BruceB
06-13-2005, 10:12 AM
The USPS recently delivered a 4-cavity .338 LBT of the above designation, which I'd bought from Anachronism. It's in fine shape, just as advertised, and I took it for a trial spin last night by turning out a hundred or so boolits in just a few minutes.
With straight WW alloy, it makes excellent, well-formed bullets with very little effort. On inspecting the four bullets from one filling of the mould after it reached operating temperature, meaning one bullet from each cavity, I found that the maximum weight spread is 0.6 grains on a 234-grain average weight, and the maximum dimensional variation on any of the four bands on each bullet is around one-half of a thousandth, or .0005" with the nominal diameter being right aound .3395".
The bullet looks a great deal like Lyman's 375296, if anyone wants to get an idea of its appearance. Check Castpics' Research & Data section for a peek at 375296. Maybe Lyman had a few good ideas decades before Veral came up with much the same designs??? This bullet looks like it should feed rather well, as the flat meplat isn't so pronounced as to impede feeding from a magazine. At 234 grains, with flat point and softish alloy, it might be a primo hunting bullet.
This is the first LBT mould I've used, and I have to say that I'm impressed with it. I hope it's as easy to find accurate loads for the design, as it is to cast good bullets.
I now have moulds on hand for four very different .338 designs, and two new-condition rifles for testing. It should be an interesting project, if I ever find time to get it off the ground.
With straight WW alloy, it makes excellent, well-formed bullets with very little effort. On inspecting the four bullets from one filling of the mould after it reached operating temperature, meaning one bullet from each cavity, I found that the maximum weight spread is 0.6 grains on a 234-grain average weight, and the maximum dimensional variation on any of the four bands on each bullet is around one-half of a thousandth, or .0005" with the nominal diameter being right aound .3395".
The bullet looks a great deal like Lyman's 375296, if anyone wants to get an idea of its appearance. Check Castpics' Research & Data section for a peek at 375296. Maybe Lyman had a few good ideas decades before Veral came up with much the same designs??? This bullet looks like it should feed rather well, as the flat meplat isn't so pronounced as to impede feeding from a magazine. At 234 grains, with flat point and softish alloy, it might be a primo hunting bullet.
This is the first LBT mould I've used, and I have to say that I'm impressed with it. I hope it's as easy to find accurate loads for the design, as it is to cast good bullets.
I now have moulds on hand for four very different .338 designs, and two new-condition rifles for testing. It should be an interesting project, if I ever find time to get it off the ground.