Ian
Notorious member
Or, From Sweden with Unrequited Love if you prefer, as their disdain for cast bullets is legendary in some circles.
I had made my peace with Karlina, coaxing her grudgingly up to a bit over 2,200 fps with a heavily modified Lyman 266469 and some specially-prepared brass formed from LC-68 .30-'06. Loooooong story, but in the end I made a deal with her to stick with Sierra 160 SP bullets and her favorite dose of H414.
Fast forward to a few months ago when a rather unusual Lyman 268645BV came up for sale, and the hamster in my head woke up. I can powder coat now to cure undersized bullets, and have pushed .30-caliber cast bullets to well over 230,000 RPM with decent accuracy. So I bought the mould. Of course the #$%&@#* thing cast .002" out of round and only made .2645" with 1/2 #2 alloy once I re-aligned the blocks, and gas checks fall off, but what the heck. I powder-coated a few and got them up to .2665" and the checks, applied after coating, now crimp on firmly. Throat is still .268"+ but you never know what will work and what won't until you try.
My 6.5x55 dies are a mess. I have a new Lee sizing die for jacketed bullets and an old modified one for thick necks. I'm done with thick brass and determined to only use the correct headstamped brass for now. Unfortunately, all my brass has been sized for jacketed bullets and has a neck ID of .261". I can't find my RCBS expanding plug, I went out to the shop and turned one to .2675" from O-1 tool steel and fit it to a Lee universal expanding die body. I had a box of 50 primed cases that had been short-sized in the FL die, so still fireformed at the shoulder and are snug in the chamber. After expanding, the necks are .266" and wongo as all hell. Not enough tension on a .2665" bullet, .002" or more runout, and visibly crooked. The only bullet seating die I have is a Lee and it seats the bullets so crooked I have to bend them by hand to chamber. What a mess.
Looking at Quickload for a 1800-2000 fps load with a gentle pressure rise, I decided on using IMR 3031at 25 grains for 19,600 psi peak pressure and 1,922 fps predicted muzzle velocity. I loaded up 10 and hit the range with a VERY large piece of target paper.
Annnnnd the results at 100 yards. I had to really cram the bolt into battery on abouthalf of these:
1-3/4" not counting shot #6 up there to the left (?).
I can't believe it. Now I'm going to invest in a Forster in-line seating die and some better case sizing equipment. I also need to decide to either lap the mould, try to double my PC thickness, or polish down the expander spud one more thousandth before I harden it.
I had made my peace with Karlina, coaxing her grudgingly up to a bit over 2,200 fps with a heavily modified Lyman 266469 and some specially-prepared brass formed from LC-68 .30-'06. Loooooong story, but in the end I made a deal with her to stick with Sierra 160 SP bullets and her favorite dose of H414.
Fast forward to a few months ago when a rather unusual Lyman 268645BV came up for sale, and the hamster in my head woke up. I can powder coat now to cure undersized bullets, and have pushed .30-caliber cast bullets to well over 230,000 RPM with decent accuracy. So I bought the mould. Of course the #$%&@#* thing cast .002" out of round and only made .2645" with 1/2 #2 alloy once I re-aligned the blocks, and gas checks fall off, but what the heck. I powder-coated a few and got them up to .2665" and the checks, applied after coating, now crimp on firmly. Throat is still .268"+ but you never know what will work and what won't until you try.
My 6.5x55 dies are a mess. I have a new Lee sizing die for jacketed bullets and an old modified one for thick necks. I'm done with thick brass and determined to only use the correct headstamped brass for now. Unfortunately, all my brass has been sized for jacketed bullets and has a neck ID of .261". I can't find my RCBS expanding plug, I went out to the shop and turned one to .2675" from O-1 tool steel and fit it to a Lee universal expanding die body. I had a box of 50 primed cases that had been short-sized in the FL die, so still fireformed at the shoulder and are snug in the chamber. After expanding, the necks are .266" and wongo as all hell. Not enough tension on a .2665" bullet, .002" or more runout, and visibly crooked. The only bullet seating die I have is a Lee and it seats the bullets so crooked I have to bend them by hand to chamber. What a mess.
Looking at Quickload for a 1800-2000 fps load with a gentle pressure rise, I decided on using IMR 3031at 25 grains for 19,600 psi peak pressure and 1,922 fps predicted muzzle velocity. I loaded up 10 and hit the range with a VERY large piece of target paper.
Annnnnd the results at 100 yards. I had to really cram the bolt into battery on abouthalf of these:
1-3/4" not counting shot #6 up there to the left (?).
I can't believe it. Now I'm going to invest in a Forster in-line seating die and some better case sizing equipment. I also need to decide to either lap the mould, try to double my PC thickness, or polish down the expander spud one more thousandth before I harden it.
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