Removing the g/c on a 30 cal. Lee 200 gr. RN

[Ben]

I have 3 single cav. Lee .30 cal. 200 RN g/c molds.
One is in poorer condition ( the oldest ) than the other
two.

I decided with gas checks as high as they are ( and the price of g/c's is still climbing ), that I'd experiment with this particular mold a little bit. I figured if I ruined it, I wouldn't be loosing a lot.

I found a drill bit that measured .3120. I decided to drill out the gas check shank on the base of the bullet and make a plain based bullet with the mold.

It all worked out just great. I've already shot some at 50 yds. and they shot just fine.

I'm shooting them at 1,000 - 1,150 fps with real good success.

No gas check and 10 grs. of Unique and you've got yourself an accurate & cheap 30 - 06 Springfield plinking load. Easy on the ears, shoulder, and pocket book $ $ $.

I size them to .3105 dia. , the nose dia is running .302 ".
I size and lube them in my Lyman 45 Lube sizer ( with a
" floating " top punch. )

Then I give them a coat of Lee liquid alox and allow them to dry overnight. Works great for me.

I thought that you might like to see some photos below :

Thanks,
Ben

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/haysb/Plain%20Base%2030%20cal/PICT0001.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/haysb/Plain%20Base%2030%20cal/PICT0004.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/haysb/Plain%20Base%2030%20cal/PICT0006.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/haysb/Plain%20Base%2030%20cal/PICT0007.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/haysb/Plain%20Base%2030%20cal/PICT0008.jpg

[Dale53]

You might find that there is no need to use Lee liquid alox. The original sizing and lubing should be enough.

I have driven plain base lead bullets to 1500 fps with match accuracy.

Dale53

[Ben]

You're probably right !

Since this one is a bore rider at .3023 on the nose, I just thought that I'd like a little lube on that nose.

However, it might shoot just as clean and just as accurately without the LLA.

Thanks,

Ben

[quack1]

I just did the same thing to a 311291. I had two of them, one of which was kind of rough, so I figured I had little to lose. Anyway, I prefer plain base bullets, I always figured that if you are going to use gas checks, you might as well go the whole way and shoot jacketed. I roughed it out with a drill bit then used a reamer from the machine shop at work to finish the job. Cast a bunch of bullets this weekend, they gained 2 grains of weight and look good. Haven't shot any yet.

[Ben]

Let us know how they shoot.

Ben

[Buckshot]

.............Ben, looks like a real clean job opening up the base of the mould. Nice looking casting.

..............Buckshot

[Ben]

Rick:

I'm certainly not in your league. Your work you do is way over my head. I went slow on this one and took my time. It was a $10 bullet mold at best. I was surprised at how well it turned out. The Lee aluminum mold is an easy one to work with for something like this.

Best,

Ben

[454PB]

Good job!

Great photography as well.

[Newtire]

That's cool Ben!
Drill bits that drill a little larger are no problem as you are going to size it anyway..now I get it.

This weekend there will be a plainbase version of a Lee 120 gr. RN for my M-1 carbine. Thanks for the great idea and great pictures.
Newtire

[Paul B]

A friend of mine bought a mold for his 30-30. Turned out it was a Lyman 311284 two cavity. Anyway, he felt it was too heavy a boolit for his rifle so I got a care package in the mail. Whoever had that mold originally had done the same thing with one of the cavities.
It's been too damned hot out in my shed with the temps running above 100 degrees and my little A/C unit straining it's guts out trying to cool the place down so I haven't had a chance to try casting any boolits with it yet.
Interesting concept. I'll be trying that boolit in a Ruger #1 using a breech seating tool I made several years ago. Should be an interesting project.
Paul B.

[quack1]

I finally got around to shooting some of the bullets from the 311291 that I reamed out the gas check shank. Groundhog hunting, training a lab pup and some fishing ate up most of my free time in the last month.
I had previously shot these bullets with checks and without. With checks they grouped around 1 1/2" at 100, without checks around 1", both with no leading. I figured after reaming the mold, I should be able to use the same loads as I used when I left off the checks. They shot about the same but leaded lightly after 6 or 7 shots. I guess the increased bearing surface and decrease in lube (I just left the lube in the check shank when I shot them without checks) was enough to cause the leading. I cut the powder charges slightly, getting velocities around 1300-1400, and the leading stopped. Accuracy is still around 1" at 100 so I did no harm by reaming out the gas check shank on that mold. I did lose a little velocity, but now don't have to worry about powder contamination from the lube I left in the shank area. If I had the right size reamer, I wouldn't hesitate to do this to any mold.

[jtaylor1960]

Something you could keep in mind is using a fiber or poly wad behind that bullet in place of a gas check.Another option would be a grease cookie .Either might be a way to get higher velocity without leading should you wish to do so. Maybe for hunting you might need a little more power.Getting rid of the gas cheek might give you more flexibility rather than less.Plus you save the cost of the gas checks.Good Luck, Jeff Taylor.

[Paul B]

I finally decided to brave the heat and cast some boolits from that mold I was given. Both cavities filled out nicely with the as cast diameter right at .3105" from both cavities. That's when the problems started. When I ran them through the luber/sizer, (L/S)I ended up with bent bullets. I'd also "Beagled" three molds. two Lyman #311291s and an aluminum clone that I believe might be an NEI mold that's unmarked. Those bullets got bent as well when run through the L/S. No wonder I never got them to shoot well. The L/S is way out of line. When you lower the ram to size the boolits, the nose punch glances off the opening of the die at the 12 O'clock position. I have two other L/S tools and when I tried those, no problem with the nose punch not being centered.
I replaced the bad 450 tool with a brand new 4500 that I got a good deal on from Cabela's. Looking into the the rservoir that holds the lube, the thing is bored so off center that I'm surprised it passed any inspection. The cap that goes on top would not even go into the hole at the top. it took about 30 minutes of careful filing to make the darn thing fit properly.
I probably should have started a thread on this, but has anyone else seen crappy quality coming from Lyman lately?
Paul B.

[Ben]

You guys have it GOING NOW ! !

[Dale53]

Paul B;
I have long preferred the RCBS sizer over the Lyman as it is Line Bored for the die cavity and nose punch (got this info from LBT a LONG time ago)..

Using a Star press sizing nose first (which I have) or the Lee push through sizing die will solve
the problem completely. For my BPCR's I MUCH prefer pan lubing and using the Lee push through die. Understand, I use cake pans and size hundreds at a time. I use Emmert's Home Mix lube (slithtly modified by the reduction of Canola oil by 5% and the addition of 5% of Anhydrous Lanolin). This pan lubes very well and after the cake sets, just push the bullets through the lube cake with my thumb. You can run them through the Lee die in a VERY short time.

BPCR bullets are soft (20/1 lead/tin) and long and deform very easily. There is NO deformation with the Lee die. I do the same thing with smaller caliber rifle bullets that I need to size to absolutely eliminate bending of bullets.

My Schuetzen rifle uses 20/1 bullets and shoots half minute groups from the bench.

Dale53