Need an expert opinion on a 30/30 load/ boolit

[Mike the Dane]

Enough with the lurking - time for my first post :)

I am the happy owner of a winchester 94 and a H&R 157 (mannlicher Stock) both chambered for 30/30. Ammo selection here in "gunphobic" Denmark is scarce - to say the least - and I need a reduced plinking load for the farm.

I'll try to break down what I have in mind, and would really appreciate your expert opinions.

Brass: Virgin winchester
Primer: large rifle cci 200
Powder: 8 grs. Trailboss
Bullet: .309 Lee 150 grs. WITHOUT gascheck (should be 1200 fps so i'm guessing i dont need the gc?)
Alloy: 80/20 pure lead/linotype - aircooled (?)
Lube: 50/50 beeswax/vaseline (pan lube)

My main concerns are
1. "omitting the Gc"
2. Pan lube Getting in the gc shank
3. Alloy too soft - should i waterquench?

I'm also struggeling a bit with leading in my 9mm M&P 9 which i use for IPSC competition, but thats another post I Think :)

P.S: wheel weights are nigh on impossible to find here...

What is your verdict - Will This reduced load work for informal plinking - without leading?

Greetings from Denmark,

Mike

[Baja_Traveler]

I think that would be a great load, and very close to what I use for short range chickens in the silhouette matches. Don't worry about the gas check, the boolit is going slow enough to not need it, though you would be better off using a plain base boolit.
My boolit of choice is the Lyman 115gr 311008. It's actually intended for a 32-20, but it makes a great 30-30 light load - sized appropriately. I use close to the same alloy also, but I always water quench. I do think you are hard enough though, and the lead will harden the longer it sits around, my only concern is maybe gas cutting because of the stepped base, which may cause some leading you wouldnt otherwise see. Guess you'll have to try it and find out.

[Mike the Dane]

Thanks baja man,

Sounds like I might be on track Then - i'll waterquench for sure Then. Should I put special attention on removing the lube from the gas shank, or i that "no biggie"?

Best regards

Mike

[TCFAN]

Mike
As Baja Traveler said the Lyman 311008 makes a great plinking boolit in the 30-30.If you can get one that would be my suggestion.
As for the load you listed above my concern would be the gas check boolit with out the GC. A lot of guys shoot boolits with the GC off and have good luck doing so. I never have had any luck doing that.
I don't think you will have to water drop using a 1200fps load. I have shot pure lead in my 30-30 that fast with out any leading.

Welcome to the best cast boolit site on the net. Let us know how it goes with your 30-30 load.......Terry

[Mike the Dane]

Hi Terry,

Trouble lies in Getting "exotic" moulds in my neck of the Woods, I only have access to primarilly Lee moulds - so i already purchased the 150 grs Lee mould :(

Would be delighted if pure lead would do, i managed to find 50 lbs linotype (rare find here), but would prefer to save it for hotter loads :) i'll give both options a spin :)

Any idea what BHN 20/80 alloy Will give when waterquenched - i'm guessing 18 but as a newb i really appreciate your "validation".

Thanks for your input, much appreciated,
Mike

[Junior1942]

I suspect pure lead would work fine with that bullet @ 1200 fps. I've shot many gascheck bullets sans gaschecks and never had a problem with leading. However, they were WW alloy.

[Mike the Dane]

Thanks All,

What a great forum! Off to the foundry I go :)

Mike

[Catshooter]

Remember you can use the linotype to harden up some of the pure lead you have. Lino is pretty hard for a .30-30 load.

That boolit without gas check should work just fine. Pan lubing it will give you lube in the check area, I'd just wipe it off.

Your English is pretty good by the way, and welcome to the sight too.


Cat

[Mike the Dane]

Hi cat,

Thanks - been reading guns digest since 84 - still remember most of them by heart :)

Sadly my house was struck by lightning 5 years ago, so lost a lot of gun books to a fire on the 1st floor - well, that was All just dead stuff - so not whinning, although I do miss some of Elmer Keith's and Massad Ayobs Articles :))

Take care,

Mike

[NickSS]

Welcome to this board and if you can find either solder (lead tin or straight tin you can use that the harden pure lead slightly say 30-1 or 20-1 and that would also give you a good plinking bullet for 1200 fps and save your linotype for pistol loads or hotter 30-30 loads.

[quilbilly]

My experience with Trail Boss is that the velocity you will get when the case is 95% full (not quite touching the projectile) will be about 60% of a factory jacketed load of the same size. With the 30-30, that muzzle velocity should be just under 1300 fps so no gas check should be necessary if your boolit is the right size for the bore. Water quenching is merely insurance but you may not even need that after you have done some tests.

[BCB]

Mike the Dane...

I shoot the Lee C309-150F using 8.0 grains of Trail Boss and the CCI-200 primer...

I do use it with a gas check and it is cast from wheel wights. BHN is between 8.0 and 9.0 as could be expected...

I would think your alloy would be acceptable, but I don't know about leading with out the gas check...

I am shooting it from a T/C which has a 14" barrel. I am getting 1142 fps so you will easily get 1200 fps from you Model 94...

As far as lube goes, I use Caranuba Red. I think Lee Liquid Alox might be an option for you as you can use it and shoot the boolits "as cast". And it worked very well for me before I began sizing and using stick lubes...

That is about all I can add--others will continue...

Good-luck...BCB

[GaryN]

I think I would forget the water quenching. It only works when your alloy has arsenic in it. There is arsenic in wheel weights. Linotype does not have any. You only need .01% for it to work. There must also be antimony present. Linotype does have a good helping of antimony in it. I think your alloy should shoot good just how it is. You might have to tweak your bullet lube a little but it sounds like you got a handle on it.

[Mike the Dane]

Hi Gary,

I think there must be some source of arsenic in my bucket of assorted linotype, here's why:

I cast 5 lbs of Lee's 124 grs tumble lube truncated cone boolit (6 cavity mould) the other day for IPSC minor tournament, loaded over 4.6 grs. N340. This is the normal pet load in my gunclub where they use the excellent 124 grs. H&N copper coated bullit (although I should have probably reduced the charge a bit for my cast boolits, didn't chrono it, but should be in the 1150-1200 fps range). I casted from 80/20 lead/lino and subsequently waterquenched, then lubed with liquid alox. Accuracy was good in my S&W M&P 9L, 1.50-2" at 28 yds for a five shot group (3 in one ragged hole on several occasions) - but big problems with leading after just 15 shots. Bullets where so hard I could only make a scratch using a screwdriver, a finger nail did not suffice/make an impression on the bullet :-)

Boolit base was nice and sharp, i'm not holding back on the liquid alox. Gun is slugged at .356" bullet is .357" as cast (so being +.001" should be ideal?).

I therefore reasoned that my 80/20 alloy when waterquenched is actually too hard for proper obturation to take place? I must admit that the barrel have had many thousands FMJ loads through it, and that my barrel cleaning before testing the home made cast boolits was "basic", i.e. just a few strokes with a broze brush and some breakfree (looked mirror clean though).

So my next experiment for the 9mm load will be reducing the charge to 4.2 grs. of N340 and just air cooling the boolits in 80/20 allow - hoping to see 10 BNP hardness this way?

I will go to the hardware shop and get myself some solder material to sweeten the pot with some tin (for the 30/30 load), to preserve the Lino for better purposes :-)

Thanks for all the good advice, will get back with results on the 30/30 load, though it will be a while, still short on some reloading gear coming in the UPS next week, then it's of to the range :-)

Have a good one,

Mike

[Bret4207]

Welcome Mike. Some advice for you regarding your obsession with "hardness". "Hardness" is a tool, no more, no less. You won't fix leading with harder alloy or obturation unless you start at the beginning- boolit fit. Rock hard boolits lead like crazy with warm to hot loads when they aren't the right size for the gun. Usually people are shooting boolits that are smaller than the barrel wants. I'm also a fan of starting with a boolit that fits in the first place rather than depending on obturation mashing the boolit into shape. Seems the wrong way to go about it to me.

I'd clean my barrels, look into fitting my boolits to my guns and go from there.

[blackthorn]

If your bullet is 0.001 over the slugged size of the groove and you got leading in fifteen shots, I would check the bore for copper fouling. Just use a nylon bore brush or a mop to wet the bore with amonia, let it sit for a short time and then run a clean patch through. If the patch comes out blue, you have copper in there and copper can be very abrasive on your lead bullet.

[Echo]

Greetings, Mike, and welcome to the forum. My only additional comment is that your alloy will be very low on tin content, that may be causing problems with mould fill-out. Scaring up some lead-free solder and sweetening the pot with an additional 1% tin or thereabouts would probably help that effort.

[Mike the Dane]

Hi Bret,

I think maybe I didn't explain myself well enough, could be a language thing :)

If you see my prior post, i did in fact slug the barrel at .356" and cast at .357", so fit should be good @ +.001"?

I also think that my load was too hot w. 4.6 grs of N340, and that my boolits are too hard when waterquenched, so we agree :) not obssesed with hardness, but a bit confused why my boolits are SO hard, when waterquenched (as that shouldn't have much effect, when there is no arsenic present?)

Thanks for posting folks - i'm picking up loads of tips - great!

Mike

[W.R.Buchanan]

Mike: have you tried to place an order with Midway or directly to Lyman or RCBS. I don't know for sure if they would ship internationally but I just bet one of them would.

Also another good source is MP Moulds,,, and he is in Slovenia. He makes some of the best moulds I have ever seen. I know he would ship to you.

Also try looking for bullet moulds on Ebay. There are literally hundreds on there every week . Some people will ship out of the US and others are not even in the US so that is a source you might try too.

Good luck.

Randy

[Mike the Dane]

Hi Randy,

That slovenian option Sounds very promissing! Getting gunparts into Denmark is a pain - I know a mould is not a gunpart - but the country I live in don't agree with me :(

Had a hell of a time Getting a Apex action improvement kit from Brownells, and ended up Getting fried by customs :( ended up paying 220$ for a couple of springs and a sear. Getting stuff from slovenia would be easier - worth a shot for sure, for the next purchase.

...but right now it's All about Casting what i Got, Getting some boolits under my belt so to say :) I do need to get that 9mm load up and running soon - paying 17$ for 50 FMJ magtechs aint fun, practice is 100 rounds Per week (would love to do more) and tournaments 300 rounds Per match, bollocks!

Mike

[KYCaster]

Hi Mike, and welcome.

Your 80 Pb/20 Lino mix should work very well for your 1200 fps load.

50 Pb/ 50 Lino is 92-6-2, Teracorp Magnum alloy, about 18BHN and probably 22+ when water quenched. 80/20 is just slightly harder than WW which will water quench to 22BHN, so your alloy should be good without quenching. I use 75/25 AC in several rifles at 2000+ fps and HT only when I really want to push the velocity.

Sounds like you're on the right track.

Good luck.
Jerry

[Mike the Dane]

Jerry,

Just what I was hoping for - thx! :)

Mike

[cbrick]

I think I would forget the water quenching. It only works when your alloy has arsenic in it.

Just a correction. Lead alloy's do not heat treat (oven or quenching from the mold) because they have arsenic in them. A Pb/Sb alloy will HT, it is the antimony that allows a Pb alloy to HT. Arsenic (As) will perform much like like a catalyst in a Pb/Sb/As alloy enhancing the amount of strengthening HT gives a Pb/Sb alloy.

In a shorter sentence . . . Arsenic is not required to HT, antimony is.

As for the OP, worry far more about making the bullet fit the firearm than about the hardness of the alloy. The alloy your using should work very well without making them any harder.

I shoot air cooled WW (which is about the same BHN or a touch softer than your alloy) to 2000 fps in all of my rifles with zero leading but the bullets properly fit the firearms they are intended to shoot in.

Rick

[LVRFAN]

Mike,

1. FORGET the water quenching- not neccessary.
2. Use the 311008 OR the 311316 (better) and size to 0.311.
3. Trailboss is ok- but we use 7.0 gr. of UNIQUE for the 008 and 8.0 gr. for the 316 (it has a gascheck and gives us right at 1500 fps).

Mike

[Bret4207]

Hi Bret,

I think maybe I didn't explain myself well enough, could be a language thing :)

If you see my prior post, i did in fact slug the barrel at .356" and cast at .357", so fit should be good @ +.001"?

I also think that my load was too hot w. 4.6 grs of N340, and that my boolits are too hard when waterquenched, so we agree :) not obssesed with hardness, but a bit confused why my boolits are SO hard, when waterquenched (as that shouldn't have much effect, when there is no arsenic present?)

Thanks for posting folks - i'm picking up loads of tips - great!

Mike


No MIke, +.001 might not be enough at all. There are many of us here finding happiness shooting +.002/3 or even +.004 or more. Size to your throat if you can, fill it and watch your boolit and case alignment, give it a gentle shove out the barrel and things go much better.

I'm not familiar with N340 but if your load seemed hot, it probably is. I have to think that with your 80/20 mix you ARE getting some HT from the quench. It's very simple to not quench some and see what happens. Also remember lead alloys take 2-3 weeks to stabilize and reach their more or less final Bhn, so using fresh castings and aged castings will give you slightly different results.

I mean no offense when I say "obsessed" with hardness, but you mentioned it repeatedly in your early posts and I thought you might have fallen prey to the advertising hype about "harder is better", I know I did for a while!
e

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

Enough with the lurking - time for my first post :)

I am the happy owner of a winchester 94 and a H&R 157 (mannlicher Stock) both chambered for 30/30. Ammo selection here in "gunphobic" Denmark is scarce - to say the least - and I need a reduced plinking load for the farm.

I'll try to break down what I have in mind, and would really appreciate your expert opinions.

Brass: Virgin winchester
Primer: large rifle cci 200
Powder: 8 grs. Trailboss
Bullet: .309 Lee 150 grs. WITHOUT gascheck (should be 1200 fps so i'm guessing i dont need the gc?)
Alloy: 80/20 pure lead/linotype - aircooled (?)
Lube: 50/50 beeswax/vaseline (pan lube)

My main concerns are
1. "omitting the Gc"
2. Pan lube Getting in the gc shank
3. Alloy too soft - should i waterquench?

I'm also struggeling a bit with leading in my 9mm M&P 9 which i use for IPSC competition, but thats another post I Think :)

P.S: wheel weights are nigh on impossible to find here...

What is your verdict - Will This reduced load work for informal plinking - without leading?

Greetings from Denmark,

Mike

NO PROBLEM I a complete novice have found a working very accurate plinking load that does not need a gas check

my most accurate no check load with very little recoil is a pleasure to shoot

i have been casting wheel weights with tin but there isn't much special about
that

my lee c309-170f drops them at .310 i have pan lubed with my own pete's poor man lube grease , candle wax , atf , and marvel mystery oil , over 15 gr h4895 for a great but some what dirty plinking load that at 25 yards makes 1 hole about the size you could stick your thumb thru from my iron sighted marlin 336 and 10 rounds no fliers

i have yet to test pete's poor man lube any faster i had stuff come up and havn't ,made the range in a week

as for pan lubing i have pushed them out of the cake forwards and backwards and the base were the check would go holds no lube but the groves are full

i drilled thru a piece of brass and made a cutter from a fired piece of brass that cuts the boolits out then the check area stays full of lube but the lube is solid enough at 90 degrees a hot day here that it wasn't a problem


i have also lubed them with my finger and NRA 50/50 bees wax alox

i have tested 2 coats of lee liquid alox with the grooves filled by finger application of lee nra 50/50 with 7gr of grits filler and 25 gr of h4895 this should be 17-1800 fps with no leading

accuracy falls off as i started pushing them faster , not positive if it is me getting beat up or the boolits not liking the harder push but no leading

15 gr has 170 gr of lead moving 13-1400 fps while i wouldn't take it hunting for deer because there are better loads i am sure it would kill one at 25 yards and would surely take any stray dog in the pig pen at the same distance

[MikeS]

Just wanted to add, that linotype DOES have arsenic in it! That's probably why your boolits got so hard when you water dropped them. As for tin, with your load for the 30-30 you could use just some added tin, and leave the linotype for other things. I also have a 30-30 which I load with 8gr of Trail Boss without any problems, but I'm using a heavier 173gr boolit.

[cbrick]

Just wanted to add, that linotype DOES have arsenic in it!

Would appreciate the source of this info, I've never heard or read that anywhere before.

Rick

[grouch]

A couple of things, Mike - the gas checks may be very worth while just because accuracy is often easier to get. Have the exporter label them "copper fittings".
For velocity anywhere near what you're trying for, a soft alloy like 20:1 lead and tin will often do better than wheelweights or other hard alloy.
If you don't like lubricant exposed to your powder charge, you can always hand lube - just seat the unlubed bullet down to the first driving band, smear any decent automotive grease in the lube grooves, seat the bullet to your finished depth and wipe clean with a rag or paper towel. Be careful of spontaneous combustion with the wiping rag.
Good luck
Grouch

[W.R.Buchanan]

For gas checks you could also PM Pat Marlin here at the site and buy some of his gas check making tools, and make your own. Better than paying thru the **** for gas checks or risking the dreaded,,,,''INTERDICTION" :groner:

Randy

[dualsport]

Small world! I shoot those same guns (94 & 157) with light cb loads, great accuracy both. And my grandmother is from Denmark. I don't use gcs on the low velocity stuff, works fine. Have fun.

[Mike the Dane]

Small world indeed - I am just doing some "heritage study" for another member of this forum, turns out his grand mother who emmigrated from Denmark to Utah in 1860 actually lived within a mile or two from my farm (which is a fairly small place to begin with) - not sure of the exact spot yet, but go figure, enough to make my head spin :veryconfu

Still waiting for the permit to clear on the Harrington and Richardson model 157, saw it a couple of weeks ago standing in a dusty corner with my local "gunpusher", he had no idea what is was, so had a bargain at 170$ - it is in very good condition, bluing close to factory fresh, barrel shiny and with very good rifling/lands, no play in the pivot hinge (if thats what it's called?). One thing wondered me, hope you can maybe shed some light on this issue: The forend (mannlicher style) is fitted directly onto the barrel, using the swivel, doesn't this compromise accuracy? I will try to do some accuracy testing with the gun "as is" and then maybe try to do some improvised pillar bedding using a thin cork shim or EVA-rubber shim, between the swivel /forend assembly - did you do anything similar to this with your 157?

This rifle will be fitted with a discrete period (1982) steel scope 2-7x32 Bisley De luxe (a jap product, from before they became expensive) - surprisingly good optics and found it in a bargain bin for 50$, second hand but in good working order.

The winchester 94 is 1971 "antique" model, nothing fancy, but a cheap honest gun, I like it. It shoots 3.5" at 110 yds. with a No. 5 peep sight using cheap PRVI partizan 170 grs., hoping the H&R + optics will be a bit tighter.

The good news is that I found some .30 hornady gaschecks, so I forked up the green, and will no longer bother trying to make do without them. Better still, I was able to find a supplier for the 113 grs. soupcan, which is will use now - seems the ideal boolit for plinking in a 30/30 :-)

Have a nice weekend, I know I will, reloading gear in the mail tomorrow :-)

Mike

[Mike the Dane]

@ grouch - sneaky approach, never thought of that - thanks for the idea. Will std. axle grease work I wonder? Cheap and plentiful would be a nice change, as opposed to "special teflon moly rocket science million dollar lube" [smilie=s:

[dualsport]

My H&R 157 is also in near new condition. I admit to not shooting it much lately. It shoots just about anything into an easy 2" at 100 yds, whether it's cbs , factory ammo, or jacketed handloads. I'm a poor record keeper, but have some old targets with info on them, probably 10-12 yrs. old. I've used .30 pistol bullets, like for a single shot such as a TC Encore with good accuracy too. Pointed bullets are not an issue. The full length forend is held on by the sling swivel screw, a bit different than typical H&Rs or New Englands. The screw is further forward on the barrel than on any other H&R I've seen. Never messed with it, was happy with the accuracy as is, but maybe bedding or shims might do something good. There's a ton of info on these type guns on Greybeard forum, all H&R nuts go there. Bought some used barrels there myself, nice bunch of fellas. Always happy to help. Someone will want to steal your gun, you got a great price. The 157s are scarce. My son carried it the first time he went deer hunting, long ago. No buck, but plenty good memories. I wouldn't let him carry it with a round in the chamber, he was 12 and prone to falling down. Mine has an old El Paso Weaver K4 on it, just looks right.

[stana]

Mike

If your 9mm load is shooting onto less than 2" at 28 yds, I would think that there is nothing wrong with that load. Some barrels lead easly, usually several hundred rounds of jacked will smooth them out, but you have already done that. How many rounds can you shoot before you loose accuracy? If you can shoot through the match I'd live with it.

I had a PPC revolver that was accurate, but leaded badly, I had a Lewis lead remover and would pull lead between stages (if you can get away with handling the gun). I shot my best scores with that revolver, but hated it.

All so you can shoot several rounds of jacked before your round count reaches the point where you loose accuracy. That may sound like it runs against conventional wisdom, but it works.

Good luck Stan

[Mike the Dane]

Thanks Stan,

duly noted :) shot a level II match today, 10 stages, but not my finest hour - missed a popper and a std. Target (failure to engage) - to busy trying to shoot on the move :)

Best regards,

Mikkel

[adrians]

i grew up in england and i love blackadder (all the years ) i also love casting boolits ,we have something in common'
baldrick wants a turnip:evil:[smilie=1::twisted:

[Mike the Dane]

Yeah, good fun! Hugh Laurie as the less than bright officer was also brilliant :)

[grouch]

Yes, standard axle grease will work, often better than some of the commercial stuff. as always, some better than others, but for low velocity plinking loads it will all work.
If you decide to push it, some of the molybdenum greases may do a bit better. Something else to experiment with after you've refined your loads a bit.
Grouch

[MikeS]

Would appreciate the source of this info, I've never heard or read that anywhere before.

Rick

This is from page 9 of a older booklet from the US Gov Printing Office:


Arsenic which is usually present in type metals in amounts from 0.01 to 0.15 is sometimes mentioned as an impurity but seems to cause no harmful effects in these quantities. Some authorities claim that it is an objectionable impurity in type metals at the operating temperature of the Monotype caster because of its pitting action on the steel pump mechanism. No difficulties of this nature have been encountered at the Government Printing Office.

I have this booklet as a PDF file if you're interested, it has some interesting stuff in it. I can't remember where I got it from, but I'm pretty sure it's from one of the boolit casting sites.

[10x]

I have shot the 150 grain lee bullet cast in linotype, wheel weight, and unknown lead for over 30 years.
I have found that Unique works well in 30-30 loads with this bullet.
I have also found that gas checks do help accuracy as they ensure the base is consistent on every bullet.

It is unlikely that U.S. reloading suppliers will export any components outside of the U.S. I know for a fact (I live in Canada) that brass, powder, primers, and some other components need a U.S. export license.
That being said try some Canadian suppliers for gas checks, molds, and bullets.

http://ca.wholesalesports.com/storefront/index.ep

http://www.cabelas.ca/

http://www.frontierfirearms.ca/

Wheel weights are becoming scarce in Canada as well.
Look for salvage lead flashing from roofers, from fishing weights (lead weights on bottom of nets) , from plumbers - some old sewer pipes and flashings are lead. Salvage lead sheathing from old telecom cable, and from renovations in hospital and clinic X-ray rooms.
Even lead sheilded containers from some radio active container boxs works well ( usually the lead does not take on radioactivity).

Check your local metal salvage yards as well. They may well have a stock pile of lead.

Do not use lead from storage batteries - especially the zero maintance batteries - the fumes from cleaning the lead can make you very sick.

[Mike the Dane]

Salû monsieur Canadiene,

I have plenty of flashing, pure lead is easy to come by here, WW and lino are "the hard to gets"

:)

Salutations Sincere

Mike

[10x]

Salû monsieur Canadiene,

I have plenty of flashing, pure lead is easy to come by here, WW and lino are "the hard to gets"

:)

Salutations Sincere

Mike

With my family having lived in Alberta (Western Canada - some 5000 km from Quebec) since before 1900 and do not speak french (or ever having heard French spoken until I was 18) I do not particularly appreciate your attempt to be friendly with a reply en Francais. I do understand the spirit intended however.... you did touch a nerve.

Getting lead of any sort is an issue here. The nearest major centre is Edmonton - some 500 km away and a ten hour round trip. The nearest refinery with lead is at Trail (British Columbia) a 1250 km one way trip over the back roads - 1500 if you want to drive on pavement.
The area I live in is about the size of the united Kingdom and has about 150,000 people residing here. That limits the number of wheel weights found in tire shops. Lead is being phased out for wheel weights as well. Linotype has not been used by printers here for years and that source has been long gone. I salvage lead from whatever source I can get and with competition from other shooters it is in very short supply. Bottom line - lead is scarce here and is expensive (mostly shipping) from commercial sources.

[Mike the Dane]

Sorry,

No pun intended, I was under the impression that All Canadians spoke french. Any American history we had in High School was focussed on north america, never Canada - my bad (i find the french people very likeable and have travelled there a lot).

...but yes, lead is Getting harder to come by, flashing is the only reliable source here, i have to pay for rare finds of lino :(

Kind regards

Mike

[10x]

Sorry,

No pun intended, I was under the impression that All Canadians spoke french. Any American history we had in High School was focussed on north america, never Canada - my bad (i find the french people very likeable and have travelled there a lot).

...but yes, lead is Getting harder to come by, flashing is the only reliable source here, i have to pay for rare finds of lino :(

Kind regards

Mike

Past incarnations of the Canadian Federal government were under the impression that all Canadians spoke French as well. There have been a number of Royal Canadian Mounted Police Officers posted to our community that did not speak English (French is very rarely spoken here - there are very few francophones). The misunderstanding has been spread by a federal government that panders to a local minority. That seems to be ending with the current Canadian government.

Good luck with your quest for lead and a suitable alloy.

[Mike the Dane]

Good luck to you to - albeit it Sounds like you have even more difficulties "scavaging" with those demographics / vast area!

Regards

Mike

[Mike the Dane]

Some news, got the 150 grs. mold yesterday and cast some boolits from 80/19/1 pure lead / Lino / Tin. Gaschecked and pan lubed in 50/50 beeswax and vaseline with a tbsb of superlube added (PTFE - teflon lube).

Reloading gear arriving today (finally!), so will be test shooting tonight with a bit of luck.

I made a test target with 1" squares in adobe illustrator and made a pdf of it, maybe some you guys could use it? I used triangles as targets, as I find these easy to align on with bead/peep sight I use on the winchester 94.

Best regards

Mikkel

[cbrick]

cast some boolits from 80/19/1 pure lead / Lino / Tin. Best regards Mikkel

Really? Curious, how come this alloy?

Have you used this alloy before? What is the intended target?

Rick

[dualsport]

I got inspired to bust out my old H&R 157. It wears a 4X Weaver. Yesterday it was producing 5 shot groups at 100 yds. of 1" with the Saeco #315 and 25 gr. of AA2230. Better than my previous efforts with this gun. Maybe it doesn't like to be babied. This is a load from the Accurate Arms 5th edition manual for lead loads in a Marlin 336/20" giving 1650 fps. I don't recall the alloy, probably ww/tin. I set the gas checks with the Lyman gc seater on a 450 lube/sizer. I think they were Gator checks from this forum. Lube was LLA mix and no sizing. After about 30 shots the bore was still clean enough and no leading was apparent. I also shot a similar load but with a stout charge of IMR 4350, it was nearly as accurate but recoiled a lot for a 30-30. Maybe a good hunting load. I intend to use the 2230 load in a silhouette match coming up. EDIT The Saeco #315 I used in this single shot rifle may not be ok for use in a tubular magazine. The H&R 30-30s are known for shooting cbs well, this was a pleasant surprise as I have much pricier .30 cal rifles that haven't made the 1 moa mark yet. The Saeco #315 has been working out good so far in a variety of guns. It's a popular match boolit in CBA matches.

[Mike the Dane]

Hi Rick,

Alloy due to lack of WW here, pure lead to soft, tin really helped filling the Mold (in my 1 week Casting experience :))

@ dualsport - wow - 1" at 100 was better than I thought the 157 was capable of, now i long for the permit to clear even more :)

Thanks for sharing,

Mikkel

[cbrick]

The reason I asked is that your alloy at 19% antimony is extremely brittle. In fact extreme may not be a strong enough word. You are up to the percentage of Sb that by simply chambering a round its possible to break a bullet in two. I highly recommend not using this alloy for hunting.

Since you don't have WW can you get any straight lead to cut that alloy with? Other than being extremely brittle it sure seems like a waste of a high Sb alloy. About 4% Sb is good, 6% max and any added tin at no more than the Sb percentage.

Rick

[Mike the Dane]

Hi Rick,

It's 19% linotype, not 19% antimony :) Lyman's cast boolit manual says an equivalent to lyman #2 alloy Can be made from 50/50 pure lead/linotype, so i'm relatively low on linotype as is. No brittleness, shoots fine (only tried 5 tonight, Then the Sun set), Will test more tomorrow,

Regards

Mikkel

[Mike the Dane]

:-P Success