My First Try At Cast Boolit's For My .338/06

[Rick459]

so i'm turning my Rem. Mod 30 into a cast bullet shooter. here are my first endevors. the caliber is .338/06. the mold is the Lee 220 grain RN. took a Lee push through sizer in .329 and opened it up to .339. lube is the Lee Alox. i do not use an expander ball in my sizing dies. i used the Sinclair neck turning expansion die with a .338 mandrel in it to open up the necks and flared the necks with a flaring tool i made from a old Lee .44 mag powder through expander die. to remove the flare on the case mouth after seating the bullets i opened up a Lee FCD for 30/06 that i never use. i don't crimp with it just use to remove the flare. so these are my first results which i must say shows lots of promise. range was 50 yds. press is the Forster Co-Ax.
Rick

[Ben]

I'm impressed ! !

Looks like you're going to be doing some fun, accurate, and inexpensive shooting with your 338 / 06.

I've got a 338 Fed. that I'm working with right now.

Ben

[Hardcast416taylor]

Just out of curosity, what were the weights of the 4 powders you used?Robert

[Rick459]

with the Unique and Green Dot the weights were 11.0 grains. with the 2520 powder i used 25.0 grains. the 4831 was 30.0 grains but all the powder does not get burned up and leaves alot in the chamber and barrel so i will not be using it again. maybe if i were to put a heavy crimp on the bullet it might help burn up more of the powder. primers are CCI #34. the rifle is a Remington Model 30 that was built into a bench gun and re- chambered to .338/06. it sports a E.R. Shaw 1 1/2" dia barrel 27 " in length. will post pictures of the rifle tomorrow. HTH.
Rick

[oldhickory]

I've been thinking about a .338/06 for some time now, I got a 1917 Winchester Bubba'ed receiver just crying for a sporter bbl. and stock, (it wants to look like a Remington M-30S). Hmm, .338 or .35 bore?

[Three44s]

oldhickory,

If you are only looking a boolits then the 35 is the better of the two (though I have never owned a 35 Whelen)

But the charm of the .338-06 is that it's a bang up J-word flinger (equal weight J-words have better coefficients than the 35's do AND they are by and larger tougher constructed as well)

....... and the .338-06 does boolits right fine as well.

Ie. the .338 version may be more dual purpose.

I have been working off and on ..... mostly off lately as ranching etc. has been stealing the show with a .338-06 ER Shaw made up for Savage bolt guns.

I have been VERY pleased with my early results with the Lee boolit.

Right now I am working with SR 4759 with a start of 20 g ....... it likes it ....... soon I will venture into more powder but just have not had the time.

Earlier, I have some good results with Imr 4320 @ 40 g but since I bought my first jug of SR 4759 it has been stealing my attentions of late.

Three 44s

[Rick459]

so here are some photo's of the rifle that i am shooting these cast boolit's with. it's a Remington Model 30 which is just the civilian version of the 1917 Enfield. the orignal caliber was 30/06. i built this rifle back in 1982. been sitting in the closet for years as this rifle with J-bullets is boring accurate. so my quest is now to make this just as boring accurate with cast boolit's as it is with J-bullets.
Rick

[Rick459]

I'm impressed ! !

Looks like you're going to be doing some fun, accurate, and inexpensive shooting with your 338 / 06.

I've got a 338 Fed. that I'm working with right now.

Ben

I'm Impressed too. to get these results right from the start tells me minor tweaking with powder choice and charge weight should get me there in short time. all the cases have had the primer pockets uniformed, flash holes de-burred, and necks turned. will be going to the range tomorrow this time i will bring my chronograph. will also br trying some IMR 4320 powder.
Rick

[Three44s]

My 1917 does not look as purdy as your model 30!

I thought I'd never see the day when a barrel would be as fat as one of those beefed up receivers, either!

I see you get as fussy about your cases like I do ...... and right down to the style of bolt handle ..... I don't own one of those spoon style but would like to.

Three 44s

[PB Guy]

Thx for your post, very helpful! I have this caliber in a T C Encore and use the Lee
220 gr boolit for my .338 Win Mag. Now I'll start loading the '06. BTW I use Lyman M die to expand necks. There are diffrent collets available so one die does a lot of work.

[Rick459]

My 1917 does not look as purdy as your model 30!

I thought I'd never see the day when a barrel would be as fat as one of those beefed up receivers, either!

I see you get as fussy about your cases like I do ...... and right down to the style of bolt handle ..... I don't own one of those spoon style but would like to.

Three 44s

the E.R. Shaw barrel was purchased in 1982 for $85.00 in the white threaded and short chambered. this was a wild experiment with a action that i purchased for $75.00. the stock is a Fajen Rhienhart, or maybe it;s Rhienhart Fajen, (no longer in business) which was my first attempt in inletting a stock which did not come out too bad. took me three months everyday after work to fit the action to the stock. it was just a rough piece of wood semi shaped with no inletting done to it at all from the factory. the stock cost me $35.00. the most expensive part in building this .338/06 was at the time the only company making reloading dies for this caliber was RCBS which was a special order item and cost me $100.00. oh yeah, the barrel alone weighs 9lbs. be back later with a another range report. Three 44s, thanks for the heads up with the 4320 powder. will see how it works out today. loaded 10 with 35.0grns. and 10 with 40.0grns.
Rick

[oldhickory]

oldhickory,

If you are only looking a boolits then the 35 is the better of the two (though I have never owned a 35 Whelen)

But the charm of the .338-06 is that it's a bang up J-word flinger (equal weight J-words have better coefficients than the 35's do AND they are by and larger tougher constructed as well)

....... and the .338-06 does boolits right fine as well.

Ie. the .338 version may be more dual purpose.

I have been working off and on ..... mostly off lately as ranching etc. has been stealing the show with a .338-06 ER Shaw made up for Savage bolt guns.

I have been VERY pleased with my early results with the Lee boolit.

Right now I am working with SR 4759 with a start of 20 g ....... it likes it ....... soon I will venture into more powder but just have not had the time.

Earlier, I have some good results with Imr 4320 @ 40 g but since I bought my first jug of SR 4759 it has been stealing my attentions of late.

Three 44s

You're right about the .338/06 being better than the .35 Whelen on all counts except boolit variety. My idea for one would be a dedicated cast boolit hunting rifle, in which case the .35 Whelen might get the nod, but I'm still thinking about it.

[Rick459]

well uping the powder charges opened up the groups as you can see from the photo's. the 2520 charge of 35.0grns, chrongraphed in the 1800fps. the 2520 30,0grn. load went in the 1500fps range. the 13.5grn. went in the 1450fps range. next range trip will be using 2520 only. didn't have much luck with the 4320 powder.
Rick

[Rick459]

so i went to the range again today to try some Data-74 powder. Data-74 powder was sold by Accurate Arms and is supposed to be the same as AA-2520 but you have to bump up the charge weight by 3 percent. well on my last string i decided to shoot some left over rounds from last week of 13.5 grns. of Unique. well as you can see in the photo it shot the tightist group of the day. that's five shots at 50 yards. that group measures center to center 0.491 and comparing this group with last weeks group using the same bullet and powder, i wonder why that round shot tighter today. the only difference with the rounds i loaded up with the Data-74 powder and the Unique loads, is the Data-74 loads the bullets were shot as cast and tumbled lubed. this gun has only shot Moly Jword bullets through it so maybe all the Moly is finally getting out of the barrel. my next outing i will bump up the Unique load to 14.0 and see what that does.
Rick

[crabo]

How fast is the Unique load going?

[Rick459]

How fast is the Unique load going?

they are in the 1450fps range out of my 27" barrel. would like to get as close to 1800fps as i can.
Rick

[Rick459]

for those of you inquiring about the Unique group size here is a photo of a .22 LR round next to the group to give you more of perspective of how small this group size is. also remember that these are .338 caliber holes. so for an inexpensive bullet mold i am getting good results. looks like a custom mold for this caliber wiil be in the near future. oh. the squares are 2" squares.
Rick

[Rick459]

so inworking on this project i got a wild idea. i have a set of Lee Collet dies in .30/06 caliber that i do not use any more and i thought, should not take much to make this work with the .338/06. so i made another mandrel, bored out the collet also the collar which holds the mandrel and it seems to be working pretty good. not only do i have a neck sizer now, but i can control the amount of neck tension on the bullet. next trip to the range will see if this helps accuracy a little more. more to follow.
Rick

[Hardcast416taylor]

Since I contributed to contaminating Three 44s mind on the 338/06 I might as well work on Rick 459 as well. I was about to ask if the bore was clean of copper or anything else, you may have answered that question with the 2nd try of Unique. I use Unique for most of my 338/06 shooting now as well as 4320 and 2520. You are on the right road accuracy wise with the new homemade sizer. If I can suggest a mold maker for the .338 cal., try BRP at babrandt@sbcglobal.net. He makes a 230 gr. .338 that I really have grown fond of. He`ll send a sample of them if you contact him.Robert

[Rick459]

Since I contributed to contaminating Three 44s mind on the 338/06 I might as well work on Rick 459 as well. I was about to ask if the bore was clean of copper or anything else, you may have answered that question with the 2nd try of Unique. I use Unique for most of my 338/06 shooting now as well as 4320 and 2520. You are on the right road accuracy wise with the new homemade sizer. If I can suggest a mold maker for the .338 cal., try BRP at babrandt@sbcglobal.net. He makes a 230 gr. .338 that I really have grown fond of. He`ll send a sample of them if you contact him.Robert

thanks Hardcast. i will send him an e-mail. does he have a web site? i will try to work with the Data-74 powder a little more along with Unique. any body making a Check Maker yet for the .338? need to get more gas checks.
Rick