Any Guy Loverin fans out there ?

[Ben]

I have a single cav. Lyman 311466.
I plain based the mould about 5 years ago.
I'm glad I did.
1st band mikes .302", all others .3115".
It is a great shooting plain base .30 cal. cast bullet.
Any of you shoot Loverin's ?

Ben

http://imgur.com/D1Qj1Jy

 

[Maven]

Yes, I do Ben. I have that same mold, but in a double cav. with the GC shank intact. It was an accurate shooter in both my 7.5 x 55 Swiss and .30-30Win. (Marlin #336, Microgroove), but a little less so in my '06. I also have a 195 grain GC "fat" Loverin I ordered years ago from CBE in OZ (i.e., before Accurate, Arsenal, and NOE existed) for my Argentine Mau. since very few designs cast large enough for its bore. It too is accurate and easy to cast with.

 

[Ian]

I think I've shot about half a million 311407s out of my old 336 Marlin. They're pretty good if you don't get crazy with the velocity.

 

[Ben]

if you don't get crazy with the velocity.

Yes, that is the " catch " with this one since it is a plain base.

Ben

 

[KHornet]

Have single 465 and 466 and 407 molds. All shoot
well but are a pain to cast any quantity with just a
single cav.

Paul

 

[S Mac]

I'd have look for the #'s but I have a 22 cal, a 7mm, and a couple of the 311466 including 1 that has had the Buckshot hp conversion, a 311467u that took forever to lap to .311 and a single cavity 311467 hp. I kinda like a Loverin.

 

[Ian]

Yes, that is the " catch " with this one since it is a plain base.

Ben

I think it's the overly-narrow driving bands that's the limiting factor even with a gas check. When pushed hard and fast the little bands give up and accuracy starts going south. Recovered bullets show significantly widened engraving marks, but usually don't lead due to the gas check doing its job.

The big advantage to the "micro-band" design is the bullets engrave easily, tolerate less than ideal scrap alloys, and fit a variety of throat shapes without much of a fight.

 

[fiver]

I have one cut by walt melander when he was running NEI.
that was the first mold I got near 2400 fps with.
it's cut so the two top bands are narrow and the 3 rear ones are a little thicker.
it makes the bullet look like it's stepped down, but it's tapered.
I should put it in more rifles and see how it does,.
in the ones where I can seat it out a bit it shines, and the ones I have to set it back for are mediocre at best.
I think the wife's 0-6 savage, and the milsurp 0-6's would shoot it pretty well, the old bolt guns in 30-30 really like it.

 

[Ian]

That sounds like a "jam to fit or forget it" proposition with the weak steering linkage up front. I bet those narrow front bands make squeeze to fit just about any throat though. Always a trade-off, isn't it?

The more I shoot the more I lean toward more narrow bands than a few wide ones. But not the way Lyman and Ideal cut most of the Loverin moulds, make the bands about half again as wide, maybe a little more, and have plenty of places for lube and metal to displace but still try to coax as much bearing surface as possible out of them (narrow but deep lube grooves). Also, a minimal unsupported nose portion, just enough taper to the front to fill up the throat and just enough nose past that to bring it to a point with a decent BC. IOW, anti-silhouette. Silhouette bullets shoot great under the right circumstances, but are tricky to fit and have to be launched very carefully to keep them in the middle of the barrel.

 

[mattw]

Late to the show, but I love the loverin designs. I have the 225438 DC, 311407 DC, 311466 DC and 311467 DC. I would really like to get my hands on a 311465, but have not yet.

I have been running the 225438 in the 22TCM and having good results with powder coated and gas checked loads. Running mid 1700's for velocity.

 

[RicinYakima]

Like mattw, #225438 from an early mould that casts at .225" is the only one that ever shot well for me. BUT you can shoot his designs very fast if you like 6 MOA.

 

[CZ93X62]

Just two, so far--Lymans #225438 and #266469. I pushed the 22 Hornet to 2400 FPS with "438"--did well. With "469", it stayed decent through 1800 FPS, haven't pushed past that yet (Ruger 77R/6.5 x 55).

 

[mattw]

Like mattw, #225438 from an early mould that casts at .225" is the only one that ever shot well for me. BUT you can shoot his designs very fast if you like 6 MOA.

I agree with the above in regards to the 30 cal Loverin's, but the 22 is grouping better than factory ammo at around 1750fps.

 

[L Ross]

Sure I'm a fan of H. Guy Loverin. I'm getting to be an old man now, but many of my preferences were formed as a child. My Uncle Bub was a bullet caster and had all those great old Lyman manuals and bullet casting books. I still have a few tattered old specimens. I know one has a photo of H. Guy Loverin, black and white on a blue background wearing a bow tie, looking very nerdy. I poured over all that old stuff and now of course all those great old moulds are collectors items.
Frankly I could care less about cast and high velocity as most of my knock down targets are mild steel and velocities 1,600 fps and under shoot well and do not damage my targets. If I want to shoot high vel. I simply use, (gasp), jacketed bullets. I could shoot all the deer I need the rest of my life just with the jacketed bullets laying around here from pulled down gun show reloads.
There is something just ever so cool about all of those driving bands. I only lube a couple at the bottom and then tumble in BLL. My favorite is a big long 8 m/m missile that weighs over 200 grains, a 323471 maybe, but they are all a prize.

 

[mattw]

Well said L Ross. I was drawn into casting 30 years or so ago while helping a very good friend run a commercial casting an reloading business. We did not run anything like the Loverin bullets because they were not high production moulds. After he passed, I started really digging into some of the older moulds from Ideal and Lyman. I started shooting the 466 and 467 in my old sporter 03, yes very old brittle number. I love them with mid-level H4895 charges. I then picked up the 407 for use in my 30/30 tube fed guns and loved it. I always lubed all the grooves with a moderately hard lube and fired them that way. Lately, I have been using PC on them and they just got better. I think I am going to order a few NOE nose size bushings and work them into a couple of other guns as well. Heck, even have the 466 running in my 300BO AR, never thought that would happen! I am on the prowl for a 4C 225438 and a 2C 311465. They will turn up, I have several years left in me I hope.

 

[harrympope]

I have a 4 cavity 311466 except mine has the first two band by the nose at .302.it shoots pretty well in many of my 30 calibers.ive owned a couple 311466 that were fully .311 with no reduced front bands and they didn't shoot near as well.

 

[JonB]

My custom T38 Jap really likes the NOE 270469 (a fat copy of the Lyman 266469)
My rifle has a tight throat, due to it having the chamber recut for 257Rx6.5 and probably hasn't been shot much since that time?
So even though I size and lube with a .270 die, the two front bands are smaller, mine probably drop .001 or .002 larger than the drawing specs. I'm really just sizing the base band and seating/crimping the GC and lubing.

I've tried NOE's other fat 6.5 bullet styles, but I was forced to seat them much deeper than I liked, due to fat noses and tight throat, and I never got the accuracy I liked. I believe those other styles are designed for old worn Mil surps.

 

[CZ93X62]

OK--now I will need to head out to my bullet emporium and do a better Tale Of The Tape on my Lyman #266469. I don't think I mic'ed any more of the drive bands than the bottom 2-3 in as-cast condition, which were right on spec @ .266"(92/6/2 alloy); it hadn't occurred to me that the upper bands might be smaller, and since I only squeezed Carnauba Red into the lowest 3 or 4 grooves I am unsure if the upper bands got sized or not (.265"). The mould was bought c. 2010-2011. It shot well--it "cleaned up" in the .265" H&I die--and from some source I got the idea of only filling the bullet's bottom half of the lube grooves, which has worked out so far. I REALLY miss having regular time at and close proximity to a range facility.

 

[Maven]

"I REALLY miss having regular time at and close proximity to a range facility."

I truly regret reading this, Al and understand that loss, if that's the correct term, completely.

 

[CZ93X62]

Maven--I can get around fairly well--the sitch has more to do with distance to safe, legal places to shoot. Living in the high desert/Ridgecrest spoiled us rotten in a number of ways. Buckshot and I REALLY miss having Inland Fish & Game Association's range 3-4 miles from where we both reside.

I have gone out to the garage TWICE today, meaning to measure the Lyman castings--and got side-tracked both times. Too many goodies to play with out there. This an aroundtuit I need to get to.