Lyman 314299

I cast a 247g in a NOE slick side mold. Talk about long. The bullets as long as the case!! As Fiver said try ta "swoosh" the lead thru the spru WITHOUT touching!!

I used my '299 for a while. I dont temember how it dropped but I remember needing to choose PC so nose fit.

358156 hp said:

It seems a lot of us end up with undersize 314299. Mine was around .298 in lino on the nose as well. My original plan was to lap it out, but at the end of the day it ended up getting sold as used after only test casting. My ending was better than some, I had an FFL at the time so I bought it at wholesale (remember that?), and I sold it for what I paid for it with disclosure. I'm glad Ben got one that's satisfactory.

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I've never seen one that wasn't undersize, and over the years I've owned around a dozen examples. I finally gave up on Lyman rifle moulds, and went with a similar SAECO.

I've used this one in 30/30, 30/40, 300 Savage, 30-06. I've often contemplated NOE's version in a 5-cavity mould to speed production.

Have that bullet in a 4 cavity NOE mould. Use it with great success out to 500 yds. In my 03. My shooting partner has similar success in his 03A3. We both use 20:1.

Some Lyman molds, especially the bore riders, had noses that wouldn't fit in a tight throat. The molds would be offered with undersized noses. Such molds would have a U in front of the number i.e U311291. My first 311291 bought 30 or so years ago was undersized on the nose. I sent it back to Lyman and they replaced it with one that has the nose engraved by the rifling in most .30 cals.

Snakeoil said:

Have that bullet in a 4 cavity NOE mould. Use it with great success out to 500 yds. In my 03. My shooting partner has similar success in his 03A3. We both use 20:1.

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Snake. Curious as to the speed you’re shooting those to reach 500 yards.

fiver said:

the hot alloy keeps hitting that spot.

long skinny bullets do best for me if i line up the hole and shoot the alloy in straight to the bottom.

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Michael said:

I have a Lyman 314299 mold that makes the a nice bullet, .302 on the nose, they are sized and ready to load, so do not recall what they drop at for body dia.
One thing that does happen is I get a frosted spot forward of the front driving band that extends +/- 1/4" up the nose, that is slightly sunken.
What are/is the cause(s) of this and remedy(s). Not sure if the mold is too hot, to cold, the melt to hot or cold.

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If I may pontificate on this a bit, I hope fiver doesn't mind?
I assume all of us that have cast long skinny bullets have had this issue, I know I sure have.
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A few years back, I came to the conclusion, that this happens when there is a cold spot, I figured it was block design...groove for handle or holes for alignment pins, where a part of the mold cools faster because of metal density, ...and the long skinny bullets were just more susceptible to a mold with a cold spot. With these molds, I usually have good casts for a while, maybe 15 or 20 pours, then I start to get the shrunken spot on side of nose as Michael describes. My solution was to stop casting, put the mold back into the mold oven to have the mold temp even out throughout the blocks. This has seemingly solved the problem...temporarily, until it starts doing it again in 15 pours, LOL.
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Now Fiver's comment has me rethinking the situation. Not a cold spot, but a hot spot. Fresh hot alloy hitting the same spot during the pour, due to pour angle, from hitting edge of sprue hole or whatever, sprue hole thing makes most sense. The hot spot keeps the alloy in that little area from freezing with the rest of the bullet. That gives that spot the opportunity to shrink, since it can't pull alloy from the sprue puddle during the freezing in that little area.
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Again, I hope you all don't mind my pontificating, because I need to reconcile the situation in my head and typing it all out will likely help me remember it.

nope.
expanding on a comment is what helps ferret out ideas or make something more clear to others and might even bring up more questions that help further the issue into a better conclusion.

I ladle cast and have this problem also. One thing I do is pour one from the right side of the hole, next one pure over then end and next one right down the middle. But eventually, I just have to let it sit for a while and use another mould.

waco said:

Snake. Curious as to the speed you’re shooting those to reach 500 yards.

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I use 17 gr of 2400 and they are doing about 1450 MV. Nice light load. A lot of guys on the firing line with 03 or 03A3 rifles use a load in this range, maybe a 1/2 grain more.

Snakeoil said:

I use 17 gr of 2400 and they are doing about 1450 MV. Nice light load. A lot of guys on the firing line with 03 or 03A3 rifles use a load in this range, maybe a 1/2 grain more.

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I’ll have to try this in my 03. Thanks for sharing.

waco said:

I’ll have to try this in my 03. Thanks for sharing.

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Walter, don't overlook 18.0-grains of 2400.

462 said:

Walter, don't overlook 18.0-grains of 2400.

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Anyone who is trying to find a decent reduced load should always work up a load using the ladder process. What works well in mine might not you yours.

19 with a pistol primer works well too.

So much awesome reading in this forum

Large pistol primers?

yep.
i know i know the primers are shorter the pockets are deeper.
i got like 80-K primers of the large pistol size,, they gonna get used.
besides they light off pistol powders pretty darn good.

as a help to accuracy keep the powder oriented try both front and back of the case.

I just read through Shuz post on august 2022 about primer substitution LRP LPP. I’m going to do a lot more reading on this

Won three CBA National Military benchrest matches with '03/03A3 Springfields with #311284 and 16 grains of Al 2400. MV was 1425 and ES was 15 f/s.
Springfield sights go to 2400 yards, so 500 isn't much.

FWIW

RicinYakima said:

Won three CBA National Military benchrest matches with '03/03A3 Springfields with #311284 and 16 grains of Al 2400. MV was 1425 and ES was 15 f/s.
Springfield sights go to 2400 yards, so 500 isn't much.

FWIW

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The reason I asked is because I have had problems in the past with accuracy going south when the bullets went trans sonic.
In my case, long before 500 yards.

RicinYakima said:

Won three CBA National Military benchrest matches with '03/03A3 Springfields with #311284 and 16 grains of Al 2400. MV was 1425 and ES was 15 f/s.
Springfield sights go to 2400 yards, so 500 isn't much.

FWIW

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I tried that bullet. It had a strong following from what I could find. But the groove dia on my 03 ia .312. So I tried the fatter bullet and it went from a shotgun to a rifle. I was getting ready to rebarrel it. Still has the orig barrel dated 1921.

And nice shooting, Rick!