.303B Scout project good/bad and ......

[fanner 50]

Some of you may have read my posts concerning the .303B Scout Rifle I was building and the cast boolit problems. Well the good is the project came out great and looks really good(I'll try and get pic to post). The bad ,of course, was at 25 yds it looked like the Lyman 314299 boolits were flying sideways all over the place. I recut the crown and went to the range with some SA surplus and some Cordite surplus ammo and of course my handloads with the homemade boolits. Both milsurp ammos went into a nice little groupe you could cover with a quarter and my homespun stayed inside about a 6" circle with some round holes and some elongated tears in the target. The bore is shinny and the rifleing is sharp. It shoots the milsurp beautifully but no go on the cast over 42gr of 4350. Maybe that load is too hot? The groove to groove on this 5 groove barrel measures .313 with dial calipurs and I can't get a good bore measurement with my available equipment but rifleing is sharp and deep in appearance rifle appears to have been shot very little. Going to tear these down and start all over again. Does anybody have a suggested load?

[dromia]

Did you get all the copper out of the bore before shooting the cast rounds?

I don't shoot jacketed in my cast Boolit rifles because its a real chew getting them copper free again, 'till it is copper free your rifle won't do its best with cast.

From your post it seems that you tried the jacketed then the cast.

[fanner 50]

I cleaned the barrel throughly before shooting it. Soaked for days in Butch's and got it to run a patch through without a mark on it. Then shot cast and the results were horrific. Back to shop cleaned again re crowned and went to range. Shot milsurp first with amazing results 10 shots you could cover with a quarter at 25 yds all holes nice and round. Let barrel cool and swabed it clean then tried cast. Five holes in about a 6" area some roundish and others keyholed at 25 yds. Load was 42grs of IMR 4350, new WW brass ,Lyman 314299 with Hornady GC, LLA lubed and used Lee factory crimp for a slight crimp. Going to tear down and start all over.

[Ben]

Shoot the same bullet with 17 grs. of 2400 and report back.............

Thanks,
Ben

[fanner 50]

Here's a lesson learned by a newby when you cast 50 boolits don't load them all up until you've tried a few. Iam now tearing down 40 cartridges and will have to cast some more to try with Ben's load of 17 grs of 2400.

[KCSO]

At a 313 bore if there is any throat wear at all you might have to go as big as 316 to get good groupiing. Depending on your powder you might have to try some COW filler if you can't cast that large.

[leftiye]

COW filler, Is that like bullstuffing? (Offered in the spirit of the Asprely Armless)

[drinks]

COW= cream of wheat, cornmeal or grits does as well and is a lot cheaper, yes, I squeak when I walk!

[Dale53]

You either have a "too small" bullet or the bullet is too long for the rifling twist. Of course, it could simply be the load is too hot.

Keep us posted.

Dale53

[Larry Gibson]

"no go on the cast over 42gr of 4350" with Lyman 314299.

I'd say that is the accuracy problem. You are pushing the cast bullets way to fast. Suggest you try with the 2400 load from previous post or start at 25 gr 4895 and work up to 28 gr in 1/2 gr increments using a 1 gr dacron filler over the powder. I'll bet you find a very good load in there, probably around 27 gr.

Larry Gibson

[Junior1942]

You might have a twist/rpm problem. Here's some twist/rpm values with a common velocity of 1900 fps:

1 - 12 = 114,000 rpm
1 - 10 = 136,800 rpm
1 - 9.5 = 144,000 rpm

Around 120,000 is max with cast in my 30 & 30+ caliber military barrels.

[TAWILDCATT]

I use 13 gr RED DOT with 170/190gr bullets.in my 1903 at 100yds it keeps in 1"
in others little more,1.5 to2".
might be to slow a powder.
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