30XCB in 7.62x39 AR? AWESOME RESULTS!

[Wolfdog91]

Well instead of sleeping like a sane person last night I had a little idea. Since this mold is supposed to be THE thing first standard 30cal .308 bore and the like...and my bear creek AR has a .308 bore.... Why not ?
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The Lyman hand book was kinda a waste of time since it basically says don't waste your time with cast and semi autos, but looking in the Hornady hand book I saw that most of the loads where running. In the same ball park as what this bullet apparently likes for cast velocity soooo,did a little bit of a SWAG and decided 22.5 GR of accurate 2015 should be a good place.

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Honestly didn't get super crazy with brass prep like I usually do because one I've only ever fed this thing steel cased and two ....I may have been half asleep at 1 a.m [emoji23] so standard, lube ,size ,trim champer all that goodness then expand with a NOE .311x307 plug. Then I just kinda fiddled around till I found a seating depth that would change the round with me using my thumb to just barely press the bolt carrier home.
Actually a little surprised but these need to be in kinda far
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And today's set up. 50 yd feeding from the mag , front rest rear bag 1-4 monstrum LPVO, magneto speed Chrono which I must say, isn't the biggest fan of cast lol, she's a lil picky

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Now I gotta say I wasn't expecting much but after the first 6rd of getting on paper I don't have ANY feeding issues, as far as the bolt not catching or picking up, did have to mortar the charging handle though but fixed the seating depth a little to hopefully alleviate that. But guys when I got on target !
First three rounds at 50 after getting some what zeroed, only read two of them right though
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And the next charge level up

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AND WH SAYS YOU CAN GET GOOD RESULTS WITH CAST OUT OF AN AR ! [emoji41]

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[Hannibal]

Nice work and very encouraging! Not to rain on your parade but I'd stretch the distance out to 100 yards.

I've thought I was really onto something at 50 yds only to have it fall apart at 100. Jacketed and cast loads.

[Wolfdog91]

Nice work and very encouraging! Not to rain on your parade but I'd stretch the distance out to 100 yards.

I've thought I was really onto something at 50 yds only to have it fall apart at 100. Jacketed and cast loads.

I might , I'd have to snag a scope off of something else though because a 1-4 @ 100yd egghhhh isn't th best thing for group testing [smilie=l: honestly I was happy with thing keeping a fist sided group @100yd with the cheap steel cased tula crap I used to feed it for high hunting and I was bang flopping them left and right with it. So idk I might but really it's more a a brush gun in is current configuration. Might try something in the next day or two.
Will saugh though I really need to get a .300blk because I think it would be a cake walk lol

[Mk42gunner]

You don't need more magnification, you just need an aimingpoint that you can see clearly.

I have often used a black 4" square as the aim point on targets. You can set it so the sides are plumb by using a weighted string (simple plumb bob). This really works.

Now if your scope isn't clear, all bets are off.

Robert

[Texas by God]

I’ve had good results with AA2015 and cast in my 6.8SPC and my 30-30.
My 7.62x39 AR loved the Lee 309150F over 3031 on the first try.
Does your load function correctly, or do you have to operate the bolt manually?


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[Wolfdog91]

I’ve had good results with AA2015 and cast in my 6.8SPC and my 30-30.
My 7.62x39 AR loved the Lee 309150F over 3031 on the first try.
Does your load function correctly, or do you have to operate the bolt manually?


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Complete and total functionality from the get go ! Only problem I had was my seating depth was a little.longband hand to lightly mortar two rounds but find that with a turn of the seating due and yeah other then that worked about flawless

[Loudenboomer]

Nice work Wolfdog

[Hannibal]

I might , I'd have to snag a scope off of something else though because a 1-4 @ 100yd egghhhh isn't th best thing for group testing [smilie=l: honestly I was happy with thing keeping a fist sided group @100yd with the cheap steel cased tula crap I used to feed it for high hunting and I was bang flopping them left and right with it. So idk I might but really it's more a a brush gun in is current configuration. Might try something in the next day or two.
Will saugh though I really need to get a .300blk because I think it would be a cake walk lol

I recently tried cast in a 300AAC. Saeco #301 mould. Boreriders. Not powder coated but not saying I won't try that. Only been to the range with it once and having troubles with misfires due to a firing pin issue so honestly I was paying more attention to getting it to fire consistently than anything else. Initial results are promising, around an inch and a half at 100 yds.

Now, this is a 'Mini-Mauser' bolt action rebarreled to 300AAC. So not a semi-auto. I'll post targets after the next range trip. Definitely won't be happening until next year.

[405grain]

When the average Joe thinks about the 7.62x39 they think of it as so-so accurate steel cased semi-auto round. The 7.62x39 is actually one of the best cartridges for cast bullets. The case capacity and powder choices allow it to operate at velocities that work very well in cast loads. The loading options are limited in semi-automatics, not by the actions, but by the magazine length. In bolt actions I've loaded the 7.62x39 with everything from 100 grain SWC pistol bullets to 220 grain Lyman #311284's. The accuracy of the 7.62x39 depends on the gun; the cartridge can be astoundingly accurate if fired from a quality rifle (though the bulk of firearms made for it place reliability over accuracy). IMHO the best semiauto for this cartridge is the SKS. (In mine anyway) It can be loaded with everything from 120 grain Saeco #302, rcbs 30-180-FN, 200 grain Lyman #311299, or jacketed bullets, and works without a hiccup. The only downside to the SKS is that you might as well call the spent cases Sputnik because it launches them into orbit. The 7.62x39 is just a great cartridge. My preferred bullet in this cartridge is the rcbs 30-165-Sil, but when loaded with this bullet the cartridge is too long for use in AK magazines.

[Wolfdog91]

So one more little tid bit, bore scoped the barrel before and after shooting an honestly it looks cleaner now !

[Wolfdog91]

When the average Joe thinks about the 7.62x39 they think of it as so-so accurate steel cased semi-auto round. The 7.62x39 is actually one of the best cartridges for cast bullets. The case capacity and powder choices allow it to operate at velocities that work very well in cast loads. The loading options are limited in semi-automatics, not by the actions, but by the magazine length. In bolt actions I've loaded the 7.62x39 with everything from 100 grain SWC pistol bullets to 220 grain Lyman #311284's. The accuracy of the 7.62x39 depends on the gun; the cartridge can be astoundingly accurate if fired from a quality rifle (though the bulk of firearms made for it place reliability over accuracy). IMHO the best semiauto for this cartridge is the SKS. (In mine anyway) It can be loaded with everything from 120 grain Saeco #302, rcbs 30-180-FN, 200 grain Lyman #311299, or jacketed bullets, and works without a hiccup. The only downside to the SKS is that you might as well call the spent cases Sputnik because it launches them into orbit. The 7.62x39 is just a great cartridge. My preferred bullet in this cartridge is the rcbs 30-165-Sil, but when loaded with this bullet the cartridge is too long for use in AK magazines.

Very interesting, makes me want to get one of the NOE 180 SIL HP molds even more now !

[Wolfdog91]

So went back out today, had a little spare time and three prepped and ready to load extra pieces of brass so set up for 100yd and About what I expected, actually a little less lol. Was guess it would be about 3-3.5 but pleasantly surprised, about the same as the cheap steel cased stuff I used for hog hunting
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Also due to the rain getting the berm all soft was able to recover a bullet !
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[Wolfdog91]

Also forgot to mention, did a before and after bore scope on my AR with these and honestly my bore seems to be nicer looking after shooting these , so that's neat

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[Hannibal]

So went back out today, had a little spare time and three prepped and ready to load extra pieces of brass so set up for 100yd and About what I expected, actually a little less lol. Was guess it would be about 3-3.5 but pleasantly surprised, about the same as the cheap steel cased stuff I used for hog hunting
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20231218/99159e87aa6cc126f19541dcbf7650d7.jpg
Also due to the rain getting the berm all soft was able to recover a bullet !
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I've shot into a long box of rubber mulch just to recover bullets before. I thought it was cool to see, but after just a few rounds I decided I'd seen everything I wanted to. Same with a 55 gallon barrel of water.

[Coopaloop86]

I haven't tried the 180 SIL HP in 7.62x39 yet because I get amazing performance with the Lee 160 but I can tell you that its lights out in 300 blackout.

[armoredman]

Nice work sir! The best cast boolit I found for 7.62x39 is the 129gr NOE, sized down to .311 from .314, gave me some nice groups in my long lost and greatly lamented CZ 527M carbine.

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With you setup, I expect you would do far better. Very nice work sir.