The lee 312-185-2r

[Oklahoma Rebel]

How does it perform in the mosin nagant? How does it work for hunting and what alloy works best for that? I have a bunch of lyman #2. if anyone has any experience with it please let me know. thanks, Travis.

[aspangler]

It works pretty well in my 91/30. I used 19.5 gr 2400 under it with LLA for lube. I could get 2" groups with the open sites and old eyes with mine at 100yards. YMMV

[runfiverun]

instead of discussing molds.
it might be best to discuss shapes and diameters.

[Mk42gunner]

IF, big IF, it casts large enough, it should be okay for the 7.62x54R. I tend to use it for plinking in most .30-.31 caliber rifles. Mine drops ACWW a bit under .313".

I have never used it hunting.

Robert

[kungfustyle]

My Mosin Sluggs out at .315 and so does my Lee 312-185 mold. Didn't do anything to the mold other than cast a 3 to 1 coww to lino alloy. Gun and bullet shoot great. Same POA as PPU ammo. If you want to hunt with the mosin get some ppu 150g 7.62x54R and go to town. It runs about $15 a box and will down anything worth shooting at. After a few years you'll have a good supply of brass and then start working up some loads. By the way look at scout scoping the mosin by removing the rear sight. But that's me.

[Oklahoma Rebel]

mine slugged out at 312 so and I know boolits sized to 313 work good in it, although I haven't tried 314. I would get a lyman 314299 (did I get that right?) but its out of my price range, and actually if I did have that kind of money I would go looking at noe.ps runfive, not sure what you mean by that, please explain

[RU shooter]

mine slugged out at 312 so and I know boolits sized to 313 work good in it, although I haven't tried 314. I would get a lyman 314299 (did I get that right?) but its out of my price range, and actually if I did have that kind of money I would go looking at noe.ps runfive, not sure what you mean by that, please explain

I'll echo what MK42 said about size if it's big enough not just on the base bands but also on the nose/bore ride section for your barrel that bullet shoot very well , my mould had a nose of .302 and worked well in my Finn m39 Also works well in other various .30-.31 cal rifles if the fit is good it was my go to for many years in a Springfield 03A3 on reduced HP matches . As a hunting bullet a few swipes of a file across the the top of it will make a nice flat nose

[Oklahoma Rebel]

yeah, kungfu,I am looking into maybe doing a red dot sight, or a low fixed magnification, such as 2x on it, out here that's all you will really ever need. as far as hunting ammo, for a few bucks more than ppu, sellier&bellot make a 180gr softpoint, that's my go to. its a good deer killer, maybe i'll see a hog this year and test it on one of those too.

[runfiverun]

I'm talking about actual fitment not just what will get down the barrel mostly straight.

[rsrocket1]

My experience with the C312-185-1R. I don't have any with the 2R

My Mosin slugged at .314 so I beagled my Lee C312-185-2R to 0.316


I then expanded my Lee 0.314 push through sizer to 0.315" with a dowel wrapped with wet/dry sandpaper and oil.

To start with, I made plinker rounds with 10.1 to 11.1g Unique




These were more for chronographing than for groups. At 50 yards the groups opened up a little but with open sights, I could not even see the holes at 50 yards much less get the sights set perfectly


I then adjusted the sights to where the bullets landed and called it "good enough"


Tons of fun to shoot. I've pushed the Lee C309-170-F to 2400 fps in my 788 so I'm sure these will handle the velocity, but if I wanted to shoot that fast, I'd just use the spam can ammo. The ideal cast loads for this gun with me would be low recoil (~10g Unique with or without GC's) and medium recoil (~24g RL7 with GC's) loads.

[Kraschenbirn]

Whether or not the 312-185 from an 'out-of-the-box' Lee mold is going work in your Mosin will depend on several factors. As has been often mentioned, Mosin bores can vary all over the place...my (all-matching) 1938 Tula slugs .3125 while a shooting buddy's re-arsenaled 1942 goes just over .314 and, from what I've read here, .315 isn't all that unusual. My first Lee 312-185 dropped .313+ at the driving bands from straight COWW (until I lapped the cavities out to .315 for my Longbranch #4MK1) and my second cast .312 from the same alloy...neither really suitable for a Mosin.

Without knowing the groove diameter of your barrel and the 'as-cast' diameter of your boolits, it's really not possible to predict performance in your gun. In my personal experience, though, I've never been able to get that particular boolit...even correctly sized...to shoot well in my 91/30 or M44. Works just fine in my Longbranch and, also, in a 1909 Argentine carbine but no joy in either of my Mosins.

Bill

[GhostHawk]

Another happy user here, my pair of Mosin's both slugged .312, had terrible patterns, minute of 5 gallon bucket at 50 yards.

So I bought a new .312 185 and leemented the old one out to .314 and got a .314 sizer for crimping on gas checks. Groups tightened up nicely into 2.5 to 3 inches offhand. Not bad for my old eyes.

I have considered putting a scope/sight on them but decided to leave them be for the time being. I have other rifles with good scopes and others still with Red Dots. I like the classic old milsurps.

I would not be afraid to hunt with that bullet at even a reasonable speed of 16-1700fps.

That bullet over some 20 grains of IMR 4895 diveted the AR500 gong I had. Not through, but left a dandy impact crater.

That sucker has punch even if it is not moving fast.

[1911cherry]

I really like that boolit for my Mosins, I have a 91-59 ,Chinese 53 and a M44 that will all shoot it accurately. My 91-30 was a different story it would lead the barrel horribly, might have to open up the mold get a good fit so a Lee mold is the one to try. I too use a charge of 2400 to get it moving ,and it hits like a freight train downrange I want to use it on a deer this year.

[Boolseye]

I didn't know about beagling when I bought that mold or I'd still have it. Too small for my Mosins in anything but powderpuff loads.