HBWC that is slightly smaller than groove diameter? Will it work well?

[BK7saum]

I was looking for a .314 MP HBWC. PM'd Miha, but he only has a .312 left. The groove diameter for my Ruger Single Seven is 0.313. I only measured it one time with a OO buck from the muzzle. So I believe it is a least 0.313, maybe a little larger.

I initially declined to purchase the mold from Miha, due to undersize boolits. My question is, would it have worked well? I know that the purpose of the hollow base is to expand and seal the bore, so blow-by shouldn't have been an issue. I will just keep my eyes open and wait for a 0.314 to show up or wait for a possible rerun a couple of years down the road.

I have the 100 gr 314640 and did purchase a 115 gr 314640 when I requested the HBWC. So I'm set for at least two boolits in the single seven. I don't think the 115 will chamber in 327 brass seated to the crimp groove though. Might be 0.020-0.030 too long by looking at the 100 grainer in 327 brass. The 115 grain boolit is 0.050" longer than the 100 grain boolit.

Brad

[paul h]

If I could get a great deal on the mold, I'd try it. But I can't see paying full price for an undersize mold though perhaps going with powder coating will get you the dia you're after.

Generally undersize bullets don't work well, though I've never shied away from lapping out a mold to get the as cast dia I'm after. But, I'd be loath to buy a brand spanking new custom mold and then have to lap it out.

[Whiterabbit]

Personally, I wouldn't buy a retail mold at retail pricing knowing I had to put work into it. I'm not above buying discount molds from swapandsell or a gun show if I can find them for pennies on the dollar, knowing that they need de-rusting, new handle screws, sprue plate lapping, or yes lapping to get the boolit I want or even bring it into casting condition. The discount price reflects the value in that case.

[mdi]

Like the other fellers, I wouldn't try to "make do" with a known undersize mold. But, if you cast with soft lead and/or load the round high enough to expand the skirt into the rifling, it might work.

[BK7saum]

Thanks, everyone. I was of the same opinion and not willing to buy a premium mold that "won't work " as is.

Brad

[44man]

Naw, you need the front of the boolit to start engraving and not a bucket at the end. The HB cures nothing. I have years of experience with Minie' balls and none work unless fit to the bore first. There is no reason for a HB and they can flare the base at muzzle exit. Nothing beats a groove size with a good flat base.

[williamwaco]

Hollow base wad cutters:

I have experience only with commercial .38 special wad cutters.
Two brands. Both miked .354.

Both "Shoot like a houseafire!"

[Outpost75]

Soft swaged hollowbased factory wadcutters upset to fill very large bores.

I have a .360 No.5 rook rifle with modified Metford rifling which has a groove diameter of .366" which was rechambered to .38 Special, and which shoots 2-inch groups at 50 yards all day long, on demand, with factory-loaded .38 Special match wadcutters of Winchester, Remington or Federal manufacture, as well as with handloads using the Remington 148-grain HBWC component bullets with 3 grains of Bullseye.

If your wadcutter bullets are SOFT not to exceed about 8-10 BHN, similar to factory bullets, AND you use standard prressure, NOT +P equivalent loads with FAST burning powders, which upset the bullet base well and give UNIFORM velocity and pressure, they should work well.

In the .32 S&W Long factory wadcutter loads are approximated with 1.5 to 1.7 grains of Bullseye with the flush-seated bullet. In .32 H&R Magnum brass you can increase the charge about 0.3 grain to compensate for the additional free airspace in the case. You are looking for 230 +/- 10 m/s to approximate the European target ammunition, roughly 750 +/-30 fps at 13000 psia

[Forrest r]

I'd check a couple things before I threw in the towel. Starting with pulling a bullet that been loaded already. 32 cal dies are famous for having/using undersized expander ball. The end result is the .314 bullets get swaged down to .312.

Powder coating is an excellent option, I've pc'd several hb bullets with excellent results.

Dardas sells cast dewc's for the 32cal's in .312/.313/.314. They sell sample packs of their bullets, couldn't hurt to get some @ .312 and see if they work.

Mihec molds tend to cast on the large size. I have yet to use 1 of my 12 different mihec molds (5 of them hbwc's) that only casts what is printed on the side of them, hence they all cast larger dia bullets with nothing more than range scrap/hill pickings.

Lastly, any bullet that can be sized/swaged down to a specific size can easily be bumped up 1 or 2 thousands. A simple tool I made when I was bored one afternoon. I cast some lee 311-93-1r bullets (.311 93gr rn) and ran the thru a lyman 450 sizer with a .311 sizer in it to lube them. Then I put the lubed/sized bullet into the steel die and put the hb forming die (bolt) in the steel tube and used a cheap arbor press to turn them into a .314 swaged hbwc for the 32 cal'.s

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t242/forrestr-photo/311cores_zpsfc8c466a.jpg (http://s162.photobucket.com/user/forrestr-photo/media/311cores_zpsfc8c466a.jpg.html)

FWIW, they made hb molds for revolvers in the past to aid in the huge groove dia variances in some calibers, the 38s&w and the 1917 45acp revolvers come to mind. I have 2 hb molds for the 38s&w and 3 different hb molds for the 1917 45acp & they do work extremely well.

Just something to think about.

[DougGuy]

Being that cartridge operates at 45,000psi I find it near impossible that it won't bump up your boolits BEFORE they even leave the cylinder throats... I can more than promise you, there is NO WAY a boolit that is BHN 15 or softer is going to not be slugged up to cylinder throat diameter, regardless of what design the boolit is, hollow base or not, at full published magnum load data.

That being said, I have to agree with the rest of the posts, start with a bigger mold. No need to start with an undersized boolit when we all know the problems caused by tight cylinder throats in .44 and .45 caliber Rugers, why start out with this one by duplicating known issues.