I have this boolit and I have this gun.

[Lucky Joe]

I have this boolit it is the Lyman 245496 85 gr. Loverin design. I've had this mould and a Mossberg ATR in the .243 cal. for years and have not done anything with either. Our gun club had a 4 gun shoot and one of the stages was a 4" gong at 200 and 300 yards. I wasn't set up for this stage and had to use a range gun .223. Thought I might see if this combination would do the job. What I would like to do is drop the velocity down to 1,800 to 2,100 fps. I'm looking for feedback on those who have used this setup especially this boolit, I lube my pistol rounds with BLL or I powder coat them any thoughts on lube, it seems from what I read both should serve for this velocity.

New to rifle reloading so any help or advice would really be appreciated.
Left to Right
Unsized, .245, Sized unlubed .243, PC'd .243
203263

[waco]

I think you may have trouble with that boolit at 21,000fps...:popcorn:

[Tatume]

That range of speed (1800 - 21,000 fps) is pretty broad. Can you narrow it down a bit? :-)

Seriously though, the bullets in the photo indicate to me that your mold isn't hot enough. If you cast a bit faster, until your bullets mildly frost, I think those wrinkles will disappear and your edges will be crisper.

Take care, Tom

[Lucky Joe]

Thanks for the quick replies fellas, if I could get a consistent 2,000 to 2,100 fps. I would take that. And Tom I'll work on the mould technique, thank you both. Waco what speed would you suggest?

[Tatume]

Hi Joe,

You're playing with us now. You can't achieve 21,000 fps with chemical propellants. You need one of these:

https://www.onr.navy.mil/media-center/fact-sheets/electromagnetic-railgun.aspx

On the other hand, 1800 - 2100 fps is easy to do.

Take care, Tom

[Lucky Joe]

Tom,

That should work unfortunately at the entrance to the club is a sign saying "NO RAIL GUNS ALLOWED". Last time one was there it blew the berm away.

[runfiverun]

you only need to make a tink sound on the gong.
don't get all wrapped up in velocity, try 7-10 grs of red-dot.

[RED333]

runfiverun is telling you right, 1800 is plenty fast, drop it in on the target.

[MT Chambers]

The Loverin design while certainly historic has never shown good accuracy for me, in this competition, are you competing against folks using full power J-word loads? No one loves cast more than me but If you are competing against j-word bullets I'd load up with the same!

[Kraschenbirn]

.243 is the one cartridge that's never provided me with any cast boolit satisfaction. The M700 I bought as a college graduation present for myself is still a tack-driver with j-words but, despite repeated efforts, has never proven any better than 'mediocre' with cast. I'm with the preceding post; for competition, I'd go with my best j-word load without hesitation. Using my 'pet load', sighed dead-on @ 200 yds, my Remington prints 6" low at 300...no sight adjustment or 'guesstimated" holdover between distances.

Bill

[MT Gianni]

I loved that bullet in the 243 when I had one. Try 12 grains of 2400 and work up to 13 gr. You should find a sweet spot about 1/2 way. I would be fine shooting that at known distances but because of the velocity I would not try to guess at ranges over 200 yards. Mark your scope settings for 100 and 200 yards. I would use a good lube instead of coating but that is me.

[frkelly74]

The Loverin design while certainly historic has never shown good accuracy for me, in this competition, are you competing against folks using full power J-word loads? No one loves cast more than me but If you are competing against j-word bullets I'd load up with the same!

but if you do succeed in keeping up with the big dogs with your home made boolits it will give you such a rush. And leave them scratching their pointy little heads. You might even be accused of cheating.

[waco]

Thanks for the quick replies fellas, if I could get a consistent 2,000 to 21,000 fps. I would take that. And Tom I'll work on the mould technique, thank you both. Waco what speed would you suggest?
I would shoot for 1800-2000fps
It's pretty easy to get acceptable accuracy at those speeds.

[Lucky Joe]

.243 is the one cartridge that's never provided me with any cast boolit satisfaction. The M700 I bought as a college graduation present for myself is still a tack-driver with j-words but, despite repeated efforts, has never proven any better than 'mediocre' with cast. I'm with the preceding post; for competition, I'd go with my best j-word load without hesitation. Using my 'pet load', sighed dead-on @ 200 yds, my Remington prints 6" low at 300...no sight adjustment or 'guesstimated" holdover between distances.

BillThat should be 2,100 fps my mistake. I'm MOA barn door with a keyboard.

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[quilbilly]

I have that mold as well. My wife shoots it in her Mossberg ATR 243 and loves it. Definitely MOA on a good day using 11 gr of Unique which produces an MV of about 1920. Sadly my old Mod 600 Rem 6mm doesn't like it at all. Every rifle has its own personality. The alloy I use for her is 60% pure and 40% hard birdshot plus a little tin water quenched. For lube I just use Alox.

[Lucky Joe]

quillbilly thanks for the alloy recipe, found this book in my library. Should help me along the way. This is a step over the line for me, loading bottle neck cartridges. Been straight wall pistol for 40 years.
203477

[Cowboy_Dan]

quillbilly thanks for the alloy recipe, found this book in my library. Should help me along the way. This is a step over the line for me, loading bottle neck cartridges. Been straight wall pistol for 40 years.
203477

I have that book, good reading and good information. Even acknowledges the existance of boolits, but sort of glosses over them. But, I have used quite a bit of the information for them.

[quilbilly]

I think you will find CB's in bottleneck cases very interesting. The only rifle I have so far that will not shoot CB's well is my old 6mm. Some rifles took months to find a good load while others loved CB's right out of the gate. My biggest challenge was the 223 and I had to go outside conventional wisdom. My current challenge waiting until after hunting season is a 16" barrel 308 bolt gun which I hope will shoot as well as a different brand 308 with a 20" barrel. Good fun and occasional frustration.