I felt left out

Will

Well-Known Member
I actually thought about that fiver but it just bugs me. By the way I really like this rifle. It’s nothing fancy but handles good and actually doesn’t have a bad trigger.

I just can’t understand what’s different on shot number 1 than shots 2-5.
 

Ian

Notorious member
Lube. That bullet holds a lot of it and if it ain't right, it ain't gonna be happy. I about fell out of my chair when I saw how much 748 you were using, I quit at about 34.5 grains, but shoot a little heavier bullet (165 or so).
 

Will

Well-Known Member
My hornady manual shows a max of 38.9gr with a shorter OAL than I’m using.

Maybe I need to back it down.

This one may be a good candidate for powder coat testing. For now I need a functional hunting load to put some does down with.

I plan to shoot several does for the freezer and I would like to test the 308 hunting bullet out. I’m afraid I might be a little hard with the heat treated 50/50 but not sure with it being a hollow point.
 
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Will

Well-Known Member
Fiver I was figuring it will probably blow the nose off the bullet, especially if it finds a rib.

Ian do you think I should back it off some and give it a try?
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
I'm not a fan of backing 748 down too much.

I'd run the first cold shot over my chrono.
then run the others as a separate string, if you start seeing a pattern of about 5% variance you know what to do.
 

Ian

Notorious member
I ain't gonna tell you that what you have won't get it done, but it's more coyote medicine than deer medicine. HPs are for slower loads, you can't make an alloy that will hold together without a jacket and not be too brittle in the end to not explode at 2100+ fps impact velocity. I'd be looking to knock off a couple hundred fps at the muzzle and step up a few ticks in burn speed. Something like 25-26 grains of Reloder 7, or even 3031 should work well.
 
F

freebullet

Guest
I can tell you that bullet performs splendid on whitetail @18-1900. I'm not sure a guy could keep it from being explosive above 2200.

I didn't think your first crack with it @2500 would go great, so ya never know.
 

Will

Well-Known Member
I am just starting to jump back into this project and wanted some opinions before I loaded up more ammo.
I plan to switch to using the NOE copy of the 311041 or the AM 31-165A.
What powders should I go with that are both temp stable and give good velocity. I don’t see much data for RL7 using bullets heavier than 150gr. I even thought about trying a case full or 4350 although I’m not sure I could get over 2000fps. Also considered lever revolution, win 760, and Varget. As you can see I’m all over the place here lol.

Just looking for some recommendations. I’m off next week so I have plenty of time to burn through some ammo.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
got any 3031?
I'd put that 165-A on top of @30 or grs of that and give it a run.
the Varget might work too but it's not a powder I'm familiar with.
 

Charles Graff

Moderator Emeritus
I have the same rifle, less the scope mount. I bought the correct Lyman receiver sight on Ebay some years back, drilled and tapped the receiver and away I went. It has proven to be accurate with both cast and jacketed bullets. A heck of a deal for $80.00 about 10 years ago. 001.JPG001.JPG
 

Will

Well-Known Member
I have 3031 I may give that a try. I shot it some more with 748 and the groups were a little better. I just hate using 748 because it’s so temp sensitive and every time I open a new pound of powder I have to tweak the load.
 

Ian

Notorious member
Yeah......I love 748 but never use it below about 45⁰ and every time I buy it I break down and get an eight-pounder because all my loads are off considerably. I've said it for years, Hodgdon gets a train car load of ball powder and tests it and depending on which ballpark it tests near it goes in bottles marked ww748, H335, or BLC-2, and the next lot will be different.

IMR 3031 is a truly impressive powder with cast bullets in .30-caliber cases on the small side of medium capacity. Gentle launch yet a sustained pressure curve and very easy to light-off and consistent. With the long jump you have, why not switch to a cup point pin in the MP hunter mould and push them up to at least 2200 fps? The nose taper of that mould is much better suited to the jump than the two-diameter 311041 which has little to keep the nose steered straight.

As for your first-shot flyers, I reiterate that with the MP bullet you have a lube that isn't making your system happy. It is fairly predictable though, so the easiest fix is aim a little lower for the first shot.
 
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Will

Well-Known Member
I actually have a 8 cavity MP hunter mold sitting on the shelf still in the box along with the 30 silhouette mold from MP.
Farming has really kept me busy this summer so I haven’t been able to do any casting. I had a few hundred of the 31-165A’s I cast up a few years ago so I thought I’d give them a whirl. I don’t have high hopes for the AM 31-165A due to the front drive band hitting on the ball seat of the chamber and the nose dangling with no support.
 

Ian

Notorious member
I jump the 30 Silhouette what seems like a mile in my LR-308 and it groups very well. Did you get the hp version or regular? The .30-30 is a whole different animal ballistically with a pointed bullet, you can run up the speed, get much flatter trajectory, and at higher speed get the damage done with using the right alloy instead of relying on HP or small WFN to do the deed.
 

Will

Well-Known Member
I purchased the 3 cavity 30 silhouette mold. The 8 cavity 308 hunting mold was the solid version. I love that 308 hunting mold but felt the HP probably wasn’t needed for what I’m doing 95% of the time
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
I have zero cup point, hollow point, anything point molds.
I have the option to add it in the swage die for a few calibers[large small wide narrow options] but after seeing how they sometimes do and sometimes don't work reliably at marginal speeds [factory store bought and home made] I don't even bother relying on them anymore.
 

Will

Well-Known Member
I agree fiver. I just don’t have enough experience hitting deer with cast bullets going over 2000fps.

I’ve smacked many with a 44 mag going 11-1200 FPS.

I have also hit a couple with the RCBS 35-200 hp cast from WW alloy water quenched. These were running about 1850fps and I didn’t like the results. Small hole in and out.