170s in the 300 BLK?

STIHL

Well-Known Member
I decided to try something, and wandering if it has been done or tried? I had a few more cases than I had Lee 230grain so I PCd some 309-170 Lee GC bullets without the gas check. I seated them to 1.905 that was where I stopped at the crimp groove. I put 10.5 grains of H108 behind them settled on that because it was mid data for AA9 and a 180. Has anyone tried a bullet of this design in the blackout? I’m not worried about the not using a gas check, I’m more concerned with the seating depth than anything. The book says 1400 out of a 16 inch, but I figure the 8 inch will be in the 1100 to 1200 range. I know there is no way to know without testing, but has anyone tried something with a similar bullet? Bullet weighs out to 177 is why I went with 180 data.
Pic is a Lee 230 in orange and the 170 in green. It’s a bad looking little round. What you guys think?
 

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Ian

Notorious member
@popper has done similar I believe, pistol too. Ranch Dog bullet If I remember. Hopefully he can fill you in. All I've dine is heavy cast subs and one go with 115-grain gas-checked supers at stupid high velocity for S&Gs.
 

STIHL

Well-Known Member
does the rcbs 165 silhouette bullet on top of 9.5grs, of number-9 count?
I’d say it has to be in the ballpark. What was your seating depth? I’m rethinking thay 10.5 grains now. Still a ways away from book max, but it’s the seat depth that has me wondering, I’m sure I’m over thinking this, but all the info I can get, I’ll take!

If that silhouette bullet in 30 looks like my 7mm sil mold does then this Bullet is close, just has a wider meplat on it in the Lee.
 
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Ian

Notorious member
One can never over-think how seating depth can affect pressure. I don't think this is as critical as Titegroup in the 9mm or Bullseye with .38 Spl wadcutters, but always err on the side of caution until you have some chronograph data to compare to published data and see where you're "at".
 

STIHL

Well-Known Member
@Ian I agree. It’s not compressed at all, but it’s fairly deep in the case and with a faster powder pressures can go really high really fast. I’ve got to get the lab radar set up and get some data on the 230s then I was going to test these out. With leas and PC I should be good, but these bullets are about 3-4 years old and they are in the 25-30 BHN range, couldn’t believe the alloy got that hard, but it did, before I coated them, that may not make a huge difference, but it’s part of the equation.
 

CWLONGSHOT

Well-Known Member
I do most all my cast in my Ruger Bolt and try as I might blunt & fp bullets just dont feed. I do shoot them, just one at a time.
Since removing the boat tail from the LEE 230 I do shoot that one more and more in the msr's. (Cause it shoots well now)

4198 has worked well for accuracy and function. (Bolt dont matter)

CW
 

popper

Well-Known Member
My RD drops ~ 175,PB and works fine @ 15-1600 fps with 2400 powder. I've also run it ~ 950 fps for S&G, no recoil at all out of 10". 1:8 twist (IIRC this is a pistol target). I use an old Lee sizer die to set my seating depth on all my rifle loads now. Works kinda like a Wilson case gauge, checks barrel bore to case head dimension and yes PC on the nose makes a difference. I use lancer BO mags with the FN. I posted recent results with CVA SS in the shooting thread. I did notice that powder burns cleaner as you get higher fill but I don't run any compressed loads.
175PB.jpg
 

STIHL

Well-Known Member
@popper do you have any feed issues with them in the AR? What is your COAL on that round? I should have done it last nigh, but I think the 230s are in the case almost the same depth, so it may not be as big of an issue as I thought, going to check that tonight.
 

popper

Well-Known Member
1.885" but I don't measure it anymore. As I stated above, I set COAL by my ogive tool now. They feed fine from the Lancer BO mag. Short in the mag so make sure bases are seated and no rim dings that will pull case forward. Not so well from modded 223 mags.
 
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STIHL

Well-Known Member
@popper I didn’t understand what you were describing at first, but I think I understand how your seating them now. After i read it again and thought about it a minute. I got busy in the shop tonight and forgot to measure the bullets to see how much of the billet is actually in the case. Found some more once fired 300 brass I had forgotten about, got to work on the case prep and lost track of time.

That seat depth makes me feel a lot better about sending these on down the range and seeing what they will do.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
the 30 silhouette is exactly the same as the 7mm silhouette bullet.
the lee is kinda the same but of course LEE different.

I'm fairly surprised the rcbs bullet fits in my AAC bolt gun to tell you the truth,, it's extremely tight in the chamber, and the nose on my rcbs bullet is a titch over 300.
it'll choke in the couple of AR's I've tried chambering the round in, it feeds fine,,, it just chokes the bullet in the barrel.
I've never given the OAL any thought I just seated the front band to the front of the case mouth, which works out to the rounds being pretty darn close to the 223's magazine length.
that's how I set the 230's oal too, I just got them to slide down the magazine, and tested them in a couple of AR magazines in case I ever decided to buy a 300 upper.
 

popper

Well-Known Member
My 'tool' is crude but works. Cylinder that accepts case, plug in one end that has a 'land' size hole in it. Adjust plug so a loaded rnd rests on the hole in plug and case head doesn't stick out. A true machinist could get fancier, create a 'ring' to check neck dia.
 

STIHL

Well-Known Member
Yea the 230s seat really close to the 2.250 max on the front band. I have had a little better feeding and mag function at 2.210. That .040 gives just the little extra wiggle it needs in my opinion. So I push them just a hair deeper in the case. The Lee’s may be a little harder to feed, but being as they are seated to the depth they are they will pop up out of the mag before the nose starts up the ramp. I have never used a 300 BLK mag, all I have is standard 223-5.56 mags and they have worked for me this far, but in the event I see an issue I’ll try and find me a couple 300 mags to try.

@popper , I ain’t judging at all if it works, use it.
 

popper

Well-Known Member
Took the CVA SS to verify scope is stable. It's ok, my shooting sucks. Well, mostly handling recoil, may need a different stock (flex in plastic stock at the wrist?). 170gr cast vs 110 vmax (1600 vs 2300 fps), vmax is on target, cast shoots high. Time-in-barrel problem. Holding onto the forearm helps some. POA was bull for vmax, bottom of target for cast.
CCF_000128.jpg
 

STIHL

Well-Known Member
Not bad at all, Hope to get out this weekend and test these 170 out and get some chrono data too. I want to shoot them at 50, but 30 may be what I end up shooting.
 

STIHL

Well-Known Member
Well I tried them out today and they shot great as far as accuracy at 25, they just haven’t got the powder behind them. Going to bump the charge up about .5 I think and try again. With pistol mag primers gong to retest with some rifle primers and see. I had a few cases primed with SPM and they didn’t function as well as the rifle primers as my 230,s but hey I’m happy with what’s happening.

bottom right group.
 

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STIHL

Well-Known Member
@fiver was hard for me to tell with the group every shot was come off the gun and ease both back then let her fly to go into battery so I was just shooting. I think with a slight charge increase I can get them to cycle and maybe stay subsonic, very nice little load to shoot though almost no recoil.

and no leading that I know of, going to take a better look at it in a minute when I go in the house.
 
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