MP311-180

Ian

Notorious member
you liking those balanced alloys a bit more now?

Sure am now that I figured out a way to shoot them fast and somewhat accurately.

I really need to find a source of newsprint, might have to go hit up the newspaper for some back issues.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
get the old nickel ad's at the supermarket, a lot of the time the manager will save the out dated ones for you.
 

Spindrift

Well-Known Member
Shot some more flat points, waterquenched, 96/2/2 nuke lead/tin/antimon. While the results were far from stunning, at least I got some clarity. Imr 4064 (36-37-38grs) was to much, groups opened up to around 4 MOA....
Viht N140 (36-37grs) gave me reasonable, but not impressive 2 MOA group.
I think I need to improve my casting technique before I can expect better results with higher velocities. So I will focus on that for a while.

As a side note, yesterday I brought my CZ455 american .22lr to the range. It has seen very little use the last couple of years. Every time I went to the range, I had a bunch of cast bullet loads to test. So many, in fact, that I realized a sense of «urgency» creeps into my mind when I shoot (have to make all the shots before the range closes...). I think it has affected my shooting skills. I had completely forgotten how much fun you can have with a good rimfire rifle, and a case of ammo. Finished shooting? Sweep up the cases and throw them in the trash can! It will see a lot of use in the future, I think it will do me good.
AE8E40BF-A55F-4894-91D1-B8DF1A65D4A2.jpeg
 

Spindrift

Well-Known Member
First little test with the HP- bullets today, in the .30-06 barrel of my Rössler Titan Alpha rifle. It has good accuracy potential, but is not an ideal «bag rider», being a light weight hunting rifle. I liked the way everything came together when loading to light jam fit; GC at the base of the neck, no exposed lube.
N110, 18-19-20 grs. No astonishing groups today, but no groups were terrible either. The 20 grs group was smallest, but I think actually 19 grs is the better load; the last shot (red icon) was a called flier, as the guy beside me fired his rifle 2 miliseconds before I pulled the trigger :)
I will explore the pleasant mid- level loads a bit more, before taking it up a notch with powder coated bullets.Hopefully, I`ll get a chance to do an expansion test also.
0B42748F-2A62-4BBA-BC94-6DB0A4C069E1.jpegC567BE38-AD69-4611-9ED4-ED516D7C0AD0.jpegCFE5BB63-D45E-4A04-A786-0F510654559A.jpeg
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
your right where I am in the 0-6 for my general shooting.
19grs. of 2400 is pretty much my de-fault go to load.
it might not be the best in everything but it is generally good enough [even for our little ground squirrels here] and easy to assemble.
 

Spindrift

Well-Known Member
A little more shooting today, with HP bullets in the Røssler .30-06. Pan lubed bullets, Hornady GC, sized .310. Tried Vectan TU-3000, a medium/fast rifle powder. I think the burning speed is about similar to 4895. Extruded, single base. Tried 28 and 29 grs, no filler. Both seemed good, 28 grs was best. I will have to look more into this powder.

9845A377-94AB-4FD4-BA93-F2417FFD2CD9.jpeg

Shot a few more groups with N110, 19-20 grs. 19 grs proved to be the best. It is probably possible to get better accuracy, I just have to improve my casting technique (my current focus).

3B307B3E-3EBF-4D7C-B441-E690BE231ED3.jpeg
 

popper

Well-Known Member
My isocore has more Sb, but add a little CuSO4 to yours to clean the alloy good. Also the Cu makes it a little stronger (not brittle) so it takes the twist better. ~one level tablespoon to 10# pot should do. Won't take all the Sn out. I've only used varget with jax but 335 & 4895 for cast give same results. Got 2700 fps & moa @ 100 in 1:10 24" barrel, H.T.d alloy. Your alloy is about what I've tried running 2100 in PB BO and no luck yet. Got a GC mould to try, hopefully Wed.
 
Last edited:

Spindrift

Well-Known Member
CuSO4..... thank you for the tip! I have been wondering about practical ways of adding Cu to my alloy, this seems to be the way!
 

Ian

Notorious member
Looks pretty excellent to me, Spindrift. Be careful with the copper sulphate as it has to be added during the mush phase of the alloy, "folded" into the mix, and releases some seriously noxious fumes.
 

Spindrift

Well-Known Member
When I size my bullets through the .310 sizer (NOE, push through) and crimp on the Hornady checks, it requires quite a lot of force. I noticed there was typically a tiny extrusion somewhere from the base of the check, typically reflecting the position of the bullet punch. I could probably solve the problem by sizing in steps. But i have enough pulls of the handle, as it is :)

So I wanted to try out my aluminium checks, made with Pat Marlin checkmaker, and 0,3mm (=0,012in) aluminium. These crimp on effortlessly, with even base.
Tested the Vectan tubal-3000 further today (with these, and other bullets). This seems to be a seriously good powder! Absolutely clean, which means I could see no new layers of grime. Just a couple of 5-shot groups today, mostly to see if there was an obvious drift in sweet spot with the new checks- it wasn`t.

Rössler titan alpha .30–06. Norma range pick- ups, neck sized (8th), expanded/flared to 1 thou bullet grip. Left the flare. Win LRP. 28grs tu-3000. Jam fit. Shot @100m, prone, support on bag with 10x scope.

The best group (3/4 MOA) was with the aluminium checks. A couple of 5-shot groups proves absolutely nothing, but I will definately try this load again. 3/4 MOA 5- shot group pretty much reflects my limit as a shooter, with a light hunting rifle from this shooting position.
PS target looks different than the others because I used a zoom-function on the target computer. Ah, progression!

1C141142-57AB-4719-B01D-8758A4E3D51F.jpeg5CAEA700-D807-4E88-911D-41ECFD956F44.jpeg
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Ian

Ian

Notorious member
A couple of excellent five shot groups doesn't prove the load and procedures are good, but it dang sure proves they aren't bad.;) Good shooting there, try more of same continuing with your attention to tiny details.
 

Ian

Notorious member
3/4 MOA 5- shot group pretty much reflects my limit as a shooter, with a light hunting rifle from this shooting position.

Most shooters have a much larger group limit under those circumstances, truth be told. What you are doing is not easy.
 

Wasalmonslayer

Well-Known Member
One small note on NOE bushing sizers.
The interior finish is rough as a corn Cobb on all the ones I have bought.
So I shine em up 1500 grit on a dowel and a little oil.
Then the bullets slip thru like they are greased.

I was experimenting with hitek and most of the coating was being scraped off.
I thought the coating was bad turns out it was the die.
After polishing sizing force is greatly reduced and no coating shaving either.

So give em a quick polish and it may help your seating/sizing efforts.
 

Ian

Notorious member
Buy a cheap lathe, build a couple of rifles with it instead of paying a gunsmith, buy some of KeithB's die blanks, and THEN you might, just might break even. Save money? :rofl::rofl::rofl: Nah, no such thing, any money saved by having a lathe goes into tooling or upgrades so you can do the next project that comes up.
 

Spindrift

Well-Known Member
A lathe would be perfect. Oh, and another house, where I can put it. This would fit right into my «spending dollars, saving cents»- program :)
I will definately polish my bushings, excellent idea. I love the flexibility the NOE push- through sizer gives me, but it is limited as to the amount of sizing can be done in one pass. Polishing should help, will do!

The lube I’m using now (detailed in the lube section) seems to have improved my results. I have shot it a fair bit now (1000 shots, maybe?). I have fewer of those «what happened there»- groups. You know, when an established good load shoots a bad group I can’t otherwise explain. Cold bore shot is in the group. The lube clings to the grooves like a bad rumor. Very happy with it!