Lead for .30-06 Springfield bullets

[MIEagle]

HI. I don't know if this is the proper section but.... I want to cast for my .30 cal '03 and 03-A3 rifles. I'm considering the NOE 311299 and the Accurate 31-200L molds. I don't want to mess with WWs. I presently cast 30/1 bullets for my .45-70 silhouette rifle and pure lead for my 1841 Mississippi minies. I was given a quantity of "hard lead" ingots of probably various alloy composition.
The Accurate mold website wants to know the alloy composition of the lead that I will be using to cast the bullets. I would like these bullets to be suitable for paper punching and silhouette shooting out to 500m. Is a 30/1 or any other lead/tin ratio suitable for this application? Should I just tell Accurate that I will be using WW and cast up the "hard lead" that I have? I want to avoid a woulda, coulda, shoulda situation. Thank you.

[Dan Cash]

I specify 20:1 alloy when ordering from Accurate. True 20:1 works well for me in a number of grease groove applications but when I need a harder bullet, I modify the alloy to what I want and cast away. Bullets are just fine as is the performance. I try to order the mould to drop at a diameter suitable to shoot as cast for the primary weapon. I can then use it for other, smaller bore diameters or size it down several thousandths and paper patch it. Changing alloy from my specified ratio does not produce a significant change in diameter unless I am changing from pure lead to linotype in the same mould and even then the difference is no show stopper.

[Larry Gibson]

silhouette shooting out to 500m

If that is what you want to do then you'll have to be a little more consistent in the quality and the hardness of the alloy. a 30-1 alloy will not with stand the acceleration necessary for 500m shooting with either of those case bullets out of your '06s. I suggest you specify the moulds for #2 alloy. Then use the "hard lead ingots" and see what they cast out at. They should at least do well enough for paper punching at 100 - 200 m as you can load them lighter if the alloy isn't hard enough. I suggest you look into the purchase of some #2 alloy or make your own (the Lyman CBHBs #3 and #4 tell how easily enough) for use at longer ranges.

A reading of the "Consistency" thread and some of the HV threads might help you also. Additionally look on the NOE forum as I've posted there how to push velocities up in 10" twist rifles such as you will be using.

Larry Gibson

[40-82 hiker]

"Don't want to mess with wheel weights"? How about buying some COWW ingots on this site, and water quench or oven treat? 20+ or 30+ BHN... At least your your hard lead. The soft was, as stated previously, will not work for the pressures/velocities you'll need.

Search this site for a "chart" comparing pressures and alloys needed. I remember seeing it somewhere, but can't remember when or where on CB.

[lobogunleather]

I have been shooting cast bullets in the 1903 and 03/A3 Springfields for many years. The two molds I like for this caliber are the Lee C309-170F and C309-180R. I have good supplies of both wheel weights and new linotype metal, and I cast for this caliber using a 50/50 blend of these two metals. Bullets are gas checked (Hornady crimp-on) while passing through a .309" sizer die and lubed with NRA-Alox formula. My usual load in .30-06 is 30 grains H335, 2-grain loose fiber fill, standard primer, which is about 2000FPS (roughly equivalent to .30-30 performance). Pleasant to shoot all day. Accuracy in my rifles from the bench with open sights is typically 3" groups at 100 yards. The 170-flat point has proven to be an excellent hunting bullet in addition to providing good accuracy. The round-nose would probably be better for your long-range goals.

With the unmodified rifles I find that for 100 yard shooting I need to use the 300 yard sight settings. At 200 yards I use the 400 yard settings and usually stay on a 9" paper plate for a target. In my opinion 200 yards is about the limit for this load in these rifles. If you plan on shooting 500 meter silhouettes you will need to step up the loads, get the velocities up around 2400 or 2500 FPS in order to reach out that far without a rainbow-shaped trajectory. Achieving those velocities with any degree of accuracy will require the hardest practical bullets, which might be achievable with straight linotype or comparable alloy. Gas checks will be pretty much a necessity with those kinds of pressures. Powders a bit on the slower side will help to avoid excessive bullet deformation under initial acceleration; I would probably try something like 4895 or similar.

What you want to do can probably be done, but you can expect some failures as you experiment with different loads.

By the way, I don't "mess with wheel weights". Years ago I bought an old cast iron pot that I use on a camping stove in the back yard to melt, clean, and flux 30 lbs. at a time, then pour into ingot molds for use in casting. Takes me about 4 hours to process out 100 lbs. of used wheel weights. I still have three 5-gallon buckets of wheel weights from back in the 1970's and 1980's, probably about 300 lbs. I buy new linotype metal from a foundry, same source that served the printing trade for so long. Should have just about enough to last through my "golden years".

Have fun with it.

[Budzilla 19]

I cast for '06 with a Lee mold in .309/200 grn RNFP using an alloy of WW, Babbitt metal for Tin, gas checked and Hi-Tek coated. 50 grns H-4831, 2067 FPS, 1 inch or less at 100 yds! These are water-dropped at casting, with alloy temp of 730 to 750F. Don't know what the BHN is, man, are they hard! Can't scratch them with your fingernail at all. Copper content is high on this alloy. No leading at all. Hope this helps.