Lyman 314299 mold

[nagantnirvana]

I'm new to the forum and I'm sure this has been asked before so please bear with me.

I shoot a lot of military rifles, mostly with surplus ammo, and would like to get into casting my own bullets for reduced power loads.

My question is, would the Lyman 314299 cover my needs for several calibers, say from .309 7.5 Swiss to .314 .303 and 7.62x54r?

Can this bullet even be sized down to .309?

All advice will be helpful.

[grouch]

It could.
Grouch

[geargnasher]

Only your guns will know for sure. You can size it to 311" no problem in one step. The question is if the mould you get will cast large enough to work in the .303 and big Russian.

Gear

[Shooter]

I use mine casting WW for:
.308
.30-06
.303
7.62X54
without downsizing.
I don't shoot hot loads, but see no pressure issues.

[milprileb]

I use mine casting WW for:
.308
.30-06
.303
7.62X54
without downsizing.
I don't shoot hot loads, but see no pressure issues.

That translates to some bullets are right size to a bore, some over size , some undersized and some way over size . A one shoe fits all feet approach.

I have doubts about that approach as it is 180 off what I see as fact. Could you please tell us how far you shoot (50,100, 300 ? yds) and what kind of accuracy you get? Do you gas check ? What diameter are the bullets dropping off your mold? For instance,it 314 dia, are you indeed shooting them in .308 bores? .

[leadman]

I use that boolit in many 30 and 31 caliber rifles. The only rifle you may have an issue with is the 7.5 Swiss as the bore is usually pretty tight on these. The nose may have to be sized down a couple thousands to fit in the rifling.
I had to lap my mold out to get it to drop .314" boolits.
If you want to size down to .309" I recommend sizing and lubing it to a larger size first then to .309" so the lube grooves don't disappear on it.
Many rifles that have a .308" bore will take a boolit sized to .310" as the chamber is large enough to accept the larger boolit. Measure a fired case and it will give you an idea of the size of the neck in the chamber.

[runfiverun]

there is absolutely no way i could even think about chambering my 314299 in most of my 30 cal rifles.
and if i could get it in there, there is no way i could get it back out other than firing it.
the 304 sized nose is just too much.

[milprileb]

Many rifles that have a .308" bore will take a boolit sized to .310" as the chamber is large enough to accept the larger boolit. Measure a fired case and it will give you an idea of the size of the neck in the chamber.

Pardon me, but is not the common thought that a 309 is the largest cast bullet to shoot down a .308 bore. Or are there exceptions to this Axiom.

[Lance Boyle]

Many rifles that have a .308" bore will take a boolit sized to .310" as the chamber is large enough to accept the larger boolit. Measure a fired case and it will give you an idea of the size of the neck in the chamber.

Pardon me, but is not the common thought that a 309 is the largest cast bullet to shoot down a .308 bore. Or are there exceptions to this Axiom.

My mentor finds he more often than not has better luck with .002" over but says i might find .001 better depending on the rifle.

[Catshooter]

Lance,

"The common thought". That phrase is key. The people on this board have destroyed many commonly held conceptions about casting and shooting lead bullets.

The .001 over bore size is not an axiom. "What works" is a better one by far. Many here have found that a boolit as big as will chamber regardless of bore size works very well.

My brother shoots a rifle load that is .020 (yes, twenty thousanths) over bore size and it works very well. I've been a member here for some five years and have learned far more about casting that in the previous 35 years.

Welcome to the site. :)


Cat

[geargnasher]

+1 Catshooter.

If you own a NEF or Microgroove Marlin you might be thinking more like .003" minimum over groove for a good place to start, and go up from there to fit the chamber neck. I have one rifle and one load that only works best at actual, nominal, .308". It needs hard boolits and has an ohmygod tight chamber neck, fortunately.

Gear

[longbow]

Well, it looks like most of the bases are covered already.

I will second Gearnasher's comment about casting large enough for .303. I had one borrowed 314299 that cast at 0.311" and I bought one that cast at 0.312" ~ just a touch small for my 0.314" groove diameter and out of spec for the mould as far as I am concerned. I have since bought an NOE 316299 that drops boolits at 0.3155" which is perfect.

I am thinking that it is a large range of groove diameters you are trying to satisfy with one mould too. You will likely be better off getting a 311299 and a 315299 or 316299 then size to suit the gun.

Having said that, I have had some good results with boolits of 0.003"+ over groove size ~ depending on the throat. You won't know for sure until you try. If it will chamber it should be okay to shoot with a light to moderate charge. If pressure signs show up then stop there.

YMMV

Longbow

[Frank46]

I bought that mold when they first came out. Shoots very well sized to 313.5 in my model 27 Finnish moisin. Liked it so well bought a second a few weeks later just in case I screwed the first one up. However have heard reports here that later issues of this mold cast undersize. Mine is .304 on the nose and .314 on the body.

The reason I ended up with the .3135 number is that the .313 lube die was poorly drilled or finished. Had to ream it with a .313 reamer to get rid of all the rings in it and then polished with some silicon carbide paper to clean it up. By coincidence the bore of my moisin measures .311. Barrel was almost in mint condition when I got it. Thought I ought to try and explain why the .3135 and how it got that way. Frank

[JeffinNZ]

If you can chamber lead.....shoot it.