rcbs 308-165-SIL problems.....

[elginrunner]

Man oh man... So I have been searching for weeks for this mold. I place a WTB ad and I get a response, and everything works out I get the mold. It looks great, it cast great, I'm so excited I cast for several hours solid... I probably cast 500 or so... I put some gas checks on and powder coated about 150... man these things look awesome.... time to sort by weight..... 180.2 gr... WTH?!? cant' be right, this scale has been acting wonky, get another..180.1gr... yep


So, I have a excellent mold, that makes very nice bullets, but they aren't what the mold says they are... The mold is not in the current listing of molds offered by RCBS... has it been discontinued? Would they make it right? Their customer service is top notch, but if this is a discontinued mold I may be SOL.

Anyone have any helpful suggestions.... ( by the way RCBS customer service hours are not what they show on the website... they are now 7am-1pm PST).

[dannyd]

That's a great bullet have casted over 5,000. What the makeup of the lead your casting?

[elginrunner]

50/50 WW/pure with a touch of tin.... could it possibly vary 15 grains??

[GARD72977]

Without looking it up I'm almost positive there was a 165 and 180 sil mold. I would just use it as is.

What are you loading for

[dannyd]

I use Lyman 2 and or just WW water dropped. Try just WW and water drop. I use that bullet in 300 magnum, 308 Winchester, 300 Blackout and even 32/20 TC. All of work out to 200 yards: I don't powder coat just lube and a gas check. Mind are 171 gas checked and lubed. RCBS still makes the mould 168 and the 190.

[elginrunner]

I'm loading for a autoloading .308....

[GARD72977]

Do loaded rounds chamber in your rifle

[Bazoo]

Work a load up and shoot them anyways is what I'd do. If you cast them from Linotype they'd be closer to correct weight. The number on the side of the mould is just to help you identify it in a pile.

[Ford SD]

Man oh man... So I have been searching for weeks for this mold. I place a WTB ad and I get a response, and everything works out I get the mold. It looks great, it cast great, I'm so excited I cast for several hours solid... I probably cast 500 or so... I put some gas checks on and powder coated about 150... man these things look awesome.... time to sort by weight..... 180.2 gr... WTH?!? cant' be right, this scale has been acting wonky, get another..180.1gr... yep


So, I have a excellent mold, that makes very nice bullets, but they aren't what the mold says they are... The mold is not in the current listing of molds offered by RCBS... has it been discontinued? Would they make it right? Their customer service is top notch, but if this is a discontinued mold I may be SOL.

Anyone have any helpful suggestions.... ( by the way RCBS customer service hours are not what they show on the website... they are now 7am-1pm PST).


I have the rcbs 30-165 my weight 172g as cast with gc

[MUSTANG]

There is an RCBS 165 Sil; and an RCBS 200 Sil (I have both of these). There is also an RCBS MOULD 30-180-SP 2-CAVITY (.309) and an RCBS MOULD 30-180 FN 2-CAVITY (.309) See pics of each style below.

277844

Is your mold an actual RCBS 165 Sil that casts very heavy? Mine run about 173 to 175 grains using a 96% Lead, 3% Antimony, and 1% Tin alloy. Or; it actually one of the other Molds depicted in the picture above?

[elginrunner]

https://i.postimg.cc/hGQSnJ3c/IMG-20210216-173531.jpg (https://postimages.org/)
https://i.postimg.cc/kMv77Pw6/image-2021-02-13-20-08-34.png (https://postimages.org/)

[garandsrus]

What diameter do your bullets cast at? As long as they are big enough, which the probably are, you are good to go.

Your alloy is softer than the "standard" used when weighing bullets, which seems to be Lyman #2. Since yours is softer, it will be heavier. It's a great mold and one of my most used 30 Cal bullets.

As always, start at the low end of the powder scale and work up.

Have fun...

[elginrunner]

What would give me the lightest bullet in this mold? Straight WW? I've cast thousand of pistol boolits but I never bothered much about the weight on them... This is my first foray into the rifle realm. Also I went with a softer alloy because I have a lot of soft lead, and wanted to conserve my hard lead... and I am powder coating them......

[James Wisner]

I bought the same mold years ago new, and YES with COWW mine will weigh just under 180 grs.

Work up a load in your rifle and go for it.
This same bullet in my 300 BO in a bolt action will shoot 1 MOA all day long

J Wisner

[Kraschenbirn]

Every RCBS mold I own drops 5%-7% heavier than labeled when using my COWW/Range Scrap/Sn alloy as opposed to Lyman #2 or similar. Finished weight (w/GC and powdercoat) for my own 308-165SIL mold is 177-178 gr.

Bill

[Conditor22]

What diameter do your bullets cast at? As long as they are big enough, which the probably are, you are good to go.

Your alloy is softer than the "standard" used when weighing bullets, which seems to be Lyman #2. Since yours is softer, it will be heavier. It's a great mold and one of my most used 30 Cal bullets.

As always, start at the low end of the powder scale and work up.

Have fun...

Casting HOT with foundry alloy will get you the lightest/smallest -- but darned hard boolits (30+ BHN)

I'm also a fan of the .308-165 SIL
and the 30 XCB (310-165-FN)

[dannyd]

https://i.postimg.cc/hGQSnJ3c/IMG-20210216-173531.jpg (https://postimages.org/)
https://i.postimg.cc/kMv77Pw6/image-2021-02-13-20-08-34.png (https://postimages.org/)

That's it. The first mould I picked up about 30 years ago, but I just got another one haven't casted with it yet. There maybe a difference between old and new?

[farmbif]

I would not get hung up on the weight- with a cast bullet I seriously doubt you will be trying to squeeze out the highest velocity possible. ive found that many 30 caliber cast loads get best accuracy and performance between 1900-2100 fps. but I have some wild hair ideas to try and get a 35 whelen up to about 2600 fps--but in all reality--now that I'm back down to earth with my feet on the ground even that gun is real good and accurate at right around 2000fps

[elginrunner]

My initial intentions were to see how fast/best accuracy with a gas checked powder coated bullet I could get... Then my master chrony died.... I got a caldwell coming but with all this snow we have, who knows when it will get here....

[gwpercle]

Since you have come this far with it and all the stars seemed to have aligned to put it in your hands , it might be fate ... run with it .
I bought a 38 wadcutter mould advertised as 140 grains ... it was 160 grains , I kept it and after some testing ... it's the most accurate 38/357 boolit I own . Just about any powder will make one ragged hole groups .
It was Kismet !
Gary

[Stewbaby]

If I read correctly, I’d say don’t start your casting experience in rifles with an auto loader (semi auto). Work up some bolt gun loads first...more forgiving.

[elginrunner]

i'm doing all my testing in a bolt gun.... they have the same rate of twist... I know that's not exactly the same as the throats will probably be different... but it's as close as I can get...(no scope on the ptr)

[Ford SD]

I'm loading for a autoloading .308....

I looked up some loads I did in 2012 for a semi 308 with a soso barrel
best group i got was app 2-3/8 at 100 using the 165 sil boolet

Best results will be a reduced load / compared to jacket

I used Dacron filler on top ... just a touch/bit

I do not have any follow up loads

I started at 28.0g of Imr 4895 went up 0.5 g at a time277922277923

[Ford SD]

Double post

[Winger Ed.]

The molds are marked for casting with a hard, relatively light alloy.
Lyman #2 I think.
The closer and closer you get to pure Lead, the heavier the boolit will be when it comes out.

I cast my .459--405 rather soft, and they weigh right at 424.

[Mk42gunner]

RCBS did not specify weight with Lyman #2 alloy. I have mold instructions from them in town, I will look and report back tomorrow; but I believe they used Linotype for rifles and 10-1 for handguns.

Robert

[popper]

About 39gr h4895 or varget, works fine sized 310

[lotech]

I've had the 30-165 SIL mould for more than thirty years. Makes an accurate bullet. My notes show it weighs 174 grs. in ww alloy. I also used linotype, but don't have a weight recorded in that one, but it's probably close to or just over 165 grs. I seldom use this mould only because I've come to prefer a heavier bullet, around 200 grs.