What Mold do I want for an 03A3

[Ben]

You know......we've been to the moon and back and it seems we can't make a bullet mold that will cast the correct dia. bullets.

Duhhhhhh ?

The technology is there.........

They relied, change my alloy and I will no problem reaching over spec. Seems odd since they have no idea what alloy I was using.
I asked what alloy they guage their molds with, their reply was:
"We use carbide bore gauges. OSHA prevents us from having any lead on site"

That sounds like a lot of double talk to me.
Money in their pockets and a bad mold at your house. Something is wrong here.

[Forrest r]

What do you want for $19, something that works the way it's supposed to?

As with anything in life, you get what you pay for.

[hylander]

What do you want for $19, something that works the way it's supposed to?

As with anything in life, you get what you pay for.

I hate that expression, that is a getto used car salesmans line.
I paid for a mold that should work as advertised, So thats what I want regardless of price.
As far as "As with anything in life you get what you pay for"
I paid for a mold to drop bullets .312 and it does not, so I did not get what I paid for.

[Forrest r]

WOW!!!

Well, I can say 2 things:
I didn't spend $19 on a mold
I'm not the 1 crying that the mold doesn't work.

[hylander]

WOW!!!

Well, I can say 2 things:
I didn't spend $19 on a mold
I'm not the 1 crying that the mold doesn't work.

No ones crying here, I'm making use of the mold.
Your you get what you pay for post adds nothing of value to this thread.
I simply stated the mold I bought which is suppose to drop .312 doe's not.
Since I'm new to Casting, LEE may have a point about my alloy or casting technique.
I do plan on ordering a custom from Accurate or NOE after I figure out just what I want and when I find work again.
Until then I will keep learning with this mold.
So back on subjct.
Yesturday I lapped the nose of the first cavity and got it up just about where it should be, I need to get some finer
lapping compound to smooth it out.
I really like this design, it shoots very accurate in my rifle.

[americanjack]

? dID YOU EVER GET THE MOLD SIZIND ISSUE FIGURED OUT IM GOING TO START CASTING FOR THE FIRST TIME AND HAVE DECITED ON MY 1903A3 FOR THE FIRST VENTURE AM I CORRECT IN THINKING THE NOSE SHOULD BE HALF A THOUSANDS BIGGER THAN THE LANDS AND THE DRIVING BANDS 1-2 THOUSANDS LARGER THAN THE GROOVES I BID ON A LYMAN 311334 ON EBAY BUT I GAVE UP AT 101.00$ ??IS THE SAECO 301 THE NEXT BEST THING AND IS THERE ANY INTEREST ON HERE ON A GROUP BUY ON A CUSTOM MOLD FOR A BORE RIDER FOR THE 1903A3 THANKS A BUNCH

[Char-Gar]

I have two 4 groove 03A3s, one a Remington and the other a S-C. Both do well with a number od molds. Among the best are, 311334, 311291, 311284, 311467, 311407 mod, and Rcbs 165 sil.

[L Ross]

I have 3 Springfields I'm playing with, an issue 03A3 with a 2 groove barrel, an 03 sporter that was re-barreled with a 2 groove barrel, and an 03 with a 4 groove barrel. So far I have shot Lyman 311332, 311334, 311291, 311041, 311299, 311284, and 314299, RCBS 30-180-SP, and the Lee 312-155 SKS bullet. None have shot badly, most will hold 3" or less for 10 shots at 100 yards, some combinations will do close to an inch for 5 shots. The real surprise is that darned little SKS bullet. I size them at .311" and they lightly engrave on the nose. You can extract a loaded round without de-bulleting and dumping the powder into the action. They shoot well in all three rifles. Well enough that I just cast up another 300 tonight.

Duke

[paborn]

The old timer's (I qualify) 1903 cast load is the Lyman 311284. I have two two holers and they both cast a .311 body that I size to .310, and a .301 ish bore riding nose. The nose can be bumped up to .304 or any where in the middle if you want it by pressure on the sizer handle. You get consistency by using a washer to limit travel. As cast, in my rifle if you remove a round you can just see slight marks from the rifling on the bore riding forward part. With the gas check at the base of the neck, the front band is just off of a snug fit. I have always used a tuft of dacron to keep the 2400 on the WLR primer, and get very consistent velocity.

Paborn

This cast bullet over 20 grains of Alliant 2400 gives 1600 fps and in my lapped bore gives a little under an inch and a half all day long at 100 yards.

[hylander]

DID YOU EVER GET THE MOLD SIZIND ISSUE FIGURED OUT IM GOING TO START CASTING FOR THE FIRST TIME AND HAVE DECITED ON MY 1903A3 FOR THE FIRST VENTURE AM I CORRECT IN THINKING THE NOSE SHOULD BE HALF A THOUSANDS BIGGER THAN THE LANDS AND THE DRIVING BANDS 1-2 THOUSANDS LARGER THAN THE GROOVES.

I had to lap the cavities to get them up to size .3115
I also ordered another exact mold, it to drops the bullets small at about .310 with a nose of about .297
Called LEE and got the run around needless to say I will never buy another LEE mold.
Anyway the lapped mold drops them fine now at about .312 with a nose of about .300
My A3 shoots this bullet Great !
I also bought an NOE mold #312299 that drops just as they say it will and both my rifles shoot it Great !
I size to .311 this puts my bands .002 larger than bore and the nose is .301 which puts it .001 larger than Lands.

[Char-Gar]

You may not like the expression "You get what you pay for." but it is true. Lee bullets molds are made to sell for a low price and as such they are made quick and dirty from inferior materials. They often out of spec. and roll snake eyes with normal use sooner than we like.

Last week, I was talking with a woman who was very unhappy because her Lee 6 banger went belly up after only 20,000 bullets. I replied that 20,000 bullets was a good life for a mold that cost only $60.00 or thereabouts.

I have a Hensley and Gibbs gang mold that has cast at least 300,000 bullets and shows no signs of being near the end of it's life. But is cost allot more then and now than a Lee.

I have about 150 molds of various makes and the only ones, that give me trouble on a routine basis are made by Lee. You just can't sell a mold with dead nuts on specs and long life for what Lee sells their molds for. If you get one with good specs, thank the mold gods, but don't expect it to last as long as a mold that cost several times the price.

So, you do indeed get what you pay for. Sometimes cheap is good enough, but most often it is not.

As I stated in my previous post, I have had good luck with a number of bullets in 4 groove 03|03A3 barrels, but if I could only keep one of the mold it would be RCBS 165 SIL. In barrels with normal specs (.308 X .300) it has done very well for me. The bullets cast .310 X .301 out of Lyman No. 2 alloy. I check and lube them in a .310 die. Nose rider bullets are less forgiving of minor differences in specs than Barlow or Loverin designs. But with a nose rider that is a good fit to the barrel, accuracy can't be beaten. Accuracy may be equaled, but not beaten.

In a good military Springfield 30-06, I can keep ten of them into 1.25 to 1.75 MOA any day the wind is still and I have not had too much coffee.

I have one mold that has me stumped. It is an old NEI made by Walt Melander. It is a nose pour single cavity clone of 311041. The bullets are perfectly round and falls a perfect .310 X .301. I have scaled them to remove any with voids in the middle and that darn bullet will shoot groups twice as large as my other good 30 caliber molds including a loosey goosey Lyman version of the same bullet. If I believed in such things, I would think somebody put a curse on it before I got it.

I hang out from time to time, drinking whiskey with our Episcopal Rector who is also a shooter. I think, after a few drinks, I may ask him to do an exorcism on this mold.

[hylander]

Char-Gar:
I hear ya on better quality usually comes at a higher price.
I wasn't expecting LEE'S low price molds to last like a quality custom mold, but I would think they could at least cut them to the proper size or at least close. The mold does drop nice bullets just the wrong size.
I am very happy with my NOE mold, you can definitely tell the difference in quality.
I think the thing that put me off the most was lack of customer service when I contacted them.
The guy I corresponded with just didn't want to be bothered and the gal gave me false info.
I still like a lot of their reloading gear though