What would you tell them ? ?

fiver

Well-Known Member
now to just narrow it down to whatever is closest to the throat shape of the rifle.
bore rider or tapered fit is more a matter of how fast they want to go or how much they want to play with alloy.
fast easy simple pretty good right out the gate?
I'd have to narrow it down more and more depending on their wants or desire to chase distance, .00's, or speed.
it all sort of swings back around to what rifle and throat shape they have.

I have been fooled a time or two and had one of my molds not perform the way I expected and one I never thought would work be the best option in a particular rifle.
but that happens rare enough it stands out when it does.
 

John

Active Member
When you find the point at which 7383 burns completely in a 35 W with 250 gr jacketed you get copper fouling. Ask me about bolt lift though it was a 90 F day. Stiffer than a [fill in any blank].
 
F

freebullet

Guest
7383 burns completel

Imr7383 is a peculiar powder indeed. I've run it in 223, 3030, 270, 308, & a few others.

It was made for 38,500 psi. Has a flash suppressant coating. Once you breech the 38500 mark it becomes erratic, does give spooky & inconsistent anomalies. Under that point it is quite dirty. Fire some at night you'll notice it has a dull red muzzle flash.

Imo a guy is smart to not exceed the 38500psi mark. In the 223 I worked near that. Made some to test further. A .1gr increase every 3rd round had a tiny black pinhole at the primers edge. Some loads just won't play nice with it. Over compression raises anomaly rate to.
 
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Sig556r

Active Member
I'd recommend C.E.Harris small game/gallery loads (America's Greatest, The All-Around 30-06 rev. 7/8/94).
Cheap Lee 312-155-2R (or similar 150-grainer) behind light load of Bullseye or 700x.
 

Elkins45

Active Member
If a first-timer I would tell them to get one of the Lee molds, probably the TL one, and a push-thru die. It might not be the ‘best’ choice but should let them decide if casting is for them at the least amount of cost. FWIW I have found the Lee 200gr bullet to be just about as accurate in my 30 caliber rifles as any of my more expensive molds.
 

Mitty38

Well-Known Member
Ok I am a new guy and I have a question similar to the original senario
My 30 06 does well whether light load with red dot or universal. Or with IMR 40 64 at 36 grain.
Using an Acurate mold # 30_165A sized at. 310 with gas check. Seated 25 thou from the lands(At least The bullets fiver sent me sure look like that)
Will sooner or later be getting a 30 - 30.
Would there be a single Non gas check mold that would serve me well for my 30 06 and would also have a good chance at working well enough to hunt with in a 30 30 lever?
 
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StrawHat

Well-Known Member
...Would there be a single Non gas check mold that would serve me well for my 30 06 and would also have a good chance at working well enough to hunt with in a 30 30 lever?...

Define “serve me well”? A hunting round for both? Target load -06?

I would suggest something 150-180 grain but I prefer heavier bullets. Others will be along with their thoughts.

Kevin
 

Elkins45

Active Member
Ok I am a new guy and I have a question similar to the original senario
My 30 06 does well whether light load with red dot or universal. Or with IMR 40 64 at 36 grain.
Using an Acurate mold # 30_165A sized at. 310 with gas check. Seated 25 thou from the lands(At least The bullets fiver sent me sure look like that)
Will sooner or later be getting a 30 - 30.
Would there be a single Non gas check mold that would serve me well for my 30 06 and would also have a good chance at working well enough to hunt with in a 30 30 lever?

Driving a plain base bullet up to hunting speed is as much art as science. Do you HTC or powder coat, or are you a luber only?

This seems like as good a plain base starting point as any: C1E28EA6-5323-47AE-8DFF-DBA698A866B2.jpeg
 
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Mitty38

Well-Known Member
Just looking for something I can plink with in the o6 with half the accuracy I am getting already. In other words I am getting 2 MOA with current load,and the bullet I described, in the 06.If I can get 4 MOA groups with a bullet in the 30- 06 . Then have 1/2 a chance of getting that at white tail hunting velocities in a 3030 lever using the same mold..I would be happy. The 30_ 06 and plinking is My priority but would like half a chance at using one mold for both.
Can gas check but trying to keep plinking costs down for the 06 so want a plain base.


I have wheel weights, range scrap, pure lead, tin and lyman#2
I can pan lube, alox, and yes I do know how to, PC. I actually have professional equipment and have done it as part of a former occupation. I just am currently restricting myself from PC as it was spoiling me and want to learn other disaplins. So do not talk about it on here much.
 
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CZ93X62

Official forum enigma
Most of my rifle moulds are of gas check design--most of my handgun moulds are plain-based.

I have NEVER fired a gas-check-design bullet in any firearm minus a gas check being in place.

My few plain-based rifle mould designs all have thick base bands--e.g., Lyman #366408.

For 30/30 WCF and 30-06 usage in a one-bullet-for-all-seasons scenario........Lyman #311041. It was purpose-built for the 30/30, and does fine work in 30/30 and 30-06 from 1400-2200 FPS. If a plain-base bullet for this tasking was sought, have Mountain Molds or Accurate Molds cut a plain-base/thick-base version of #311041. Cast them as Bruce B Soft Points for hunting usage.
 
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fiver

Well-Known Member
if your going slow go heavy 180-200
I wouldn't get carried away with 220+ though.

something like a plain base LEE 180 or the RCBS 30-180 would work just fine and add about 10 more grains of weight.
I shoot the RCBS 30-150 in both my 30-30's [lever guns and bolt guns] and the 0-6.
either of the 180's were designed for the 30-30, and the RCBS 180 is just a little longer version of the 150.
piece of cake to get Tom to cut you either one in a 50-50 [1 GC, 1 Non] 2 cavity, or probably a copy of both in the same mold.

if you can get a plain base 190gr bullet out the muzzle at around 1200 fps, I would be 100% positive you'd still get 100% broadside penetration [probably do both front shoulders no problem too] on a 200lb. deer down to as low as 900fps.
 

Mitty38

Well-Known Member
I wander if I could get mould without selling my first borne. Maybee a 4 bullet mold and get 3 of the 4 teamed to PB.
 
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Spindrift

Well-Known Member
@Mitty38
A budget-friendly alternative could be the Lee c309-170-F. You could remove the GC shank, using a drill press.

One of the nice things with PC, is you can shoot coated GC- designs without the GC installed, with good results. I haven’t tried this with the Lee bore riders, but have gotten good accuracy with other bullets. PC is a particularily attractive technique for the caster who doesn’t own a bunch of moulds, because you get more options from each mould.
 

Reloader762

Active Member
All bullets cast from 50/50 alloy, powder coated and water quenched after curing, gas check and sized to .309" I shot these out of my Remington 770 in 30-06 at 50 yds. 22" barrel with a 1:10 twist.
Screenshot from 2019-05-04 15-48-23.png

NOE 165 gr. XCB using same alloy and process above. Settled on 35.0 grs. of H-4198. Target was shot at 50 yds.
100_3227.JPG
 

Reloader762

Active Member
that LEE 160 was sure doin it's best to shoot good.
I'm going to use the 170 and 160 gr. Lee bullets as a general purpose plinking load as it barely has any recoil and it's cheap to shoot as well using 2400 powder. All the above loads were first test loads, I found the middle of the Min. to Max. load data with each powder and split in either direction. Honestly I was surprised they shot that well right off the bat, even more so when I shot the XCB test group.
 
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Kevin Stenberg

Well-Known Member
I would tell them. That most any mold can be made to shoot accurately. If enough time is spent learning what it takes to make a bullet and you shoot properly.
 

FrankCVA42

Active Member
Just read the 3 pages on cast bullets for 30-30 and 30-06. Wisdom of the ages regarding bullets and powders. As far as the 30-30 is concerned have about 4 but the one that stands out is my 26" bbld Canadian Centennial Winchester. And it's little brother with the 20" barrel. The former hasn't been shot and is new in the box while the 20" barreled one has been shot a lot. Have about 6 30-06's sporterized 03A3,sporterized 1917 Enfield, M70 match rifle, Sako 75 Hunter, and some I probably have forgotten. Plenty of brass for each and never tried cast bullets in either caliber. Would like to rectify that situation now that I'm self quarantined. Local ranges are closed due to the virus so seems and ideal time to get a couple molds I've been thinking about and do some serious casting. Have some 2400,4227,unique and hoarding some 4759 which I use exclusively in my Finnish model 27. That rifle has never seen a jacketed bullet since I swapped for it. And most likely never will. Have to finish some projects before I can start casting or they never will get done. So thanking all of you for the information you have shared. And apologize for the lengthy post. Frank