Spindrift
Well-Known Member
I recieved a shipment from Arsenal moulds this evening. Transatlantic shipping is not cheap, so I tend to buy more than one mould when I occationally place an order. This time, I bought 3 4-cav moulds.
The 311-176-LFN is a mould design heavily inspired by the Ranch Dog-designs. I have a 2-cav NOE311-166 GC mould already. That’s the one with the stepped nose; it works very well in my Marlin 30/30 MG. I wanted a PB mould with the conical nose. I liked the look of the «beefy» base band of the version with tumble lube grooves. I asked for a .310 mould with WW alloy. My alloy typically casts +0.001in, relative to nominal diameter. I did some quick-and-dirty casting this evening, to start break-in. The bullet was .311, weighing 175grs.
This will be used both as regular PB, PC and with plain-base GC
I’ve yet to find a really light weight .30-cal plinking bullet with good accuracy. I thought this one might be worth a try; another «Ranch dog-esque» design, the 313-115- RF. Again, I asked for a .310, and it was right on .311 in my alloy, as expected. I think it has a promising nose shape, for such a light bullet. Hopefully, it will be a nice plinking bullet. The nose shape also show obvious potential as a small- game whacker with moderate loads
And last, but not least: my first groove-less bullet. It even has a bevel base
The closest I’ve got to a slick bullet is the Arsenal HVTH1, which is one of my favourites.
This is the 225-45, I ordered .224. This will be powder coat, only.
I’m curious how it’ll work out. This mould has very few sharp angles to fill. It should be easier to get a optimally balanced bullet. Maybe cull rates will be so low, I can skip the tedious bullet sorting/inspection for recreational ammo. The bevel base provides some refuge for metal displaced by sizing, or engraving. It looks like..... a bullet!
This will be exciting!
Edit: corrected erroneous spelling
The 311-176-LFN is a mould design heavily inspired by the Ranch Dog-designs. I have a 2-cav NOE311-166 GC mould already. That’s the one with the stepped nose; it works very well in my Marlin 30/30 MG. I wanted a PB mould with the conical nose. I liked the look of the «beefy» base band of the version with tumble lube grooves. I asked for a .310 mould with WW alloy. My alloy typically casts +0.001in, relative to nominal diameter. I did some quick-and-dirty casting this evening, to start break-in. The bullet was .311, weighing 175grs.
This will be used both as regular PB, PC and with plain-base GC
I’ve yet to find a really light weight .30-cal plinking bullet with good accuracy. I thought this one might be worth a try; another «Ranch dog-esque» design, the 313-115- RF. Again, I asked for a .310, and it was right on .311 in my alloy, as expected. I think it has a promising nose shape, for such a light bullet. Hopefully, it will be a nice plinking bullet. The nose shape also show obvious potential as a small- game whacker with moderate loads
And last, but not least: my first groove-less bullet. It even has a bevel base
The closest I’ve got to a slick bullet is the Arsenal HVTH1, which is one of my favourites.
This is the 225-45, I ordered .224. This will be powder coat, only.
I’m curious how it’ll work out. This mould has very few sharp angles to fill. It should be easier to get a optimally balanced bullet. Maybe cull rates will be so low, I can skip the tedious bullet sorting/inspection for recreational ammo. The bevel base provides some refuge for metal displaced by sizing, or engraving. It looks like..... a bullet!
This will be exciting!
Edit: corrected erroneous spelling
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