Lee TL312-160-2R Tumble Lube bullet in SKS

[NuJudge]

Has anyone used this at 1900 fps? I'm interested in whether it functioned, was accurate, and whether Leading resulted.

CDD

[35remington]

The answer is yes to the first questions, and no to the last. It is a very good bullet for the SKS and was intended as such. My cavity drops a .313" bullet that is just about perfect for the .312" barrel of my SKS. H4895 works well for a case filling load that generates mild pressures while reliably working the action. Velocity is around 1900 f/s out of my gun.

These bullets easily outshoot cheap factory stuff (not too hard) or even jacketed of the proper .311" diameter, at least in my gun.

The fast pistol/shotgun powders, if used carefully, make fun plinking loads that do not operate the action, converting the rifle to a straight pull without the bother of removing the operating rod first. If I've shot the rifle extensively I'll pull the operating rod and upper tube and give them a good cleaning before putting the rifle away for an extended period.

[robertbank]

I used some Lee Liquid Alox on some .303 boolits and found in the cold weather my boolits were tumbling at 50 yards. Hand lubed the same boolits with Feix Lube and problem disappeared. Felix thinks the liquid Alox lube is to hard in the cold weather. Something to consider if you are going out in the winter.

Take Care

Bob

[GW_45ACP]

I used some Lee Liquid Alox on some .303 boolits and found in the cold weather my boolits were tumbling at 50 yards. Hand lubed the same boolits with Feix Lube and problem disappeared. Felix thinks the liquid Alox lube is to hard in the cold weather. Something to consider if you are going out in the winter.

Take Care

Bob

Bob - Were these TL or grease groove profile? Did you size them or were they loaded as dropped? Just trying to learn as much as I can to improve the 303 Brit loads.

[robertbank]

Hi they were the Lee312185R boolits. I used Lee Alox liquid lube. Consensus up here and confirmed by a few guys from this forum was the Alox Lube drys to hard, the boolit fails to take the rifling and ends up tumbling. We are talking 25 yards here so they were truly unstable. I shot Felix Lubed boolits from the same mold, the same load, the same day with no tumbling occurring. I can say at temperatures around freezing in my rifle Alox Lube will not function properly at 0C or 32F. The Felix lubed boolits were hand lubed and shot as cast as were the Alox lubed boolits. Niether group were gas checked.

Rifle was a five groove Longbranch #4 MKe 1 rifle made in 1950. Brass was IVI once fired using CCI Large Rifle Primers.

Take Care

Bob