MikeSSS
12-14-2006, 02:31 AM
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I went to shoot today. The target was shot offhand at 42 yards (probably 44 yds).
FMJ was Aguila 110 gr FMJ. Like at 100 yds, it was disappointing.
Cast bullets were from a Lee .309" 120 gr Round Nose mold, water quenched, gas checked, sized to .309", lubed with Lee Liquid Alox and loaded in Aguila cases with 9.0 gr of Alliant 2400. The cases were sized with a Lee Full Length die backed off two turns. The cases were belled with a Lee Universal Case Expanding Die, just a bit. The Lee seater seated them and did a tiny crimp onto the last driving band.
The cast bullets did a lot better. They were hell on the 2 ltr Pepsi bottles at 42 yards and 12 ga Shotgun Hulls at 20 yards. Most of the 12 ga hulls died with 'chest shots'. Ditto for the Pepsi bottles.
The best four, offhand at 42 yards, are getting into M1 Garand territory and are worrying the 03 A3! That's significant because the big rifles weigh more, are longer, have longer sight radius and have better trigger pulls.
One more thing, the Cast Bullet loads and the FMJ's shoot the same elevation setting in the Carbine. The Garand and 03A3 need a lot of elevation for the cast bullets because they rotate a lot less before the cast bullets leave the barrel compared to FMJ.
9.0 gr of 2400 leaves the cases in the chamber or ejects them or half ejects them so they get dinged at the mouth. When they eject the bolt does not go back far enough to pick up a new round. I could back off the charge so the cases don't eject but they get thrown on the ground anyway when I cycle the bolt, so I might increase the charge until the little rifle cycles. Accuracy will be the deciding factor.
The Lee two hole mold casts nice boolits but the Hornady gas checks snap on easy sometimes, other times they have to be pounded on. The two holer speeds up the casting but putting on the gas checks is the real time user. Feel free to jump in with suggestions here!
Aguila brass is 0.351.5" at the base, WW brass is more like .354.0" at the base. The Aguila brass is bulging out to .357.0" ahead of the webb. I don't like that much because repeated resizing will shorten the brass life. Aguila ammo is $10.50/50 at the gunshow, WW or Rem brass probably costs more than this, so I guess I shouldn't complain, but I still do. (Note the new math, it has two decimals per number. For some reason this makes sense to me because I think in thousandths.)
I cast another 93 tonight ( a trick with a two hole mold) and got 91 keepers. Pretty good, huh?
Well, that's my story and I'm stick'in to it.
I went to shoot today. The target was shot offhand at 42 yards (probably 44 yds).
FMJ was Aguila 110 gr FMJ. Like at 100 yds, it was disappointing.
Cast bullets were from a Lee .309" 120 gr Round Nose mold, water quenched, gas checked, sized to .309", lubed with Lee Liquid Alox and loaded in Aguila cases with 9.0 gr of Alliant 2400. The cases were sized with a Lee Full Length die backed off two turns. The cases were belled with a Lee Universal Case Expanding Die, just a bit. The Lee seater seated them and did a tiny crimp onto the last driving band.
The cast bullets did a lot better. They were hell on the 2 ltr Pepsi bottles at 42 yards and 12 ga Shotgun Hulls at 20 yards. Most of the 12 ga hulls died with 'chest shots'. Ditto for the Pepsi bottles.
The best four, offhand at 42 yards, are getting into M1 Garand territory and are worrying the 03 A3! That's significant because the big rifles weigh more, are longer, have longer sight radius and have better trigger pulls.
One more thing, the Cast Bullet loads and the FMJ's shoot the same elevation setting in the Carbine. The Garand and 03A3 need a lot of elevation for the cast bullets because they rotate a lot less before the cast bullets leave the barrel compared to FMJ.
9.0 gr of 2400 leaves the cases in the chamber or ejects them or half ejects them so they get dinged at the mouth. When they eject the bolt does not go back far enough to pick up a new round. I could back off the charge so the cases don't eject but they get thrown on the ground anyway when I cycle the bolt, so I might increase the charge until the little rifle cycles. Accuracy will be the deciding factor.
The Lee two hole mold casts nice boolits but the Hornady gas checks snap on easy sometimes, other times they have to be pounded on. The two holer speeds up the casting but putting on the gas checks is the real time user. Feel free to jump in with suggestions here!
Aguila brass is 0.351.5" at the base, WW brass is more like .354.0" at the base. The Aguila brass is bulging out to .357.0" ahead of the webb. I don't like that much because repeated resizing will shorten the brass life. Aguila ammo is $10.50/50 at the gunshow, WW or Rem brass probably costs more than this, so I guess I shouldn't complain, but I still do. (Note the new math, it has two decimals per number. For some reason this makes sense to me because I think in thousandths.)
I cast another 93 tonight ( a trick with a two hole mold) and got 91 keepers. Pretty good, huh?
Well, that's my story and I'm stick'in to it.