Confused on mold buying!!!!!!!

[Willyp]

Last week,i ask"What would be the most accurate mold for my 308?" I good alot of very good advice,but now i am confused.
I know my 308 Win.cases have a short neck,as compared to the 06,and i don't want the gascheck going below the bottom of the neck,OK. I understand that i should order a group buy NOE mould,but i don't want to wait a long length of time to get it! Winter hits here pretty early!!!!I hear Lymans are not up to the machine work they once were,so i have second thoughts on their products?
Please de-confuse me ! Which mould or moulds,will cast a bullet to fit my case necks. What would be a good cast bullet weight to use? My guns have factory chambers and a 1 in 10 twist barrels.
I am thinking a 170 t0 180 grain? But which mold will cast a bullet that won't have it too deep or grease rings out of the case???
I have a couple of Lee's,a 160 and a 180,30 cal moulds. They work well,but i seem to ruin them when i use them. The sprue plate cut grooves in th top on them and messes the up? Also,its been a few years since i've used them,but i think that these are seating to deep or too shallow,in the 308 case?
Oh,why do i do this to myself!!!!!!

[frkelly74]

The good old 312-160 2R or the 312 155 2r have a short lube groove section ( relatively short anyway ) It was designed for the 7,62X39 you know. I just cast up a bunch yesterday for use in my Garand. I will size them at .311 and tumble lube them. I have sized some at .308 for my 30/30 Handi but have not gotten them loaded yet. Point being it is good for short necks and big enough to size down for all 30 cal 308 nominal bores.

As an aside, I got this mold type originally for a 303 brit and it was not nearly big enough for that application

[Calamity Jake]

For a hunting boolit, RCBS 30-150 FN, it has a short bore ride nose and should stay in the neck when seated in your 308 cases, but, that depends on how the throat is shaped in your rifles.
If you want heaver then 30-180 FN

For a fix of your lee molds read the stickies on leementing.

[cbrick]

I second the RCBS, either the 150 FN, the 180 FN for hunting or the 180 SP for target. My 308 loves any of these.

Rick

[sundog]

Some of the best hundred yard groups I've gotten with my heavy barrel .308/12-twist is with the RCBS 30-180-SP over 5744. This boolit is also a winner in as issued 03A3 for military bolt matches with 4227. Have I ever mentioned that I like RCBS moulds?

[stubshaft]

I used to shoot the RCBS 165 SIL out of my Wichita in 308. It is a bore rider with a short shank that was easily kept in the neck of the 308. I also had Veral at LBT make me a 180gr spitzer that shot very, very well.

[wiljen]

If you are going to buy a new mold now off a dealers shelf, the safest play is probably RCBS or SAECO as I have not heard of recent quality problems with either like we have with some of the Lyman. In fairness, there is probably a good chance of getting a perfectly serviceable Lyman as well but there have been some of late that were not up to snuff.

[NoZombies]

Will, I think you're right about the Lyman good mold probability, since people tend to complain when something is wrong, versus saying "Well, the mold that I ordered may not be a custom, or quite perfect, but gosh darn it, it drops bullets .002 over and is at least basically round"

Instead human nature tends to take over, and we express our experience when they are the statistical outliers in our minds. If I order a mold, and it's just what I order, I put it into service, and that is that. If I order a mold, and it's not right, well, then I tend to call the folks I ordered it from, and see what can be done to solve the problem.

The last 2 new Lyman molds I got were just fine, drop round bullets that are .002-.003 over the nominal diameter, and drop the bullets pretty freely from the block.

This isn't an endorsement in any way, but rather an agreement with the observation that you might still get a serviceable mold from Lyman. When I can though, I do prefer RCBS and Saeco molds, and I've never ever had an issue with one of them. The same cannot be said for Lyman.

[Wally]

I shoot the RCBS 180 SP in my Rem 700 .30-06..very accurate with 16.0 grains of Unique. This year I tried a Lee 150 RF and was pleasantly surprised how well it cast and how well that it the bullets shot. I use it most of the time now with 16.0 grains of Unique.

[largom]

It is not a bad thing if some of the lube grooves stick out of the case. It is not always necessary to fill all of the grooves with lube. All of the advice on molds you have been given is good but, your gun will determine what it likes best. Fortunately 30 cal. are not usually picky but some can be.

Larry

[montana_charlie]

Last week,i ask"What would be the most accurate mold for my 308?" I good alot of very good advice,but now i am confused.
You got a lot of advice, but the best response was this one ...
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showpost.php?p=1368040&postcount=21

CM

[onondaga]

Other guys mentioned it in a different way, but the flat nose boolits are a lot shorter than pointy ones of the same length and that goes a long way to solve your concern about seating depth putting gas checks too far into the brass.

Gary

[grouch]

I say again - cbe's 314190
Grouch

[Pavogrande]

I am rather fond of lyman 311291 GC myself -- lots of decent used moulds for sale out there.

[shotman]

for the 308 ranch dogs 165 Will work in any 30 cal and even does good in a garand
Oh you can sell the lube sizer and pay for the mold

[MikeS]

I've seen folks talking about not having GC's below the case neck, what can happen if the neck IS below the neck? I have a Mini-30, and the 7.62x39 has such a short neck I don't see how boolits can be seating without the GC being below the neck!

[Artful]

MikeS it can get gas between boolit and gas check and have the check loosen and come off wrecking accuracy.

[geargnasher]

I've seen folks talking about not having GC's below the case neck, what can happen if the neck IS below the neck? I have a Mini-30, and the 7.62x39 has such a short neck I don't see how boolits can be seating without the GC being below the neck!

I know you're not a Lee fan, but Lee makes a nice tumble-lube boolit for the baby Soviet that should be the ticket for short-throat .308s.

Gear

[runnin lead]

As far as winter hitting early there get some snowshoes .
Winter hits earlier here and stays longer spent a halloween weekend in the 90's hunting & camping -26f.
Order the 311299 for next year & for now get the RCBS 165 Silhouette & do what you can till winter, after that get out the snowshoes.
That will give you 2 good molds & you will never ever need or want a new .30 mold for the rest of your life.

Well part of the above is true.

[HARRYMPOPE]

I've seen folks talking about not having GC's below the case neck, what can happen if the neck IS below the neck? I have a Mini-30, and the 7.62x39 has such a short neck I don't see how boolits can be seating without the GC being below the neck!

If the GC is on tight and sized enough so it is roughly the same diameter as the bullet you can still have top accuracy.its when its bit loose ( say from sizing a .310 bullet in a .312 die for instance) that it may strip off due to the check being a bit wider than the bullet.Or the old ideal style that didn't crimp on.Most of the fear of this is from those old style non crimping checks that didn't stay on real tight.

George

[HARRYMPOPE]

the Lee 155 "Harris" tumble lube or standard is one of my favorites.i use Eds original NEI #72 but its the same thing.it's a sub MOA bullet in good rifles and can be sized to .310 with no problems in accuracy.I have shot over 1500 of them in my Saiga .308 this last few months and its hard to beat.

[HARRYMPOPE]

As far as winter hitting early there get some snowshoes .
Winter hits earlier here and stays longer spent a halloween weekend in the 90's hunting & camping -26f.
Order the 311299 for next year & for now get the RCBS 165 Silhouette & do what you can till winter, after that get out the snowshoes.
That will give you 2 good molds & you will never ever need or want a new .30 mold for the rest of your life.

Well part of the above is true.

my 165 Sils run too small for me.Both i have cast barely over .308/.300.They dont shoot as well as the larger 180 SP RCBS in most rifles.maybe my two are just the odd ones.

[cbrick]

my 165 Sils run too small for me. Both i have cast barely over .308/.300. They dont shoot as well as the larger 180 SP RCBS in most rifles. maybe my two are just the odd ones.

Must be a difference in molds, my RCBS 165 cast at .3102" with a nose diameter of .3015" and with WW @ 171 Gr.

Your right though, the RCBS 180 SP is pretty tough to beat for accuracy.

Rick

[onesonek]

"but i don't want to wait a long length of time to get it! "

Tom at Accurate Molds will fix you up!
I don't know what his schedule like at present, but I have yet to wait longer than 10 days. 3 out of 4 molds I have from him, were less time than that.

[MikeS]

I know you're not a Lee fan, but Lee makes a nice tumble-lube boolit for the baby Soviet that should be the ticket for short-throat .308s.

Gear

You must have me confused with somebody else, I have no problem with Lee products, and have quite a few of them. I just don't care too much for their 2 cavity moulds, but if they're the only way to get a particular boolit design, than that's what I'll do. Heck, for under $20.00 how far wrong can I go?

Actually I was also thinking that tumble lube would probably be the way to go when using a boolit that would otherwise have exposed lube grooves, rather than having a conventionally lubed boolit with the lube grooves exposed.

As for the Harris designed boolits, if they work out well for me, I could probably buy a mould from Accurate Molds that duplicates the Lee boolit so I could get it in a brass 4 cavity mould. Tom might already have such a boolit listed, I'll have to check his website.

I have about 20 rounds of 7.62x39 that I loaded with 31141's seated to the crimp groove over 20.5gr of H4895, other than possible feeding problems, what other problems might I have with these?

[wallenba]

I use the Lee C312-155-2r in my Savage 99, 300 Savage with exceptional results. It too suffers from a short neck.

[W.R.Buchanan]

My vote is for 311299, if you use 5744 and crimp in the crimp groove everything will be fine.

I also use Lee 308-190 which is a flatnosed GC, it works well in -06 & .308 also, and probably be better for hunting cuz of the flat nose..

Both of these boolits keep all of the lube grooves and gas check in the case neck when crimped in the top groove.

IF you are that concerned that you will get a bad mould from Lyman then have Accurate moulds make the same mould their way. That should be a winner and probably not cost much more than the Lyman.

Bullet on left of pic below is 311041 Lachmiller clone. It is for the .30-30 and seats too low in the shorter neck of a .308 case so the gas check is in the case. Middle is 311299 195 gr and right is .308-190 Lee.

My .02

Randy

[Papa Jack]

Last week,i ask"What would be the most accurate mold for my 308?" I good alot of very good advice,but now i am confused.
I know my 308 Win.cases have a short neck,as compared to the 06,and i don't want the gascheck going below the bottom of the neck,OK. I understand that i should order a group buy NOE mould,but i don't want to wait a long length of time to get it! Winter hits here pretty early!!!!I hear Lymans are not up to the machine work they once were,so i have second thoughts on their products?
Please de-confuse me ! Which mould or moulds,will cast a bullet to fit my case necks. What would be a good cast bullet weight to use? My guns have factory chambers and a 1 in 10 twist barrels.
I am thinking a 170 t0 180 grain? But which mold will cast a bullet that won't have it too deep or grease rings out of the case???
I have a couple of Lee's,a 160 and a 180,30 cal moulds. They work well,but i seem to ruin them when i use them. The sprue plate cut grooves in th top on them and messes the up? Also,its been a few years since i've used them,but i think that these are seating to deep or too shallow,in the 308 case?
Oh,why do i do this to myself!!!!!!

Willy if your having trouble with the Aluminum Lee molds and alloy buildup on the sprue plates....Clean up those sprue plates and dress the tops of the molds and get some BULL PLATE, use it and that won't happen no more... "PJ"