Mold for a worn 308
- Thread starter Ole_270
- Start date
fiver
Well-Known Member
sounds more like the Accurate 165-A it has a 1/4" long tapered front drive band.
mine makes 310 on the button but one could be ordered with a + tolerance and make 312/@168grs. without any drama.
mine makes 310 on the button but one could be ordered with a + tolerance and make 312/@168grs. without any drama.
Bret4207
At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
Just to throw a wild idea out there, back in the old days I've used plumbers teflon tape to "fatten" a bullet. Worst case scenario, you could try it to fatten that "step" ahead of the case mouth to see if that helps. Comes in different widths. Apply BEFORE you lube, sticks better than way.
Ole - cast some 170PB for you this morning, 312 unsized. I needed some for the 30/30 & BO anyway. Lots of rain so I'll let you coat them. You can AC or cook an hour then WD to make them harder. 16 gr 2400 works in the 30/30. Probably get to the PO next week. Spent the afternoon getting her email to work again.
May of run into a stumbling block on this one. I just measured the neck portion of the pound cast and it's running.343- .344 roughly. With the .3095 expansion plug in a Lee Universal flairing die used to expand the case neck and flair the case mouth, I can seat a .312 bullet but when I've pulled it, the case has swaged it down to .310. Even at that smaller bullet dia. the case neck diameter with the bullet seated is nearing .342. I was going to order a larger expansion plug, but I'm thinking I'm getting pretty close to trapping the bullet in the case, causing increased pressures.
It might be that if I did a proper pound cast I would get different measurements than just by driving a muzzleloader ball into the leade from the chamber.
It might be that if I did a proper pound cast I would get different measurements than just by driving a muzzleloader ball into the leade from the chamber.
The rain all day had me holed up and bored, so the 308 came out of the deer rotation at least till the January doe season. I had some of the 165 RD that I had PC'd at 425 degrees for 30 minutes and dumped into ice water as an expariment to see if they would harden up some. Yes they did. They had been sized to .3113.
Loaded 10 of them in Fed cases with S&B primers over 8 grains of Universal with the seating depth to start the front band about .03 into the start of the rifling. Shot those leaning out the back door at a knot in a piece of firewood at 30 yards accompanied by a bunch of noise from the couch. Couldn't tell what the noise was with the earmuffs on. Got a decent group, so I went back to the shop and loaded 10 with 10 grains of Universal. RCBS and Lyman both show 10 gr as the starting load with Unique and I've found that in my 38-55 that Universal pretty much mimics Unique.
This time I brought a 2nd pair of earmuffs and had no more interuptions from the couch. You'd think that after 44 years that an open door with a rifle sticking out of it would mean something?
Shot the heavier load at a different kinot and got an oval shaped group roughly 1/2 wide x 7/8"tall. Considering I was just leaning into the doorjam I wasn't all that disappointed.
After the 20 shots I cleaned it with Bore Tech Carbon solvent and it only took about 3 or 4 patches to quit pulling color. The first had a couple strings of "sparkles", but that's not too unexpected.
I'll keep playing with this bullet, both PC and wax lubed for practice and backyard gong loads. I'll still think about a GC mold for hunting later on when things slow down a bit.
Loaded 10 of them in Fed cases with S&B primers over 8 grains of Universal with the seating depth to start the front band about .03 into the start of the rifling. Shot those leaning out the back door at a knot in a piece of firewood at 30 yards accompanied by a bunch of noise from the couch. Couldn't tell what the noise was with the earmuffs on. Got a decent group, so I went back to the shop and loaded 10 with 10 grains of Universal. RCBS and Lyman both show 10 gr as the starting load with Unique and I've found that in my 38-55 that Universal pretty much mimics Unique.
This time I brought a 2nd pair of earmuffs and had no more interuptions from the couch. You'd think that after 44 years that an open door with a rifle sticking out of it would mean something?
Shot the heavier load at a different kinot and got an oval shaped group roughly 1/2 wide x 7/8"tall. Considering I was just leaning into the doorjam I wasn't all that disappointed.
After the 20 shots I cleaned it with Bore Tech Carbon solvent and it only took about 3 or 4 patches to quit pulling color. The first had a couple strings of "sparkles", but that's not too unexpected.
I'll keep playing with this bullet, both PC and wax lubed for practice and backyard gong loads. I'll still think about a GC mold for hunting later on when things slow down a bit.
This is some Federal brass that was given to me a while back. I've been saving the Win and Hornady stuff for hunting loads. The fed neck walls measure .015 with a reasonably accurate caliper. I use a couple 0-1 mics for od measurements. Got both Starrett and Mitutoyo left from my days in the machine shops.
Probably should get a tube mic, but wouldn't use it all that often.
I did notice quite abit of difference in seating pressure, so I annealed the necks before resizing this time.
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Might have something going with light practice loads. I loaded more of the water dropped PC bullets over 10 gr . Universal and had a chance today to shoot off the bench at 50 yards. 1st up is a 10 shot group out of a cold, clean barrel. Shots were as fast as I could get a decent sight picture, no waiting between shots.
Next was a 5 shot group because the target sticker fell off at the 5th shot
Then I used the last 3 loads for this group
These were "run of the mold" bullets with no sorting other than obvious defects. The vertical spread probably comes from not using a filler and no attempt to elevate the muzzle between shots to orient the powder.
I've got a few air cooled bullets lubed with Bens Red and a very light coat of BLL ready to load tonight. Hope to try them tomorrow.
Next was a 5 shot group because the target sticker fell off at the 5th shot
Then I used the last 3 loads for this group
These were "run of the mold" bullets with no sorting other than obvious defects. The vertical spread probably comes from not using a filler and no attempt to elevate the muzzle between shots to orient the powder.
I've got a few air cooled bullets lubed with Bens Red and a very light coat of BLL ready to load tonight. Hope to try them tomorrow.
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Finally got around to running these over the chronograph. 10 gr. Universal, dacron filler this time, NOE 165 SC311-165 RF, PC'd and water quenched, sized .3112, in Federal cases. Surprized me a little with an ave. of 1440 fps, ES 23, for 5 shots. Not as slow as I was guessing, but then those Fed cases are heavy.
I dug around and found a couple hundred 31141 GC left over from a 30-30 project over 15 years ago. They were water quenched out of the mold, gas checked, sized .3105 and coated with LLA. I've got a light coat of BLL drying now since the old coat of LLA was pretty dry. I'll play around with a couple loads for a higher velocity loading.
Does anyone have a preference between the original Lyman, the Accurate version, or the Noe version of the 311041? I know it will be easier to get the larger dia I need from either of the custom molds.
I dug around and found a couple hundred 31141 GC left over from a 30-30 project over 15 years ago. They were water quenched out of the mold, gas checked, sized .3105 and coated with LLA. I've got a light coat of BLL drying now since the old coat of LLA was pretty dry. I'll play around with a couple loads for a higher velocity loading.
Does anyone have a preference between the original Lyman, the Accurate version, or the Noe version of the 311041? I know it will be easier to get the larger dia I need from either of the custom molds.
What gas check bullet would you recommend for the 308 as a hunting bullet?
i just weighed some 308 cases to compare to the Federals. The Feds weighed 178 gr., Rem 165, Honady and Win went 155. That's about 12% difference. Guess the Federals will be relegated to cast bullet use
i just weighed some 308 cases to compare to the Federals. The Feds weighed 178 gr., Rem 165, Honady and Win went 155. That's about 12% difference. Guess the Federals will be relegated to cast bullet use