Ranch Dog's TLC311-165-RF

[Junior1942]

I finally cast some bullets with my 2-hole Ranch Dog TLC311-165-RF mold. It makes the, by golly, most lethal looking bullets for 30-30 I've ever seen, cast or jacketed. They have a huge, flat meplat with a sharp edge. It ought to hit like a sledgehammer and slice through flesh like a razor.

Naked, with my acww alloy they averaged 171.2 grs each. The diameters averaged .312" on the seams and .311" opposite the seams.

With a gas check and 2 coats of Lee Liquid Alox, they averaged 175.7 grs in weight.

I'll soon write an article comparing these bullets side by side with the Lyman 311041, the RCBS 30-180-F, and the Lee C309-170-F. Here's my opinion now: I think the Ranch Dog TLC311-165-RF is the best bullet ever designed for a 30-30 leveraction rifle.

[Johnch]

Sounds great

I have a 6 gang mould on the way
Just hope the 6 gang moulds cast as nice of a boolit

As I have several lever and bolt guns to try it in



John

[hunter64]

I got mine on Monday and so I was anxious to try it out. The mold looked OK so I heated everything up and started to pour. The usual Lee 2 hole magic reared its ugly head and sticking bullets as per usual right from the get go. Poured about 10 bullets to use in the LEEmenting clean up and after about an hour of fighting with it and LEEmenting about 10 bullets worth it started to drop a little bit easier. Last night I thought I would like to continue the battle and worked on it for a while and after about 20 minutes it started to work OK and dropping much better. After about an hour of pouring I had about 40 or so that I considered good. Tonight it was much better and got a few hundred poured and they sure look nice. I think I will give them a go on Saturday if I can get to the range. I have had luck with the tumble lube as long as I dip every bullet in with tweezers for the first and second coat of lube, I hate the lube on the nose of the bullet and getting rammed up inside the seating die and having to clean them out every 20 rounds or so. I have great expectations with this bullet and after I try it with the tumble lube I will try some in the old Lyman 450 with Lar's red.

[Ranch Dog]

Wow Junior, thanks for the fine comments!

JohnCH, hang in there... they are coming. Like I said in the email, Lee got them crosswise with the TLC432-265-RF 6-cavity order. The TLC311 should have been first. If anyone is interested, those TLC432 6Cs are now in stock! See:
http://www.ranchdogmolds.com/TLC432265RF/#store

hunter64... Sorry you had the problems with the release. I carbon my cavities up pretty good with a propane match stick as this is a very long bullet in a narrow mold with the flat nose that Junior mentioned. I suspect that you know what you are doing as you have them dropping now.

I continue to be plagued by extremely high winds (25 to 40 mph) and haven't been able to finish up the final load work with my 308ME. My dad walked into my reloading room today with his Model 94 in had and said to "put more of them long bullets together, I'm going to kill a hog". He turned 79 today and it has been the pleasure of my life having live herE at the ranch the last three years. With this dry hot weather the game has really started to move and we are going to do a double with this bullet on some hogs that are hitting the food plots. There are some real keepers , as big as they get in this area (250# ~ 300#), and our intent is to put a bullet in them at the earliest!

[Junior1942]

I just loaded and fired 3 test Ranch Dog rounds over my "actual conditions" range, i.e., barrel against the side of a tree and target @ 30 yards and me hopped up on caffeine. I was worried about feeding as the Ranch Dog bullets have an abnormally large meplat. But they fed perfectly. They also shot great and to the exact same POI as my deer hunting 311041 loads @ 1800 fps est.

I loaded these 3 rounds 100% with a Lee whack-it Loader, and used a 2.0cc Lee Dipper expanded from a 1.9cc dipper. Powder was surplus 4895 (which is going fast). Velocity was 1850 fps est.

Come October and my tent camping trip during the first week of muzzleloader season, I'll use the Ranch Dog mold, the whack-it loader, and a Lee .309" push-through die used whack-it style, and I'll cast bullets over the campfire and size & lube and load them on a stump at camp. It'll make a great article!! Thanks, Ranch Dog!

[Junior1942]

Here's a photo showing the differences between the Ranch Dog TLC311-165-RF and 3 other popular 30-30 bullets. The TLC311 has a bigger meplat than even the RCBS 30-180-FN. Note the copious amount of lube the TL grooves hold compared to the other 3 bullets.

http://www.castbullet.com/reload/photos/meplat01.jpg

[floodgate]

Junior:

Lee actually made a little "Whack-It" bullet sizing kit: die, punch, a stick of lube and a little round metal pan about 4" diameter and 1/2"high, for pan lubing. I have several out in the storage shed; will go see if I have a 30 caliber one among them.

If I can't find one that size, maybe someone else here has one of these.

floodgate

[Scrounger]

Yeah, I have/had one of those a while back, don't remember what caliber. If I find it, you can have it.

[Johnch]

Junior:

Lee actually made a little "Whack-It" bullet sizing kit: die, punch, a stick of lube and a little round metal pan about 4" diameter and 1/2"high, for pan lubing.
floodgate


I have 3 or 4 of them
I still use them for several low use bullet sizes or I just use the pan when I want to pan lube boolits that I will not size




JohnCH, hang in there... they are coming. Like I said in the email, Lee got them crosswise with the TLC432-265-RF 6-cavity order. The TLC311 should have been first.

No problem
Yea I know , I believe I have one of those coming also
I just said I had one coming
I ran a GB , so I know you are at the mercy of Lee as to when you get the moulds

If I was to complain , I would do it directly to you in a email or a phone call if posible
Not on a open forum



Johnch

[Junior1942]

Regular Lee push through size dies work fine in whack it mode. Sit the little ram/punch on a stump. Put a lubed bullet on top. Slide the die over the bullet. Take a mallet and whack the top of the die and force the bullet inside it. Turn the die over and dump out the bullet. Repeat.

It's almost as fast as doing it with a press.

[Bass Ackward]

Regular Lee push through size dies work fine in whack it mode. Sit the little ram/punch on a stump. Put a lubed bullet on top. Slide the die over the bullet. Take a mallet and whack the top of the die and force the bullet inside it. Turn the die over and dump out the bullet. Repeat.

It's almost as fast as doing it with a press.


Junior,

Your only guide is the taper inside the die. And we know what tapered sizing dies called throats do for accuracy when the bullets wacked that way.

With a press, you can run the slug up into the die and tap the base lightly a couple of times with the press ram and allow the bullet to float to a center of the die. With a smooth stem, your base is allowed to shift as the slug aligns. Can't believe a stump will have the same forgiving nature. :grin: Then your base could be outta square.

[Junior1942]

Bass, the bases come out square as can be. The punch self-aligns as it enters the die.

[floodgate]

Junior:

I found a well-used one in .309, complete but a bit messy:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/floodgate/P1010001-2.jpg

It will center the bullet better than the press sizing die; it's yours if you want it, for maybe a donation to Ken or Willy. PM me with address if you want to follow up.

Forgot to say, it also comes with a "Kake Kutter".

Floodgate

[DLCTEX]

Thanks for the picture, now I know what some of the parts I got in a lot of odds and ends are. I had figured out what the Kake Kutters were, but had never seen the sizers. DALE

[Junior1942]

Floodgate, I don't need it, but I'm betting someone here will want it!! I used to have one of those in 357 but it left in a divorce.