Not new to casting, but new to casting for rifles - have some questions

[Sudsy]

I've been studying and obsessing over casting my first rifle boolits for over a year
Not new to casting, but new to doing it for my Rem 760 Gamemaster 308 and Rem 700 30-06

About me........
Been reloading on and off for 30 years
Been casting lead saltwater fishing jigs for 30 years so I'm comfortable with the equipment
Started with pure lead maxiball for my black powder 20 years ago, comfortable with that
2 years ago stumbled into a great deal on few hundred lbs of linotype to go with many hundreds of lbs of lead I've picked up over the years
Began casting alloy 38 special, Using the RCBS Lubrimatic to size and lube
Just bought bulk powder paint to start powder coating, haven't done it yet

Very interested in loading for my rifles but have a lot of questions first.

Question 1 - Can you all recommend a mold for a decent eastern, under 200 yards, deer/hog hunting round that would work well in both rifles ?

Q. 2 - Does powder coating work as well for higher power rifle rounds and the corresponding velocity and pressure as it does for little 38 special plinking rounds ?

Q. 3 - Hog hunting, haven't done it yet but a friend moved down to the NC/SC border and wants me to go (Hell yes I'm all in!!) I hear them things are TOUGH ! Is an alloy bullet enough, or should I stick to jacketed? If alloy is OK, recommend a lead/linotype mix? or straight linotype ?

I'm at that point where I know that I don't know enough to ask the right questions, so I'm sure I'll have some more. And yes I've pounded the search feature, read a LOT of threads, enough to get myself confused, especially as pertains to alloys.

Thank you for any help !!

[Scrounge]

I've been studying and obsessing over casting my first rifle boolits for over a year
Not new to casting, but new to doing it for my Rem 760 Gamemaster 308 and Rem 700 30-06

About me........
Been reloading on and off for 30 years
Been casting lead saltwater fishing jigs for 30 years so I'm comfortable with the equipment
Started with pure lead maxiball for my black powder 20 years ago, comfortable with that
2 years ago stumbled into a great deal on few hundred lbs of linotype to go with many hundreds of lbs of lead I've picked up over the years
Began casting alloy 38 special, Using the RCBS Lubrimatic to size and lube
Just bought bulk powder paint to start powder coating, haven't done it yet

Very interested in loading for my rifles but have a lot of questions first.

Question 1 - Can you all recommend a mold for a decent eastern, under 200 yards, deer/hog hunting round that would work well in both rifles ?

Q. 2 - Does powder coating work as well for higher power rifle rounds and the corresponding velocity and pressure as it does for little 38 special plinking rounds ?

Q. 3 - Hog hunting, haven't done it yet but a friend moved down to the NC/SC border and wants me to go (Hell yes I'm all in!!) I hear them things are TOUGH ! Is an alloy bullet enough, or should I stick to jacketed? If alloy is OK, recommend a lead/linotype mix? or straight linotype ?

I'm at that point where I know that I don't know enough to ask the right questions, so I'm sure I'll have some more. And yes I've pounded the search feature, read a LOT of threads, enough to get myself confused, especially as pertains to alloys.

Thank you for any help !!

I've only hunted hogs once, in Turkey. I'd suggest a 12 gauge shotgun, pump or auto, with slug loads. Or if the 760 will handle them, 220 grain cast in a moderately fast load. What we called Elk loads when I lived in Colorado many years ago. You want to smack them hard.

[44Blam]

For casting with rifles, Larry Gibson has a lot of good information.

Particularly with RPM. I've had bad results with pushing boolits hard in some rifles, decent results in others and good results when I started understanding what is happening with pressure/speed/rpm.

[RU shooter]

Simple answer I'd start with the Lee 170 FN or the slightly fatter 185 . Best thing to do is do a pound cast of the throats in both them rifles and see what your dealing with

[rking22]

Welcome to the forum, lots of good and knowledgeable people here ! I have been hunting with cast, pretty exclusively, for over 20 years now. I have migrated to 35 and 37 caliber rifles , but mainly due to liking old rifles. Your 308 and 06 will definitely kill hogs and deer.

Question 1 - Can you all recommend a mold for a decent eastern, under 200 yards, deer/hog hunting round that would work well in both rifles ?

The Lee 170flat point is good, custom makers are cutting great clones of the 311041 design. Both shoot well in most rifles in your calibers. There is an active thread on the Lee 200, give it a read. That bullet , with a filed flat point on your hunting loads will kill!

Q. 2 - Does powder coating work as well for higher power rifle rounds and the corresponding velocity and pressure as it does for little 38 special plinking rounds ?

Cannot answer that, I lube.

Q. 3 - Hog hunting, haven't done it yet but a friend moved down to the NC/SC border and wants me to go (Hell yes I'm all in!!) I hear them things are TOUGH ! Is an alloy bullet enough, or should I stick to jacketed? If alloy is OK, recommend a lead/linotype mix? or straight linotype ?

They are not all that hard to kill with a well placed cast bullet. Last years hog was collected with a 44special Skeeter load. I have not shot one with 30 caliber, many on here have, it works. The 170 to 200 cast bullets will go completely thru a good hog. Cast of a ductile alloy, not Lino, they stay together and do better than typical cup and core jacketed. Hit them well between 1700 and 2000 or so with a reasonably heavy and flat pointed cast of 2/2/96 and you have a sausage kit on the ground. Go to the alloy sub forum stickies for the alloy spreadsheet and you can caluculate your mix, you will need som tin or pewter also. Or just buy some Lyman #2 and cut it 50:50 with plain lead.

[gwpercle]

Question #3 They are tougher than a rabbit but not armor plated .
Your deer load of choice will take them nicely . I like my 30-30 model 94 Winchester , loaded with a 170 gr. flat point cast boolit alloy 50-50 COWW and soft lead , gas check and air cooled .
Driven to 1800 to 1900 fps ... if you put the slug in the boiler room or brain ...the hog expires .

I live in Louisiana and the hogs have become pesky ... they can root up a field in no time . But they are tasty... let me know if you need a recipe .

Don't obsess about it , go back to the General Heading and read some of the hunting stories in the Hunting With CB Section ...lots of good hunting and loading info and photo's to boot .
Gary

[lar45]

Yes, Welcome to the Forum, you've found a great place.

I took 11 hogs last year with a mix of everything from 45acp, 45 Colt, 450 Bushmaster, 6.5x55 Mauser, 300 Win, 54cal Muzzle Loader...

Where I hunt in southern Arkansas, it is thick and covered with black berry patches and thorny vines, so head shots are sooooooo nice. No tracking involved Most shots are 50 yards, but I did take one with a head shot at about 320yds with the 300 Win.

With a standard 10 twist 30 cal you will probably max out around 1900-2000fps before your accuracy goes. I haven't tried pushing PC bullets any faster.

The Ranch dog TL311-165 has been very accurate in my 30-06 pushed to around 1600fps.

[popper]

I run my AR10 308W carbine 2400 fps with 31-165C PC. H4895 works fine. I shot a 150#hog @ 25yds with 40sw pistol - 165gr moderate cast load. Went al the way from stern to stem. Your Rem should do fine with 310 sized,~4% Sb and heat treat. Work down on hardness till accuracy goes away.

[charlie b]

I've also gone to 2400fps with PC bullets in my .308. But, accuracy suffers a bit. I get around 1MOA if I stay below 2000fps. At 2400fps I would get 2-3MOA.

[quilbilly]

Simple answer I'd start with the Lee 170 FN or the slightly fatter 185 . Best thing to do is do a pound cast of the throats in both them rifles and see what your dealing with

I am in absolute agreement with this mold until you find something better. That boolit with the right alloy (not pure Linotype but somewhat softer) will do anything you want on an animal weighing under 300# at an MV between 1700 and 1900 fps or even a little less. I will be using the Lyman boolit that is almost identical (311041) in a 308 at that velocity for our local black bears when the season begins in a couple weeks. There is one local bear that was in my yard last year that I would have to think about, however, because, from my kitchen window at 30 yards he was an unusual giant clearly pushing 500# while all the others were 300# or much less. My lube is the old fashion Lee "mule-snot" and my accuracy is consistently under 2 MOA with the red dot sight at 75 yards.

[Conditor22]

Sudsy, Welcome to Posting on CB, I see you been a member/lurker for 8 years
looks like your questions have been answered
1) lee C309-170-f (purdy/clean cast rifle boolits are more important than purdy handgun boolits since rifle is traveling faster and can get thrown of balance easier
2) powdercoating works great for rifle, I use it for everything, no leading and get decent groups
3) COWW + 2% tin should work fine for hog hunting

PM sent

[Crowkiller]

I don't have much experience with 30 caliber cast boolits on hogs, but I have killed them with .44 and .45/70 with cast.

Hogs are not tougher than any other game. They are tough if you got them in the guts, and the problem is that the guts start as soon as you get aft of the front leg. If you do shoot them behind the front leg like many of us were taught for deer, they will find the thickest, nastiest briar patch to run into to die. Usually at the bottom of a gully to make it more difficult.
Head shots are great on hogs, as are "shoulder" shots.