Newby questions

Okay, so I've dinked around with cast bullets for years but just recently I decided to do it right. Therefore, I have a lot of questions regarding .30 caliber cast bullets. All my questions relate to target shooting only. Here's what I have accumulated over the years.

Approximately 100 pounds of wheel weights, plus about 50 pounds of pure roofing lead and lead pipe.
At least 1000 .30 caliber gas checks.
Lee Liquid Alox lube.

Molds:
- Lee #90367 two cavity .309 160 grain
- Lee #90369 two cavity .309 180 grain
- Lee #90385 one cavity .312 155 grain
- Lyman #311299 2 cavity .309 200 grain

Sizing dies:
- Lee .308
- Lee .309
- Lee .311

Rifles:
- Remington 700 AAC SD tactical .308 Winchester with 1:10 twist, with muzzle break. Slugged bore mic's out at .3075.
- 03A3 Springfield in full military configurations, i.e. NOT sporterized. Slugged bore mic's out at .3092.

Seems to me that a good starting point for the Remington 700 would be the 200 grain Lyman bullet, sized to .309, gas checked, and tumble lubed over 16 grains of 2400 or a reduced load of H4895. I'll also try some 155 gr bullets sized to .309 that have been sitting in a box for several years. Please let my know it I'm way off base.

I've shot a lot of cast bullets through the Springfield with surprisingly good results - 2 inch groups at 100 yards with military iron sights - but that was before slugging the bore and the bullets used were sized .309 which resulted in some significant leading. Seems to me the .311 sizing die would reduce leading due to blow-by, but would that diameter be too big to be safe? Should I get a .310 sizer?

Also, the only mold that throws a bullet over .309 is the 155 grain Lee #90385, but that got me to thinking about paper patching. Could the 200 grain Lyman bullet be paper-patched to get it up to .311? If so, should I gas-check them before patching? Should I size them before patching? If I should size them, which sizer should I use?

Thanks for your help.

Hector

I would try to begal the mold enough - to be able to size at .311 before trying the paper patching method in your Springfield .

Welcome aboard,

I've never bought any of Lee's supposed .30 cal molds, I got their 312-185 that they say is meant for the .303 British. Mine drops straight air cooled Wheel Weights at just over .312, so I size them .311 for most of my .30 caliber rifles.

Using 16 grains of 2400, the last time I shot any over the chronograph from a .308, they were going ~1580 from a 26" parker-Hale barrel.

Since you have a 311299, I'd try toallmy's advice and beagle it then size to .311.

Robert

First, I have never had good luck with regular lube grooves and only using tumble lube.

I would leave the Lyman mold as is for the Remington. That is one of the more common target bullets for .30cal rifles.

For your O3, I would open up one of the Lee molds. I did it to a 309-180 Lee mold and got excellent results, both pan lubed and powder coated. I enlarged mine to get the bullet nose large enough to fit the bore. Enlarging an aluminum mold is so much easier than a steel one :)

FWIW, you could also try powder coating the Lyman bullet for your O3. PC adds about .002" to most bullets that I have processed.

The Lee 309-160, 309-180 and Lyman 311299 are bore riding bullets. The nose of the bullet is designed to touch the rifling in the bore of the rifle. If the nose does not fit correctly you might have accuracy problems with them. If I chamber and then remove a round from my rifle I like to see marks where the rifling has touched the bullet evenly all the way around.

What this means is unless you undersize it quite a bit then paper patching won't work well. There are designs for PP bullets. If interested try one of them.

I like my rifle bullets to be going 1800 to 2000fps, but, I like to shoot well beyond 100yd with them. Many powders will work. Look in the Lyman cast bullet handbook for some choices. I have used 4166, 4198, and 3031 in my Garand.

For plinking loads I use 8gn of Blue Dot (~1000fps).

Forgot, some of the loads might need some dacron filler to give a more consistent burn.

Welcome. I have to recommend the stickies for every sub forum you're interested in. Yes, there are hundreds to thousands of posts in them, but they are a full beginner to advance curriculum.

.311 is what I normally size just about all of my 30 Cal cast boolits to. The one exception would be 30 Carbine, which gets sized to .309. Hopefully you'll be able to get your Lee 309 molds to cast at least .311. Some of my Lee molds will, some don't.

Hey! Thanks for all the input. So the consensus is not to try paper patching. I'm cool with that.

The Lee #90385 throws a .312 bullet at 155 grains. That should be good for the 30-06. Only problem is that it's a single cavity mold, so slow going when casting. If it works I may get a 6 cavity mold to really crank them out.

Hector

If you are truly interested in accuracy forget the six cavity. With what you have you know that each boolit is essentially identical. With a six cavity you don't, and you are adding another variable.

I would do a pound cast or slug the throat to see the throat diameter. I size to throat diameter (there is more than one way to skin a cat). You can Beagle one of those 308 molds or PC to bump up its diameter. I do that for 9mm bullets in my 357 mag.

I would try all those bullets all in various velocities to see what i get in the different guns.

Never had much luck with tumble lubes. PC and Stick lube never had a problem with. Paper patching is a whole other animal. I have tried it in my .270 Win. Never got spectaculary results. Actually i got the same results and Lube and PC. I do it every now and then to be different. Paper really makes a difference. So you gotta try a bunch of different ones till you find one that works. Standard Printer paper i steal from work doesnt work.