I swear!!! My Lyman Manual is.......

[Pirate69]

on backorder.

I am trying to determine if 7.0 grains on Bullseye behind a 160 grain bullet (303 British) requires a GC. Any help would be appreciated.

[Maven]

P69, I use 7 grs. Hodgdon's Clays, whose burning rate is similar to that of B'eye, with a 140 gr. Lee tumble lubed, plain based CB in my .30-06 and get no leading at all. Those CB's are cast from WW's + 1% Sn and are not sized or water dropped [to harden them].

[jlchucker]

What's up with Lyman these days anyhow? Undersized molds, floppy receiver sights, books late out of publication, and a bunch of other stuff that gets posted on this and other websites on occasion. Are they trying to commit corporate suicide? They seem to be going down the 1964 path that Winchester took to their ultimate oblivion. Too bad. I like the Lyman molds that I have--but I bought them quite a few years ago. I use their Cast Bullet Handbook a lot--but it's way out of date. I've had a couple of their newer aluminum receiver sights and they are designed with play in them (or so I was told by one of their phone-answerers). I hope they wake up before competition drives them out of a business that they once were dominant in.

[redneckdan]

Lyman casted boolit manual lists 10.0gr of red dot under a 151gr 311466 @ 1430 FPS This was their minimum.

I found no data for bullseye, even under the 7.62x51 section. I would start at about 8.0gr and work down if you have leading.

[c3d4b2]

books late out of publication

I am seeing late deliveries both at work and pleasure. I think companies have let people go and are trying to get by with the remaining staff. Equipment pieces I use to get with a 2 week delivery are promised in 6 weeks and delivered in 8 or 9. Part of the problem the companies are having is their suppliers are delivering to them late also. I am guessing this will continue until companies feel comfortable raising their staffing and inventory levels.

[Larry Gibson]

Bullseye is my powder of choice for PB'd cast bullets CF rifles including the .303. I use it in .30/.31s with bullet weights from the Lee TL314-90-SWC up through the Lyman 314299 (usually cast of pure lead with a GC for quiet whisper loads in the 500 fps range). With your 160 gr bullets cast them fairly soft andwhile 7 gr would be ok try 5.5 -6.5 in 1/2 gr increments, I found best accuracy to be most often in that range. I've found best "HV" accuracy with such to usually be right around 1150 fps. If you drop down to 4.5 gr and work up some really nice loads can be found in the 800-900 fps range.

With the TL314-90-SWC I use 3.2 gr Bullseye for 800-900 fps and excellent accuracy.

Larry Gibson

[Pirate69]

Thanks everyone

[lead slead]

Quick note. I spotted a NEW lyman cast bullet handbook. It should be out by now. I found it on the flyer for midsouthshooters supply. I use american select for my low low loads in my 30-06. Nice and quiet

[Bret4207]

I think the GC question will depend entirely on your particular rifle and what it will accept.

[AlaskaMike]

Quick note. I spotted a NEW lyman cast bullet handbook. It should be out by now.

Admittedly, I haven't seen that flyer but I'm going to guess it'll be the same old book in a new cover with a couple of new articles so Lyman can refer to it as "updated." I'd be astounded if it didn't contain the same references to long-discontinued powders and moulds, as well as the Hercules brand name.

I think Lyman sees a shrinking market in the cast bullet world unfortunately.

Mike

[NHlever]

Cancel your back order. Lyman is about to introduce a new cast boolit manual. I guess some supply houses already list them, but I don't think any have shipped yet.

[Rocky Raab]

At SHOT, they told me that the new (#4) manual would start shipping in Spring. I haven't received an advance review copy yet, so I have to assume that they aren't quite ready. They usually get a copy to me pronto, and I specifically asked for one of the cast manuals.

I'll email my guy there and ask. Stand by, folks ...

[Suo Gan]

Wasn't it unveiled at the shot show? All of the online vendors list the 4th, but it is back ordered.

[Rocky Raab]

The book they showed at SHOT was actually the Third Edition, with a fake cover attached (Yes, I asked.) Here's the reply to my email - delivered within minutes of my query, BTW:

"HI Rocky-
Yes, we are working on the 4th Edition of the Cast Bullet Handbook and we are hoping to have it available by the end of the summer. We are still finishing up collecting the data, but as soon as that's done, it will be off to print. "

They'll send me a press release when that is imminent, I am promised.

[Suo Gan]

Someone better tell Midsouth, they have it listed as overdue for delivery.

[Pirate69]

As a matter of fact, mine is on backorder at Midsouth.

[Dollar Bill]

I just ordered one yesterday. Listed date to be in stock 6/15/2010.

[Pirate69]

Nice call on the 4.5 grain and above Bullseye loads. I loaded some 4.5 grain, 5.0 grain and 5.5 grain loads for my 2-groove Savage 303 No. 4 Mark 1 and shot them at 56 yards. The 4.5 grain and 5.0 grain loads both gave 1 5/8" center to center groups and the 5.5 grain Bullseye load gave a 2" group. This is exactly what I was looking for in a short range load that ANYBODY would feel comfortable shooting. The Savage bore is 0.315" and the 160 grain Lee mold is Beagled to 0.3165" with one strip of aluminum tape. Boolits are fired as cast; no sizing. Tumbled lubed with LLA and a homemade aluminum GC stuck on the back. I am finding the GCs in front of my bench so I know they are not making the trip with the boolits downrange.








I tried the 5.5 grain loads at 100 yards. This is not a robust load. While the windage is good; the SD on the velocity must be pretty big, looking at the vertical spread. I think I am going to need a more uniform burning load for 100 yards.






This in a great improvement over my last loads where I had keyholes and a hard time staying on the paper after seven rounds. Think the 0.313" boolit was the problem.