DeadHandRed
03-25-2012, 12:40 AM
Hi all, im attempting my first cast boolits. have run in to a couple of issues.
When seating the boolits im getting some shaving. Also its hard to chamber a round, then on extracting the unfired round, the boolit gets pulled out.
heres my info
Bore:
Ive slugged both my mosins (91/30, M44) which come out at:
91/30: Lands @ .3016, Grooves @ .3118
M44: Lands @ .3024, Grooves @ .3142
Boolits:
Im using a 314299 mold which is dropping them .31495 around then bands. (and .3039 around the body)
I have a Lee setup and am using the .314 sizer, which is sizing the boolit (bands) to .3142. I have the .311 sizer but discounted using as its smaller (.3112) than both mosins grooves.
Case Neck:
My cases are full length sized (lee pacesetter set, swapped out the expander ball to .314 version)
Case neck measures .3032 (even though im unsing the 314 exp ball. didnt measure results when using the provided 308 exp ball)
i noticed little collet marks around the edge of the case mouth too.
So...
Shaving
after shaving the first boolit on seating i looked at how i installed the expander ball. the top of the expander ball was flush with the collet bolt as per instructions, so i set the expnder ball further down the die thinking maybe the closer the flare was to the case mouth the better the belling would be, didnt make any difference though so reset to flush.
pic of seated boolit
http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/4964/37071284.jpg
rubbed of the shaving for better look (excuse blurry photo)
http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/9931/88273849.jpg
So theres a little shaving, which im not happy about but im guessing that some would say its not the end of the world. i still think im not using the expander ball correctly.
Chambering
note: no primer or powder, just seated boolit.
After rubbing the shave off, i chambered the seated round (in the M44) and had to push quite hard on the bolt. Thinking about it now, I moved the bolt quite slowly and dont think the extractor grabbed the rim early on so i had to push harder than usual to jump it ver the rim probably, but thats not an uncommon thing for my mosin, and i remember what it feels like. wasnt really the same feeling. Then when i opened the bolt again i had to give it a bit extra and the boolit stuck in the barrel. easy to tap out.
i cant remember what the OAL was exactly but it was about 2 mm under the Max (77.14 mm) so about 75 mm
pic of the boolit after tapping it out
http://img861.imageshack.us/img861/6140/82443502.jpg
can see the scrape/rub where it was stuck on the front band, not really a dent/compression though.
im still reading about the throat of the rifle and learning whats going on (im a complete beginner about this stuff) and im guessing i need to shorten the OAL by some amount. but thought better to post results here and hopefully someone can point me in the right direction.
Cheers, red
When seating the boolits im getting some shaving. Also its hard to chamber a round, then on extracting the unfired round, the boolit gets pulled out.
heres my info
Bore:
Ive slugged both my mosins (91/30, M44) which come out at:
91/30: Lands @ .3016, Grooves @ .3118
M44: Lands @ .3024, Grooves @ .3142
Boolits:
Im using a 314299 mold which is dropping them .31495 around then bands. (and .3039 around the body)
I have a Lee setup and am using the .314 sizer, which is sizing the boolit (bands) to .3142. I have the .311 sizer but discounted using as its smaller (.3112) than both mosins grooves.
Case Neck:
My cases are full length sized (lee pacesetter set, swapped out the expander ball to .314 version)
Case neck measures .3032 (even though im unsing the 314 exp ball. didnt measure results when using the provided 308 exp ball)
i noticed little collet marks around the edge of the case mouth too.
So...
Shaving
after shaving the first boolit on seating i looked at how i installed the expander ball. the top of the expander ball was flush with the collet bolt as per instructions, so i set the expnder ball further down the die thinking maybe the closer the flare was to the case mouth the better the belling would be, didnt make any difference though so reset to flush.
pic of seated boolit
http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/4964/37071284.jpg
rubbed of the shaving for better look (excuse blurry photo)
http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/9931/88273849.jpg
So theres a little shaving, which im not happy about but im guessing that some would say its not the end of the world. i still think im not using the expander ball correctly.
Chambering
note: no primer or powder, just seated boolit.
After rubbing the shave off, i chambered the seated round (in the M44) and had to push quite hard on the bolt. Thinking about it now, I moved the bolt quite slowly and dont think the extractor grabbed the rim early on so i had to push harder than usual to jump it ver the rim probably, but thats not an uncommon thing for my mosin, and i remember what it feels like. wasnt really the same feeling. Then when i opened the bolt again i had to give it a bit extra and the boolit stuck in the barrel. easy to tap out.
i cant remember what the OAL was exactly but it was about 2 mm under the Max (77.14 mm) so about 75 mm
pic of the boolit after tapping it out
http://img861.imageshack.us/img861/6140/82443502.jpg
can see the scrape/rub where it was stuck on the front band, not really a dent/compression though.
im still reading about the throat of the rifle and learning whats going on (im a complete beginner about this stuff) and im guessing i need to shorten the OAL by some amount. but thought better to post results here and hopefully someone can point me in the right direction.
Cheers, red