first round of testing brought some surprises...

[ssn vet]

7657

WDWW cast in a Lee 312-155. (bulk FMJ reload on right for comparison.)

all gas checked and sized to .311 (guessing on this one....need to slug the barell) all were pan lubed with 50/50 and half were lubed a second time with LLA.

Tested Herc. 2400 loads,starting at 14.5 gr, 15 gr., 15.5 gr and 16 gr (which is Harris's recommended max. load). All loads fired in a 16" Saiga 7.62x39 rifle, converted back into it's military config.

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Results.....

14.5gr wouldn't cycle the action at all, 15 and even 15.5 gr. would cycle the action fully about half of the time. 16 gr. did the trick and completely cycle every time.

16 gr. did not show any overpressure signs that I could detect. The primers still had radius on the edges and cases looked fine.

I started out at 50 yds. hitting a couple inches low with my 124 gr. FMJ bulk bullets (loaded with AA 1680), and all of my cast bullets loaded with 2400 were off the bottomm of the paper. Raising my POA to the top of the paper finally left a few holes at the very bottom. So there was quite a drop.

No leading observed at all.

Next time I'll start at 16 gr. of 2400 and inch it up a little. I'll also load some with AA 1680 and see how they fair.

[WILCO]

Sounds like some good work. Keep us posted. :mrgreen:

[bruce drake]

SSN VET,

You'll find that AA1680 does well in that 155gr LEE as well. I love to play with my SKS with that caliber. I just hated having to chase the brass all over the range. Reloadable 7.62x39 brass is a pain to get on a regular basis.

Junior and several others on this forum shoot the 7.62x39 pretty regular and can provide some data for you pretty easily

I like the caliber so much that I built a 7.62x39 Mauser from a Turk action and a Wilson barrel so that I could experiment more with it.

A short powder column that allows a decently heavy bullet shot with some very good accuracy. Before this deployment to Iraq, I was getting very nice groups out of that case with a 185gr Lee .312 and 7gr of Red Dot with that Mini-Mauser. I bought the Lee 200gr mold since I've deployed and when I get back it will probably be the next combo I try in that caliber.

The heaviest I've shot through my SKS was the 185s and they did pretty good and helped cycle the rifle with the lighter powder charges required from lead bullets.

Bruce

[ssn vet]

the "best" part of the session was that both the 50/50 pan lubed and the doulbe lubed (50/50 pan, followed by LLA tumble) both shot clean.

I snapped the GC on by hand, lubed the bullets and then pushed them though the .311 Lee sizer....

I need to slug the barrel....that much is for sure. I may have to lap out the Lee sizer to open it up to .312 or so.

Here's my plan for the next go around...comments are welcom....

I'll snap on the gas check, smear the bullets with imperial and then seat the gas check and size the bullets on the Lee sizer.

Then I'll 50/50 pan lube one batch and dip the other in LLA up to the crimp groove.

I"m very interested in getting 1680 loads from anybody out there casting this same bullet.

[bruce drake]

20gr of AA1680 with a 155gr lead pill gives me 1800fps
22.5gr is the max recommended by Accurate Powder. It provides 2055fps and 49K of PSI. It shoudl be workable with your lube if you want to go that fast.

Those are out of their downloadable manual at www.accuratepowder.com

Bruce