Most accurate 30 cal mold to buy?????

[Willyp]

I have all 308's and shot Lee molded bullets. I had to move,so i quit. I have the urge again and would like to get a bullet that would be accurate! I had one very good Lee 180 grain mold. I had done a little work on it and the bullets would group close to 1/2 inch at 100yds. After a while it wore out. I tried a couple more of them and they would not cast the same,no matter what i did to them????
So, I'm thinking Lyman or RCBS 30 cal. I won't be using it to hunt, just to target shoot.
What about the Lyman # 311644 or i am open to what ever mold i can afford?
My wife hates it when i get these urges!!!!!!
Thanks folks.
PS. I have a few older pistol bullet molds,i inherited,so if you see them here for sale i don't shoot hand guns,is the reason.

[Wayne Smith]

Several points. Several people have had problems with Lyman molds recently. If you can find an old one used fine. Otherwise I'd look at the group buys here or RCBS. Fit is more important than design, any of the older, proven designs should be accurate if they fit.

Show your wife the cost of new ammo. Reloading and casting is cheap in comparison.

[runnin lead]

Look in the group buys for 311299

http://www.castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=107545

The 308 Winchester has a short throat &many bullets have to be seated way too deep
because of the short throat .
The 311299 is great for a 308, I am also using it for 7.5 x 55.
The mold is a NOE , they are GREAT molds,is scheduled for production in October.
If you can wait for this group buy you will get a mold that is worth the wait that
will cast great bullets.
Try it using between 15 & 18 gr of Alliant 2400 & it WILL shoot,it won't be a screamer
velocity wise, around 1600 But it will shoot.
This mold may or may not work with a 7.5 X 55 .
The bullets out of my Lyman mold have the nose just a little undersize, NOE
holds tighter tolerances .

[Blammer]

I would recommend this one. :)

http://www.castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=119561

[Baja_Traveler]

+1 for 311299

It shoots fantastic out of my Garand.

[grouch]

Cast Bullet Engineering's 314190, with the grooves on the nose.
Grouch

[CWME]

Saeco #315

[adrians]

my 30's like 308291 (311291):evil::coffeecom:twisted:

[Ben]

Another vote for the SAECO # 315. One of my all time favorites.

Ben

[Char-Gar]

I have several .308s (4 in fact) and I selected the RCBS 165 Sil for use in that round. The base fits in the short case neck without sticking down in the boiler room. I seat this bullet with the gas check even with the bottom of the neck. This leave a little body to center in the throat and the nose will rifle the lands with light engraving. If your barrel is of normal specs, this bullet will give good results. It is not a hunting bullet.

[stubshaft]

SAECO #315, doesn't look like much but it has been very accurate in most of my 30's.

[Ben]

As to the looks of the # 315, Beauty is as beauty does..............

[Idaho Sharpshooter]

old Lyman 311284 or 311332 have shot very well, and consistently for me in a 308 HBR rifle that will group under the .250" mark at 100 yds for 5 shots.

Rich

[HARRYMPOPE]

old Lyman 311284 or 311332 have shot very well, and consistently for me in a 308 HBR rifle that will group under the .250" mark at 100 yds for 5 shots.

Rich

right

[lead Foot]

A 1/2" group for the 180gr LEE is very good ~ I never did anything like that.
I think the best is the Saeco #315 and the RCBS 308-165-sil. I have the RCBS but tried both and they are neck and neck for me.
Lead foot;

[CWME]

old Lyman 311284 or 311332
Rich

Don't miss the OLD part that he mentioned. I read about the accuracy of the 311284 and bought a new production model in my early casting days a few years ago. The nose mikes well below .300. I then proceded to buy what I thought were more aged models and they both mic out small as well. All three are not worth shooting and wasting the lead.

NOE has a version of this and I bet his mics out to the proper dimensions if you want to go the 311284 route.

[thehouseproduct]

Cast Bullet Engineering's 314190, with the grooves on the nose.
Grouch
Do you have any good photos of this one? Are the nose grooves supposed to be filled with lube?

[Ben]

If you're serious about an NOE 311284, you might want to look at this :

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=66878

[beagle]

I've owned and presently own most of the moulds mentioned. I keep falling back on a RCBS 30-180-SP that shoots well in my Number 1 Ruger 06 as well as a M700 .30/06 I previously owned.

I can say here and now, it will depend on the rifle and how well it likes the bullet. There is no magical .30 caliber that will shoot well in all of them.

You'll just have to test and see what shoots best in your particular application./beagle

[grouch]

Houseproduct I don't have any photos of 314190, but I can take one. I'm not clear on the manufacturer's intent re lubing the mini grooves in the nose. I hand lube the bullets with Canadian Tire moly grease, and when I wipe away the excess I use a greasy paper towel and don't really try to dry the nose. It's wiped, but not as dry as for hunting type ammo. Someone somewhere wrote that bullets with long ungrooved bearing surfaces were more prone to foul whether lubricated or not. I currently subscribe to that theory. Will attempt the photo, but may or may not be successful emailing it
Grouch

[wiljen]

I would suggest you try and con as many of the people who have responded to this thread as you can to send you a handful of the bullets they recommended and see how they perform in your particular gun.

Fact is - there is no single most accurate bullet. If there were, it would be the only one that sold. Each gun is a law unto itself and if you shoot .30s in more than one gun, you'll probably find out different bullets shoot the best out of each gun.

[Ben]

wiljen :

I could not have said it better !

Ben

[94Doug]

....and that's why we have so many darn moulds sitting on our benches.

Doug

[MT Chambers]

If you could find some of Eagan's molds in .30 cal. and try a few diff. designs, I'm sure you would find the most accurate .30 cal. mold, most CBA hotshots use them and I'm sure they hold most of the records there...

[Willyp]

As Doug says; Thats why we molds setting on the bench ! There should be alot of molds for sale,but there doesn't seem to be ?
Thank you all for you advice.

[BCall]

That's cause some of us are hoarders Bill.:lol:

[pdawg_shooter]

311414 IF you can find one.