Ok, nothings perfect but I am picking up a Remington Model 81 this weekend...at least I hope to. For those of you that may not be familiar with how a Model 81 works:
It's a Browning design, long recoil action, like on the Auto-5 shotgun. Not gas operated at all. The barrel recoils the entire length of the cartridge. It's a ballet of mechanical motion. I've played with trying to get autoloaders to shoot with cast bullets and had all the issues. Since most autoloaders are gas operated, I've always had problems with the gas port clogging with lead debris. I'm hoping that I can find the happy medium of getting a heavy enough bullet at a low enough velocity, to operate the action, not get excessive leading and still get decent accuracy. Usually in an auto-loader you can only get two out of three.
It's in 300 Savage and I have a NOE 180 I shoot in my Siamese Mauser chambered in .303 British, that I think I can size down to work. Failing that, I'll buy some .308 lead bullets that I can test before I go down the path of investing in a mold.