Which mold for .30 Carbine?

[cpaspr]

Agreed. I've loaded FMJs to 1.678" just fine. The 309-120-R is straight (or near enough to hit the lands) for .555" of it's total length, whereas the FMJ I just measured is .455" for the same dimension.

[308Jeff]

I know I'm bringing a 2-1/2 year old thread back, but this is by far the most informative one I've read on cast bullets for the 30 Carbine.

Don't know if much has changed since then, but seems like PC'ing has overcome a lot of the issues regarding non-gas checked bullets.

I'd love to hear from someone who's casting and powder coating a non-GC'd bullet for their M1 Carbines and having a lot of success with it.

BTW, Dancingbear41, that's one of the neatest rifles I've ever seen.

[zomby woof]

I'm using the NOE 311115 PB boolit with Hi-tek coating. Works great.

[avogunner]

Since my post here from a couple of years ago, I've acquired another great carbine mold - a Lyman 311576. It's 120gr RN and was designed specifically for this round. I use either 2400 or H110 and am getting very acceptable results. Perfect feeding/functioning but does have a bit of point of impact difference than my 311359 load.
This is 50 yds.

Semper Fi.

[308Jeff]

I'm using the NOE 311115 PB boolit with Hi-tek coating. Works great.

Since my post here from a couple of years ago, I've acquired another great carbine mold - a Lyman 311576. It's 120gr RN and was designed specifically for this round. I use either 2400 or H110 and am getting very acceptable results. Perfect feeding/functioning but does have a bit of point of impact difference than my 311359 load.
This is 50 yds.

Semper Fi.

Thank you, both of you. Are either of you using gas checks? What BNH are you casting?

[avogunner]

Thank you, both of you. Are either of you using gas checks? What BNH are you casting?

Yes, I use checks on both the 311359 and 311576. The BHN of my rifle alloy is about 13.5 (Lee Hardness tester). A couple of years ago, I scored a goodly amount reclaimed shot. This had been sitting in a barrel outside for quite a few years so was heavily oxidized so as no use to shotgun reloader. Anyway, my target BHN was 13 so using Bumpo's alloy calculator, I mixed a pound of 63/37 solder to 24lbs of this shot and got a great casting alloy that hit my BHN target almost right on the nose. That calculator is a valuable tool.
Semper Fi.

[cpaspr]

Yes, I'm resurrecting this dormant (dead) thread. But it was mine to begin with.

Re-reading it, it appears I never followed up with how the 309-120-R boolits did in my .30 Carbine.

Loaded with 12.0 gr of 2400 they shot exactly the same as factory 110 gr jacketed. So I am one happy camper! A big thank you to Larry Gibson for assistance getting the powder charge right.
__________

Earlier I mentioned the possibility of loading up some of the 3118 bullets I got from my dad for use in a .30-30. When I started this thread back in 2014 I no longer had a .30-30 rifle. That situation changed in 2016, but the gun needed some work (refinishing of the stock, and fitting of a tang peep sight), and I haven't shot it since the peep was added last year.

I loaded up some of the 3118s a couple of days ago and was intending to test them out this evening. BUT, last night I loaded them into the gun to test functionality. They won't feed. Oh, they'll go in the chamber and extract just fine, but they won't feed using the lever action. Seems to be the same problem I had using them in the .30 Carbine - the nose runs into the breach face. Before I decide for sure that that's actually the problem I'm going to load and cycle some factory rounds. If they feed correctly, I'll know it isn't because I screwed up something when I had the gun apart for refinishing the stock.

If the factory rounds cycle correctly, I'll load up a few test rounds with the 309-120-1R and see if they cycle. If they do, I'll test them for accuracy.

[cpaspr]

Aanndd . . . .

Factory rounds still cycle fine. And the 309-120-1R cycle fine in the .30-30.

So, for me at least, the 3118s my dad made are a waste of otherwise good lead. Back in the pot they go, to turn in to usable boolits!

[lightman]

I've shot a lot of the Lyman 311410 cast from clip on wheel weight alloy and lubed with whatever lube I have at the time. Back when I tried to compete in High Power I would load these down to pistol velocity and practice my positions in the indoor pistol range during the off season. The sights and trigger on the Carbine are similar to the M-1 and M-1A that I competed with. I used a loaded FMJ Carbine round as a guide for seating the bullet.

[cpaspr]

One last followup, and I'll let this one lie (maybe-since I seem to keep resurrecting it).

I played with the seating depth for the 3118s in the .30-30 shells. When they refused to feed using the lever action I was seating them a bit deeper, but if I seat them only to the crimp groove (who'd a thunk), they feed fine using the tube magazine and the lever as intended. So, now I have good plinking loads for both of my lightweight old rifles.