Dang it....mould shopping

[Intheshop]

OK,yes you get what you pay for.

Haven't completely given up on the new Lee 309-150F but,but,well started to eye wander.

So,am looking for a go fast,smack the sheet out of varmint bullet in the .30 calibre section/department. Get on the Arsenal mould site and never made down the page to the .30's....

Did you know they make boat tails? OK,that was the first diversion..... then they have a series of moulds called Bowman? Like a moth to a flame....

Then get to the .284's and this pops up,dang it.... dbl dang it....tripl,you get the idea.

 

[Spindrift]

It would be easy on your alloy stash. Interesting bullet. I have no experience with the bowman- bullets, but the two Arsenal moulds I have are excellent. You can also specify changes in the specs while ordering. I wanted the 266 «spitzer»- bullet with untapered GC- shank, no problem.
One thing I would like, though, is a bit more detail in their technical drawings, like nose dimensions.
In .30- cal, I have the HVTH- bullet, 311-170. It is very good. The (limited) lube capacity would seem to be in line with your preferences

 

[CZ93X62]

Look at the now-defunct Lyman #313631, intended for the 32 H&R Magnum/S&W Model 631 Kit Gun-ish 4" barreled critters. 16.0 grains of 2400 shot pretty well for me in the 30-06, threatened to shoot into 1.3" at 100 yards. 1.5" five-shotters were the rule, not the exception. At 150 yards, 2-1/4" to 2-1/2" 5-shotters, and heavy winds that day stopped me from going out to 200 yards. We started moving from Ridgecrest about a week later, and my rifle shooting has been infrequent ever since. I still have 40 of these loaded in the ammo locker.

 

[fiver]

that front drive band needs to taper out into that nose more, if you want speed and accuracy.

 

[RBHarter]

I have a 313626 (I think , I'm sure about 313&26) it's a little 97 gr pistol bullet . I've only shot it in a 30-30 with like 2.5-3 gr of Unique lots of fun tiny lead consumption . 70-72/lb 00B is about the only way to get much lighter than that .

 

[Intheshop]

All good thoughts gents.....thanks.

Just shopping for now. Next 100$ to spare is going towards a Timney trigger. And stubbornness says,keep after breaking in the LEE 150.....

 

[Ian]

that front drive band needs to taper out into that nose more, if you want speed and accuracy.

Yep. First glance at the drawing and my only thought was "PASS".

 

[Spindrift]

I have had reasonably good results with the lee c309-150-F. With traditional lube, and typical «mid-level» loads of fast rifle powder- or starting-level jacket loads with powder coated bullets.
Maybe not the ideal bullet for warp-speed, but a rather decent allround bullet, in my opinion.
The bullet below was shot into water containers at 70 yards, from a .308 loaded with 20grs Lovex d060 (5744. Bhn 15. Expanded to double diameter, penetrated about 22inches.

 

[Intheshop]

Nice write up Spin,thanks.

Gonna try some more on this mold.... probably got/had upwards of 20? Lee molds. Not gonna say they all were good.... one particular 44 even went back to Lee(this was 30 years ago),upon its return; They had smoked it up pretty nastily and said,"worked for us".... which the humor was enough to cause me to not care anymore. Cause the stated problem wasn't with the cavity,it was alignment,haha.

So that one is around here somewhere,still smoked up.

Some take longer to break in or come around. One of my favorite Lee's is the 225-55..... but it wasn't that great out of the box. Constant threatening gestures,and occasional dips into a propane torch head got that little rascal finally trained to "heal". Got a 358-140 SWC that's been probably the best mold I've ever used.

I might cast some this coming morning. Waiting on some factory top punches for the 7mm.... so,work on breaking in the 150 Lee a little more. Got a brand new,55g RCBS 22 mould that's never been out of the box,can dink with it if the Lee starts to misbehave?

 

[Ian]

Refreshing to hear someone else has had a lot of positive results from Lee moulds. Some are junk I'm sure, I just have been lucky enough to never have had one. MOST of the time with Lee moulds it seems it isn't the arrow, but the Indian....

 

[Intheshop]

BAM!

Got my Lee mojo back! 309-150F; FINALLY came around this morning. Went from zero to hero. Went with a touch softer alloy,same mold preheat,same Lyman 10# pot setting. Besides being the 4th casting session,only thing different was......

Went with a different torch head. Still using the Coleman single burner/cast iron pot for sprues,which works too well..... but instead of using it as a sprue plate "coaxer upper"(getting heat into the plate),which while entertaining and a learning experience,was infact a little ( a lot) too aggressive.

Took a Bernzomatic trigger lighter torch head and in the early,say first 5 minutes or so,would hit the sprue plate. These aluminum molds really act as a heat sink.... sucking the heat out of the plate sumthin fierce. That's why,when overheating the plate over the single burner..... the heat sink is sucking WAY hot temps down into the body of the bullet. I had bullets cracking in half comin off the cavity the other day.... was like,dayum.

So it was a combination of; mold coming in and just the right amt of coaxing on the plate. Banged out a cpl hundred. Want to do some testing before committing to this mix.

 

[Intheshop]

These Bernzomatic trigger actuated heads are not as pencil point of flame as the old,U light it kind. First time usage for casting.... always used the "old" style before.

 

[Intheshop]

My 3 RCBS top punches arrived this morning. One was for this 309-150F.

Probably should start a new thread because; am going to machine an "add-on" sleeve to a factory top punch....which will nose size,independently of the ogive. Hard to explain but,the ogive section is what's so hard to machine. Oh,its very doable....and has several advantages. But it isn't the end all... for instance; if you want to experiment with the "depth" of the ogive to the nose taper just before the top driving band. With the sleeve,it's a 10 second change vs starting all over on the machines.

 

[fiver]

couple of things.
1. change the shape of the bullet in sizing [squishing] and you lose the internal structure of the alloy.
same thing happens in the rifle,,, only,, only your not gonna do nuthin about that happening and can minimize it by mechanical fit.
2. you can fix it by heat treating in an oven and quenching.
3. if your gonna go through the trouble of a sleeve and a fit of the sizer,, you might as well make it fit a slug of the throat shape and diameter.
4. you'll have to shorten the bullet some to make that happen, and will want the lube grooves full before the final squish.

 

[Ian]

That's funny, I was just explaining number 2 to someone else in a PM.

 

[fiver]

lemme guess zinc was involved?

 

[Intheshop]

Sleeve is to nose size,without having to make a reamer. Making/changing sleeves being much quicker than having to go through the whole process for a slight diameter change. By separating the ogive section from the straight bore section,the latter can be reamed with a much simpler adj reamer,which I have.

This 309-150F requires nada on the sizing however. With this alloy,it dropped a .301 nose and a .3105 body. I sized,just the GC area to .310,plus a tenth or so. The mold drops pretty dang round.... quick bench mike measures show roundness within a cpl tenths. Did a jam seating on the CDL '06(Avatar).. and got it pretty quick. Not quite enough bullet into the case but it'll do. Lite to med crimp. 25g H4198. Hope to shoot a few tomorrow.

 

[Intheshop]

The nose/ogive is rather,dang close on roundness as well. I'd googlefoo'd which RCBS top punch was the best match. It was one of the 3 that were just ordered/recieved. Whatever # it is,it fits very well. Anyway,simply spinning the bullet whilst partially engaged (centered) in the sizing die,will show high spots on the ogive. Nuthin new there.... just sayin, this one pours clean in that respect.

 

[Intheshop]

Will surface grind the factory sprue plate and check that before making a new,thicker one.

 

[Ian]

You're still gonna have a Barlow bullet unless you grind a reamer to some shape other than straight. Pick up some of KeithB's H-die blanks with the 3/16" through pilot and grind a D reamer out of O-1 drill rod, harden it, hone it, and ream your die. If I can do it first try with toy machinery then an old hand like you ought to have no issue at all.