Word of the weekend… Assume

[metricmonkeywrench]

The word of the weekend is Assume… this weekend’s example- Don’t assume that the reportedly most popular bullet, 311291 156g GC, will work in any 30-30. I guess that’s probably correct for any Win 94’s but doesn’t seem to apply to my 2001 Marlin 336W.

Loaded up my first test batch of 10 rounds, set to listed OAL. Got out to the range, trudged the 100yds down and back on line to set up the targets, put the rifle on the rest and bag, went to chamber the first round and the bolt would not go the last ¼ in and lock. Jacked the round out, tried the second with the same result. Packed it all in and made the 200yd trek to retrieve the targets and went over to the pistol range for some stress relief.

Note to self- load dummy round and check for chambering for now on before stuffing any cases the first time….

In looking at the rounds later on I definitely was up into the lands and grooves with this blunt bullet. Seeing how far back out of the crimp groove I would have to go will likely put the gas check below the neck so that’s a nonstarter. That now relegates the -291 mould for use in my 30-06, with its long lead I can load about anything and it seems to like long blunt flat based jacketed bullets..

I guess I need to start looking for a different mold for the Marlin.

[gwpercle]

It was a good thing you only loaded 10 . Some other poor soul loaded 500 before he discovered they wouldn't chamber .

When working with a new load / rifle , back in the olden dark age times , I was advised to load up a dummy ( or two or three) , no primer , no powder , just case and boolit . Once boolit seating depth , chambering / extraction and functioning through the magazine into the chamber was all assured and worked out....then load up some real ammo with powder.
I keep the dummies to use when adjust seating dies the next time .
This may be old school advice but it's still not bad advice .

Sometimes just going by the book numbers doesn't work....test one first .
Gary

[ABJ]

Been there, done that. Once. I have four 30-30 levers and not a single one will load that boolit if it is crimped in the crimp groove. My mold throws a .301 nose in front of the forward driving band. If I crimp on the forward band then it is no problem. Same on the lyman 173 flat nose, have to crimp on the band not in the groove. Tom at Accurate molds just did a custom mold for me with a .299 nose.(31-155J). Works and is accurate in all my levers. Plus, my lymans all just make .310, the Accurate throws .3115 and I size to .311.

On the plus side the 311291 is my most accurate boolit in my 03a3.
Tony

[mdi]

One reason some reloaders make up a dummy or two first...

[44Blam]

Did this with the 45-70... Cast about 200 405s about 100 500 gainers. 405s chambered no prob, but the 500s would only chamber non powder coated. All the pc'd rounds I made would not chamber. Made about 50 of those...

[Don1357]

Reloaded 200 .223 with a box of old primers where I should have known better, there where clear signs of deterioration. A few didn't go off, a few more had a half second delay between pulling the trigger and the bullet going off... thank God I have a Hornady bullet puller die.

[waksupi]

With a good crimp on gas check, I don't worry about seating bullets deeper.

[pipehand]

Once upon a time I had trouble with the RCBS 30-150fn in my Marlins. Turns out the noses were bumping up in my Saeco sizer due to my being a bit hard and fast while sizing. The same boolit sized and gas checked in a Star dont have the fat nose problem.

[metricmonkeywrench]

pipehand you may be closer to the real issue. Think I have my issue isolated to the gas check/sizing process.

I went out and poured a handful of fresh bullets from the same alloy to get a baseline. The nose of the bullets measured out to .299~.300 average. Grabbed a pair of the new cast bullets and pulled out the -30 and -06 from the from the safe. The bullet in the -06 required a minimal finger push to get it into the muzzle, so perfect for a bore rider nose if I understand how they work correctly. The bullet fell into the 30-30 to the bearing surface shoulder, will have to figure out that one later. The two older bullets from the first lot I grabbed wouldn't fit either rifle.

Went back up and dumped out the remaining pile of 15 or so "older" bullets. I must have randomly pulled the 2 smallest when I was fiddling around the other night doing some basic measurements (turns out there are 3 "keepers" at ~3.01). The noses on the majority of the older bullets ranged between .304 up to .310.

My issue is either coming from seating the gas check or sizing. I will be looking at my tools/process and confirm where the problem lies. I think the biggest problem is the sizer I have set up for rifle has a hard lube in it and I don't have the heater which may be the root cause due to the force required to move the bullet thru the sizer in the cold lube when I did my first batch. The last handful of bullets I sized I actually set the sizer out in the sun for 4 hours before using it and that softened up the lube which may account for the "keepers". As an alternate theory (or combination of) I may be pressing down too hard while seating the gas checks.

Since I have 3 sizing tools loaded with different lubes I can play musical chairs with the lube/sizers and dies and see the effects.

Once I have all that worked out Ill see if there is any effect while seating the bullets in the case.

[Texas by God]

I learned this lesson long ago. Therefore I will not load ammo for any gun unless the gun is present. If the first one won't chamber neither will the next 99!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[Tom W.]

But sometimes we gotta learn the hard way......

[robg]

I think we all learn the hard way that its worth making a dummy round every time we change boolit etc.nothing more frustrating than getting to the range and finding your ammo wont work/fit.

[Sig556r]

Plunk test on specific barrel chamber works better than case gauges...I've learned that the hard way

[TCFAN]

I have had the same problem with a perfect size cast boolet nose bumping up in the sizing die.To get around that I lube and install gas checks on my 30 cal. cast boolits in a .314 lube die in a Lyman 450 and then size to the correct dia. in a push through die from Lee or NOE.This system works for me and I use the same procedure with 22,358 and 44 boolits.