New 30-30 Loads

[Mistered]

Loading up something new tonight - trying a local commercial caster's 165 gr LFP bullets with 10 grains of Unique.
His bullets mike at .310 so this this should be a very nice shooting (and accurate) load due to the tighter fit in the barrel but we shall see this weekend!

[JEBar]

looking forward to hearing if the will cause a lead buildup in the barrel

[Mistered]

looking forward to hearing if the will cause a lead buildup in the barrel

Yea - I am wondering myself but this is a fairly light load and I am hoping the obturation of the somewhat larger diameter bullet will keep it to a minimum - or none at all. Hmm, might have to take a rifle & ammo to work with me and stop on my way home tomorrow and give 'em try!

[220]

You are probably already well aware but if you are sizing your cases with a conventional neck expander ball then there is a good chance your .310 cast will be swaged down by the neck when seating.

[Mistered]

You are probably already well aware but if you are sizing your cases with a conventional neck expander ball then there is a good chance your .310 cast will be swaged down by the neck when seating.

Yep -thought of this also. Seating pressure did not seem to bad so we shall see.

[Mistered]

Well got out this morning to try the new loads out. I only had about 12 loaded so I had to make them count.
First few shots were all over (but that was my fault) so I settled down into kneeling and managed a fairly tight three and then moved the sight down to 6 O'clock and shot the two cloverleafed below. I need to take a look at the barrel to see if i am getting any leading. Next time I'll prepare a little better with more ammo & my bench set up but I think this load is going to be a 'keeper'!

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[Mistered]

looking forward to hearing if the will cause a lead buildup in the barrel

I looked in the barrel last night and I thought I saw what might have been leading but the barrel was in need of cleaning anyway so I Gave it a few brush strokes and then a few patches and it was bright an shiny as new!
I am thinking the buildup I initially saw was just the bullet lube So I think I am lead free with load.

[ESquared]

You could sell a few rounds of that around here, I'll bet! Nice looking group!

[Schneeky]

Loading up something new tonight - trying a local commercial caster's 165 gr LFP bullets with 10 grains of Unique.

What izzit with the 10grs of Unique?!? Hehehe. I see that same measurement in what seems like a pile of different cartridges and bullet weights.
And messing with lead sounds like a good deal of fun. But holy cow, after reading on it for a coupla months now I'm more cornfused than ever. Theres a lotta voodoo in that apparently. At the first, I picked up a pile of Montanas (.430) not knowing there were different sizes within the caliber specs for different mfg's on different dates or different models etc., etc and nobody knows the bore size without hammering a greased fishing weight or somethin like down the barrel and the local guys laugh at me for worrying about it or look at me like I got lobsters crawling outta my ears. Jest try'em and see. I could have thrown those 430 Montanas more accurately. Dave tightened me up and informed me that I would need 432's for the BBAW. **sigh**
Guess I'll feed'em to the Ruger, mebbe?
The other 1k of Valiant .429's the LGS had hangin around I foolishly bought will get fed to the Smith with a pinch of 231, I reckon. They won't go thru it's cylinder throat voluntarily but fall thru the Ruger. After those stinkin Montanas and their "patterning" I ain't even thinkin bout tryin the 429's in the BBAW.
I slugged the barrels. Not absolutely sure I did it right.
Or izzit just a bunch of us old hard heads making somethin simple into a complicated thing? (sayitaintso!) d;^)

[220]

Or izzit just a bunch of us old hard heads making somethin simple into a complicated thing? (sayitaintso!) d;^)

You could be right
No doubt 1-2 though over tends to shoot better and slugging the bore will let you know what size you should be looking at.
I cast all my own and usually buy moulds that throw 2-3 thou over size as sizing them down is simple compared to trying to increase size.
Having said that I don't usually slug anything unless I cant get it to shoot.
Usually I just start 1 thou over nominal bore and call it all done if the load shoots acceptably. If not I will keep trying at 1 thou increasements to as big as I can go.

[Schneeky]

I've been trying to figure out a really basic mould for 44M that may have a chance at being useful even if it was to end up being too small for the current stable of toys. Although I think I have the gammot of common sizes covered between the Henry carbine, The Ruger and the Smith.
I had almost settled on a 429421 Lee or Lyman or some such bear-n-buffalokillerz. But I read somethin/somewhere that changed my mind. Checked with a couple of the more "boutique" mould makers but the sheer number of variables was overwhelming.
Then there's the cacophony of the different "camps".
Soft-n-slow. -I up-n kilt a moose with m'44 Special!
Hard-n-Fast! -I shot a Carribou in Alaska... and struck oil in the backdrop!
To Gas Check or Not to Gas Check! -Speed limit 1000fps
Greasy Lube, Powder coat or HiTek it? Beeswax and Valvoline, anybody?
And that ain't eeeeven started on that witch's brew in the pot. Hehehe.
Yer bullets are "frosted". Add antimony. Add tin. Too "shiny". Too soft. Wrong mix for the mould. Oy vey!
But seriously, I'm 54 years old and have been shooting most of my life. Hunting, competitive benchrest, varminting, blahx3. I have never personally known someone who pours their own in all that time. This whole time spent reading about it, albeit confusing, has been interesting. And I'm gonna do it. Not sure if I'll be slingin any un-jacketed soft or hard lead this particular hunting season. But somethin's gonna get melted and poured out of a pot that resembles a bullet! d;^)

[Mags]

... but the sheer number of variables was overwhelming.
Then there's the cacophony of the different "camps".
Soft-n-slow. -I up-n kilt a moose with m'44 Special!
Hard-n-Fast! -I shot a Carribou in Alaska... and struck oil in the backdrop!
To Gas Check or Not to Gas Check! -Speed limit 1000fps
Greasy Lube, Powder coat or HiTek it? Beeswax and Valvoline, anybody?
And that ain't eeeeven started on that witch's brew in the pot. Hehehe.
Yer bullets are "frosted". Add antimony. Add tin. Too "shiny". Too soft. Wrong mix for the mould. Oy vey!
....

overwhelming oh my, I won't be shy, all the more reason why I buy

[220]

I simplified my casting and have settled on 3 alloys
2:6:92 (hardball) for any heavy pistol or rifle plinking loads
2:2:96 my hunting bullet alloy, I have driven these to 1900fps gas checked and 1600fps as a plain base with Hi Tek. Accuracy is as good as jacketed leading has been a non issue for me.
1:3:96 Light pistol loads in the 650-900fps range I only use this alloy when I don't have a stash of wheel weights and scrap lead that is my normal choice for these. Lube is either Hi-Tek or LLA depending on if I want pretty looking bullets. I do get some leading more so with the LLA but even after 500rds I don't see a noticeable drop in accuracy.

Hi-Tek makes for a pretty bullet and you don't have to worry about sticky lube when handling or building up in dies but It doesn't make up for poor bullet fit or alloy selection.

[Schneeky]

I may start a separate thread on this as I don't wanna be rude to the OP. I'd love to figure out something using lead for the '94 30-30, but I'm a l'il antsy about havin to rassle leading in something where I only have access to the bore thru the muzzle. I also red sommers that ya had ta get all the copper fouling out of the bore before ya shot lead due to lead really sticking to copper or some such. Dunno if there's really anything to that or not, either. d:^)

I simplified my casting and have settled on 3 alloys....

[Mistered]

FWIW - I am not getting very good results with the 165 gr cast LFP bullets I tried in my 30-30s (two of them anyway)
I thought I was getting good accuracy, and was with a few shots but i am seeing some inconsistency with them.
I started by shooting them in my 26" 1966 Winchester commemorative which is essentially 'new' with a great barrel and a couple shots were tight and then the next few were incredibly wild. I switched to my 1899 26" Klondike and got basically the same results.
I am going to drop the powder charge of Unique to 8 grains and see if anything changes but that is about minimum for this bullet.