Help! I need a really fat 30 mold, Ideas?

[JBMauser]

I cast bullets because I am CHEAP as well as I like them and they are accurate and other reasons. But do not forget that I am cheap.... My newly found Mosin Nagants have a bore of .302 and a groove of .314!! I need to modify a mold to drop a 315! I have the fat lee .312 and I am looking at it hard with the glint of lapping compound in my eye.... I have read about beagleing a mold here and to the thought of making an egg shaped bullet and then getting it round with a oversized sizer does not appeal to me much but I am not beyond trying it. After all the tape can be removed!! no harm done. I am going to bore /grind out a .311 sizer with my Unimat mini lathe.
Any of you been there done that! please advise. I will try most anyting but the thought of trashing a mold is somehow a sin or something... Again, remember I am cheap and I am not going to call NEI or others for a "one off" custom mold. I can buy another millsurp rifle for what some of you pay for molds! I shop maill order or ebay or local auction. thanks for any info. JB

[grumpy one]

There are people here who've done far more mould lapping than I have, and in any case there is a sticky by Oldfeller that covers it pretty thoroughly. The short summary is that there are some risks associated with it. However despite being pretty clumsy I've lapped two double cavities and one single cavity without any problems or failures. You do need to make a point, though, of going at it in a serious manner and not in some half-committed fashion.

The first issue is what features you need to enlarge. If your bullet is designed to be a bore-rider (i.e. the nose projects in front of the front driving band by a distance as great as or greater than the length from first to last driving band) you have no choice about having to fit the nose to the bore as well as the driving bands to the grooves. Nose lapping is far more critical than band lapping because you can't size it, you have to lap it to fit the bore as-cast.

The second issue is whether you are going to have one mould per rifle or one mould per generic type of rifle. This inter-acts with the question of whether you are going to bore-ride, because unless your rifles all have the same bore size within about .001 or so, you can't expect to bore-ride them with the same mould.

Then comes the issue of what alloys you are going to use. A 30 calibre bullet in foundry type drops more than .001 bigger than the same bullet in WW, let alone pure lead. So don't expect to have any leeway on lapping size regarding your nose dimension if you want to be able to vary the alloy a bit; you'll have to lap it accurately to something just big enough for WW and then suffer a few problems when you come to chambering linotype bullets, which will be oversized on the nose.

What I'm trying to get across here, is either choose a non-boreriding design, or expect to make a specific hobby of mould preparation.

When you come to grips with these issues it will be time to start talking about how to go about lapping. It isn't all that difficult, the main thing to remember is to follow Oldfeller's instructions closely without shortcuts. Happy to discuss further if necessary, and there are plenty of people here with lots of practice at this art-form.

Geoff

[Buckshot]

.............I hesitate to mention the 3 "Fat 30" and one "Fatter 30" group buy custom moulds mainly because they're over and done with. So it's kinda like saying that buying Mexican silver pesos in the '50's would have been a good idea. However the fact that there were FOUR seperate custom runs done kinda does point to the fact that there is a need out there :-)!

About the only candidate commonly available is the Lyman 314299. Your bore measurement is the issue, really. I have a M1909 Argentine Cav Carbine that put me through hell due to a .303x.314" barrel. My copy of the 314299 drops a smidge over .301(ish) on the nose, so no help there. My Lee C312-185R goes .302" but the body casts .312" (and also the nose is still undersized).

I have heard of some people having a 314299 that will 'just' go .303" on the nose. I too wasn't going to have a custom mould made for this rifle. What I finally did was to rely on good ole Saint Loverin. Screw the nose, gimme an all body boolit!

I took the Lyman 323470 which is an 8mm boolit (drops about .325") weighing in at 165grs. I lube sized it .323" and then squirted it up through a Lee .314" push through die. Didn't seem much the worse for wear, and the sizing was pretty effortless. Best of all, the rifle liked it and shot the best it's ever done with that boolit. That might be worth a try for ya.

Or I suppose you could start a group buy for another 'Fat 30' :-). Get Tom Meyers or 45 2.1 to gin up a design and go for it.

..................Buckshot

[Leftoverdj]

JB, whatcha got to swap? I got a Lee single cavity .316 of about 200 grains from a long ago group buy that was not even on this board. You being cheap, and me being greedy, we ain't never gonna agree on a cash price, but we might find a swap we can both live with.

[JBMauser]

Got a Lee 8mm that looks purdy... and a lee 50 cal REAL mould that is not so purdy but casts fine. My front stuffer just plain likes balls! Two for one? JB

[Wayne Smith]

Paper patch what you got!

[JBMauser]

Yes, I can PP, I have done it before with fair results. I guess I will work on opening up a sizer to .315 and then PP some pills and look to open or acquire a mold perhaps even a beagle job. Thanks, JB

[Dutch4122]

Cast Boolits member NuJudge has an order in to Lee right now for a custom 6 cavity Fat 30 that is designed for .316" diameter and + or - 195 grains out of wheelweight alloy. It was designed for the fatter .30 milsurp calibers. He's paid up front for 25 moulds to be cut and stated he would sell them 1st come 1st serve when the order gets in. You might want to send him a PM.

Hope this helps,

[drinks]

JB;
Check back a few weeks, I posted a picture of the reamer I make to open aluminum molds out and make them round at the same time.
As you have a lathe, it is about 1 hour to make the reamer, does not need any special steel or to be hadened for aluminum molds.
Basicly, it is a cutter shaped like a woodruff key cutter, the width of the driving band and the diameter you want.
I have made several , among others is one to make the Lee 180gr .312 .303 bullet into a .316, for a big M-N.
Only takes a couple of minutes to bore the mold out by hand.
Just make the shank a few thousands smaller than the gas check portion of the shank.
I you need the nose a bit bigger, just turn a short reamer to open the nose out.
Just removing a small amount of metal, no big deal.

[JBMauser]

drinks, I have looked for your pic and I could not find it. If you could give me a bit of a clue about it I may find the pic which I really need to dope out what you are suggesting. I may have a mini late but I am in Kindergarden level with it. my current projict is to take a lyman .311 sizing die and grinding / opening it up to .315 using my dremmil pencil attachment as a tool post grinder. I hope.... If not ... well I am not deep $$ into this project, but I think I can learn a fortune in practical experience here. thanks for your input. JB