Is this possible ?

[yovinny]

I thought this would be the best place to ask, but please move if it belongs somewhere else instead.

Anyway,
I have a bunch of the discontinued Winchester 123gr .311 FMJ's that I'd like to size down to .308
To fill a void on the market and scratch the itch I have for some appropriate weight fmj ammo for the blackout.
Would this be possible with something like a push through die in a rock chucker and produce bullets that will still shoot worth a hoot ?

TIA
Cheers, YV

[IllinoisCoyoteHunter]

Should be fine. Use a bit of lube and check final diameter of course. Even if it only sizes them down to 309 you should still be fine shooting them.

[midnight]

Dave Corbin sells "bullet reducing " dies. He specifies 0.006 max so going from 0.311 to 0.308 would be OK. I wouldn't use the bullets for top accuracy though. When you squeeze the bullet down, the jacket springs back a bit but the lead does not, leaving you with a loose core.

Bob

[yovinny]

Thanks, Appreciate the info,,,But the loose core warning is exactly what I was worried about.
If this resizing produces a loose core bullet, any accuracy will be gone.
These bullets can almost manage 1.5" in the sks and my blackout manages 1.5" with just about anything. If I cant hold that line, I'll just stick with checked hard cast and forget about any fmj.
I've ordered a die and i guess i'll just have to try a hand full before I go getting carried away.

Cheers, YV

[Tatume]

Commercial 0.375" bullets resized to 9.3 mm (0.366") in two steps work fine. They are very accurate, and perform well on game. You should expect similar results if you start with quality bullets.

[Prospector Howard]

I bought a bunch of those for cheap years ago and size them down to shoot in my .308's. Works fine, and plenty accurate for general shooting. I think the "loose core" talk is a little overblown, it's not like the core is rattling around inside the jacket or something. I wouldn't use them for bench rest competition shooting, but they shoot fine for me.

[Tatume]

I think the "loose core" business is just speculation that has never been tested and has no basis in fact. I've resized many bullets and have never seen any evidence that they are anything but perfectly fine.

People make stuff up because "it just makes sense" when it usually does not, say it on the Internet, and then others repeat it until it's been around the world a dozen times. By then everyone *knows* it must be true.

[aaronraad]

When target rifle (TR/fullbore) in Australia was restricted to the 144gr FMJ 7.62NATO projectile made by ADI for machine gun ammuntion, bullet reducing evolved along with tighter bores. Effectively there wasn't a large amount of control going into the shank diameter for machine gun fodder. These projectiles were the basic FMJ with the open base lead core design. Accuracy was significantly improved by passing the bullets through a a basic sizing die, similar to a Lee. Pressure and velocity were then increased and better maintained over the length of the barrel by choking the bore and almost swaging the projectile again down the bore.

This is partly why there are now restrictions on bore diameters for TR in Australia at least, if not also for the ICFRA competitions also. They were getting down to 0.3065" bores at one stage and velocities were significantly higher than should be achievable under 'safe' pressures. No mention of loose cores at that point! The majority of TR shooters in Australia also came from a factory ammunition (controlled supply) background and weren't particularly well versed in handloading once it was authorised, certainly not compared to other shooters that grew up handloading.

Everything changed though after the first series of 155gr Sierras were authorised and the Dyer HBC's followed.