Reloading 300blk help

[aquarist]

I am ready to reload 300blk!! Or at least I thought I was... So I've a dillon xl650 and I found a good deal on a second hand 223 conversion kit and picked up an AK powder funnel. I didn't think the whole process through and didn't buy the right funnel. I am trying to load cast projectiles for 300blk and need something to expand the case neck so the projectiles fit. Having called Dillon they suggested I buy the 30 Carbine powder funnel. Not wanting to waste another $15, plus $10 shipping I figured I'd check with the folks here and see if this is what I should buy or is there is something better.

I will be loading projectiles from an NOE 311-230-FN PB mold, into formed casings from 5.56 brass.

[dudel]

The 30 Carbine funnel should work just fine.

I use the Lee 300BO mold. It has a boattail, so the AK funnel works fine for me.

I've not gotten them to shoot as well out of my Handi rifle as the bulk Hornady 150gr FMJ.

Check the thickness of your brass at the case mouth. I've found that brass formed from 5.56 brass seems to be thicker than brass that started life as 300BO.

[jmorris]

There is an extensive list of "good/bad" brass here.

http://www.300blktalk.com/forum/view...?f=141&t=88599

[popper]

Depends on what your barrel slugs. Mic the AK funnel, if it won't work, the carbine one is probably the cheapest way to go. I neck turn all of my BO brass to make sure it fits.

[aquarist]

The barrel slugs out to about .3075-.308 so was planning on sizing down from .311 to .309.

I do have some of the Lee 309-230-5R projectiles. I just tested them out and they seem to work well with the AK funnel.





I think the NOE projectiles will need a different funnel that will expand the case mouth similar to the pistol funnels.

@dudel do you get good results with your Lee mold? Good quality projectiles castings and good accuracy when loaded? I can pretty much buy that mold for the cost of the funnel from Dillon since they tag on $10 shipping for a piece that should ship for $0.50.

[dudel]

@dudel do you get good results with your Lee mold? Good quality projectiles castings and good accuracy when loaded? I can pretty much buy that mold for the cost of the funnel from Dillon since they tag on $10 shipping for a piece that should ship for $0.50.

I get OK results out of the Lee boolit in my Handi (nothing worth posting); but out of the AR it patterns instead of groups. I (personally) find it a hard boolit to cast. I think it's related to size and length. It's a long puppy. I'm not going for any speed records so I'm just running Alox. Powder coat may help. I've not tried it on these because I figure I'll need some kind of stand to keep them vertical in the oven. I've not spent much time working up a boolit load.

On the other hand, the bulk Hornady 150gr FMJ BT shoot great. Inexpensive bullet, that shoots groups that get me all giggly. I try to shoot what the guns like. If I had not shot the Hornady's I would not have known the potential of the Handi. Might want to try a box. Midway often has them on sale.

[Pee Wee]

You might have to get a lyman M die for 300 blackout, for cast boolits it well expand the mouth, you can also use a Lee expander die.

[rda72927]

You might have to get a lyman M die for 300 blackout, for cast boolits it well expand the mouth, you can also use a Lee expander die.

I'm a big M-Die fan. I have one for everything I load a cast bullet for, but; the Lyman M-1 (also listed for 300 BLK) needed about .050 removed from the bottom of the die to work. May not be needed for others, but to run on my ProJector, had to trim it..

[steelworker]

I use the Lee universal case flaring die. I also use it in a Dillon 650.

[aquarist]

I ordered the Lee universal case flaring die, after considering the Lyman M Die. The Lee die won over the Lyman because it was universal, and I can use it to flare out pistol cases I already reload for and future calibers I choose to add. I am going to test it out for flaring 9mm casing as well.

I am trying to come up with a decent way of powder coating my projectiles for the 300blk, usually for pistol I just stand them on their base onto of a piece of non-stick foil and back them with no problem. Standing all the rifle projectiles up and balancing them seems to be an issue. So I have been looking over youtube on the jigs folks have made that resemble loading blocks, and they pierce the foil with the projectiles then bake them, leaving the bases uncoated. I guess this is a fine method if you are going to be using gas checks, but I was hoping to avoid using them if at all possible. So I watched some more videos and kept seeing this one person baking their projectiles just poured onto a wire rack, then dumping them into a bucket of water to help them separate (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgtQZtiVY_8). I cannot figure out what kind of wire rack they are using, everything I have tired the paint sticks to or envelops the wire and you actually have to cut the projectiles off, I've tried baking them laying down and standing up with the tip or the base in the hole in the wire mesh, but both methods still stick. Was hoping for some ideas of different methods or materials I could use. I am wanting to make this process quick and as painless as possible, but also don't want to be wasting a bunch of material and creating a lot of waste like single use non-stick foil or parchment. The non-stick foil works amazingly well for projectiles you can just stand on their base and bake, I can get upwards of 1,000 pistol rounds on a single sheet on tin foil, but I don't want to end up wasting a bunch each time I have to put another round in the oven.

[dudel]

I was facing the same problem when looking to PC the Lee Boolits designed for 300BO. I knew I wasn't going to get a tray of them standing on their boattails into the over with much success. I have the same issues you have with the non stick foil.

I'm considering (but have not tried) two ideas. I have a fairly large PC oven, which gives me some flexibility.

One is to use a cookie cooling rack. Not specifically this one http://www.surlatable.com/product/PR...ype={MatchType}; but one that has holes small enough (or wire that can be bent) to hold the Lee boolit nose down (but still off the bearing surface of the boolit). I don't think it will matter too much to have a non uniform PC nose (but I'll see). The rack will have to be supported so the nose if off of the oven surface, but that's not a big problem.

The second is to create a "bed of nails". I'm thinking I would put a piece of plywood into a cookie baking sheet, then drive nails upward trough the sheet and plywood. Nail gun could be very handy here! Might even be able to place the Boolits nose down in the nail bed, hook the ES ground clip to the tray and spray with the ES gun. Otherwise, do a BB shake and bake and put the coated boolits into the nail bed, again nose down.

Looking for the least expensive solution that works, so leaning towards the first. Unfortunately(!), SWMBO has decided to move her garden stuff from the third bay of the garage to an outdoor shed, so that I can set up my mill and lathe and other equipment there. That means I need to do some grading (for the shed) and run new circuits in my new garage section (for the equipment). Not much time to play with the PC oven.

[aquarist]

So ran a test on a couple projectiles where I sprayed the mesh screen I have with PAM cooking spray and that seems to work okay. The projectiles didn't stick, but they didn't coat 100% on the bottom either, and were slightly oily.

So I am going to try the preheat method, where I preheat my projectiles, coat while hot, then dump them on my lubed mesh and bake and see if that helps. If I can come up with an effective dump and bake method I won't mind having to do multiple coats.

I've tried the dump and bake method before without good results, had a ton of projectiles stick to each other, so going to try again and maybe do a water quench like in that YouTube video and see if that helps separate them.

Gonna have to break out the lead pot soon and smelt some projectiles. Almost out of rifle projectiles to test on.

[MT Chambers]

The Lee universal die does not affect case neck tension as does the Lyman M die or other dies, so if you want to play with case neck tension and if you're after accuracy you should have a way to alter case neck tension, like the Lyman, NOE, or better still bushing dies with interchangeable sized bushings, then you don't have to worry about accuracy robbing crimping dies!!

[aquarist]

The Lee universal die does not affect case neck tension as does the Lyman M die or other dies, so if you want to play with case neck tension and if you're after accuracy you should have a way to alter case neck tension, like the Lyman, NOE, or better still bushing dies with interchangeable sized bushings, then you don't have to worry about accuracy robbing crimping dies!!

Can you link me to the bushing dies you are referring to? The Lee die was fairly cheap so not a game breaker if it doesn't pan out, and I can always return it to amazon. I checked out some of the Lyman M dies briefly I'll have to go take a closer look. The crimp die I have now doesn't seem to do a good job so I may be looking for an alternative die set but not sure yet. I only have experience with loading pistol rounds with my Dillon dies which crimp and seat very nicely.

[aquarist]

There is an extensive list of "good/bad" brass here.

http://www.300blktalk.com/forum/view...?f=141&t=88599

Thanks for the great link! I've been measuring the thickness of my brass and making sure to exclude the pieces that are too thick.

Also

The universal expander I ordered should be here tomorrow so I can try again to load up some rounds. Hoping to get a couple testers loaded up so maybe I can go shoot some Saturday. Going to test out some NOE 311-247-FN with Ben's Liquid Lube as my lube size to .309 with my Lee push through sizer, cci primers small rifle primers, and I'll do maybe 10-15 rounds with H110, and 10-15 rounds with IMR 1680. I'm hoping to just develop a fun affordable plinking round that will function well in an AR style platform.

I am still kicking around mold ideas, I haven't yet bought a mold, so up to suggestions and feedback for quality molds. The Lee 309-230-5R seemed like an affordable alternative but doesn't seem like a lot of folks are getting good results with that mold. So I may be sticking with the NOE 3011-230-FN BLKOUT mold and just getting it in a GC style, because I am also running into the issue of how the heck to PC the rifle projectiles. Looks like I may be going with a GC style mold and just building a stand up rig like most folks have, then get an ESPC gun and try out that method. I have not done ESPC before but I'm sure there will be plenty of things I'll have to learn and plenty mistakes made. I did see a post made by @Baja_Traveler that was very informative, they took a perforated metal plate and cut matching holes in a silicon mat for their ESPC rig. I think this method willl save quit a bit on resources, mainly tin foil and time. I believe the metal plate would conduct the current well and allow for a thin uniform coat to be applied with minimal spraying.

[Drew P]

I discovered that the expander in my 32-20 cowboy set makes a great expander for the 300bo!

As for PC, I've had great luck with some silicone baking sheets that are formed into a surface of small pyramids. They shed the PC off after each use and the pyramids keep bullets from rolling around and also gives valleys to collect excess powders.

http://www.amazon.com/Silicone-Non-s...r_1_28&sr=8-28

[aquarist]

@Drew P Thats a really cool idea! Are you just tumble coating them or espc? Then standing them up in between the pyramids, or are you setting the projectiles in the pyramid shaped holes on the "underside" of the mat?

[aquarist]

Expander die is here. Gonna try and load some up.

[popper]

That is a flare die, not expander. You can get expander plugs from NOE but you need to know what your cast boolit diameter is, what the bore slugs and fits.

[aquarist]

Yup it's a flaring die, got my terminology mixed up. I was able to successfully seat some projectiles with out shaving the lead. Just gotta work out what COL will chamber well in my rifle, and function well in my magazines.



(Those are blanks that's why there is no lube and the casting isn't 100%)