browning A-Bolt stainless stalker with the BOSS. The 30-30 is a Marlin 336 microgroove. 1000 fps is my target velocity as my back yard is my shooting range and I do not need the noise or distance (rural south Mississippi). I have more lino than I can shoot myself, especially mixing it 10 to 1 with wheel weights. Lack of leading is high on my priority list. The boolits measured .310 to .311 next to the seam, .310 to .312 90* to the seam. 5 boolits were measured with a caliper. I already have the checks. Suggestions for a load are requested. My pistol / shotgun powders are Unique, Bullseye, Green dot, Herco, and Accurate No 5. I would like to burn the Green Dot as I have more than I know what to do with. I would like to stay away from fillers. Thanks for the info. Jeffrey

[Larry Gibson]

Jeffrey

All advise is pretty good. However since you are flush on lino the addition of it will slightly harden the alloy slightly but mostly will help it fill out the mould better during casting. You can leave the GCs off if it's a matter of economy but I've worked that issue many times with different bullets and loads and the accuracy is always better with GCs on GC designed bullets, even down to 500 -600 fps. It's up to you on how much accuracy you want/need with plinking loads and whether it the use of the GCs are worth it to you, they are to me.

Now, I push many different bullets through Lee sizers base first for two reasons; to ensure the GC is seated fully or to keep the base of soft cast PB bullet square. With your FN bullets if the shank does not bottom out in the GC then I would push them through the sizer base first to bottem the (seat them) suarely on the shank. With some bullets if the sizing resistance is not enough the GCs can be kitty wampus which is not good for accuracy. If the shank bottoms out in the GC then it doesn't matter as they will crimp on square with the shank. I size .311 for all my 30-30s and '06s unless the bullet drops from the mould less than that.

When using LLA I use it straight and just fill the bathroom sink a couple inches with hot tap water and put the LLA bottle in that for 5 minutes or so before tumbling. It really "thins" it out so to speak and I get a good coat. With loads such as you mention I just give the bullets 1 good coat, let dry and GC and size. I've never had a leading problem but I don't push such loads over 1400 fps with most in the 1050 - 1200 fps range.

I also suggest Bullseye powder instead of the Unique with the lighter 150 gr bullets in both the 30-30 and the '06. Start at 5.5 gr and work up to 6 gr in the 30-30 and 7 gr in the '06. No filler or wad is necessary.

Larry Gibson

[lwknight]

1 pound lino to 10 pounds WWs don't change much. Its still about 4% antimony and les than 0.5% tin.

[Jeffrey]

I make a funnel from an index card and pour the heated Cerrosafe alloy into a lubed (30 wt oil is fine) and plugged barrel (plug it with a tight patch) about two inches down from the end of the receiver. You will be pouring into the breech end and don't get it up into the bolt recess or whatever because you will have a problem getting it out.

Give it 10 mins to cool and tap it out from the end of barrel with a cleaning rod or dowel. The whole shooting match tumbles into your action and you remove the slug and measure it. Make sure to wait an hour or so before you measure it as the design of the alloy shrinks the plug about .001 or so to allow removal. Once it hits max size measure your throat and get the diam of the lands and grooves.

My .303 has a .316 throat. The deepest grooves measure 315 just past the throat and down to 311 at the crown. Lands measure from 311 down to 309. I plan to use a .316 base boolit.

Dan

Anyone have any advice or comments on cerrosafe? Jeffrey

[iron mule]

hello Jeffrey
you can get the cerrosafe from rotometals, brownells, or midway it is not very cheap but you can reuse it for a long time, just remelt and use for the next chamber cast you need it does not take much heat to melt it // as stated above do not over fill the chamber or you will not be able to get the casting out // you do not live that far from me if you need to we can get together some time and i can give you some hands on help with this or with casting
good luck with your new hobby
mule