Lee mould for .30-30

[OKSaddletramp]

I want to get a new mould to load for .30-30. I am looking at the Lee 309-150 fn and 170 fn. There's plenty of load data in my Lyman and Lee manuals for 170g, but not so much for the 150g. Is the lighter boolit that much less a performer?

I have a friend that I will be loading some for that prefers 150g slugs for his Win 94 and would like to use it if feasible. I would likely use it in my .308 and -06 for 100y plinking as well. Should I stick with the 170g or can I make the 150g work without too much work?

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

I run the 309-170rf , I think part of it is that most people find accuracy at 1800-1950 fps , so if you can only go so fast why not add weight

I am not sure any animal is going to tell the difference at 50 yards or 75 yards

[ShooterAZ]

The 150 works fine, and can be driven to higher velocities. I have both weight molds, and shoot in 30-30, and 308 & 06. No problems.

[blackpowder man]

I don't have any experience with the lee 150 fn, but I have shot the 170 in .308mx, .30-30, .30-06, .300 whisper, and .308 (including my m1a socom) and it is just a good boolit. Not always the best in each, but always pretty good. Like someone else said if the accuracy is in a certain speed range you might as well have the extra weight.

[cwheel]

I have the C308-150 mold. I can't complain much about it, it was free. That said, I find my trouble with this mold lays with the cherry used to cut it. Seams the nose section is bigger than the minor dia. of the Win 94 rifle I cast for. When loaded to the listed OAL for the round, it's hard to chamber and sticks the boolit in the bore leaving the boolit in the barrel when you try to eject the loaded round without firing it. Boolit nose measures .302 and the minor dia. of the bore is .300. ( that .002 difference ends up as a press fit into the rifling with the boolit when chambered ) Sure I can load them short by .125 and make it work, I'm not working at max load. Still it would be nice if they could get the sizes right on their mold cherry. Caution with their 150 mold unless they have changed the nose dia. more trouble than it's worth. I have no idea how old my mold is, but when I got it a year back it looked unused. I'm going to buy a Lyman for the next run, even if I have to back order it.
Chris

[sthwestvictoria]

, I think part of it is that most people find accuracy at 1800-1950 fps , so if you can only go so fast why not add weight

I have both and I think this is a great way to look at the issue. I use them in a Win 1894 and Savage 340.
Best accuracy with the Savage 340 has been 1 3/8" at 100metres for both the 150 and 170 using H4227 (AR2205) and Varget (AR2208) respectively. I hope to hunt with the 170 load using Varget (AR2208).
98087
98089

[barrabruce]

I have used both in mine and found the 170 easier to get to shoot than the 150.
I Think the longer nose helps a bit.
The 150 seems soo much gentler to shoot after the 170 loaded up that it makes it easier for me anyway to recover and load shoot another off hand or an impromptu shooting position for a second or more shots.

had to hone the nose out to lightly engrave my bore before I could get real good consistent accuracy.

I liked my single cavity mould way better than the wobbly wonky lee double but once you get used to gently closing the thing it works remarkably well and throws good bullets.

[Keyston44]

I have the 150 gr Lee. I wanted the 170 but couldn't find one when I needed it. I have loaded the 150gr for multiple rifles and it has worked great. I still wanted a heavier bullet so I bought a Ranch Dog 165 to fill those needs.

Key

[rhead]

I have the C308-150 mold. I can't complain much about it, it was free. That said, I find my trouble with this mold lays with the cherry used to cut it. Seams the nose section is bigger than the minor dia. of the Win 94 rifle I cast for. When loaded to the listed OAL for the round, it's hard to chamber and sticks the boolit in the bore leaving the boolit in the barrel when you try to eject the loaded round without firing it. Boolit nose measures .302 and the minor dia. of the bore is .300. ( that .002 difference ends up as a press fit into the rifling with the boolit when chambered ) Sure I can load them short by .125 and make it work, I'm not working at max load. Still it would be nice if they could get the sizes right on their mold cherry. Caution with their 150 mold unless they have changed the nose dia. more trouble than it's worth. I have no idea how old my mold is, but when I got it a year back it looked unused. I'm going to buy a Lyman for the next run, even if I have to back order it.
Chris

I had the same problem with one of the 150 flat nose that i bought from Lee back in the early 70's in my marlin. I solved the problem by trimming the brass back to 1.995 inches. Now they chamber fine. The over size nose seems to make for excellent accuracy. i do have to remember to segregate my brass. They chamber fine in my Winchesters. I bought another one in 95 and remover the gas check shank to make a plain base. the noses were still fat then. Both moulds make very accurate boolits. I sold my 170 gr mould to a friend who had a rifle that preferred them.

[largom]

I also have the Lee 150 and it shoots extremely well in my 30-30's and 300 Sav.
My mold is the single cavity about 20 yrs. old.

Larry

[deerspy]

I just bought a lee C309-150-F about two months back (now I am not a seasoned caster) but mine will not drop the bullets and leaves a parting line that to much in my opinion I look it over and it had dings in the top of mold pushing burs in to cavity and the top it got a scratch the first time I opened the spur plate it had burs as well
if get one I would take the spur plate off first and clean it up. I like the bullet shape think I will look for a better 150 gr mold with same shape.

[sthwestvictoria]

I just bought a lee C309-150-F about two months back (now I am not a seasoned caster) but mine will not drop the bullets and leaves a parting line that to much in my opinion I look it over and it had dings in the top of mold pushing burs in to cavity and the top it got a scratch the first time I opened the spur plate it had burs as well
if get one I would take the spur plate off first and clean it up. I like the bullet shape think I will look for a better 150 gr mold with same shape.
Deerspy have a look at these two stickies:
http://www.castpics.net/subsite2/MoldMods/LeementingKitDocumentation.pdf
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?47669-More-quot-Lee-Lementing-quot

They are both around the process colloquially called Lee-Lementing on this forum for smoothing cavities and improving function of the Lee molds. My process is to take off the sprue plate and clean the top face of the mold on some wet-and-dry sandpaper, 800-1200grit that is on something very flat like a piece of float glass.
For the cavities I follow the instructions in the pdf, starting page 7 to cast a bullet with a steel nut attached and rotate that with some grinding paste. The electric drill technique some people favour, seems you would have to be very careful to my mind.

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

on these "wobbly" lee double cavities , the trick to closing them is to lay the base on a block of wood then close , then knock the sprue back around

also a q tip with 2 stroke oil lube the sprue plate bolt , and top of the mold block , a dab will do ya , when it gives off a little smoke it's ready to cast the good ones

I can't claim either of these tips , but i read them hear and used them and they worked for me