Cast my first Bullets today!!

MuthaFunk

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GTA Ontario.
It took a little to get the hang of it but after a while and many messed up bullets I was able to make these beauties!

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They're .312 185 gr Lee molded. I don't know what weight they actually came out as they're too heavy for my powder measure scale to check them.

Unfortunately I couldn't get it to chamber in my Mosin no matter how deep I seated them so I just ran them through a .311 sizer die with some gas checks. Ill have to see if they'll fit tomorrow once the 45/45/10 lube dries.

I really hope I can get them to chamber.
 
They look good but there is so few of them. I have the same mold for making bullets for a 303.
Check the diameter of the neck of a fired brass from the mosin and then check what the diameter is of a loaded case with your new cast bullets..
 
that is a bore ride bullet,take a bullet and see if the nose fits in the bore at the muzzle.I had that problem with a 32 win spl
 
that is a bore ride bullet,take a bullet and see if the nose fits in the bore at the muzzle.I had that problem with a 32 win spl

It does fit in the muzzle down to the first band.

It looks like my fired brass is indeed larger than the bullets. Internal measurement of .312 before sizing. I was able to get these bullets to chamber now but I think I need some type of expander so as not to shave pieces of lead off the bullet when seating it. My rifle die sets didn't come with an expander. What do you fellow casters use to expand the mouth of your .311 sized cases to fit your .311 lead cast bullets in?

Thanks again for helping out a newb and putting up with the questions.
 
I believe the NOE Mold company make a case neck expander die that take interchangeable expanders for whatever size you desire. Or if you already have a Lee universal flaring die and a friend with a lathe, replaceable inserts of any size can be made in a few minutes.

I make my own. I have a lathe large enough to do bigger jobs as well but for anyone going down the cast bullet trail and all it's sizing intricacy's I would recommend even a bench model mini-lathe ( 1/2 the cost of a good SS boolit shooter...or a used Dillon 650) will be a very handy piece of kit for small homemade die parts. It soon becomes just part of the expense of getting good quality results from time spent in the sport.
 
For now I was able to use my 7.62X25 Tok expander die. I just had to put some spacers in so the 54r shell case didn't neck out before the expansion happened. I ordered one of the Lee universal expanders. I'm hoping I won't have to do any machining to get a .308 type case expanded with it.
 
You might also want to consider a Lyman Neck Expanding "M" die. I don't have any personal experience with .311" diameter cast bullets, but I have several "M" dies in various calibers. I find that they work very well with cast bullets. Good looking bullets by the way.
 
What Otto said ^^
The Lyman 'M' die.

Where did you get the Johnson's Paste Wax for the 45-45-10?

Done! Found one at Canada Brass for $20.

Lol! I got the Johnsons Paste Wax from Johnsons Wax in Brantford. My dad worked there for the better part of his career. I was a summer student there for a few years Many moons ago. I found an unused tin of it in my dads basement. It must be 30 years old but seems to still be good.

I think you can get it at the Home Depot. It's for floors.
 
Got to shoot these yesterday!! They were very consistent at the Chrony but my starting load was ~1600 fps and I know my alloy is softer than the lead bullets I bought for my .45 ACP. I thought I'd better not test the upper range of the speed threshold without harder bullets. That said, they didn't seem to lead my barrel at 1600 fps.

The 5 rounds I had loaded up with 16 gr UNIQUE all shot within 10 fps of each other and 3 of them were within 1 fps. If I can get that every time this Mosin is going to easily shoot <1" at 100!

I'll update this thread with some targets when I get a proper load worked up.
 
Nice work! Did you figure out why they would not chamber?
Once dialed in 185 Lee is a great round.
Noe's case expanders are made for the Lee universal expander which just flares the casing.
I have had much success with H4895 with cast in the Mosin. Size does matter!! Then hardness if you wish to go long distance.
Be well
 
The chambering issue must have been my sample case with a notch cut out of the neck for determining seating depth to the lands. I only had one notch and it must have been binding. I cut a second notch opposite the first and tried again. This time it seemed to work perfectly.
 
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