Joshua
Taco Aficionado/Salish Sea Pirate/Part-Time Dragon
I got a head cold last week. Sore throat, congestion, chills the first night, no big deal. My wife is high risk however, so I went and got tested for Covid-19. My work also strongly suggested that I be tested. It’s been six days waiting for results. I don’t feel sick anymore, but I can’t go back to work until I get test results back, that’s my work’s policy.
So I’ve been casting, and powder coating some bullets, while I wait.
Left Row are cast out of Lyman #2 and PC’d with Eastwood clear gloss, air cooled, from the top:
NOE 316-155 GC
Lyman 311041 GC
Lyman 311290 w/ copper GC
Lyman 311290 w/ aluminum 8mm GC
Lee 312-155-2r GC
NOE 316-155 PB
On the right are some more that I cast tonight:
Lyman 311290
Lee 312-155-2r
I mixed 1/3 pot Lyman #2, with a big chunk a soft sail boat keel, and four pounds of range scrap. “Mystery Metal”!
I did plug some numbers into the excel lead calculator, assuming the keel is pure then, tin is around 1.5% and antimony is around 1.7%. I will be water dropping these after powder coating.
The Lee six cavity had bullets sticking in the left block on Saturday(first session with this mold). Before I started casting this evening that side got a second aggressive scrubbing with water, a toothbrush, and Bartenders Friend. This seems to have done the trick, burrs are gone, edges of cavities very slightly rounded over, bullets are dropping with a few light taps.
I smoked this mold with a paint stir stick. I only smoke them when they are new. They don’t seem to need it during subsequent casting sessions.
I also made a short video showing how I cast. I’ve got to figure out how to get it linked up here.
I have loaded up some batches of these new bullets already. I want to go faster. Right now the goal is 1800-2000 fps. Then keep pushing faster until accuracy fails. Up till now 16 grains of 2400 was the hottest load I had tried.
I have 2400 and H4895 to play with. I‘ve read and searched a lot. In both the 30-06 and the 7.7x58mm I went with 20 grains of 2400. I’m still figuring out what I want to try with the H4895. I did impulsively load up ten 30-06 with the 311290 over 34.5 grains of H4895, this is 4.5grs below a starting jacketed load, and well above 60% of the max load. I will be loading up a ladder for that load starting at 30grs and stopping at the 34.5grs I already loaded. I don’t want to use filler. So we will see how these do. The 34.5gr load may end up shooting more of a pattern than a group.
Well that’s all folks!
Josh
So I’ve been casting, and powder coating some bullets, while I wait.
Left Row are cast out of Lyman #2 and PC’d with Eastwood clear gloss, air cooled, from the top:
NOE 316-155 GC
Lyman 311041 GC
Lyman 311290 w/ copper GC
Lyman 311290 w/ aluminum 8mm GC
Lee 312-155-2r GC
NOE 316-155 PB
On the right are some more that I cast tonight:
Lyman 311290
Lee 312-155-2r
I mixed 1/3 pot Lyman #2, with a big chunk a soft sail boat keel, and four pounds of range scrap. “Mystery Metal”!
I did plug some numbers into the excel lead calculator, assuming the keel is pure then, tin is around 1.5% and antimony is around 1.7%. I will be water dropping these after powder coating.
The Lee six cavity had bullets sticking in the left block on Saturday(first session with this mold). Before I started casting this evening that side got a second aggressive scrubbing with water, a toothbrush, and Bartenders Friend. This seems to have done the trick, burrs are gone, edges of cavities very slightly rounded over, bullets are dropping with a few light taps.
I smoked this mold with a paint stir stick. I only smoke them when they are new. They don’t seem to need it during subsequent casting sessions.
I also made a short video showing how I cast. I’ve got to figure out how to get it linked up here.
I have loaded up some batches of these new bullets already. I want to go faster. Right now the goal is 1800-2000 fps. Then keep pushing faster until accuracy fails. Up till now 16 grains of 2400 was the hottest load I had tried.
I have 2400 and H4895 to play with. I‘ve read and searched a lot. In both the 30-06 and the 7.7x58mm I went with 20 grains of 2400. I’m still figuring out what I want to try with the H4895. I did impulsively load up ten 30-06 with the 311290 over 34.5 grains of H4895, this is 4.5grs below a starting jacketed load, and well above 60% of the max load. I will be loading up a ladder for that load starting at 30grs and stopping at the 34.5grs I already loaded. I don’t want to use filler. So we will see how these do. The 34.5gr load may end up shooting more of a pattern than a group.
Well that’s all folks!
Josh
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