PC long 30 cal bullet

[Dom]

I cast a few 30 cal bullets from this mold & PC.215gr GC. Bought the mold some where back in the mid to late 1960's. Price tag shows $8. This is the first time I've used it in probably 30 yrs. Still in perfect condition. Would like to develop an accurate load at about 2000 fps in my 308. 24" Douglas bbl, 1/10 twist. Was wondering if anyone has developed such a load. If so with what powder. According to one of my loading manuals some where around 44grs of H-4831 might be a way to go. Any ideas. 284746284747

[gpidaho]

Dom: First step, make up a dummy round with those PC'd bullets and make sure they chamber in your Douglas barrels throat. The added nose diameter can sometimes cause chambering problems, especially with bore riders. Gp

[Dom]

I was just about to do that. thanks.

[MUSTANG]

Dom:

You might want to read this thread: https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?92341-Lyman-311290-HP-d

Although it deals with a hollow pointed 311290 mold and mostly Unique 2400 powder - it might be of interest to you as you move forward.

[405grain]

Dom: I cast up and powder coated a batch of the somewhat similar 311284 215 grain boolits. With the powder coat the nose gets too fat and these won't chamber in any of my 30 cals. (But their fine in my 7.65x53 so no major loss) I second the recommendation to make up a dummy round and check for chambering. I machined a "nose sizing die" that uses neck sizing bushings to resize just the nose of the boolit, but this is a failure. It sizes the nose OK, but then the nose becomes off center from the driving bands. This makes the boolit all but useless.
If your cartridge chambers and shoots good that's great! If it won't chamber because the nose is too fat, here's one possible solution; Using a combination of techniques that other members were trying, I was able to make bore riding boolits with powder coated driving bands and a hard wax shell. They are a lot of extra work but I've been having good results with them so far. Here's the thread.
https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?423448-Hybrid-Boolits

[charlie b]

Having shot a lot of 210gn bullets in my .308 (Acc 21-210E, Eagan clone) I can almost guarantee you will need to nose size those to get them in your rifle.

My advice if you want to use those is to get a sizer set from NOE with body and nose bushings based on your throat length, bore and groove diameters. My Savage I use .302 for the nose and .309 for body. I nose size to .299 before powder coating, then .302 after PC. The nose is an interference fit in the bore and the first driving band is jammed into the rifling.

I've used several powders. Mine likes velocities in the 1800fps range. Powder is whatever I can get the lowest velocity spread. Currently that is IMR4198, mainly cause I have not been able to get any 2400. I have also used 4895, 3031 and Varget and got decent groups as long as I stay below 2000fps. 1.5MOA is average, 2MOA if I just throw a bunch of loads together. 1MOA or a little less when everything comes together. And, yes, I weight sort bullets, drill out flash holes and even weight sort cases to pursue the sub-MOA groups.

FYI, the bases of the bullets will extend below the case neck. Make sure you use good crimp on gas checks.

[Dom]

Sounds like I have a lot of home work to do. Will see how it goes.

[cwlongshot]

Looks allot like a favorite 311284. Mines is a HP.

CW

[Dom]

Fantastic results. Seated the bullet to an over all length of 2.640. Chambered with no effort. Bullet was seated so the top edge of the upper most driving band was seated even with the top of the neck. Yes the bullet was seated deep in the powder space. Loaded with 38grs of H-4831. Should be around 1800 fps. Absolutely dead on at 50 yds , right to the point of aim. Dumb luck I guess. At this point I am elated. Over the next couple of days I will try to develop a load around 2000 fps. The ones I did shoot left not a trace of lead. Did I mention I was happy. WOW.

[405grain]

Great news. Glad everything worked out.

[charlie b]

Glad they worked.