Accurate PC 350 Yds part 1

[Forrest r]

My 225gr molds are due in soon as it has shipped. However i have run into a problem. Load data! I don't have any load data for a 225gr cast bullet. It looks like i will have to work some up while checking for pressure signs. I also can use the chrono as a compass.another choice i need to make is which powder. So much to mull over.

I know H4895 is a forging powder for reduced loads which will give me wiggle room on the low end of the charges to start. However im not sure H4895 is the best powder for accurate 308 loads.

Open to suggestions. Til then, happy safe loading!

PM sent

[Wreck-n-Crew]

Just wanted to say thanks for the pm Forrest r . i really appreciate that message.

Also thank the pioneers and all the contributors to this thread and others like it. I am exited about this journey!

Molds shipped..due this week. Hopefully some results when i get a good day at the range.

[Willbird]

Read through the whole thread . I know Lee can be controversial at times but he has always sworn that the best cast bullet accuracy comes right when the firing process just slightly exceeds the yield point of the bullet alloy.

I was pondering a swage die made from part of the barrel itself, it might allow controlled swaging of the bullet with rifling on the nose . One can order a barrel longer than 27" blank (intended to finish 26") and specify that the added material be on the breech end, making the 1.2" straight section longer. This would allow the bump up into the rifling form to be a slow controlled process....the exact throat could be duplicated as well.

Bill

[Bama]

Forrest, 5744, and varget both have worked well for me in 308w. Word of caution, the crnograph. May not give the best max load information. In my guns the measured velocity is 150 to 350 FPS faster with pc compared to Lyman’s velocity for given loads. I think you will be pleased with results!

[cainttype]

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[Dragonheart]

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What is not to understand. Powder coating typically yields 5% increase in velocity with the same load. I discovered this back when I got into PC in 2012 when chronographing know loads using other types of bullets. When I made mention of this I was ridiculed. Now Federal has prove it and more in their testing.

[cainttype]

What is not to understand. Powder coating typically yields 5% increase in velocity with the same load. I discovered this back when I got into PC in 2012 when chronographing know loads using other types of bullets. When I made mention of this I was ridiculed. Now Federal has prove it and more in their testing.

I understand perfectly, it is you that misunderstood I was only bumping the thread up to keep it current.
Having a new-found curiosity about PC, I was hoping to see if anyone had anything to add to this conversation.

[Dragonheart]

I understand perfectly, it is you that misunderstood I was only bumping the thread up to keep it current.
Having a new-found curiosity about PC, I was hoping to see if anyone had anything to add to this conversation.

Sorry, I guess I was the one that didn't understand.

I personally think "Bama" has pushed the envelope as far as getting accurate full power loads out of cast rifle bullets. His bullets and gas check seating are the best I have ever seen. A polymer Jacket is definitely the way to go and I think the only direction for improvement is complete swaging to uniform an imperfect cast bullet, which Bama's process has broached on. But that is just my opinion.

[popper]

Bama has pushed the PC and concentric the most, Avenger has gotten HiTek to HV in rifle and Waco is ringing steel @ 500. Lots of progress in just a few years.

[Nrut]

Bama has pushed the PC and concentric the most, Avenger has gotten HiTek to HV in rifle and Waco is ringing steel @ 500. Lots of progress in just a few years.

IIRC Waco was using Lars 2500 lube in the video, .308/ 10" gong @ 500 yds..

[Big Boomer]

Just finished reading this entire thread. Lot of good info here. While I do not have a chronograph … yet, I intend to use this info in loading my rifle boolits. Already using Smoke's powder (clear) for revolver and pistol. Big Boomer

[Dragonheart]

Just finished reading this entire thread. Lot of good info here. While I do not have a chronograph … yet, I intend to use this info in loading my rifle boolits. Already using Smoke's powder (clear) for revolver and pistol. Big Boomer

Kudos for reading the whole thread, it is quite lengthy. I bought a chronograph years ago, but put off buying one for years before that and wished I hadn't. I will say this, if you get serious about accuracy you have to have one.

Secondly, once you decide to open your wallet go all the way and get one that supports a printer and get that as part of the package. If you use it you won't regret the purchase.

[woodbutcher]

Great thread.Great info.Thanks to all for posting their results.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

[charlie b]

Thanks for this thread.

I have used an alternative to Bama's for a number of years. Lee sizing die and a 1/4" dia punch (for .30cal bullets).

Seat the gas check by hand. Put bullet in sizing die just far enough until you feel resistance. Back of a slight amount. Take the punch and hit the nose of the bullet (like Bama's method). The sizing die keeps the bullet straight and the ram keeps the gas check flat. After hitting it with the punch then run the bullet through the sizer and crimp the gas check.

[fcvan]

I just finished reading the entire thread. I started powder coating when I first read about it here. I have an HF PC gun that works great but not as convenient as the Sears style PC gun. I have been ASBBPCing pretty much for all of my handgun rounds.

My first ESPC handgun rounds were a Lee 401-180 TC in a Glock 23 and my grouping shrank from my lubed loads. On a whim I set my sights on a 4" target at 200 yards. It took 4 rounds to get the hold over and then I was hitting 8 out of 10. BTW, I started long range hand gunning back in the 1980s after reading or Elmer Keith's exploits. The boolit flies straight if you hold the gun straight, I learned not to drink too much coffee before range time

My first attempts at rifle were quite recently, not counting the Marlin 1894 in 41 Mag. I had purchased the Lyman 225 55gr FPGC with intent to use them in a Mini 14 and a recently built AR 15. First range test with HF black put 5 in an inch at 65 yards, the max at that range. It cycled the AR which was not even properly broken in. The Mini 14 eats anything and accurately as it is a 180 model with 1 in 10" twist.

I purchased an NOE 225-62 RN designed smooth sided just for PC so as to get away from pesky little gas checks and ASBBPC coating. They shot fine in the Mini and a pistol length gas system AR, but would not consistently cycle the Carbine length gas system. The loads ran generally 2250 FPS except in the shorter AR pistol. In a 24" single shot rifle the same rounds ran 2450 FPS with promising accuracy. I think I need to harden up the alloy so that the AR carbine will cycle and tighten up the groups. The beauty of PC is you can switch colors to identify different loads on sight, black for standard, zombie green for 'other.' I need to try the Lyman mold in the single shot, I think it might turn out to be a tack driver.

Dad loaned me his sporterized 03A3 for cast shooting. I had purchased a Lee 309-150 RF (it was on sale, should have bought the 170) and it shot fine with Lars red label. Then I started ESPC with aluminum gas checks made from Amerimax flashing using PatMarlins dies. I made a jig using fender washers on 18 gauge galvanized plate and was using HF black. They shot fine considering my 'accuracy standard' is standing flat-footed shooting soda cans. Minute of soda can at 100 is good enough to put meat in the freezer.

Then I bought a Lee 312-155 2R for use in an AR in 300BO. It shot fine when lubed/sized to 310 using Lee liquid Alox thinned with mineral spirits. When ESPCd the nose became too fat. I thought about ASBBPC as it can be controllably thinner using powder from Prismatic Powder in Oregon. My experiments consisted of measuring the amount of powder before shake and bake and consistent handling technique as a control measure. Boolits were measured with a mic and I could consistently coat 1 to 3 thousandths just by said method. I did pick up the Lee 309-230 5R for the 300BO which gets ASBBPC. I decided to ditch the idea of using the 312-155 2R for the time being, still waiting on dies and grass for a Mauser 7.65 Argentinian, a recent pick up. Hey, I have a mold, I needed a gun to shoot it from. That argument works every time with my wife . . . Not really.

I ordered an NOE 150-3R SP GC for the 300, the 308s, and the 03A3 because they look great, shoot great. I spent a lot of time mixing various powders from Prismatic to get a near perfect FMJ color. Sort of a waste of time because I mostly coat ESPC with various blacks I had picked up from Prismatic. I learned to get a consistent thickness my sight and spay pattern and the NOE boolit feeds well. It was even killing soda cans at 100 with consistency. Then things went south . . .

Several friends were sighting in their rifles with the all copper bullets required in CA this season. I took my Mossberg 308 Scout Rifle just for fun as I wasn't hunting. The rifle has a long eye relief 4 power fixed scope. The loads were worked up for this rifle giving me 2250 FPS from the 16" bbl and the Sig Suar 716 Patrol Rifle, slightly more from the 22" M1A. I couldn't print on paper to save my backside. I had a buddy spotting for me with field glasses and he just couldn't spot hits. So I switched to a 4" rock on the berm. Hit after hit after hit until the rock was gravel. I switched back to shooting on paper, nothing. My Mossberg is scared of paper but hell on rocks and soda cans.

Next trip I'm taking the Springfield with targets consisting of pictures of a rock, maybe that will help. And I am seriously looking at a heavier mold, possibly a bore rider design.