.315 cast in my Mosin Nagant

[dale2242]

I loaded some .315 diameter bullets for my MN.
They chambered in every kind of brass I had with out neck turning.
Happy guy here. I hate neck turning.
Now to shoot them today. We are finally getting a sunny day.
My rifle slugged .314.
Larry Gibson sent me some bullets sized .312, .314, and .315.
I loaded some of each and I am interested to see how they shoot...dale

[Adam Helmer]

dale2242,

What version of MN do you have and what is your load data? I have many MNs, both Finnish and Russian and the largest boolit I need is a gas checked cast sized .311". My powders are 2400, IMR 4198 and Unique. I have had good luck with the Lyman #311471 (175 grain) the #31141, but my best overall in all my MNs is the Lee 312-185 RN. I cast boolits out of OLD WWs, add a dash of tin and drop all boolits from the mould into a bucket of cold water, gas check, add Alox lube and shoot.

Adam

[LAGS]

@ Adam Helmer
What do all of your bores slug out to ?
Most of my MN's except for the Finish M 28/30's are over .312 and up to .316.
They will shoot a .311 cast boolit Good, but they shoot MUCH better with the boolits sized to the bore diameter or .001" larger.

[Adam Helmer]

LAGS,

Personally, I think all this Slugging Bidness, is much ado about nothing. I have NEVER SLUGGED a bore. I DO press fit a boolit into the muzzle of various cast boolits and make my determinations thereby. My system works for me. I prefer to keep it simple.

Adam

I respect others slugging to their satisfactions.

[ShooterAZ]

With Milsurp rifles such as the MN and the various 303's etc, bore size can vary considerably. Slugging/chamber casts/pound casts can be very useful in these situations.

[EMC45]

This was last week. 3 sight adjustments at 50 yards. Top group was 4 rounds.

[dale2242]

I shot the loads today. 16 gr 2400 1/2 gr dacron. Not sure of the bullet. I got them from Larry Gibson.
The .312s shot pretty good. The .314s and .315s even better.
I got 1/12 -2 in. groups at 50 yds with issue sights and rough/tough issue trigger.

[ShooterAZ]

LOL, yep they tend to have awful triggers. Mine had a sewer pipe bore until I scrubbed and cleaned it until the cows came home. I finally got it clean and it shoots surprisingly well with .314 cast boolits. That 16 grains of 2400 (no dacron) is a winner in mine too. .312 boolits leaded in my MN, to small.

[BigAlofPa.]

I gave up on cast in my 91/30. I tried all kinds of powders. Just could not get a grouping. I was using Missouri bullet co hi-tek coated. .312 168 grain i think they were. Tula ammo she likes real tight groups. Im getting my speer 150 grain .311 loads dialed in. Bore slugs at .311. Glad to hear some are having success with cast.

[Larry Gibson]

The bullets I sent Dale2242 were from a Lee 6 cavity group buy mould copy of the Lyman 311041 bullets. They were supposed to drop bullets at .312 - .313 in the drive bands with a .300 nose. Apparently that was with a special alloy made out of old WWs the designer had stored behind his shed...... because when cast of my old COWWs + 2% tin they drop .315 on the drive bands and .302 - .303 on the nose. Cast of #2 alloy I can get them to drop at .316. That's great for my .31 cal rifles but sucks for most of my .30 cals...... Still it's a good mould and I do have numerous 31 cals to use it in.........

[Boolseye]

My Mosins (2 of them, a m38 and a 91/30) both have oversized bores. Neither could shoot a group using any decent charge of rifle powder (not to mentions hours spent scrubbing the lead out) until I sized to .315". Lower powered loads are no problem, The Lee TL312-160 2R, GCs applied in a .314" push-through sizer and shot with "The Load" of Unique or 2400 will smack the 100 yd. gong all day. Start in with a larger slug and 30+ grains of 4895 or slower and its a whole different story. Slugging the bores and casting to size works for me, and I find it to be a simple process. I would feel confident in the field with either gun using either 314299 or 316299 at 1800-2000 fps. I have never done a chamber cast, but slugging–yeah.

As for getting the right sizer-I honed out a Lee .314” until it was .3155”.
I use a piece of steel rod wrapped in 400 or 600 grit wet/dry sandpaper.

[broken arrow]

On the subject of slugging the bore...
I currently have 30 mosin-nagants of different flavors and have had and sold several others.
I slug all of them and have found bores varied from a true .308 to a .319.
Trying to get a .311 bullet to be accurate in a .319 bore is insanity.
IMHO, if you want one of these to be accurate (and they can be very accurate), slugging the bore gives you the most important piece of information you need.
Hope this helps,
Dave

[dale2242]

Where do I find a .315 sizer die for my RCBS lube/sizer?....dale

[northmn]

I had a MN carbine and it would not shoot any cast I had. I slugged it and got a 317 bore. The bullets were keyholing. It was a collector and I let someone else collect it. The molds made for that diameter were too spendy.

DEP

[Kraschenbirn]

Where do I find a .315 sizer die for my RCBS lube/sizer?....dale

Lyman catalogs a .314 (interchangeable with RCBS) that you could lap out to .315 or, for less money, get a .314 Lee Push-Thru kit and open it to .315.

Bill

[Bookworm]

Where do I find a .315 sizer die for my RCBS lube/sizer?....dale

Lathesmith will make a custom die. He made a .316 for me, and it is dead on. I think his price was reasonable, and the service was quick.

[LAGS]

I just Lapped out my Lee sizer push thru die with a wood dowel , electric drill and some wet and dry sandpaper with light machine oil.
You aint building a rocket ship.
But it works more than fine for 50 to 100 year old rifles with not so perfect bores. ( works in my better condition ones too. )
I have taken .312's out to .315, .316 and one to .319 for the Brit.