I tried cast out of my marlin a few weeks back The best group I got was about MOA at 100 yards with 40 grains of varget. I used our group buy 200 grain HP casted up with 50/50 COWW and pure lead flooring. I also added 2% pewter to the mix. My alloy has a BH of 10.5. I also tumble PC and GC my boolits. The ones I tested today were clear PC. I used the lee factory crimp collet die as well.
Here’s my lest from a few weeks ago with the 5 pound trigger pull. The top 100 yard MOA group was with our group buy HP mold and the bottom group was shot with a lee 200 grain boolit with the same alloy.
I lightened up my trigger since the last shooting session from 5 pounds to 2 1/4 pounds. I also loaded my cast boolits this time around with a polished seater die pusher that left zero markings on the sides of boolits. Last range session I used a flat seater die I customized. It pushed/seated the boolit down flattening and widening the HP area. I figured the polished seater die would keep the boolit in its original, more streamline shape as when it dropped out of the mold. Well here’s my first three shot 100 group with the same 40 grains of varget load that originally shot a 1” group, seated with the polished pusher, and with the lighter trigger. I also used smokes clear PC as it leaves a smooth, and perfectly even, glass coating even when tumbled.
I also had just enough H4895 powder left to load three rounds. I gambled and loaded up a max J word book load
to try. Here is the 100 yard group...
So 40 grains of varget is the clear winner! It’s my tightest shooting gun to date with cast. My bore slugged at .357” and I sized my boolits to .3595”. I loaded it to 2.415”, separated my boolits by 1 grain increments, used Remington RP cases, a Remington 9 1/2 primer, and trimmed all my cases to minimum length...after every firing.
Now that I’m done testing I plan on removing the tasco and see through rings and mounting up a leupold 2x7 and probably a DNZ scope base. I’ll have to move onto cast in my Remington 7600 chambered in 35 Remington next.