Need some advice please

[bob v]

Greetings, I just joined the forum the other day and have been busy reading all I can about this new to me part of shooting. The info on this site is to say the least overwelming but great. I'm going to start casting for three mil-surp rifles of mine.Two Mosin-Nagants and a Jap T-99. For right now I'll stick to the MN's. All three barrels slug to .313" so the mil-surp Russian ammo doesn't shoot worth a **** in them. I currently am shooting Hornady .312"jacketed in 150gr. and 174gr. with great results especially the 150. So, here's my first question that I haven't been able to track down. Maybe someone can help. I'm limited on funds so I'll be useing Lee moulds and sizers to start. How much larger should the cast bullet be than the bore size? In other words,what size mould and sizer am I looking for? I'll probably be pan lubeing for now. Any suggestions? Need to get my toe in the water here and get hands on to learn a little more . Thanks.....bob v

[303Guy]

Well, the first thing to remember is the fit in the throat. What powder do you intend using? You may find that a heavier boolit will work better because it has a longer bearing surface for alignment in the bore, beginning in the throat. The boolit can size itself in the bore. The nose section of the boolit must ride the lands firmly, preferably with a little engraving. But it also needs to be able to enter the bore on chambering. Slugging the throat area would be a good place to start.

[Mk42gunner]

Welcome aboard Bob,

I can sertainly understand being limited on funds, it seems like that is the story of my life now.

For your mold, I would go with the 312-185, the one Lee markets for the .303 British. The one that I have drops wheelweight boolits at .3125-.313" which would be a little small for your rifles. the solution is to "beagle" the mold by using small pieces of aluminum duct tape to hold the mold slighty open for a larger diameter boolit, (do a search on this). Then get a Lee sizer, I think they make one in .314", but if not, get the closest size under that and lap it out.

For that matter, Lee molds aren't all that hard to lap out either.

There is a lot of information on this site, don't get in a hurry; read it, use the search function, and ask questions.

Robert

[Phat Man Mike]

welcome to the group! and I cast and shoot a M-44 and for the G/F 91/30.

[MtGun44]

General rule of thumb is .002 or .003 over groove diam, but you need to be sure that
the chamber neck is large enough to release a boolit of that diameter. A good way to do
this is to measure the ID of the neck of a fired case.

Bill

[303Guy]

... but you need to be sure that the chamber neck is large enough to release a boolit of that diameter.Well you know, this might be true - in fact, it is true - but this would apply to jacketed or brass or copper projectiles. Lead is malleable and in my case paper patched boolits have some give in them. So I make my boolits seat firmly into unsized necks. Sometimes I can feel the resistance of the case neck chambering. Being a cast boolit, I don't load to max SAAMI pressures anyway but even so, there seems to be little if any increase in pressure by doing so. In fact, I have evidence (not proof) of the boolit base shank expanding to fill the gap between case mouth and throat start. To be sure, the shank portion within the neck has expanded to exert a pressure against the contained neck wall.

I'm not saying anyone else should do as I do, just mentioning it.

Here is that evidence.
http://i388.photobucket.com/albums/oo327/303Guy/MVC-521F-1.jpghttp://i388.photobucket.com/albums/oo327/303Guy/003.jpg

Two different rifles. Curious. These were low pressure fast powder loads.

[waksupi]

Great pics, 303~!

[res45]

bob v not sure how much this will help but I originally bought the Lee TL312-160-2R gas check mold to cast bullets to shoot in my SKS rifles. I had all intentions of shooting cast bullet in my Mosin M44 so I was especially excited to find out that the bore on my M44 was .312 the same as my SKS rifle and the Lee bullet was dropping very close to .314"

I picked the TL version of the Lee mold due to my economic situation as well and apply the gas check with the Lee .314 push through sizer,bullets are tumble lubed once with Alox/JPW lube gas check is applied and tumble lubed once more before loading.

As MtGun44 mentioned check the inside neck dia. on a once fired case of the brass you intend to load,mine measured just a little over .314" and my bullets chamber fine with the Prvi and Winchester/S & B brass I use.

I keep my cast loads for the M44 on the milder side of the J bullet loads around 1600 fps. there is really no felt recoil and accuracy is excellent,I like The Universal Load of 16.0 grs. of Alliant 2400 or The Load 13.0 grs. of Alliant Red Dot with the Lee gas check bullet and leading has never been an issue.

You will also need to add either a Lyman M die or what I use a Lee Universal expander die to flare the cast mouth of your rifle brass to make starting the cast bullet easier as well as not shaving lead off the sides of your cast lead bullet.

[1Shirt]

Like MtGun44 says. In all probability you will get the best results there!
1Shirt!:coffee: