93 and 100 Grain Bootlits in K31?

[Coldfinger]

Hi folks, I'm new to forum, I've spent a lot of time reading before joining, now I hope to contribute. I bought a couple of Lee 311 molds last year hoping to use them in Yugo M57, but my barrel is a little too big for those bootlits and leading was an issue, so these molds have just been hanging out, unused. As I was reading around the military rifle section of the forum, I noticed that some other folks had tried some light bullets in the 110 grain range. Has anyone had luck with using a Lee 311-93-1R or 311-100-1R Bootlit in there K31? I would likely be using trail boss, unique, or 2400, but I have some AA No7 that needs to be used for something. I'm looking for a staring load for these lighter bullets with one or more of those powders. These would be for target practice and plinking. Currently, I'm trying some 86 grain Hornady .308 grain RN jacketed bullets with trail boss, following the 70% method for starting loads. Hopefully I will get to skip out of work early tomorrow and hit the range and try those out. If I have positive results with trail boss, I may try that next, but I have a bunch of unique and wouldn't mind giving that a try too.

Thanks

[JeffinNZ]

6gr of Unique should put you into HV rimfire velocity or close. Given the short throats of the K31's the little boolits should go well.

[Larry Gibson]

Try 3.2 gr Bullseye, you will be pleasently pleased.

Larry Gibson

[dhaid-06]

I pushed some .311 dia buckshot into the necks of the cases and charged them with a few grains of green dot in my K31 and they shot great at 25 yards. If those buckshots did fine, I'm sure the bullets you mentioned will be excellent.

[Coldfinger]

Thanks for the replies, I may have to pick up some Bullseye. I picked up some more Trail Boss and 2400 yesterday and I was eying the Bullseye, but I thought I'd save a little change in case I came across a box of small pistol primers this week. I'm hoping to get out tomorrow, it's suppose to just snow, the rain today makes the range a dangerous place, just enough slope and packed snow to make it very slippery with some water on the surface. I'll have my creepers on tomorrow.

Thanks,

[Coldfinger]

Well, I finally had a chance to test a bunch of light loads in my k31. At this time, I have more results for jacketed bullets, but I also have some cast results in here too. I initially tested a Hornady 86 grain Round Nose (#3100) with Trail Boss and then tested some Lee 311-100-2R with Unique and Bulleye.

For the Hornaday bullets:

Rifle: 1944 Swiss K31
Caliber: 7.55*55r
Bullet: Hornady 86 grainRN (#3100)
Brass: Wolf Gold
Powder: Trail Boss
Primer: CCI Large Rifle
O.A.L.: 2.50"
Charge (g) 12.2, 13.2, 14.2, 15.2, 16.2, 17.2, 18.2, 18.5
Temperature: 35 F
Distance: 100 Yrds
Target: Red duct tape in 4" cross
5 shot groups with ramp at lowest setting

12.2 grains - Trail Boss
Group size: 1.6" elevation (y) by 1.6 windage (x)
POA vs POI: POI was ~2.2 to 4.0" below POA

13.2 grains - Trail Boss
Group size: 2.2" elevation (y) by 3.2 windage (x)
POA vs POI: POI was ~0.9 to 2.2" below POA

14.2 grains - Trail Boss
Group size: 2.6" elevation (y) by 0.9 windage (x) (4 shot group 1.5" by 0.6")
POA vs POI: POI was ~1.3 to 2.8" above POA

15.2 grains - Trail Boss
Group size: 4.8" elevation (y) by 3.3 windage (x) (4 shot group 3.3" by 1.2")
POA vs POI: POI was ~1.7 to 4.9" above POA

15.2 grains - Trail Boss
Group size: 3.7" elevation (y) by 3.3 windage (x)
POA vs POI: POI was ~0.4 to 4.4" above POA

Everything started to open up after 14.2 grains, so I did not try any other the higher loads of Trail Boss. But I think that sweet spot lies somewhere between 13.2 and 14.2 grains. Trail Boss is one on my favorite powders and I will try to see if this can be fine tuned at all, may be time to put the scope back on the K31 and some more of these pills.

For the cast loads, I have a smaller sample, but it's a start.

Rifle: 1944 Swiss K31
Caliber: 7.55*55r
Bullet: Lee 311-100-2R, wheel weights (sized to 0.309") and lubed with the Felix recipe
Brass: Wolf Gold
Powder: Bullseye (3.2 grains) and Unique (5.0 grains)
Primer: CCI Large Rifle
O.A.L.: 2.47"
Temperature: 30F
Distance: 50 Yrds
Target: Red duct tape in 4" cross
6 shot groups with ramp at lowest setting

3.2 grains - Bullseye
Group size: 1.5" elevation (y) by 1.7 windage (x)
POA vs POI: POI was ~5.8 to 7.2" below POA

5.0 grains - Unique
Group size: 2.4" elevation (y) by 1.0 windage (x) (weird group, 4 shots touching and then 2 to the left, one high and one low)
POA vs POI: POI was ~3.3" below POA for the 4 shot group

No leading with these loads. Both were pretty fun to shoot. For the Bullseye load, I had to pull the bolt to make sure the bullet came out, it was so quiet. Now I will try to the bring the POI up to the POA at 50 yards and see if we are still lead free, otherwise, the ramp will have to go up. Test and shoot, test and shoot, doesn't get any better.

Coldfinger

[EMC45]

Great writeup! i am gonna have to dust off the old K31 and try this. I have the Lee 93gr. and 100gr. molds, also the RCBS 32-098 that I have sized down a good many of them to .309.

[Old Iron Sights]

I have both Lee molds also. I would have never thought to try them in my K31. With that small of a charge, did you use a filler? I may have to try some Dacron.

[Coldfinger]

No filler was used for these loads. I did try some additional reloads with the Lee 311-100-2R and heavier loads of Bullseye (4.0 grains and 4.5 grains). Strange thing happened, the 4.0 grains hit about 4.5" low at 50 yards. I walked down, marked the holes, and then went and shot the 4.5 grain loads. Walked down, expecting to see 6 little holes maybe 2-3 inches below the center of the target; however, there were no holes at all (except for my first group). I saw the bullets strike the ground behind the target, but there must have been some meta-physical time-space continuum around the target because there were 6 missing holes (kinda like those 5 missing torpedo bombers off Florida during WWII). I checked the barrel for leading and it looked clean. I did not have anymore of those loads, so I tried some with 6.0 grains of Unique and they all hit the target, about 4" below the POA. I'm guessing that 4.5 grains of Bullseye must have a lot more "ump" than 4.0 grains, or there were some powder displacement issues in the casing that caused some weird stuff to happen. Perhaps a filler may be called for in this case.

CF