Lee Bullet Size Question

[Leon Garfield]

Looking to purchase the Lee mold for my 300 Blackout. Need the pointed version to feed in my Ruger American Ranch. Lookimg a the 7.62 mold. Says its .312 diameter. Will that size down to .309 in my lee sizer after powder coating? Thanks

[Shiloh]

Not a LEE, but a couple of the guys I know have these. I think the larger one but I could check for you.

http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/index.php?cPath=30_341&osCsid=u25er0a29660qipua52bpe3jl5
http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/product_info.php?cPath=30_346&products_id=770&osCsid=u25er0a29660qipua52bpe3jl5

SHiloh

[gnostic]

I have that mold, my bullets drop at .312. I wouldn't want to size my water dropped bullets that far down. Why not just buy a .309 mold?

[wcp4570]

I have a couple of the lee 312-155 molds and I size to .309 for my 300 Blackout no problem. The double cavity mold is cheap enough to give it a try.

wcp

[runfiverun]

the LEE's I have seen [and mine] don't pour that large.
most barely scuff the bottom of the grooves in a 310 die.
the Ruger [which my wife shoots] will accept a 310 30 cal boolit with ease even in the thicker
mil-surp brass.
my AAC has to have the thinner brass to even chamber a 310 boolit it will work with the LC brass if I use jacketed bullets.

[Shiloh]

Do you federal brass r do you trim necks RFR??

Shiloh

[6622729]

Do you federal brass r do you trim necks RFR??

Shiloh

Can you retype this question please?

[6622729]

[QUOTE=Shiloh;3665059]Not a LEE, but a couple of the guys I know have these. I think the larger one but I could check for you.

http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/index.php?cPath=30_341&osCsid=u25er0a29660qipua52bpe3jl5
http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/product_info.php?cPath=30_346&products_id=770&osCsid=u25er0a29660qipua52bpe3jl5

SHiloh[/QUOTE

Are they having any success with that mold? I love it's menacing look but I have yet to read anything positive about that design.

[runfiverun]

I understood the question..
federal is alright but so is SSA, and pro-grade brands.
I also have a handful of another brand that's all geeked up about tactical stuff and it's thinner also.
what I have seen from most 'non-LC" brass is it has been thinner.

the 300 being a newer round you'd think everybody would be on the same page about chambers and throats and dies and such but I haven't found that to be the case.
it seems just about everybody has a different idea about tolerances and what the rounds whole purpose is.
if I buy an upper for my AR rifle it will have a 7 twist barrel and a pistol length gas tube.
an 8 twist would maybe be acceptable since I really think that 200 gr bullets/boolits are the optimum heavy for the 300 anyway.
[even though I do shoot the LEE 230gr mold super slow in the AAC.]

anyway I segregated out all the brass and boxed it all together and marked the boxes.
the wife's Ruger will shoot any combination I have put together so far it doesn't care about brass or boolit shape all that much.
it just plunks stuff into about an inch or so at 50 yds.
the AAC is tight, and rejects ton's of boolits no matter the brass and other brass/boolit combo's work because of the neck diameter.
once I do find a combination that chambers, and mostly matches the throat shape, the rifle will shoot.
I just have to keep all the cast loads in the thinner brass, and watch the area right in front of the case mouth [diameter and drive band length] to have a hope of it working well. [but when it works it does very, very well]

[typz2slo]

I use that Lee mold but sort brass before converting. The one thing I did was drill out the gas check so its a plain base boolit now. I powder coat and run them about 16-1700fps and havent had any trouble with them except when I went to a heavier buffer.

[Shiloh]

[QUOTE=Shiloh;3665059]Not a LEE, but a couple of the guys I know have these. I think the larger one but I could check for you.

http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/index.php?cPath=30_341&osCsid=u25er0a29660qipua52bpe3jl5
http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/product_info.php?cPath=30_346&products_id=770&osCsid=u25er0a29660qipua52bpe3jl5

SHiloh[/QUOTE

Are they having any success with that mold? I love it's menacing look but I have yet to read anything positive about that design.

I think so but will fine out for sure.

Shiloh

[Shiloh]

Do you federal brass r do you trim necks RFR??

Shiloh

Do you use Fedceral brass, or trim necks??
Federal brass seems to be a bit thinner at the neck. They weigh less than LC brasss. Will Federal cases chamber for you with cast??

Shiloh

[jaysouth]

I have three of the 'fat' 30s. That is Lee 312-155, Lee 312-160 and Lee 312-185. I size all of the to .310 or .311 and shoot in 30-30, 308 and 30-06 calibers.

The 185s lubed with MML+soap and sized to .310 over 30 grs. of 4895 shoot to 1.5 inches at 100 yards and 4 inches at 200 yards. One of the 155 molds has had the gas check shank removed. Tumbled lubed in BLL over 6 grs. of Bullseye, it is sub 1 inch at 50 yards in a single shot 30-30.

[pakmc]

I have the Lee 155 gr. mold and I use it with gas checks. It will work in the 300blk or 7.62x39. I use it mostly in the 7.62x39 uppers that I have. I tried it without the gas checks and there was no accuracy. I'm not bragging about how accurate they are in my 7.62x39 upper with gas checks, either! I've tried other molds from 125gr to 161gr. lead bullets bullets in the 7.62x39 and just about any thing that works in the 7.62x39 will work in the 300blk. but I've shot jacketed .308 and .310 bullets in both rifles and they are both accurate. the .310-311, 123gr bullets where quite accurate in my 300 blk. and "O", I have the Lee molds, and two accurate molds plus a Noe mold. I get better results with the Accurate molds and the NOE then the Lee molds.(can you say barrel twist) I guess?, I also used H-4198, ACC 1680, accurate #9, .
H-322, 335, and 8208 don't seem to be the powders for my two calibers.

[iGeocacher]

Looking to purchase the Lee mold for my 300 Blackout. Need the pointed version to feed in my Ruger American Ranch. Lookimg a the 7.62 mold. Says its .312 diameter. Will that size down to .309 in my lee sizer after powder coating? Thanks


I'm wondering why you didn't go for the Lee TL230-309-5R mold? I just bought one in anticipation of getting a 300BO. It is 230 gr and .309 diameter. I'm interested in subsonic loads so I'll be getting my 300BO with a 1x7 twist. Already have a "can" waiting on ATF (into third month so hopefully by Christmas-fingers crossed.)

FWIW, I'm experimenting with that round in my Romanian AK47 looking to go subsonic with it too. I've got the load down to 1050-1080 fps with 15.7 gr of H4985. On the hairy edge of cycling so playing with tuning the recoil spring. I'll post more on that in a separate thread to get comments but I know you were specifically interested in the 300BO and I think this mold from Lee was designed for that unless I'm mistaken. It's a two holer (I prefer six-hole molds for faster casting of a lot of rounds) but for about $25 it's hard to beat. Tip: I found the best price online at Gander Mountain and since we have a local store, shipping was FREE with pickup in the store.

P.S. Lee claims their mold diameter CNC tolerance is -0.000+.003 Mine seem to be dropping at 0.3095 to 0.310 at the base so they seem pretty right on. I've been VERY happy with their molds (.44, .45, Brit .303 (actually .314) and the "standard" 7.62 (.311) are some of the others I have and they all seem to work as advertised. I found that using one of those CENTECH infrared thermometer guns (about $25 from Harbor Freight) was the key to success besides the other mold prep they have in the instructions. I shoot the sprue plate with the laser pointer (it's black, shiny AL doesn't read well) and when it gets up over 275 from resting on top of the Lee 10 pound electric pot (about #7 setting on it's control) I typically have good casts right from the start or nearly so. 300-350 degrees F at the sprue plates seems to be about right. Over 350 and the mold casts "hot" (frosty boolits with sprue smear) and I let the mold cool for a few minutes until it gets back below 300 on the CENTECH. Hope that helps. I'm relatively new to this but I'm finding shooting my own boolits is very satisfying. (Not to mention saving some serious money on ammo.)

-dB