Trying to duplicate jacketed velocity in carbine with cast

I'm trying an experiment. I just cast a batch of "120 gr." RN bullets out of straight lino. They are PC'd. Plus they are gas checked. They weigh in at an average of 118.5 gr +/- .2 gr. I'm going to see if I can get up to 2000 fps with them without pressure signs or leading. If I can, I'll have duplicated the standard carbine load with cast. The other part of this experiment is to see if those hard bullets will still maintain accuracy at those velocities. Should be interesting. I'll post results when I get the chance to actually do the testing. Might take a while with my schedule....

I’ve actually done the same but easier.
I’m using the Lee 6-cavity 93gr RN, cast from acww, and coated with Harbor Freight powder coat using “shake and bake” method.
I’m sizing.311” and loading over 12.4gr of #2400.
From my ‘43 Saginaw they’re more accurate than milspec ball. Which really isn’t saying much as it’s about 4” at 50yds. Think .22lr on steroids.
But, it’s good, cheap, plinking fun!
The Lee 113gr RFNGC, and 120gr RNGC over 14.5gr H110 are slightly more powerful but are also MUCH more time consuming and expensive to load.

I'm using a 115gn cast boolit with 12gn of red dot in my 308 for 2100fps, good accuracy and no leading. There is no doubt the boolit will take the higher velocity.

https://i.imgur.com/EodDJ6f.jpg

what caliber are we talking about? carbine? do you mean M1 30 carbine, I wish I had one.
as far as getting cast to shoot factory round velocity, closest I've gotten so far is in 35 rem, not exactly a military rifle load.
even in 30-06 best ive probably done is, like many others, is about 2100 fps. but ive never used straight Lino, as hard as ive cast in my limited experience is clip on wheel weights with some tin added it just works, for me anyway.

Some confusion regards the "carbine" and cartridge in question?

With that combination of alloy and gas checks you should be able to do it.

Carbine. .30M1......You know that little pipsqueek round that won't go through a Chinese winter coat (the heck it won't). Milspec ammo is 110 gr at 1950fps. That is what I want to duplicate with cast.

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Originally Posted by jimb16

I'm trying an experiment. I just cast a batch of "120 gr." RN bullets out of straight lino. They are PC'd. Plus they are gas checked. They weigh in at an average of 118.5 gr +/- .2 gr. I'm going to see if I can get up to 2000 fps with them without pressure signs or leading. If I can, I'll have duplicated the standard carbine load with cast. The other part of this experiment is to see if those hard bullets will still maintain accuracy at those velocities. Should be interesting. I'll post results when I get the chance to actually do the testing. Might take a while with my schedule....

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Given the fact that you mentioned "120 gr." and "carbine" in your post, I'm going to assume you're referring to an M1 Carbine and its original cartridge.

I have been shooting cast in my M1 Carbines for over a year now. I cast from straight ACWW, check with either commercial copper or home-punched aluminum, and lube/size .309" with a Star lubrisizer. I cast mostly from an RCBS 30-115SP mold(118 gr. +/- RN) but also from a Lyman 311576 (125 gr. +/- RN) and occasionally from a Lee C309-113-F (118 gr. +/- RN).

Here are bullets from the RCBS and Lyman mold flanking a 110 gr. jacketed-

https://i.imgur.com/1vX3AsFl.jpg

The bullet from the RCBS most closely resembles the profile of the jacketed bullet, so I shoot it most. I have used data for the jacketed bullet, mostly 15.0 gr. of H110/W296 and run it right up to 2000 fps. I've fired this bullet and load through 8 or 9 different carbines and the only one that leaded was an Israeli Arms Int'l (IAI) which leaded slightly the last 6" of the bore. None of the others exhibited any leading at all. This was very surprising to me, but even more surprising was the level of accuracy. By and large these bullets outshoot their jacketed counterparts, even if only slightly. I've since switch to AL2400 and AL410 for cast loads and typically run them 1925-1950 fps with these powders.

https://i.imgur.com/MPF6Yzql.jpg https://i.imgur.com/EoPxszpl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/TComhYVl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/sCKYQNRl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/o9Lbejbl.jpg

Odd thing about cast bullets in these carbines is their POI's seem to vary vs. jacketed. With similar velocities, some of them shoot the bullets from the RCBS mold very close to the 100 gr. FMJ, others shoot them high.

Bullets from the Lyman 311576 mold generally run 150 fps or so slower, but they're really accurate.

https://i.imgur.com/jRMmCvjl.jpg https://i.imgur.com/pH5JWh2l.jpg https://i.imgur.com/7GPTnsVl.jpg

I'd say if you can find one of these molds to latch on to it!

I sure am anxious to see how your tests turn out, so please post a range report!

35W

I keep the fmj and jsp .30 Carbine ammo stashed back and we do all of our fun shooting with the C309113F over the same charges of 296/110 as 110gr jacketed. My wife's Howa Sporter eats them like candy. I'm still a young un when it comes to .30 Carbine- but I like it a lot.

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Originally Posted by Texas by God

I keep the fmj and jsp .30 Carbine ammo stashed back and we do all of our fun shooting with the C309113F over the same charges of 296/110 as 110gr jacketed. My wife's Howa Sporter eats them like candy. I'm still a young un when it comes to .30 Carbine- but I like it a lot.

Sent from my SM-A716U using Tapatalk

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I'm with you, man! I cast a bunch of these some time back, checked, lubed and sized them, then put them in an empty sour cream tub. I found them a few weeks back and fired a few. Pretty good shooting bullets.

https://i.imgur.com/DBDNjofl.jpg

35W

jimb 16 did you ever try any loads in your carbine?

35W

I've only had a chance to shoot a small number of them so far. Didn't have the chrono with me that day, but the group was comparable to the jacketed 110 gr. loads I was shooting. I was function testing a Rock-Ola that I had just finished sorting out a bunch of problems with. Function was fine and not leading. I'll get to the range pretty soon with a batch of them to chrono.