311440 arrives!

[bdoyle]

Wednesday evening my wife called me outside to say that she thought the moulds had arrived. The delivery guy had stacked them in front of the garage door (round the corner from the porch) and no one realized they were there. I'll get the labels going this evening and get them shipped.
Now if I just had the time to try mine out!

Brian

[imashooter2]

Excellent! I wasn't expecting the molds to be in till September. Looking forward to trying this bullet out.

[TCLouis]

Thanx to all of you that set these things up for the rest of us to enjoy.

Now if they rush the 434-250 I will have to pile up a BIG stack of ingots right beside the pot!

[big uns]

Good to hear the news! I just received the 6 cavity LEE mould handles I ordered a month ago tonight. I just logged on to see if there was any news of when we could expect to get them. I will also have to break out the pot and get in a new supply of lead. I have 5 other molds I need to break in. Hopefully the 95 degree days are about over with here in Arkansas. I need to start shooting several rifles with cast bullets to start grouping them before hunting season gets here.

[Cayoot]

I got mine today. Box and Mold looks great! Thanks so much for putting this together!

[big uns]

Brian, I just wanted to let you know I just received my 6 cavity mold in the mail today also! Thanks again for doing this group buy! The weather is still in the mid 90's so I will hold off doing any serious casting for awhile. I may get around late at night to degreasing the mold and breaking it in along with 5 other molds I had purchased over the last month. I may cast about 60 bullets to work up a load with before hunting season gets here. I am wanting to try to hollow point a few bullets also to shoot into wet phone books with to see if I can get them to mushroom better. Has anyone tried this?

[bdoyle]

I didn't figure that they would start arriving until Tues, Wed. I was able to get 30 out friday evening but I ran out of packing tape. I had to play home building contractor this weekend so the rest will be out Monday evening.

I wish I had some quality casting time...

Brian

[Herb in Pa]

Brian, the mold arrived safe and sound this afternoon, Thanks for the effort.......Herb

[Cliff]

Thanks Brian, the 311440 arrived today(Monday) looks great and once the temp. gets a little lower some casting is in order. thanks for all the effort you put into this, looks like a shooter. Have a great week.

[bdoyle]

Well, I went out at lunch and picked up some tape. Then I found a nice tree(shade) and finished taping the boxes closed. I had labeled the boxes Sunday eveing so then it was off to wait in line at the post office. So all are shipped!

This bullet looks like a 5/16 dowel pin that someone stuck a GC on.

Brian

[Bass Ackward]

I am wanting to try to hollow point a few bullets also to shoot into wet phone books with to see if I can get them to mushroom better. Has anyone tried this?


Mr Big,

I have a 311440, in a hollow point mold. It really isn't necessary.

This bullet is a flying barn door when it comes to ballistic coefficient. Most people play around with it and call it M.O.D. for minute of deer. But this bullet excells with velocity and tends to prefer top end performance. Because of this fact, expansion is a given. Hollow pointing just risks break up which is why I bought this mold run.

This bullet holds 2" at 2900 fps and hits like a hammer.

[45 2.1]

This bullet was dimensioned from a sample provided by Bass Ackward. I hope what he said above proves out with this mold. Someone cast up some and give a report, I haven't seen mine yet.

[KYCaster]

I must have been sleeping at the keyboard when this order was put together! If anyone has an extra or decides they don't want the one they received, would you please let me know. I'd love to have one of these.

Jerry

[Dr. A]

Received mine today as well. Many thanks.

[Beau Cassidy]

2900 FPS? Man, that's smokin'. It ought to stop a Buick Electra 222!

Beau

[imashooter2]

Mine's here too!


Mr Big,

I have a 311440, in a hollow point mold. It really isn't necessary.

This bullet is a flying barn door when it comes to ballistic coefficient. Most people play around with it and call it M.O.D. for minute of deer. But this bullet excells with velocity and tends to prefer top end performance. Because of this fact, expansion is a given. Hollow pointing just risks break up which is why I bought this mold run.

This bullet holds 2" at 2900 fps and hits like a hammer.

This bullet has to be good... I've never had a gun that wouldn't shoot wadcutters. :)

[Urny]

Mine was in the AM mail, looks good. Thanks Brian.

[big uns]

Bass Ackward, I don't think I can get 2900 FPS out of a 30/30. That's the reason I wanted to try to put a hollow point configeration in the bullet. I will be using it at around 2000 FPS. I may try it out of my 300 win mag.at 2900 FPS later on to check out your statement! What gun are you using this bullet in? Also what powder are you using? Thanks for the info.

[Bass Ackward]

Bass Ackward, I don't think I can get 2900 FPS out of a 30/30. That's the reason I wanted to try to put a hollow point configeration in the bullet. I will be using it at around 2000 FPS. I may try it out of my 300 win mag.at 2900 FPS later on to check out your statement! What gun are you using this bullet in? Also what powder are you using? Thanks for the info.


Mr Big,

You don't have to get 2900. But I couldn't get MOA around 16-1800 either. My point was that this bullet is aerodynamically challenged. It needs to be pushed to stabilize at longer ranges. My hollow points were around 140 grains dressed and ready to dance.

This was a 700 Rem, 30-06, with the 24" barrel with 58 grains of RL19. My wife's Howa is almost 2800 fps with a 22" tube. This was the bullet I was trying to get MOA at 200,000 RPMs (2900) with. Best I could get was 2" reliably, sometimes 1 1/2". But I believed that the hollow point made it too difficult to mold bullets (for me anyway) balanced well enough to do this at that velocity level. Depending on the final weight, I suspect that this bullet should be capable of close to those same figures.

Still, I want better accuracy with an ideal range around 22-2400 fps for my wife to hunt with. Because the bullet (my hollow point) won't hold together with strike velocities above that. Or as you are thinking, a good 30/30 bullet which it was origionally designed to be.

[AnthonyB]

Bass, I'll take that worthless HP off your hands if you no longer want it. Whatcha want for it? Tony

[mroliver77]

Mine cane in yesterday too! I scrubbed it with sish soap and headed for the barn. I smoked it and started casting. It was reluctant to let them fall for a bit but then after 25 fills it just came on and started dropping all 6 nicely. It measures .312 on the body and .301 on the nose. Gas checks fit beutifully with some room above them for lube. I use a bottom pour pot and mould seemed to want to be used very close to the spout. If I were looking to complain the only fault I could find with it is the lube groves are small.I cannot see any "draft" in the grooves at all but I dont see very well and need to go find a magnifier and look closer. When sized to .310" the lube grooves get pretty durn small. I dont have a .313 lube/size die but will open one up today and see what the lube groove situation looks like. It is a scorcher already today but I will try shooting some anyhow. Jay

[45 2.1]

The grooves were detailed with a 15 degree draft, the same as most all the other customs. I do know that the mold cutter did something to them though thru a PM from our honcho. I cautioned that the mold cutter should NOT reduce the width of the lube groove, but that might have happened. I have checked several of the customs now and have noted that they were not all cut to the specified dimensions, especially on the length of bands and grooves. All the mold cutter (Doug) has to do is program in the correct numbers and set the machine up. I wish that he would cut them as spec'd and not change dimensions to suit whatever he thinks or assumes needs done. JMO!

[bdoyle]

The depth was reduced .0055 per side. Doug could not get the bullets to release until he did this. Angles, width should not of been changed.

Brian

[mroliver77]

The depth was reduced .0055 per side. Doug could not get the bullets to release until he did this. Angles, width should not of been changed.

Brian
I don't see that as a big deal. I did some measureing and the groove widths are to spec. It still is not the best releasing mold I have used but it is more than passable. It do need a smack to let them fall but no big deal. The lube grooves just look so tiny to me. I am off to load a few and see. The proof is in the pudding as they say. Jay

[Ol'Scudder]

Mine arrived monday morning if fine shape, Brian. Thank you very much Sir!

[bravokilo]

Mailman left it today!!! Thanks much!!!

BK

[tall grass]

Brian

Mine was in the mail box this afternoon. Now all I need is a therty - thery to go with it... Oh... maybe I'll get some dies for a 30-30 first. You get all the stuff first and then get the gun that goes with it, right?

Big thanks for running this deal Brian and 45 2.1 for the design work.

Jim

[Wayne Smith]

Mine came Monday, too, and I've not had time but to open the box and verify that that was it, not that I was expecting another 6 cavity! It'll be a few weeks before I can get set up again to cast, my son is re-habbing the back porch. Too hot now, anyway. I've also got two other molds to get going, both Lyman 4 cavitys off eBay, so I don't know what I'll find with them. Good to know that this one will only need some encouragement to drop them.

Thanks!

[sundog]

Brian, good job, and thanks! Looks good.

I guess this next comment is going to cross several current threads so I might as well stay right here and meander through it since I'll include this new boolit when I get to casting with it. I've been fooling around with the 700 VS LH (Chargar? Sure glad I got this rifle!) 308W w/12 twist and the Ly 31141 with IMR 4227, AA 2230-C, and H116 (latter two cheap surps from Powder Valley). Too damn hot (hunerts every day and NO rain) to spend much time with the chrono right now (or do any casting), so I'm just running some loads through at 50 yards for accuracy check at different velocities. As soon as I can this newest arrival will be tried out the same and maybe I can work up some surp data to put on castpics. If I get time to do that I'll include Data 73 and WC844 and any other surp I got hangin' around. So far the 31141 is looking purdy good accuracy wise at 50 with just about anything reasonable. My primary interest here is to see how fast I can go before the groups open up. I also want to see how far this new boolit can shoot before accuracy goes south. Hey, sumthin to do, ya know. sundog

[sundog]

Tall Grass, I did that samest thing in 35 Whelen. I honchoed the 358009 Improved group mould purchase a few years ago and at the time had neither the dies nor the rifle. Well, the rest, as they say, is history. Got a mighty fine and accurate 35 Whelen that shoots the 358009I like a 'house-afar'. Just took a little time and some scratch. Just gotta have a plan. sundog

[tall grass]

Yep, you're right. Need to start a little sinking fund.

Jim

[Bigscot]

Brian, Thanks for handling this. I got mine today. Sent to 27539.

BS

[MT Gianni]

MIne arrived today, Thanks. Gianni

[woody1]

Picked up mine at the PO yesterday. Thanks and regards, Woody

[castalott]

Mine are here today in fine shape!

Thank You Very Much!

Dale

[C1PNR]

Just about to head out and have a beer with some fishing buddies, then thought, No, I'll wait for the mail. Glad I did! Package arrived all save and sound. Thanks again, bdoyle![smilie=w:

[TCLouis]

My mold came in yesterdays mail.

Now I gotta fight the heat and start slinging some lead in all of these molds. May wait til thr 434-250 shows up. Kinda partial to the 44!

[Bret4207]

Mines here, and thank you! I plan on using it in my 30 cals for a small game knocker offer, on up through to deer. I also have hopes for it in the 32WCF rifles. I lobbs along at 850-1000 fps from what I'm told, and is worth a try.

[LIMPINGJ]

Mine was in the P.O. Box yesterday. Hopefully it will be cool enough when I get back from work next Tue. to try it out.
Jim

[David R]

Tpr. Bret,

32WCF = 32/20? Thats a lotta boolit fer a 32-20.

It must be almost as big as the case.

But .......... If it works, I would at least try it. :)

David

[Bret4207]

David R- The 32WCF-32/20 has been used with 150's on up tp 190 gr boolits that I know of in siyywet competion. True enough this was with T/C Contenders and I'm using a Savge 23 bolt gun, but I'd like to see what it can do. The twist may be all wrong in the Savage. Be a heck of a close range thumper for small game and called coyotes.

[45 2.1]

I got mione yesterday, got the pot hot and started to cast this morning. Five casts and the front male alignment pin came out and promptly lost itself. Such luck, i'm goinmg to have to send it back to LEE now.

[Bass Ackward]

I got mione yesterday, got the pot hot and started to cast this morning. Five casts and the front male alignment pin came out and promptly lost itself. Such luck, i'm goinmg to have to send it back to LEE now.

Bob,

Dang. That sounds like my luck.

Anyway I finally got time to crank out a few. What .... an .... ugly bullet. I am used to the hole in the center. I think Kelly must have had something to do with this design years ago. He's the only one I know that can put a 45 caliber meplat on a 30 caliber design. :grin:

All of my cavities range right at .312 on the body +/- .0005 and .3005 to .301 on the nose. Weight, all dressed for the dance is 160 grains. GCs are a nice fit. If I get the mold a little hot, they can be a .... challenge to get on. Last night I had numb thumb until I went to bed. Better tight than loose though. I dropped a few so I could shoot them this week some time.

My wife thinks it's cute though and has a standing order in for 20 shells for her. So down into the hold I go. I ran some simulations on Quickload and I think I will start with the RL19 or IMR 4831 at about 2300 and work up.

[sundog]

Did my normal mould prep yesterday a.m. before it got hot. Boolits don't release very easily from this mould, so today I'll do a little clean up work on it the help release. I did cast enough to run through a 30-30 for 'testing'. 30.0/2230-C (cheap surp from Powder Valley) and a dacron tuft is where I quit yesterday. I'm figuring that's somewhere around 2000 fps. Nice clean bbl, comfortable to shoot. If I get some time today I'll shoot a group or two. Straight WWs weighed in at ~158. Neat boolit, and my guess is that it would whack a critter but good. sundog

[Mel-4857]

Nice surprise today the 6.5 mould and the 440 were sitting in my mail box when I got home from the range. Thank you Brian and Rick for all your work. Mel

[mroliver77]

Anybody else having sticky boolit syndrome with this mold? I have leemented it a couple times over and it is better but I still have to beat the snot out of it with a fairly large stick each pour. I have talked to one fellow who is disapointed in it and Sundog states he is having sticky problems. I just wandered what others have experienced with it. I am not crying here just seeing if mebbe there is something I might have missed.
It sure is a fine shooting boolit in my Marlin Micro Groove 30-30. Jay

[Bass Ackward]

Anybody else having sticky boolit syndrome with this mold? I have leemented it a couple times over and it is better but I still have to beat the snot out of it with a fairly large stick each pour. I have talked to one fellow who is disapointed in it and Sundog states he is having sticky problems. I just wandered what others have experienced with it. I am not crying here just seeing if mebbe there is something I might have missed.
It sure is a fine shooting boolit in my Marlin Micro Groove 30-30. Jay

Jay,

I would expect that after all the tricks that everyone might have that problem to a degree. I had it with the Lyman version too. And I got used to it.

What I found is if I keep my mix temperature around 700 degrees, they drop better. It takes some playing around for the right cadence for mold temperature, but in the end, a light tap may still be necessary. Or you might try cooling your mold, but I don't. My diameter just turns out a little smaller. I don't miss it as there is still plenty to size.

[Willbird]

I got the stickies too, I had wondered if the bullet suffered from it in the originialk version from Lyman, I will try the cooler temp, I had wondered about that.

Bill

[Leftoverdj]

I worked over the edges with a pencil eraser before I cast the first bullet. All cavities release within two taps.

[Willbird]

I worked over the edges with a pencil erasor, then even took a new 45 caliber bronze bore bursh to them lightly, this seemed to help some, as did tapping the hinge on the handles with a snap-on screwdriver handle, I usually use a 2 lb dead blow, and I am thinking that gives more of a "thud" that a "tap"

I know hickory is a traditional wood to use for a mallet, I am plumb out of that right now tho :-)

Bill

[carpetman]

Willbird--As a kid,I took up leather tooling. Used wooden mallets and all would deposit sawdust and flakes of wood onto the leather which could be imbedded by the stamp if you didnt remove it. Switched to rawhide mallets and they are worth the extra price--last forever.

[David R]

Willbird,

I use a piece of a sledge hammer handle, I cut off a piece about 10 years ago, its getting an hourglass shape, but works fine. The sawdust that collects in the sprue can makes for flux material too.

Got my boolits today, Thanks A Bunch!

David R

[Willbird]

Good David :-) gotta love them flat rate envelopes, 200+ boolits shipped for $3.85

Bill

[mroliver77]

Well I gave mold another going over with a fine tooth comb. Actually a fine wire brush. I know it is awfull but it has worked before. I do not give much pressure and try to let it only touch the faces of the mold.(like a file card) I cast quite a pile of them and somewhere in there I found a sweet spot and I was getting bullets to fall with one rap.(of a big stick)Actually two raps as I rap as I try to open the mold and then a good rap after it is open. My my did they fall out and pile up! Using straight WW + 4-5% tin. Mebbe the tin helped too. I was getting lots of rejects but now only 5% being very picky (visually). We were looking for a deer load out of a Krag carbine. With 42gr H414 (2300fps?) it was shooting very well with no leading at all. We were having some troubles with the third shot sometimes wandering out to the right an inch or more. We decided that for deer two shots are plenty and concentrated on that. We did not have enough phone books or newsprint so we used dry Magazines in a box with a thick hard cover school book backing it up. Bullets would penetrate 12+ inches of fairly tight magazine and imbed in the hardcover bookan inchor so. Bullets were comming apart and only the base of bullet with gas check and 1 lube groove were left. These were WW + 2% magnum shot water dropped. The new casts were the WW+ tin air cooled and will be shot in a couple days. We are looking for a road kill to shoot and autopsy for bullet performance. When bullets hit target there is a distinct THWWWWOPPP sound. I have been told water jugs or ice jugs are a fairly close approximization(my new word) of flesh. Comments? Opinions? Flames? Jay

[waksupi]

Mroliver, you may want to consider cutting back on your velocity a little bit for hunting purposes. Drop 100 fps or so, off of that load, and your bullet will stay together better, and you won't have a lot of blood shot meat to deal with.

[mroliver77]

Mroliver, you may want to consider cutting back on your velocity a little bit for hunting purposes. Drop 100 fps or so, off of that load, and your bullet will stay together better, and you won't have a lot of blood shot meat to deal with.

Thanks Rick, I have only killed a couple animals with cast. I just dispatched one with the 311440. I slowed it to aprox 2000fps and air cooled them. One I hit a front shoulder on a small buck and it really messed it up.Quite a lot of bloodshot meat on shoulder. Bullet turned and went back through boiler room ruining(pulverizing) both lungs, cutting the main artery and then making a mess in the gut room.(Angle I shot him at I am amazed bullet could end up in the guts!) Amazing thing is he ran about 50 yards full bore before piling up.
Another one hit with the 311440 at the 2300fps(est) with water dropped took a frontal shoulder angling hit and broke shoulder, passed through one lung destroying it, blew 1/3 of the heart into burger and passed on out poking a hole through the off side lung and a 2" hole in the ribcage. Funny the hide up agin the hole only had a 3/4 hole through it. These bullets shoot true and hit like a slegehammer! For "brush gun" hunting distances they are most impressive. Jay