plain base 30/30

[makicjf]

I am thinking about buying/making a plain base 170+ grain mold for my 30/30 cowboy loads. Not checking , atleast in theory, should work at 1500fps. Plus i would not have the expense or time of checking the light loads. Does anyone have any experience drilling out a lee 170, or know of an inexpensive plain base 170 grain mold for a 30/30? I read (here I think) that a 9/64 bit can remove the check from the mold . Then just buff with emory paper. A $18 dollar mold and a little fiddling sounds nice. Any advice and help would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Jason

[Doc Highwall]

I would use a 5/16"/.3125" reamer first with a drill press.

[runfiverun]

i'd go under and polish it out.
drill bits don't seem to drill round holes.

[Iowa Fox]

Back in the old Lee Group buy days there was a run of 311041 plain base. Maybe one of the old timers here might have one for sale.

[BCRider]

Given the soft aluminium I'd most certainly suggest stepping out the diameter in small steps and at a slightly lower speed. The drills will tend to self center more correctly and cut rounder that way. Go up in 1/64 steps and you'll like the results.

[RyanJames170]

might be something i might be up for but i lack a darn drill press!

[boltons75]

NOE has a 311041 pb listed on their site as in stock.

[Jeff Michel]

You will probably be happier if you bored it on a lathe. Drilling it will more than likely result in a non-concentric hole. If you do not have access to a lathe, ask around locally. There are alot of hobby machinists who would be glad to help you out. If this is a "see if I can do it myself" type of project, I'd also stay away from emery cloth as well, you could very easily end up sanding a funnel at the base of your bullet. If you don't want to try it or can't find a lathe, PM me and I'll help you out.
Good luck

[lister]

I have cast bullets from a lee 170 gc mould and used them without the gascheck in my 94 with 10gr of bluedot, and no filler for years. I've had no issue with leading and the accuracy is fine. Keeping the velocity below 1600 seems to be the key.

[makicjf]

I tried un checked and was keyholing right from the bbl! I crept up to 10 yards and still had keyholes! Maybe some component of the microgrooving in the marlin causes this? Once I checked them the shhot very well.
Thanks!
Jason

[jlchucker]

Back in the old Lee Group buy days there was a run of 311041 plain base. Maybe one of the old timers here might have one for sale.

I have one of those, but for now I'll keep it. I haven't tried its boolits in a Marlin yet, but in Winchesters I find that they are oversize enough at the front end to engage rifling enough to mark the boolit when chambered. That's true in 3 30-30's I've tried these in. That having been said, the boolits shoot pretty well. These were 6-cavity molds. I never did see much posted about these boolits once the group buy had been delivered. A number of guys bought them, but nobody posted much. I never cast enough of those boolits to establish a big liking for them, but when my brother tried them he told me not to get rid of the mold. I've yet to see his targets.

[RyanJames170]

Would be a nice mold to have as it would make it cheeper to shoot

[izzyjoe]

i use the Lee 170 all the time without a GC, with 7grs. of unique it's my favorite target load. and it's very accurate.

[TCFAN]

I also have one of the Lee 311041 plain base molds.I have used it in a couple of Marlins and one Winchester. It is a very accurate boolit as long as the velocity is around 1400fps or so. I use it with Unique or Bullseye powder.The nose is a bit large so the lever on the Marlins is a bit hard to close.

Since I now make my own gas checks I don't use the plain base boolits that much any more......Terry

[makicjf]

what is the weight on that boolit? It sounds exactly like what I am looking for for "cowboy" cody dixon loads. I load the lee 170-309 gc over ten of unique. I am pretty certain the gas check is an unneeded expense for steel plinking at 80-120 yards. the above mold drops at .311, and I use a .311 sizer to crimp the check. Does your mold drop around .310-311? I may contact lee and see if they have any about... unless you might like to part with yours?; ) I could throw in some (10-15 lbs) of lino if it perks your ears!
Jason

[TCFAN]

Out of my mold they weigh 166 to 167 grs cast out of my WW alloy. Dia. runs .314 on the bands and .303 on the nose just in front of the top band.I size mine at .312 and load over 8 grs of Unique.
Like I said above I don't use the mold any more now that I can make my own gas checks but I really don't want to get rid of the mold at this time.

If you want I could send some sample boolits unsized to you to try in your rifle if you want to pick up the postage.Send a PM if you want to do this.........Terry

[Ben]

Plain base .30 cal. bullets ( under the correct conditions ) can be amazingly accurate out of .30 cal. barrels.

The correct OAL, the correct powder charge, the correct powder type, the correct cast bullet dia, the correct bullet seating technique, etc. can turn in some impressive results.

I fired the group below at 50 yards with metallic sights with my 1903 Springfield with metallic sights, chambered in 308 Win :

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/haysb/Springfield%201903%20-%20308%20Win/IMG_0928.jpg

Here are 308241's , lubed, sized, and ready to load :

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/haysb/308241/0032.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/haysb/Photo0364.jpg

[jlchucker]

what is the weight on that boolit? It sounds exactly like what I am looking for for "cowboy" cody dixon loads. I load the lee 170-309 gc over ten of unique. I am pretty certain the gas check is an unneeded expense for steel plinking at 80-120 yards. the above mold drops at .311, and I use a .311 sizer to crimp the check. Does your mold drop around .310-311? I may contact lee and see if they have any about... unless you might like to part with yours?; ) I could throw in some (10-15 lbs) of lino if it perks your ears!
Jason

My group buy mold was listed as 170 gr. With my wheelweight/lead mix, they usually drop around 175 or thereabouts. I've not cast any with hard alloy. Given the fat nose of that boolit, one might have trouble forcing the boolit to chamber. Like TCFan says, you notice it when you close your lever, and if you eject a live round and look at it, you'll clearly see the impressions of your rifling on the ogive. This boolit will shoot well, but I don't know what my velocities have been. I've got no chrony. According to some notes that I took when I tried some of these in a 26 inch Winchester classic, my boolits were sized .309, and I was getting "tight clusters" with 9.8 gr Unique. "Tighter" with 9.9 gr., and my notes with 10 grains said "use .309". That particular 30-30 is very accurate with quite a few loads, jacketed as well as cast. I don't have any notes for my other 30-30's. I gave some of those boolits, sized at .310, to my brother once. He marvelled at the accuracy out of a 1970-ish Winchester carbine, and told me to keep that mold. He didn't say what his load was, but he did say he used Unique powder.

[sixpointfive]

Just shoot it without a gas check.

[dualsport]

Yep. Might be surprised. Gas check designs often shoot just fine without the gas check at appropriate pressures, just like a plain base design.
Just shoot it without a gas check.