311334 Question?

[wonderwolf]

I've got one of these lyman 311334 molds that drops a 187gr bullet. nice little design and is the only mold besides my 311359 carbine mold that I have for .30 cal

My question is what is the ring that is right above the top driving band used for? Its smaller than the bore riding portion of the nose and being in front of the front driving band that would take one hell of a crimp to use it as a crimp groove. So whats it for?

[fatnhappy]

Hey Ben,

I believe it's a "scraper" groove as on the 311284 and a few others. Allegedly it's there to help remove fouling from the bore as the boolit passes.

I'm more interested in what your 311334 measures. Mine's an abomination with a .2992" nose and body bands varying between .314" and .315" It would be an ideal (pun intended) candidate for a DD band being cut into it but alas I can't trust NEI to the task. It's a shame too, since it casts excellent boolits that slide out of the mould with no coaxing.

[Le Loup Solitaire]

Back in the day when 334 was in production, Lyman was getting started in their quest for making bullet cutting cherries last long so they started them cutting out molds that were way oversize. That is why 30 cal bullets and others were showing up with large diameters. A point was also made that this bullet was designed for the Krag rifle which was supposed to have some pretty generous sized throats and bores. They also made undersize molds which were closer to smaller sizes; those molds were stamped with a U. There was a lot of complaining about the "wopper" sizes so Lyman in their infinite wisdom started cutting reduced sizes. Of course without paying attention to what they were doing; they reduced all parts of the bullet design so that one got not only smaller body sections, but noses as well. So the body fitted ok and the nose was undersize and of course instead of ridng on the lands and being guided by them, slumped or tilted in the barrel and shot around corners when it went downrange. In this particular design it was/is a shame because 334 was the best bullet to use in the O3-A3 two groove barrels and the 1917 Enfields where it shot really well. In another stroke of genius Lyman discontinued it...among many other good designs. Now something closely resembles it is still around and its number is 311332. It too is a great design, but guess what? Molds for it are being produced undersize and as you might expect the result accuracy-wise is exactly the same. It is practical to consider lapping the mold nose section to get the nose to the right diameter of .301 to .302. As for the ring...it is correct that it is a scraper groove, also once refered to as "a dirt catcher groove", a feature that was found on many Lyman designs, particularly on the older style bullets like 311284, 311299, etc. Some folks like to use the extra ring/groove for lube. Good shooting. LLS

[MakeMineA10mm]

311340 has the "Dirt Catcher Groove" on it too. IIRC, Barlow started putting this on (mostly) 30-cal. boolits in the early 1900s (after the "high-velocity" 30-06 came out?)... He named it the dirt catcher groove.

I really like the 311340 boolit. The stepped lube groove right in front of the gas-check heel is a great design idea, I think. (I just wonder if it causes a problem for the GCs to hang on?)

WW - where'd you come across that old mould?

[wonderwolf]

I've had it awhile but hadn't used it yet. Just started casting them up for my 300 Win mag but I hafta seat them kinda deep if I want them to feed from the mag.