Lee 309-230-5R; revisited, repurposed

Spindrift

Well-Known Member
Some calculations in Berger’s stability calculator, for the Lee 309-230
1:8 ROT: comfortable stability from subsonic, and up
1:10 ROT: comfortable stability from subsonic, and up (surprising. I’m sceptical).
1:11 ROT: marginal stability at subsonic muzzle velocity. Comfortable stability from 1280fps
1:12ROT: comfortable stab8lity from 2070fps (!)

These are only theoretical calculations.

Glaciers; sounds very promising!
When I plot your NOE 247grs bullet in the stability calculator, using the estimated BC from the NOE website, I get «comfortable stability» from subsonic muzzle velocity. Should work fine!
 

Dimner

Named Man
Some calculations in Berger’s stability calculator, for the Lee 309-230
1:8 ROT: comfortable stability from subsonic, and up
1:10 ROT: comfortable stability from subsonic, and up (surprising. I’m sceptical).
1:11 ROT: marginal stability at subsonic muzzle velocity. Comfortable stability from 1280fps
1:12ROT: comfortable stab8lity from 2070fps (!)

These are only theoretical calculations.

Glaciers; sounds very promising!
When I plot your NOE 247grs bullet in the stability calculator, using the estimated BC from the NOE website, I get «comfortable stability» from subsonic muzzle velocity. Should work fine!
Well.... the savage 99 in 303sav is out, as is the sav 340 and 24 in 30-30. The 308 tikka may be the way to go. Has a 1:11, so if I keep it above 1300, I should be good. Only other one I have at the moment other than the garand is a 1903a4. I think I may dink around with the 308 and see where I get.
 

Dimner

Named Man
Also, I should mention that my actual cast bullet BCs are dismal compared to bullet specs. That's using a lab radar. However, I have never tested with a cast bullet that was designed for a high BC/long flight. I'm always using flat points or big old round noses.
 

Glaciers

Alaska Land of the Midnight Sun
Yeah Spin that’s good to hear. When I ordered the NOE mold I talked to Al about the 1 in 10 twist rate and that 247 and Al said in his experience there was not a problem. I did not ask about velocities.
But, COL has me concerned. Need to make some dummies.
I don’t think COL will be a problem in the 06 Springfield or the 30-40 1895 Winchester, it might be a problem in the 30-06 Featherweight. Just got to load some up (dummies) and check it out.
On my NEI 220, which weighs 226 with check, Frank Marshall was playing with in the 30-30 Winchester which has a 1 in 12 twist, he was loading the Lyman 311 284 which weighs in at 211 on Lyman’s chart and driving them to about 1800 fps if my memory serves. But my point is that bullet is at about 1.2 long. Don’t have one to measure but I think that’s about right. What interested me was that Frank talked about wanting to get the NEI 220 because it was more rounded then the Lyman, so it should chamber as well. Frank was filing the nose of each Lyman bullet to blunt the nose and was of the opinion that the NEI would work as cast. Well that made my day as I wanted a heavy for the 30-30 and did not have the 311 284. I do have the RCBS 180 which approaches 200 but the nose is to big. I will be using Ben’s Red and over coated with BLL on anything for the 30-30 94’s. Powder Coating just complicates castings for the 94 with the molds I have available. A little drift there, sorry.
But I’m thinking the 247 will work in the Springfield and the 1895 powder coated maybe even in the Savage 303. So little time till February to play with these things.
But heavy for caliber is of great interest to me, much more then velocity.
 

Dimner

Named Man
Dimmer the 303 Savage has a 1 in 10 twist
Nice! Then I know the next mold I'm getting :)

My 303 is a darling to shoot. I bet ya shooters world buffalo rifle would be a great powder for this.

Edit to add.... my type 99 arisaka may be perfect for this as well. Mine does great with 0.312 PC bullets
 
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Dimner

Named Man
Alright I ordered the mold, I'm gonna play with it in 7.7 arisaka first. That rifle has the polygon/5R type rifling and I anecdotally think it shoots cast bullets better than standard cut rifling. Maybe it will have a higher BC when I test it.

Actually, I'll do a head to head test vs my 308 tikka. I'll try and get similar speeds and see what the labradar BC comes out as. Maybe start with 1600ish fps.
 

Spindrift

Well-Known Member
With this load development, I’m taking baby steps. It is unpractical (but not impossible) to cast bullets during the winter here, and the Lee mould is not the most effective in the first place. So, I try to avoid wasting bullets.

Three weeks ago, I shot some groups with the N-15 powder. That’s the Norma MRP-analogue, just on the slow side of H4831. 48-49-50grs, with WLRP. It was a cold day. I got 2 MOA groups, with a trend towards vertical stringing. I interpreted this as ignition problems. No hang-fires, though. I’ve put N-15 back on the shelf, might try again later- whenever I can get some magnum primers for a price I’m willing to pay.

Yesterday, I shot a couple of groups with 40 grs of N-4 (Norma 204 analogue, 4350-ish). I shot one group with the COL I’ve been using so far, 84,5mm/ 3,327in. And one group with slightly longer 85,5/ 3,366in. Both have a generous jump, and a good bullet grip with the entire neck invested in the bearing surface.

The bullets I’ve used so far, have have been older bullets from my earlier days with powder coating. Slightly lumpy, uneven coat. Now, I’m using newer bullets of higher quality. The nose is slightly uniformed in a .302 nose sizer, the driving bands sized .310.

With PC bullets, I’ve generally not worried about cold bore shots, and fouling shots. But with the 84,5mm COL group, which included the CB shot, I got a marked flier. The consecutive 4 shots landed pretty close. With the 85,5mm COL, 5 shots grouped at exactly 1 MOA. The two different COL’s gave slightly different points of impact.

I think I’m pretty much done with load development now, if accuracy is reproducible in the 1 MOA ballpark. I should do some scope rotation to mount my Vortex scope (with lots of knobs and scales and stuff), get zeroed and bang some steel.
My LabRadar has arrived. I learned yesterday, it is wise to learn the knob-ology in a heated envirmonment, and not on the range in january. Chrono data will come later!

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RBHarter

West Central AR
I tried Unique in the 325C 30-30 with the NOE 311-230 . The holes were mostly round but a foot apart . The only thing I shot in it that wasn't under 1.5 in .

I had bought the mould for Donna , 1-8.5 06' but never got to it beyond a dummy for feed and fit . It touched the lands at 3.99 which would just clear in the mag .
 

CWLONGSHOT

Well-Known Member
I have this mold and it was a dog for me. I surmised it had too little bearing surface and too small a diameter. I shelved it for some time. I gained confidence and I reamed out that boat tail. Very first loads printed nice round 5/10/20 shot 1" groups @ 50 yards subsonic in 300aac.

A friend (now passed) also had issues he ordered an Accurate 250g slick side. (I dont know numbers) he sent me a hundred or so. These also had a slight boat tail but a much longer and larger dia bearing surface. They are longer then a case and shoot under 1" in the couple loads I have tried. I have only a small amount left and kinda keep them as a momento of him.

I dont do allot with these heavies but they are fun never considered them long range. Thats probably a next step in my casting journey. I only have 200y to shoot here. So wont be that "long" of a range. :p

CW
 

Spindrift

Well-Known Member
Tonight, I changed scope on the Rem 700 from the (very nice) Nikon 5-20x, to a Vortex Viper 4-16. This has external turrets, and is more suitable for long range. The rifle has a 10 MOA tilt rail.
My range has targets out to about 400 yards. While not "proper" long range, it's a start.
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