Yet another .30 cal. plain base

[Ben]

I took a VERY old .30 / .31 cal. Lee ( Harris design ) 160 gr. tumble lube spire design and removed the gas check shank.

The end result looks just fine. The rear base band drops from the mold with ACWW's at .3125" .

I sized them to .311 dia. and filled the T/L grooves with Ben's Red and then coated the entire bullet in thinned LLA.

I have about 100 of them ready now for testing. There won't be any " hot rodding " done with these. I plan to shoot them out of my 06' and 308 Win. rifles in the 1,000 - 1,300 fps speed zone.

Rain here for the past 3 days, if it ever drys out, I'll be shooting these.

Ben

The lines in this 1st photo are not exact, I took my mic and checked the " numbers " and this is roughly what it translated into :

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/haysb/1234_zpsc248964a.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/haysb/002-46_zps717f7179.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/haysb/003-39_zps9de270ff.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/haysb/004-37_zps50714d83.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/haysb/003-39_zps1941b411.jpg

Here they are lubed , sized, and ready to load :

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/haysb/001-41_zpsfe31dcd2.jpg

[wcp4570]

Ben
That turned out just fine. I'm guessing that is another of your drill bit jobs. I need to get either this mold or the 155 for my SKS. Have you tried to chamber a loaded round yet? Wonder if the .305 diameter will be a problem in the 06 or 308. I will be watching to see how this works out. Good luck with the test.

wcp

[JeffinNZ]

Yer beginning to whet my appetite Ben.

[Ben]

Jeff,

Why don't you jump in ?

Ben

[Mk42gunner]

Ben,

Once again, I am in awe of your photography skills.

Why the two step lube process?

Robert

[Ben]

Mk42gunner :

Once again, I am in awe of your photography skills.

Thanks for those nice remarks, I enjoy my photography also, but probably not as much as shooting and cast bullets !
________________________________

As to the 2 step lube process.

Lube sizers are very capable of sizing a bullet " off center ", shaving more lead off one side than the other. ( Bad for accuracy )

Step 1

I like to use a Lee " Push Thru " sizer 1st with the bullet. Get it to the appropriate diameter then go over to the lube sizer and use a die that is .001 or .002 larger to add my lube to the bullet in Step 2.

Step 2

Head over to my Lyman 45 lube sizer, here I will lube ONLY ! By using a die that is larger than the bullet, I minimize or hopefully totally avoid any possibility of the sides of the bullet even being touched by the die in the lube phase. ( Example.....I'll often size with a Lee Push thru to .311 and then use a Lyman H and I die that is .312 for the lube phase ) As a final step , I may or may not roll the sized and lubed bullet in thinned LLA and allow it to sit on its base and dry overnight.

The system works well for me, your mileage may vary ?

Ben

[CWME]

There has to be something to your method because you post up a lot of very nice groups with any load you shoot. I can say from my own habits that I viewed the sizing and lubing process as steps to get through as quickly as possible. My groups suffered as a result. Your posts made me think about what I was doing at the bench. I was pushing for quantity instead of quality.

[Ben]

There has to be something to your method because you post up a lot of very nice groups with any load you shoot. I can say from my own habits that I viewed the sizing and lubing process as steps to get through as quickly as possible. My groups suffered as a result. Your posts made me think about what I was doing at the bench. I was pushing for quantity instead of quality.

CWME ,

Sometimes haste makes waste. Speed in preparing cast bullet loads isn't always what it is all about.

I shot poor rifle groups for 20 years ( I always wondered why one side of my bullet was " shaved off " more than the other side )......When I adopted this new system I began to shoot some impressive groups, haven't changed since.

[madsenshooter]

If you keep it up Ben, all your molds will be plain base! :-D

[Ben]

If you keep it up Ben, all your molds will be plain base! :-D

I have some gas checked designs that are truly dear to my heart. Those particular molds will not get plain based.