.318 dia/200 + grain cast bollits

[muzzle flash]

Am wondering if any one has seen a mold that will drop a slug of .318 dia., 200 to 220 grain: confused:s.
THANKS.

[NVcurmudgeon]

Never saw a .318" mould listed by any of the big manufacturers. Maybe CBE, NEI, Mountain Moulds, etc. can make it, especially CBE in Australia.

[Bullshop]

Me too, I have an SMLE with about .317" groove.
BIC/BS

[Ricochet]

If you prelube the bullets, you can likely size down an 8mm bullet in the .323-.325" range to work OK for that. A bore rider design might have too fat a nose, though. Some of the "Fat 30" & "Fatter 30" custom moulds that have been done in the Group Buys put out bullets in this size range.

[KCSO]

Ricochet has it...

I bouoght a cheap Lee mould and it cast 321-2 bullets so i just lubed them up and ran them through a push through die and Oh Boy they fit my oversize 303. As is they fit my Mauser like socks on a chicken.

[muzzle flash]

I was wondering if I could push a .323 through a .318 die or not, would most likley size the lube groves off the bolit. Now I have to make up a .318 sizer die

[Ricochet]

I don't think it'll size out your lube grooves. I have a group buy "Soup Can" mould that puts out .315" soup cans. For my K-31 I size them to .308". If I first tumble them in LLA and let them dry for a day, they size down nicely and have plenty of lube grooves left. I tumble them a second time prior to loading. I imagine other lubes would work similarly.

I have learned the hard way not to try sizing heavily without prelubing the bullets. I've gotten badly stuck bullets, had to take the die out of the press and tried to hammer them out, in some cases damaging the plunger, before learning that the trick to getting a tight bullet through is to unscrew the die so that the plunger is just pressing the base as the press cams over, then screw it in a tiny bit more and so on till the stuck bullet passes. But it's way better to avoid the problem by lubing the bullet!

If you don't want a "permanent" lube like LLA on your bullet, dip the bullets in liquid soap or soapy water just before sizing, then rinse and dry them. Works great!

[Leftoverdj]

Yeah, sizing to .318 wipes out the lube grooves on both the Lee and the Lyman 323470. I lucked into a group buy Lee (not one of our buys as far as I know) that's a nominal .316 and as heavy as could be fitted into Lee single cavity blocks. Beagling got it up just over .318 but I got side tracked before doing any shooting.

Dug out the mentioned mould. It's got a Lee model number, C316-220-RF. Smallest flat I ever saw, though. Gave rise to a question, though. Will Lee dropping single cavity moulds affect the group buys? Seems to me that there have been some designs that would only go into single cavity blocks and barely fit into those.

[Calamity Jake]

I have taken the 323470 down to .316 by first sizen, luben and checken in a .325 filling all the lube grooves, then pushen it thru a custom lee .316. The boolet grows in length a little but the lube grooves are purfect and it shoots good a 91/30 with a .315 throat.