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:goodpost:
Sticky!
You have learned well, grasshopper.
Very good post. The only thing I would do different is to use cerrosafe to do a chamber, throat, freebore etc test. Also I would start out before shooting any cast bullet with a clean bore and I mean cleaner that my drill sargent wanted. As I said a very good post. I award you two gold stars.:bigsmyl2:
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Very well done. I find composition and editing a daunting and time-consuming task, and highly commend you for taking the time to compose this. I'm sure the person you, initially, wrote it for was very grateful for the help. Sharing it with the entire Cast Boolits membership is an act of great generosity.
That much information, all in one post, should get any novice cast boolit rifle shooter on the right road.
That is a great piece of work. I will read it several times over.
Thank you.
What great info. Thanks for taking the time to provide this great insight to loading cast bullets for those of us less experienced. Would most of these techniques not work for revolvers also?
Could I not also measure revolver cylinder throat diameters using the same method of upsetting a soft lead slug in the throut, removing it, then measuring the diameter? Or is it better to just use pins?
Thanks again for great info !!
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Well written thread, a must read in my opinion for newbees casting for rifle!
1Shirt!
Good going Goodsteel
One nice thing about it being on the net is it is a bit like a Wiki.
It can be edited/added too as time goes on.
Please do not let it get lost in the dark depths of the archives.
Yes. Thank you Goodsteel, I am just starting out reloading 7mm for a Mauser and was looking for something else but your post has probably saved me time and heartache!
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l suspect it might be best to neck only for bolt action and single shot rifles.
You're kinda correct in your statement. Let your firearms tell you if it NEEDS to have the brass full length sized. SOME single shots (particularly with high intensity loads) will need full length sized. If you can neck size only even every other reloading it'll save working your brass which contributes to longer brass life. It has been my experience that even semi-auto rifles can be reloaded with neck size only under the right circumstances. Again, let your gun tell you what it needs/likes and don't get set in one way of doing everything under every circumstance. EXPERIMENT!
Edd
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Great post ...One thing I have not seen mentioned is the need to bell the mouth of the case slightly before seating the boolit. This step is absolutely nessasary if not done, the case mouth will shave material from the boolit. Causing an out of round boolit.
I might be getting ahead of myself...but, needed to post this for the newbes.
Thank you Goodsteel,
You've put the process into concise words. I specially appreciate the section on how to create a chamber/throat gauge from a lead filled case and pure lead bullet. Genius!
Good shooting,
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I am just getting ready to start rifle casting for a Win 94 30/30. This is a great compilation of info and I will be relying on this post. It is just what I needed to get started. Thank you Goodsteel for taking the time to post this. I will be saving this to my favorites.
Goodsteel, thanks for this comprehensive tips!
great reading thanks
Very good read. I can only add one thing to your information that might be helpful to others. Ill probly get reamed for saying this but it come from past experience and knowledge from a barrel maker, way more knowledge about this than my self.
Brass and aluminum rods are fine to use on your barrel IF you can find them. Truth is, a steel rod, smaller than the diameter of your boolit, with the sharp edged removed from the ends, is just as effective, and SAFE, to send down your barrel. The thinking that putting anything steel down your barrel, is going to destroy it, is false. Steel is easy to find, and will last longer when you slug your barrel. Very little of the rod touches you barrel while slugging it. This is exactly how the major barrel manufacturers do it, because it is the most accurate way to determine size, and cost effective.
Other than that, I can argue with any of it. This info comes from experience, and Goodsteel, has put the time in. He's helped me in the past, and I now cast for everything from a seventy year old M1 Garand to new 223 Remington 700.
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goodsteel,
+1. That is an excellent point. The crown must be protected at all times. Lots of folks are dumbfounded to learn how much damage a cleaning rod can/will do.
Regards,
Tony
Protecting the crown of the barrel goes without saying. Damage can be done with any type of rod. With a damaged crown you will never get an accurate shot.
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Well I really appreciate the how to education. My problem is too many guns. All this is great if you are loading Pb in one or two rifles. My problem is military rifles. I love 'em. ALL of 'em. I just wanted one of each. Except where I found an good deal and needed two of a particular example. So Safe was getting full and I bought another safe. As will happen, I left the lights out one day and apparently a No4MkII and a Mauser of some sorts got together and now there is a whole litter of old rifles in the new safe. So many that I may need another. Couple straight pulls cuz they are just kewl. Arisaka very rough but shoots great. Mausers from Argentina, Sweeden, etc. Now I like putting cast bullets through old rifles but do not have the luxury of time to devote to each rifle to get the exact bore/groove, freebore, etc.
How do others deal with this? Write it down for each rifle and attach log book to the trigger guard? I'm lucky to sort ammo into the correct pile. Not sure I have the organizing ability to keep such records of each.
Thank you for a very informative post that puts what I need to do in english I can understand. I had heard the terminology but was not sure of the application. Information like that makes it a lot easier on us newbs.
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Tim, I just re-read this thread you started many months ago. Strange that some information never makes it into my thick skull during the first read.;-) It has been just a little over a year since I started to reload rifle cartridges with cast boolits and the journey has been interesting and illuminating. Your thread helped enormously. Thank You.
----If you get leading,(which I doubt) use a harder/tougher alloy like 94/3/3, or water quench your boolits to get them a touch harder.----
Maybe I missed it, But what exactly would be a good general starting alloy to use?
1. I am guessing that the 94/3/3 would be 94% lead, 3% antimony, 3% tin? I assume that a Lyman #2 (90/5/5) would be harder yet. Which the Lyman Cast bullet handbook uses as a basic benchmark metal? I've had some tell me to use straight WW (Wheel Weights), water or air cooled. But, DARN, they are hard to come by around here!
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...I hope this helps....
More than you'll ever know it has helped. Being very new to the art of boolit casting, This "summary" thread has finally tied together a lot of basic principles into something that I hope I can eventually get thru my thick skull. I've ordered a little Rotometals "superhard" and some 1to20 lead/tin alloy. I think the handy alloy spreadsheet found elsewhere on this forum and the small scale I bought for $2 (yardsale) will help a to mix up the alloy suggested.
I hope to do a few things with cast bullets... Plinking, some deer hunting, and maybe try a little long range shooting (200-300 yards)
Thanks for posting this summary... it's a great starting place for newbies like me.
Goodsteel thank you so much for the incredibly concise directions. That is going to save me a ton of headache as I start to cast for rifles as well as my revolvers.
Very glad to stumble on this thread today, and I will look through it much more.
Dan
goodsteel:
Very informative and well written post! A great many ideas and tips condensed into a short and easy to read article. Well done!
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Tim, Great info for the new guys and the lurkers in one place...needs to be a sticky IMHO
Thanks for the great info, I;m soaking in the information too cast my own. Have been buying a few bullets from the commercial guys too see how they do in my marlins, so far so much better than j bullets. Know if I can just get that soup can mold and :cbpour: