Have you shot this one?

[trixter]

A lot of folks have advised to slug the barrel, and I am going to do that. I have a 30-06 that was a military rifle that has been sport-erized. It is an A3 but later than an 03. the gun was re-blued, front site removed and both sight areas filled and I have great optics on it. I have been shooting Lee C 309 150 F, which cast at .310 to .3105, boolits, and I size them to .309 with the Lee Push through sizer (I like that system a lot, quick and easy), and getting quite a few fliers at 50 yards about 1 out of 8. I know that without conclusive barrel size i don't know for sure. I just want to get an idea, if you shoot the Lee CTL 312 160 2R, your thoughts about the boolit and how you like the end results. I know that I might not need to change, but if I do...........

What do you think of the Lee CTL 312 160 2R?

[Larry Gibson]

Two groove or four groove barrel?

Give some thought to honing the .309 sizer to .3105 and shoot as cast diameter.

As to the flyers at 50 yards; what alloy, what load?

The C312-160-R can be a good bullet if the nose fits the bore. If you aren't getting good accuracy with the 150 gr bullet the problem may not be the bullet and it may not be the rifle. It may just be something you are not doing, not doing something correctly or are not doing something you should. A change of bullet will not fix that.

Larry Gibson

[MtGun44]

.309 is almost guaranteed to be too small. .310 or .311 normally works best in the '06.

Bill

[Rich/WIS]

Two things to consider. First, what does the nose portion of the bullet measure, should be close to .300, if small will allow the bullet to tip and not align well with the bore. Second, are you expanding the necks, unless the neck will accept a larger bullet you are sizing them down when you seat them. Pull a seated bullet and mike it, you may be surprised. I have an A3 and a pre-war M70 that will group nicely with bullets sized as small as .308, but the nose portion mikes .299+. I have tried some sized .310+ and have not seen any difference in accuracy. I use an M die for 30 cal and have considered experimenting with a 31 cal M die but too cheap to buy one. Final thought, many of the wartime barrels are rough, might consider a bore polish, and be sure to remove copper fouling before using cast.

[leadman]

I have 3 of the Lee 30 cal. molds and 3 1903a3 rifles. They shoot ok with the 150 gr., do better with the 180gr, and real shoot excellent with the 200gr. My Savage 11-DL 30-06 really likes the 200 gr also.
The Lee CTL 312 does not shoot as well as the 200gr Lee and the nose might be too large.
Measure the inside of a case fired in your gun to see if an as cast boolit can be fired safely. If you can seat it with about .001" or more clearance between the chamber neck and case neck shoot the 150 gr and see if accuracy is improved.
The smallest boolit I am able is .309" in my 1903a3 Smith Corona sporter. My 2 groove Remington 1903a3 like .311".