Ideal 308241

[twotoescharlie]

while perusing my plethora of boolit moulds I came across this old Ideal mould. cast a few and here is what I got;

it is a plain base round nose
weighs out at 158 grains (wheel weights)
bottom band .315-.316
two middle bands .313
top band .311
nose .308
3 lube grooves

cannot find it listed in my old lyman cast book. what can I use it for? makes a pretty boolit.

TTC

[EMC45]

Mosin, Enfield?

[Jeff Michel]

Try casting it 50% WW and 50% lead, don't push it too hard in any .30 caliber and you can drive nails with it. Maybe Ben can/will weight in on this bullet. He put up some pictures awhile back, 30/06 with a small load of International Clays, most impressive.

[TCFAN]

I have that same mold only in a 2 cavity marked 311241 by Lyman. Mine cast a bit smaller than the one you have using my WW metal.Mine is .314 on the bottom band and .313 on the other 3 with the nose at .300
It is a good shooting plain base booilt for me. It will out shoot the Lee group buy 311041 plain base boolit any day of the week in my rifles...........Terry

[45 2.1]

while perusing my plethora of boolit moulds I came across this old Ideal mould. cast a few and here is what I got;

it is a plain base round nose
weighs out at 158 grains (wheel weights)
bottom band .315-.316
two middle bands .313
top band .311
nose .308
3 lube grooves

cannot find it listed in my old lyman cast book. what can I use it for? makes a pretty boolit.

TTC

You have an early version, later ones were 311241. The design changed with each cherry as I have several examples. Usefull in several 30 caliber rifles: 30-30, 308, 30-06 7.62x54R etc. There is a GB going on in the Active GBs section now for it in 0.311" and 0.316" diameters. Good boolit.

[wcp4570]

Yes it is an early mold and shoot very well in my 30-06 and SKS, have not tried it in a 30-30 yet but expect it to preform well in it also. I'm not done experimenting with this boolit yet but it does show promise. The picture shows what I think is about the top end velocity for this plan base design. Higher velocity starts leading. I will try reducing my charge and velocity to see if I can get tighter groups than this.

[Ben]

Here is my 308241 :
( Sorry, I left out the make of primer in the load data listed in the photo below .....It was Wolf Large rifle )

[wcp4570]

Here is a useful link that shows many old mold numbers.

http://www.three-peaks.net/bullet_molds.htm

wcp

[45 2.1]

The picture shows what I think is about the top end velocity for this plan base design. Higher velocity starts leading. I will try reducing my charge and velocity to see if I can get tighter groups than this.

If you freechec (a single thickness aluminum gas check) them you can go a lot farther up in velocity. The last ones I did were air cooled ones of 50/50 WW/Pb alloy. I got them to about 1900 fps before it started leading some. Expansion was very good at that velocity.

[wcp4570]

If you freechec (a single thickness aluminum gas check) them you can go a lot farther up in velocity.

How does the PB gas check work, is it as easy to install as standard checks? I have not gotten into check making yet. It would be handy to have a the ability to make your own checks plus the PB check. I have a DC 311041 mold that I enjoy shooting beside this old timer PB mold.

wcp

[45 2.1]

How does the PB gas check work, is it as easy to install as standard checks? wcp

Several guys make a plain base check maker. You can also lathe a recessed flat area on the top of your H&I die for a aluminum pop can disc and swage them on while sizing.

[wcp4570]

You can also lathe a recessed flat area on the top of your H&I die for a aluminum pop can disc and swage them on while sizing.

Another toy I don't have (metal lathe), I have always wanted a lathe but never found one I could afford. I've played with a big lathe while working in aviation in the early 90's.

If I understand what you said, the sizing die has a small recessed turned into the top and you use a flat disk punched from an aluminum can and that gets swaged onto the base of the boolit when its sized and lubed. Do you start forming the cup with the top punch prior to setting the boolit in the sizing die?

wcp

[45 2.1]

If I understand what you said, the sizing die has a small recessed turned into the top and you use a flat disk punched from an aluminum can and that gets swaged onto the base of the boolit when its sized and lubed. Do you start forming the cup with the top punch prior to setting the boolit in the sizing die? wcp

Correct on the first part. The turned recess should be very smooth and the edge into the sizing tube should be nicely radiused and glass smooth...... otherwise you can tear the aluminum. Lubing the aluminum sheet on both sides very lightly helps forming. No to the preforming with the punch the way I do it, BUT the plain base GC makers do that so it fits on your PB boolit, then its placed in the die. You can also make an alignment disc that sets in the die nut opening and has the boolit hole in it that is as cast size plus enough for clearance.

[retread]

Here is a useful link that shows many old mold numbers.

http://www.three-peaks.net/bullet_molds.htm

wcp

Thanks for the website address. They had a printable PDF. Great reference. Saves looking up mold numbers on the web.

[Guesser]

I have a SC 311241 and it works really well sized .311 and loaded to 2.55 OAL and used in my 99 Savage 30-30.