Mold for 300 blackout subs

[Will]

Looking for recommendations on a mold for 300 blackout subs.

I have read through a lot of the old threads here and was wondering if anyone had done any more testing.

I want to use a plain base bullet and plan to powder coat. Really just looking for something cheap to shoot that way my daughter and my wife can ring some steel this summer.

My AR has a 16” barrel and a pistol length gas system.

 

[Sig556r]

CTL-230-5R works on sub loads for both my AR pistol & carbine

 

[fiver]

1-8 twist? I'd stay in the 200gr area.
1-7 the lee 230 is fine.
powder coat adds another problem to the nose diameter, I would look at overcoming that throat fitment issue before making a decision.

 

[popper]

Why not a 100-125gr PB with some pistol powder? This is 10" 1:8 pistol with 100gr HJ @7 - doesn't cycle as the gas is turned way down. Fun though.

 

[Ian]

CTL-230-5R works on sub loads for both my AR pistol & carbine

Will, what he said ^^^. I have three AR-15s, two carbine one pistol gas, they all eat them like Skittles IF, and this is a critical IF, you powder coat them. The Lee mould drops bullets about .298x.307", just right for a good, solid coat of Polyester TGIC powder applied with an aggressive airsoft BB shakenbake method and stood on their bases to bake.

The NOE 230 is too large on the ogive of the nose to chamber properly in most Blackouts and leaves no margin for powder coat thickness. Same story with the NOE 247. Some people are able to use them, but they have much larger than spec chambers/throats. The only other one that I know of which will work without coating was made by ACE, but they are unobtanium.

 

[Will]

Why not a 100-125gr PB with some pistol powder? This is 10" 1:8 pistol with 100gr HJ @7 - doesn't cycle as the gas is turned way down. Fun though.
View attachment 4860View attachment 4860

Popper I thought about going with the lee 160gr .312 bullet to save lead. I really haven’t made my mind up yet.

 

[Will]

Will, what he said ^^^. I have three AR-15s, two carbine one pistol gas, they all eat them like Skittles IF, and this is a critical IF, you powder coat them. The Lee mould drops bullets about .298x.307", just right for a good, solid coat of Polyester TGIC powder applied with an aggressive airsoft BB shakenbake method and stood on their bases to bake.

The NOE 230 is too large on the ogive of the nose to chamber properly in most Blackouts and leaves no margin for powder coat thickness. Same story with the NOE 247. Some people are able to use them, but they have much larger than spec chambers/throats. The only other one that I know of which will work without coating was made by ACE, but they are unobtanium.

I may give this one a try. I use smokes powder from the other forum. To be honest I don’t have a lot of experience with powder coating.
So far I’ve been able to get good results but I’m not sure if it’s polyester powder.

How are you managing to stand those long 30 cal bullets up during baking.

 

[fiver]

I made a plate that I drop the bullets in that holds them upright.
I can only do about 50 at a time with it so I'm looking at fabbing up a hardware cloth on a cookie sheet deal.
once you get the shake and tap thing down you can actually put a pretty darn consistent .001 coat on.
I use a little less powder in the cup than I think I need and I actually count out the bullets and measure out the powder by a scoop.
if there is any leftover powder after a shake I dump the excess out of the cup and start again for the next batch.

 

[Will]

Fiver are you picking the bullets out with pliers or using the glove method

 

[popper]

I use a 142C PB but run it hot. IMHO you can keep 125-130 Reasonable with pistol powder and still cycle. Below 6 gr cfe pistol, just a pop, above that is a bang.

 

[fiver]

glove.
I shake in a cup with a lid and some plastic BB's.
dump them a little at a time into a small 4" pan I drilled holes in and roll things just a touch to get the b's separated then pick the bullets out and place into another #5 container.
then pick them out of that with a glove give them a quick roll between my fingers and place them in the little tool.

it's the same tool I made from 2 saw blades for bonding cores to jackets for swaging 30 cal rifle bullets.
I just nipped 2 of the legs off so I can slide a piece of parchment paper in.

 

[Ian]

I pick with pliers, tap on the edge of the shaking container, and stand them on their bases. I cut two very flat metal sheets out of the side of an old appliance, covered them carefully with non-stick aluminum foil, folded the foil around the edges, and smoothed it to be absolutely flat and wrinkle-free. I place the plate on the wire convection oven racks and after placing all the little dominoes on their ends, carefully pick it up and place it in the oven. If you try it that way, do a few "dry runs" with just the rack and plate with a couple of one-pound ingots on it so you'll know you can pick it up and slide it into the oven without bumps. You'll also find out where the dips and stops are in the oven rack guides that way which will save you grief later. If you can't balance six wine glasses on end and walk across the room and set them down on a table without breaking them, maybe a hardware cloth support stand would be best.

AR-15s don't have much camming action to the bolt, so if a bullet nose has a spot on it from being laid down to cook, or any other major defect, it might not chamber fully on its own. This is why I go to the trouble to stand those long, skinny, boat tailed bullets on their bases.

 

[Sig556r]

I may give this one a try. I use smokes powder from the other forum. To be honest I don’t have a lot of experience with powder coating.
So far I’ve been able to get good results but I’m not sure if it’s polyester powder.

How are you managing to stand those long 30 cal bullets up during baking.

I'm pretty lazy to twizz them bullets upright one by one, especially with the boattail. I just shake them in HF powder (red seems to be the best) with plastic BBs (sometimes do the "elvis" method of baking boolits for 4min/140F prior to tumbling with other HF color) & spread them in one layer on a makeshift screen basket in my rundown toaster at 20min/400F then dump the entire thing in water. Never had problems in sizing, barrel leading or accuracy thus far.

 

[fiver]

I can't do that.
it's probably good nuff.
but I just can't, a wire mark or 2 bullets stuck together would get them sent back to the re-melt bucket.

 

[popper]

I just shake & bake, pick up with hemos and place on a hot plate. I was ringing steel a while back with hot 150s from 50 yds, wouldn't knock it over but was loud. I like the 140-150ish range as it has the trajectory and energy for general purpose. It's harder to find a powder that will work for light loads and run the gas. Actually I was using some 185gr GC RD style from the pistol at 25 yesterday, not bad considering I;m kinda wobble & under the weather lately. Circled are the HJ, offhand.

 

[Sig556r]

Most of my .30 & .458 casts are for plinking anyways & not practical for intricate PC process...may not be the best for others but works fine for me

 

[Will]

I’ll have to experiment with my powder coating process.

I may end up getting both the lee 309-230 and the 312 160. That would give me an idea of what worked in my rifle.

I just hope I don’t get some of the lee lemons. Luckily the 3 that I have purchased all worked great after a little work.

 

[Ian]

Do you have a suppressor?

 

[Will]

Not yet Ian I’m still throwing around the idea. To be honest I just can’t decide if it’s worth the money and hassle.

Also I am unable to really find a need for it other than cool factor.

 

[Will]

The TL 230-5R and a lee push thru sizer is on the way.

I’ll try to update this post after I have a chance to shoot some.