My quest for speed and accuracy with powder-coated cast bullets

Ian

Ian

Notorious member
You got it. I have no love for the barrel. but want to see what I can make it do and it only has maybe 475-500 rounds through it so far, long way to go before it's time to re-handle the Gray bottle jack. I know there are several premium pre-fit barrel options out there, but if/when I wear this one out the rifle is magically going to become a precision .300 Blackout with a barrel fitted and chambered by ME. I got 5.56 ARs that shoot circles around it right now, don't really need it except it's quiet enough with the can to not need hearing protection at all, unlike the ARs with the port noise in my ear.

Remember, this is all a grand experiment. I never owned a bolt 5.56 before and this one fell in my lap, threaded muzzle and all. Figured I'd shoot cast through it because I have a good 5.56 suppressor and can blast all I want at home. Lead in the can made me investigate powder coating, and here we are trying to get accuracy from it all. I still have several other rifles to work out HV PC loads in, hopefully I'll learn some more about that soon in this one instead of spending time working out the bugs in the rifle itself.
 
Last edited:
Ian

Ian

Notorious member
A hasty group after work. YUCK. I had cleaned about half the copper out, first shot was a little out but still in the group. I'll load some more Sierra bullets in fired brass and see how it does next.

20180927_185347.jpg
 
F

freebullet

Guest
That may not meet the spec'd goal but, considering how long it's(pc) been viable & the speed yer flinging them at, I can't say yuck.
 
Ian

Ian

Notorious member
Tried again today with the MX3 and 21.6 grains of 3031, and discovered that it's probably me this time. If I placed the buttpad farther out on my shoulder, outside the pocket and on the muscle above my bicep, shots didn't fling up and to the left and the crosshairs were at the top center after the shot instead of off the left upper corner. The slow powder and heavy bullet make for some long barrel time and I can tell what it's doing now that the action isn't flopping and vibrating every which way. The rifle feels so much better after re-bedding it that I'm going to have to learn how to shoot it again.
Second shot may not have been all me, high-left second shots have always been a trend and that one was the farthest off in this group. Five in 3/4" and all the flyers off to the left and up, I think this rifle and load are capable of 1 MOA, but the shooter is going to have to prove it.

20180929_193201.jpg
 
Brad

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
His is gong to sound a bit flippant but what you need is for Ben to shoot it. He has proven he can fire small groups, something I really struggle with.
An accurate rifle is one thing, an accurate shooter is another.

Looks like progress Ian. Knowing what is going on makes the solution so much easier to formulate.
 
Ian

Ian

Notorious member
Yes, you're totally right. I'd love to have someone else shoot it.

The next thing I'm going to do is change the scope because I can't SEE 1/2 MOA with this one, much less aim that small. That might help a little.
 
Last edited:
RBHarter

RBHarter

West Central AR
A little trick ........
When my reticle covers the point I put it in the corner . The old post and wire K4 is one I do this with . Just stick the circle on the target on top of the wire touching the post and go to town .
 
Ian

Ian

Notorious member
More shooting today, this time with nose-sized, powder-coated, gas-checked, water-quenched WW, aged MX3 bullets seated to touch the throat. Won't go in the magazine but at the moment that doesn't concern me.

First go was with 21.6 IMR 3031, seated long (jam minus ~.015") the velocity dropped to 2676 fps.
Then I seated a little longer, to actually form a light jam in the throat. Lost another 16 fps and it didn't group any better.
Then I switched to H335 to push the velocity up a little and see what happened, still jamming the throat lightly. Started in at the mid 27s and pushed on up to 2845 @ 23.5 grains.

20181006_172902.jpg

Seeing the little .100" cluster of four at the center of the group got me going, so I put in one click to the right and one click down, then added another half grain of powder (book max for a 68 grain bullet by the way) and got this 1-1/4" group, at 2908 fps:

20181006_172923.jpg

It seems like the more pressure and velocity I add, the fewer the flyers. I'll keep shooting this load for a while and see if it holds up.

Closing in on MOA at over 232,000 rpm...with wheelweight alloy.
 
Last edited:
fiver

fiver

Well-Known Member
you could shorten the oal on the 335 max load too.

funny how we get all the way to matching jacketed velocity's with our little lead nuggets and are holding accuracy that's pretty common for the rifle we are shooting,,,,,,,,,,,
and want MORE,MORE,MORE!!!! DAMMIT....!MORE...LOL.
your oh so close.
 
Ian

Ian

Notorious member
Heheheh...yeah, 'cause sometimes we can get more.

Not bad for bulk Federal brass with no prep and primers that are nearly as old as me, and loaded on Lee equipment. I didn't even clean the primer pockets the last couple of loadings because it didn't seem to make any difference. I really don't know how much difference the nose-sizing made to the faster groups, it didn't seem to help the load I was using before very much. Increasing case capacity by seating longer helped as much as anything.
 
Will

Will

Well-Known Member
You have things really coming together Ian. I really enjoy watching the whole process you go through to reach your goal.

Fiver I think that drive we have in us to always want more is what makes shooting cast bullets fun. If it was easy we would get bored.
 
Brad

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
Ian will soon be making a taper die for 30 cal to get his M1A shooting better. Right Ian?
Awful nice shooting Ian.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.