35 rem and cast boolits questions...

[Dave Bulla]

Okie dokie....

I gotta ask, what is the optimal boolit diameter for a cast boolit in a 35 remington? Rifle is a Marlin 336 with microgroove rifling. I slugged the bore and came up with .355. I've got some Lyman 200 grain RN's with a decent a flat meplat on the front that measure about .361. I've loaded some using my Lee Loader and it actually sizes them down more to .360 as measured with my calipers.

I've only tested one load to date. That was 10 gr Unique and I got rather poor results at about 3 inches at 50 yards. Of course, I couldn't hardly expect the first load I tried to shoot great could I? I'll be making a few more trips to the range and playing with this one some more. I just want to make sure my nominal bullet diameter is not going to be an issue. My buddy makes the boolits and will size to any diameter I want. Of course, if I need a diameter more than .360, I'll have to invest in a standard die set for my rockchucker to avoid sizing them while pushing through my Lee Loader.

Thanks.

[legi0n]

rule of thumb, 2 thousands over the groove diameter is ok. 3 thous even better :mrgreen:

.360 in a .355 barrel is fine. Try different powders (like in slower) for your loads.

[BorderBrewer]

Here's a couple of good articles on the subject written by Glen Fryxell.


http://www.lasc.us/FryxellMarlin-MicroGroove.htm

http://www.lasc.us/Fryxell35RemingtonLevergun.htm

[Dave Bulla]

Thanks guys, I bookmarked the articles. Only scanned over them for now but look like some good reading.

[Moonie]

.355 is a tad small, are you measuring this with a caliper or micrometer?

[Nobade]

.355 is about right for the bore diameter of a 35 caliber microgroove barrel. They don't measure the same as a normal barrel, i.e. .350x.358. They are usually about .355x.359 - .360.

The .360 bullets should work OK. See if you can size the case just enough to hand seat the bullets and see how they do. If you use a powder that allows a full load see how they shoot with unsized cases. (Careful not to dump powder into the action)

Bullet shape matters a lot with the Marlin 35s. I have never seen very good accuracy out of one using that Lyman bullet. The nose is too small and allows the bullet to tip in the bore. Usually the RCBS 200 or the Ranch Dog 190 will be your best choice in those rifles. Size both to .360 and as you said, use a RCBS die set to allow seating the bullets without damage. I also find the Lee collet neck sizer is a big help since it doesn't size the cases too tightly.

In my own rifle I use the Ranch Dog 190 without the gas check, cast from water dropped wheelweights, over a case full of Trailboss for cowboy silhouette to 200M with good results. 200M groups are about 3 inches. For factory duplicate loads I use 3031 and gascheck the bullet. Accuracy is about the same but much more powerful. For hunting I use either of the two bullets, cast from 20:1 lead/tin and paper patched over a case full of 748. Even more power and tremendously effective.

[Dave Bulla]

That was measured with a Mitutoyo 12" digital caliper, recently calibrated. Measures to .0001. I think the actual # I got was .3552 if I recall correctly.

I went to the website and I believe the mold is the Lyman 358075. This is the place I got them from. You can scroll down and see the 200 gr 35cal pic. By the way, this guy has some pretty rare molds available to make boolits with. But don't bother asking if he'll sell any of his molds, he won't. We talked about that and he's had some ridiculous offers by a couple of guys. You know the "name your price" type of guys who collect and don't care about price... He said if he sold all the molds the guys wanted to buy from he'd have to change the name to "NOT that hard to find".

http://www.damnhardtofind.com/pdf/WHATWECAST1104.pdf

As for the nose allowing the bullet to tip in the bore, I don't know anything about that. I just remeasured one laying here and right in front of the crimp groove it measures .353 so I believe it would make contact with the lands wouldn't it? About an eighth of an inch farther forward I got .351 or .350 so the taper is showing up already. Never really measured any others that way to see how they compare.