.348 win help

[omgb]

I just bought a Browning M71 in .348 win. I need to buy a mold. Before I do I wanted some advice from those who have and shoot cast bullets in a .348 What mold do you use? What do you size it to? I will slug the bore but for now I am curious at what works for you. What weight do you like? What M die do you use?

[rintinglen]

I have three molds that get use. The first is the RCBS .348-200. The Second is a 350-220 by Accurate. It is a "6-of-1-half-a-dozen-of-the-other" with them. Neither is better than the other, they shoot about the same. Both kick pretty hard with full loads.
I use WW760 and H4895 with those. The Accurate boolit is on the right.
193904
193905But my most used boolit is something different. I used the 358-429, 170 grain SWC, sized .350 over 13.0 grains of Red Dot. It is a very mild load, that is a fun, accurate load. It shoots way low, but it will shoot into an inch and a half at 50 yards.

[Chill Wills]

The one I used was the old NEI (Walt) made a 348 that went 235gr and was outstanding in my two Winchester made M-71's.
25gr SR-4759 or full power loads were great.

I am sure there are other molds but that is the one that worked well for me.
The Lyman mold I had was not as good (accurate). I sold it.

I had a 0.348" lube and size die from Lyman. It worked well with the SR-4759 loads. It was enlarged to 0.349-0.350" and my full powder loads accuracy was improved. The SR-4759 loads still shot fine using the larger size. The NEI bullet as cast was hardly marked using the enlarged sizer.
I was using LBT blue lube and a gas check.

The light loads produced about 1700-1800 and were great for most shooting/plinking needs.

[Chill Wills]

I also paper patched both cast and jacketed 338 bullets for use in the 348 but that was something of a, "see if I could do it" kind of event. I did not do it for hunting and moved on.