.308 Cast Plain Base 160 Gr.

[EMC45]

I am curious what powders are being used for this bullet? I use Unique for the gascheck bullet, but it leaded and the accuracy is poor. I have just about every rifle and pistol powder. Maybe something a little faster? Red Dot, Green Dot? Bullseye maybe? Just let me know what the pros are doing. Thanks.:-D

[HABCAN]

You don't mention what SIZE your gas-check boolit is? First thing to look at when leading occurs is boolit diameter.

[garandsrus]

EMC45,

I would agree with HABCAN, check the size of the boolit and your bore.

I use mostly Unique with a plain base boolit in a 30-30. The alloy is either ACWW or WQWW.

John

[EMC45]

It drops at .310 and I size to .309. The bore on my K31 and my Mauser are .308. The gas check ones do great. I want to really start trying the plain base though.

[Larry Gibson]

It drops at .310 and I size to .309. The bore on my K31 and my Mauser are .308. The gas check ones do great. I want to really start trying the plain base though.


If it is in fact a PB bullet (designed that way) then try it over 6.5 gr of Bullseye with no filler or wad. Use ACWW. Also; what lube are you using?

Larry Gibson

[Maven]

EMC45, I have a group buy Lee 30-150-PB bullet mold (actual wt. is ~141grs.) that has given me problems similar to yours, but in a .30-06. Through trial & error I've learned that the unsized CB's are more accurate than those sized to fit the bore, .311" in this instance. I've also learned to use a smaller charge of powder than you might think: 10grs. Blue Dot and 9grs. Unique gave me accurate results without bore leading (You can adjust these charges for the 7.5 x 55 in either direction.), but you'll generally find the best accuracy is obtained between 1,400fps - 1,500fps. Try using the largest sizer (H & I type) you have to lube the CB's and load them over say, 7, 8 & 9grs. of Unique v. 8, 9, & 10grs. of Blue Dot and compare them for grouping. Btw, dry patch your bore after every 5 shots so as to determine whether a given load is leaving lead behind. If you have a chrono., use it in order to get a clearer picture of velocity, accuracy and bore leading. Hope this helps!

[RU shooter]

It dont get alot of mention as a powder for rifle loads but I am also shooting a PB 160 in my K31 with 7.0-7.5 grs of W231 burns clean and shoots great(one big raged hole @50M) and as Larry mentioned 6.0-6.5 of Bullseye is always a winner Never had great accuracy with Red dot till I got to about 8.5- 9 gr. and thats getting warm for a PB boolit.

[Ben]

I shot this with a Springfield 1903, Lyman 48 Rear and Lyman 17 A front.
308 Winchester, 200 gr. Lee plain base, sized .311 ( the gas check shank has been drilled out making the mold a plain based mold.)

Load is 7.8 grs. B'eye, Range 50 yards, 5 shots :

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/haysb/PICT0002.jpg

[EMC45]

It is a Lee mold that I cut the GC shank out of. Polished it out and cast a bunch then sized 'em.

[Ben]

I have become very interested in plain based .30 cal. bullets:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=22102

[kjg]

I had simlar problems, but switched to lee's liquid alox and tuble lubed, let bullets dry a day and relubed them just to see what would happen, then loaded them, with 17 garins of unique,in my 45-70 and shot them off hand at 50 yards and ended up with a 5 shot group totaly astounding 3/4' group,these loads have no filers or wads, with the price of gass check going out of the roof just can't subject a lyman, seaco,or rcbs, mold but a lee mould does sound reather interesting going to tyr that tonight,then tomarrow cast them up, and lube em and shoot em. kjg

[bpost1958]

I've had real good luck with Red Dot pusing for about 1450 FPS and playing around with seating depth and charge from that starting point.

[Bret4207]

The little bit of PB rifle shooting I've done has shown good results from shooting the tumble lubed with Mule Snot and shot as cast. My feeling is that fat butt seals better and the lube smeared all over the boolit helps. Mind you I think they were loafing along about 1250-1300 fps, but who needs more for plinking and small game?

[RU shooter]

I've had real good luck with Red Dot pusing for about 1450 FPS and playing around with seating depth and charge from that starting point. +1 on the red dot This topic got me experimenting some more with powders and especially rethinking red dot with the PB boolit I am using the group buy 160 gr TL plinker PB boolit and tried 10 grs of RD just for kicks vel was prob. in the 1400 range. I always wondered how accurate this type of load would be out at 200 since its dropping back through the sound barrier a little past 100yds. So today while there was a break in the action from our annual highpower clinic I had my bud spot for me as I lobbed a few out at the SR2 targets with my 03A3 elevation on the rear sight was almost at max I think I had 50 yds left (750 setting) and this is no BS since I had a line full of witnesses all 10 rds were in the 10 ring ! I was truely shocked how well it shot . Red dot and a PB boolit I vote a big yes!