New Ranch Dog mold !! 165 gr .30 cal

[Chuck 100 yd]

I got my Ranch dog 165gr. .30 cal mold friday and cast up a few today.
Cast of ww with a little tin they weigh 173 gr. with GC but not lubed.
I was running them a little too hot as you can see from the frosted one on the left.
Range report in a couple weeks. I will be comparing them to the Lyman 311041 using the same load with everything the same except the bullet.

Sized in .311 Lee push through the checks fit tight and I am dipping them in Lee liquid alox thinned with a couple drops of mineral spirits and dipped up to the crimp groove. I hate LLA al over the nose of bullets and it is not needed there. I will use two coats.

[wmitty]

Which cartridge(s) / rifles will you be shooting these in? They look to be a super hunting boolet with the wide meplat. I got in on the 31141 lee 6 cav. group buy and have been shooting these in .30-30, .308 and '06 but I'd sure like to hear about your results with R.D.'s boolet.

[ktw]

I received one of these from Ranch Dog recently also. I plan to do some load development work with it this summer in a pair of 30-30s; a Winchester 94 and a TC Contender Carbine.

Nice looking boolits you have there. I have not cast with mine yet.

-ktw

[Chuck 100 yd]

I will start with the .30-30 and the .308MX. The GC will be below the sholder in the MX but it is crimped on good and the cartridge has plenty of capacity. Possibly the .308 Win later.
Will make a range report.

[Whit Spurzon]

Howdy Chuck,
I just got my RD mold and I'm wondering how fast are you going to push those with the WW/tin alloy?

I have high hopes for this bullet. I'm hoping it will surpass the already very good success I've gotten with commercially cast bullets in my Marlins.

[Ranch Dog]

I've got a complete load work up of BL-C(2), H335, H4895, and Varget sitting on my bench for my 308MX. The winds have not been kind for about 3 months now. When I'm off, it is blowing 20 mph+ across my range. Now I've got the heat, every day for a week now has been 95+, but I really don't care about that.

Nice job Chuck!

[Whit Spurzon]

Just went out and cast a few dozen. Great looking bullet RD!!!

I shoved one in a case and 2.475" looks about right to me. What OAL is everyone getting for this bullet?

[725]

That's one good looking boolit. I'm waiting on a 6 cavity from RD from this order and plan on using it Win 94's, Marlin, T/C, Remington 700, and probably a few more. Will be following this thread with great interest.

[Junior1942]

I just ordered a 2 cavity 311 from the Dog. I'll use it in my Model 94 Win "Woods Rifle" and sized .309". I like the big ol' meplat and the TL grooves. I'll make bullets with it this fall in deer camp and write an article about the process. That is if I get to camp this fall. I started and failed three times this spring!! #1 = sick sister; #2 = high water; #3 = rain, rain, rain.

PS: I'll load on a stump with a Lee "Whack It" Classic Loader, and I'll size the bullets on the same stump with a Lee push through die used "whack it" style.

[Ranch Dog]

For OAL, I use:
2.475" with my Dad's M94
2.479" with my Glenfield 30
2.470" with my Marlin 336A (rechambered to 30-30 AI) and,
2.460" with my Marlin 308MX

The GC will be below the sholder in the MX but it is crimped on good and..

I ended up pulling a bunch of bullets because I mis-loaded the 30-30AI and 308ME. I also had load set-ups with Benchmark and H322 and decided those wouldn't work in either caliber so I pulled them. I lost a gas check on about every 7th or 8th cartridge with the "AI" but not one with the 308ME. I normally don't like the bullet body beyond the case neck either and this bullet meets that requirement for it's target design of the 30-30 Win.

My 336A 30-30AI really needs this over-sized bullet but it does have the deep cut rifling of the original Ballard barrels. As I continue to work with this rifle and once I'm beyond the pressure testing and select a powder for my personal use, I'm going to try and size the bullets down to .310" and .309" while moving the OAL out to see if gas checks getting knocked off is causing the fliers I occasionally see.

I did shoot a load out of BL-C(2) for the 30-30AI that I found on another web site and it was a really shocker. 55.0K PSI with the brass showing no signs of the high pressure! I followed it up with a factory 30-30 Win round to make sure it wasn't a error on the part of the strain gage setup and I saw what I normally see, 36.0K PSI. My bullets didn't like that pressure either.

[Ranch Dog]

These molds are from my 2-Cavity order. The 6-Cavity molds should follow in a couple of weeks.

[Chuck 100 yd]

Thanks again RD !!! BTT

[Lead melter]

These molds are from my 2-Cavity order. The 6-Cavity molds should follow in a couple of weeks.

Sounds like GREAT news to me!!!!!!!

[6pt-sika]

I was fortunate to be able to get my hands on one of these moulds over a year ago .

I used it last year to shoot paper and lever silhouette !

Also set up two 30-30 levers for 2007 deer season . But I am sorry to say I didn't get to try it on deer last year !

My normal load with this bullet is 22 grains of XMP5744 and a CCI200 primer .

[6pt-sika]

I might add I size these bullets for my Marlin's in a .312" dies , cast with straight WW's a, lube with Thompson's Blue Angel .

I also seat a bit deeper then most !

[Chuck 100 yd]

Wilt, I will be starting with 18.0gr. IMR 4198 as a control load at 1595 fps with the Lyman 311041 in the 30-30. I want to compare accuracy with everything else about the load the same. I will push them ( the RD 165`s)up from there until accuracy goes or leading starts.

[Junior1942]

With two coats of LLA I expect zero leading @ 1900 fps with this bullet in my Win m94.

[Ranch Dog]

Had a little bit of a break today from the wind so I got a chance to do some more shooting with the bullet in my Glenfield, 336A (30-30 AI), and 308MX. Todays session was about establishing max loads for BL-C(2) H335, H4895, and Varget.. about 4 hours of shooting. It was 89° when I went out and 95° when I finished.

No surprises with Glenfield. Hodgdon's on-line data for a 170-grain bullet will work well for establishing loads. I was very impressed with the accuracy of Varget but BL-C(2) wins hands down for accuracy with FPS in my rifle.

I've come to believe that the loads available for the 30-30AI have not really been pressure tested. There is some scary stuff out there! The load I've been shooting of BL-C(2) is not safe. I'm going to need to re-evaluate my loads for all four of these powders.

The bullet really gets with it coming out of the 308MX! Very easy to see velocities beyond 2400~2450 FPS but of course the pressures are up there and it is going to take paying attention to your choice of alloy to take advantage of the velocity. I've been sizing the bullets for this cartridge to .309" but I'm going to go back to .311" for the rest of my testing. The 308MX is a sweet package! By the time I got to my last load, BL-C(2), I wasn't able to capture velocity because the wind was back up and my screens were jumping around too much (I guess) but I did get the pressure data. I've got to shoot it all again anyway.

It will take me a few days to get it all together.

[ham77]

llllmmmm

[SCIBUL]

I've got this six cav mold for a month now. It cast very good boolits with straight WW and difference between all cavities is about a half grain ! I started load developpement since 3 weecks and it shows promises with VIHTAVUORI N110 and N120. I'll post complete results as soon as I will get MOA accuracy !