high velocity with cast.

[winelover]

hehe, yeah nothing fancy. The fancy part is the 5 feet outside the loading room door.

Rick

It's all in the planning.

Winelover

[cbrick]

It's all in the planning. Winelover

Yep it sure is. I also planned for much the same thing. My banker is still getting a belly laugh out of that idea. Turned out when I retired I could either by enough land for that OR I could buy a roof over my head. Banker said pick "ONE".

Rick

[btroj]

You needed a different banker......

[cbrick]

Wasn't the banker even if I poke fun at him. It was buying what I could with what I had and no payments. Could have bought a lot more real estate than I did but then there would be those pesky monthly payments.

Rick

[btroj]

Ah, a wise decision. So unusual these days.

[runfiverun]

I'm working on the no payment plan thing too.
I'll be totally broke but owe nothing if this stupid oil thing ever turns around.
I have laid in just about everything I need to keep on shooting and fishing for the next 20 years.
Now it's finish paying off the house and buy a new truck to see me through.
So,so close....
i could do both in 4 years if I can keep working.

[ballistim]

House payment is my only debt, credit card used like debit card, balance paid monthly, no interest & use rewards points for reloading supplies. Still in process of acquiring what I need for retirement though.

[btroj]

Retire? Maybe in 15 years! I will be in good shape for it, financially at least.
Getting the kid thru school is my big expense right now but her graduating with no loans sets her up pretty well.

[alamogunr]

Wasn't the banker even if I poke fun at him. It was buying what I could with what I had and no payments. Could have bought a lot more real estate than I did but then there would be those pesky monthly payments.

Rick

I'm working on the no payment plan thing too.
I'll be totally broke but owe nothing if this stupid oil thing ever turns around.
I have laid in just about everything I need to keep on shooting and fishing for the next 20 years.
Now it's finish paying off the house and buy a new truck to see me through.
So,so close....
i could do both in 4 years if I can keep working.

House payment is my only debt, credit card used like debit card, balance paid monthly, no interest & use rewards points for reloading supplies. Still in process of acquiring what I need for retirement though.

Retire? Maybe in 15 years! I will be in good shape for it, financially at least.
Getting the kid thru school is my big expense right now but her graduating with no loans sets her up pretty well.

It makes a big difference to retire w/no debt. We worked hard and didn't start saving until both sons were out of school. Both have doctorates and are established. SWMBO has been retired 10 years. I've been retired almost 9. I won't say they have been the best years of my life but they are not the worst by a long way.

Now our only debt is small payments on a line of credit from the bank that we use to cover large, unforeseen expenses. We do this to avoid withdrawing in excess of MRD's. Avoid excess taxes that way. An example was my new truck to replace the 15 year old pickup that I was driving. I didn't absolutely need it but I wanted to enjoy it while I could. Same way with an occasional special gun. She has her special wants too.

[Hannibal]

Shooting results posted link is here :
http://noebulletmolds.com/smf/index....0.html#msg5340

Thank you, Sir!

[Yodogsandman]

So, as the boolit travels through the barrel from the leade, we have lube, powder residue, speed of acceleration and antimonial wash acting for or against us. Anything else to pay attention to?

[btroj]

You forgot about how the bullet deforms under acceleration from the pressure curve.

[Yodogsandman]

Are you saying that boolits deform on the sides from the rifling during rotation? Or, the lead displaced from entering the rifling? Or, on the base from gases?

[runfiverun]

Entering the throat and from acceleration forces when the boolit is being shoved forward while it is trying to start spinning.
This is where the slow twist helps you, you are not cutting into the bearing surface as sharply.

If you have the boolit gently squared up in the rifling and then accelerate it you can gain even more velocity as evidenced by the breech seating Bjorn done.

[btroj]

Bullets also change shape some on firing. I have many bullets where I can find a fired bullet and th rifling engages far further up the nose than it looks like it would. I bet that I could measure those bullets and find that they are a bit shorter after firing than before.
Ask 44man about bullet slump

[geargnasher]

Are you saying that boolits deform on the sides from the rifling during rotation? Or, the lead displaced from entering the rifling? Or, on the base from gases?

All three, particularly the the second and third, unless you use a really hard alloy and slow powder in which case you only deal with item two. The first is called "skid", and CAN be a factor as R5R pointed out. The second is what I call "swage" as the bullet gets sized by the throat and metal moves where you direct it to by bullet design and powder burn rate (and some other things like amount of jump and alloy composition, and even lube viscosity), three is the real bear. The nose actually can get expanded from the gases if the alloy is right and the powder burn rate is right, and item Two provides enough resistance. This can be good for item One because the nose can get blow up into the rifling and formed into it rather than having to engrave and twist the nose separate from the base as the base is jamming though the taper of the leade. It's all about timing and what method you use, there are several ways to do this and you can't mix/match from one method to the other with these three things.

Gear

[redbullitt]

I have been casting about a year now. I wish I would have gotten into when I started shooting lol. Entirely new dimension to reloading/shooting! Most all of my casting is done with a mix of scrap range lead and wheel weights.

My first attempts were with a 300 whisper bolt action. I tried everything to get this rifle to be where I thought it should be... Mind you i had only shot jacketed at this point. With those i could pretty much stuff whatever into the case and it would shoot under 2 MOA lol. I quickly learned this was not the case for casting. I learned a lot working with this rifle; at first I was getting 12 inch groups at 50 yards with everything lol, but i have finally gotten it sorted out and the rifle will shoot subsonic at around 3 inches every time at 100 yards with a 247g NOE bullet. Properly sizing and prepping the brass was the biggest difference with this load. Careful case prep, belling, and chamfering did the most good for me.

After that I went to a 45 70 and got good results muck quicker since I had a better grasp on fitting the bullets to the bore, lubes, sizing and all that good stuff. 405g plain base at 1500 FPS from my guide gun would consistently get 2 to 3 inches at 100 yards. Water dropping the cast boolits seemed to be the key here.

The fastest cast load I have so far that shoots well is with my Ruger scout rifle in 308. I hope to get a deer with it next season. Velocity is just under 1900 FPS. Bullet is a ranch dog 165 gas check model. After a lot of trial and error I can get pretty consistent 2 MOA groupings from the rifle, always less than 3 MOA unless I really screw up somewhere in the process. Seating depth and lube seemed to be the biggest contributor to this load. I made sure to get the gas check and lube all in the neck of the cartridge, not down in too deep. Also, the overall length is such that the bullet just barely engraves the rifling. For lube I wound up using a mix of paraffin wax, bees wax, high temp grease, and a touch of liquid alox. Very happy with the results and hopefully get it to be a bit better as I learn more.

Next endeavor will be a big bore subsonic round. Possibly a big big 45/70 boolit, or a 50/70 with an even bigger chunk of lead. Hope to set up the rifle to make long range shots on steel, hopefully out to 800 yards or better. Not high speed by any means, but still different and should be a blast!

For what its worth, I seem to get the best easiest accuracy from bullets that are flat nosed with a lot of bearing surface. Bore riders and long pointy cast bullets are not my strong suite yet...

[ballistim]

All three, particularly the the second and third, unless you use a really hard alloy and slow powder in which case you only deal with item two. The first is called "skid", and CAN be a factor as R5R pointed out. The second is what I call "swage" as the bullet gets sized by the throat and metal moves where you direct it to by bullet design and powder burn rate (and some other things like amount of jump and alloy composition, and even lube viscosity), three is the real bear. The nose actually can get expanded from the gases if the alloy is right and the powder burn rate is right, and item Two provides enough resistance. This can be good for item One because the nose can get blow up into the rifling and formed into it rather than having to engrave and twist the nose separate from the base as the base is jamming though the taper of the leade. It's all about timing and what method you use, there are several ways to do this and you can't mix/match from one method to the other with these three things.

Gear

This post along with a few others I've read recently is making things fall into place in my understanding of what takes place in the bullet's path from throat to rifling along with the importance of the correct combination of alloy, powder speed, and design/size of the projectile at this critical point. I really think I'm starting to get what you've been trying to tell us here!

Tim

[Sticky]

This post along with a few others I've read recently is making things fall into place in my understanding of what takes place in the bullet's path from throat to rifling along with the importance of the correct combination of alloy, powder speed, and design/size of the projectile at this critical point. I really think I'm starting to get what you've been trying to tell us here!

Tim

I am as well... been following this thread to prepare for loading some casts in my AR308s and following with great interest. I have learned a lot about what happens when you pull the trigger in the last couple of pages, thanks to all for the contributions!

I know, only bench and range time will lead to success, but understanding the theory for me, goes a long way in achieving success in life and should make the journey a little less frustrating.. lol

One mentioned turned boolits earlier.. also something I will be pursuing with a buddy that runs a CNC shop. Going to start working on them in the next week or so for the 300AAC, perhaps the 308 and also the 223. Don't think the 223 will be cost effective, none will be cost effective compared to casting scrounged wheel weights, but an interesting diversion and dabbling into projectiles nonetheless..

[Yodogsandman]

This is all great information! Thanks for passing it along, guys!

I sure wish I could recover a boolit to actually see what's going on. I can now picture all the different phases in my head. Proof would be with a fired boolit, though. My club range makes any recovery impossible. Two feet of mulch on the berms! Somewhere they read that it reduced ricochets in the winter. Anyone know how far a boolit would travel in the snow? .... got plenty.