Ist Time for Lee 30-150-TL in My M 39 (Sako) Finn. Nagant

[Maven]

The Lee 30-150-TL (tumble lube) group buy mold casts large enough with my alloy (WW's + 1% Sn) to allow its use in several rifles: my .30-06, possibly my Arg. Mau. (haven't tried it yet), and my M 39 Finn. Nagant, which was today's project. Although that CB is fairly accurate "as cast" in my '06, it doesn't appear to shed accuracy if sized & lubed the conventional way to .314". In spite of what I wrote on the target below, the Lee CB was sized to .314" to suit the slightly larger bore of the M 39. (I normally size Ly. #314299 to .312" for it.) The load was 7.5grs. CLAYS thrown via a Lyman pistol powder measure, but 8.5grs. - 8.7grs. of Alliant's Unique, also thrown via the Lyman measure, would work just as well; i.e., if the results from my .30-06 are any indicationAttachment 69028. For the record, the brass was ca. 1992 Hansen (PriviPartizan), the primers were CCI #34's, and the distance was 50 yds., mostly because our 100 yd. range lacks a place to anchor a target frame + backer.

The target speaks for itself, but I really got serious with the last 10 rounds, which are circled in red ink and have a bright green index card underneath. Those results are almost as good as what I've obtained in my '06 using a 16x scope at the same distance. I also think if I took the time to fiddle with the Merit adjustable iris "clip on" aperture, I would have done a bit better. Btw, there wasn't any bore leading to speak of with so mild a load.

[legend]

maven, was this the group buy from several years ago? flat nosed, tumble lube grooves and regular lube groove also ? if so yours shoots better than mine and i will try your load.

[Maven]

legend, That's the one! Btw, you can also try 9.5grs. Alliant Blue Dot if you happen to have some on hand. As for the somewhat unusual charge weights, e.g., 8.7grs. Unique, that's what a particular Lyman rotor repeatedly drops.

[Old Ranger]

Purely by coincidence I shot my M39 today for the first time in at least 5 yrs. Found 35 rds of cast loads in the back of the ammo locker. 22 grs of H4198 behind 311299's sized .311. At 50yds kept most 5 shot groups under an inch with the odd flyer (probably me) I had kind of forgotten how well this old girl can shoot.

As always I recommend checking at least 2 reliable sources before shooting "internet loads" (even mine!!)

[Maven]

I retested the Lee 30-150-TL (It casts closer to 140grs. than 150 with WW's + 1% Sn.) with two changes. First, I substituted Unique for the Clays I last used. Second, I didn't bother sizing 18 of those CB's: I just land lubed them with Lars' "Liquid Xlox," and loaded them into an expanded case neck.* I compared the "as cast" CB's to those sized to .314" and lubed via my RCBS Lub-A-Matic. The powder charge was 8.7grs. of Unique thrown via a Lyman pistol powder measure. Primers were CCI #34's.

So far as I can tell, both loads grouped extremely well @ 50 yds. Both targets** had clusters of 5 shots
touching, but there was a bit of dispersion too. However, I get that with the same CB and load in my scoped .30-06 as well. The main difference I saw, though, was bore leading with the unsized CB v. none with the sized ones. In spite of the leading, I think the "as cast" CB's merit a second look.


*I use a Lyman M-die for the .30-06 to expand and flare the case mouths. I've also tried the .311" M-die, but couldn't see any real difference in performance between the two.

**I ran out of the targets I posted above, so I substituted the NMLRA postal match target with a 2 7/8" black area (8 - 10 and X rings).

[legend]

thanks for the info ! my mold will cast .315-.316 at 146 grains with wws and 1% Sn. mine too have faired badly unsized.