6.5mm 170 grain Cruise Missile Lee Bullets in a 6.5 Jap

Muskyhunter1

Muskyhunter1

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Folks,

I pick up the Lee 6.5mm mold in a 170 grain bullet (cruise Missile). I am having a really rough time finding any starting cast bullet loading data for loading this heavy slug in my type 38 Arisaka? I was looking for a really mild load to just shoot paper, cans, etc.

I was thinking of starting off with 8.0 grains of Unique. Can anyone give my any advice or some of their loading data? My bullets are WW composition and I would like to shoot them without gas checks (cheaper). The slugs have been lubed and sized to .266 dia.

No too worried about them feeding as I just plan on shooting them single feed at the range anyway.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
 
I'll find you a couple of loads when I get home tonight. As these bullets are long, and typically large in diameter (often 0.270" as cast), you"ll find that you need to seat them very deep in the case. Try a dummy round and see. That means that they reduce case capacity quite a bit, and the gas-check is well below the shoulder. You'll want to use small amounts of fast pistol powders like Unique. More later.

"Castboolits" has quite a bit of info on this bullet, much of it slamming Lee for deviating from the original plan. This is true, but I have still found this bullet useful, e.g. in Carcanos that can run 0.269". A "correct" Cruise Missile is being planned, at much more than $18 though.

I have doubles of all the Lee Special Order molds available from Midsouth - they're among my most useful molds.
 
I only tried three loads in the 6.5 Japanese with that bullet. My OAL was 2.850" - yours could vary.

8.0 grs of Unique - 1100 fps
14.0 grs of SR-4759 - 1380 fps
22.0 grs of H4198 - 1620 fps
26.0 grs of H4895 - 1635 fps

I treated these all as max loads.
 
Loki610 said:
Where did you find the 6.5 mold? I just borrowed a swedish mauser and I'd love to add this calibre to my mold collection.
Click to expand...

http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.c...EAD+BULLET+CASTING&dept3=SPECIAL+ORDER+MOULDS

"Out of Stock" though.

Muskyhunter1 said:
Awesome loads thanks Andy. I really appreciate that. I put a posting on cast boolites and all they did was slam my mold and that it wasn't the original design. I picked this mold up off equipment exchange on gunnutz.
Click to expand...

Yea, no love for that bullet over there. In fairness though, it doesn't shoot well in a lot of guns. However if it's sized to your bore (1-2 thou over groove diameter), and the twist in your gun can stabilize it (1:8 or faster), it can be made to shoot well. Reports of keyholing typically indicate one of both of those two situations are at play.

Worth a try though.
 
If a guy just wants a mild load, then a case 60% - 80% full of trail boss, topped with a cast boolit has never done me wrong, in anything from .22-250 to 9.3x62. Real simple recipe.
 
OK, I have to ask. What exactly is the "original design" and why do the people over at castboolits hate the Lee version so much? Does anybody have a link to the history of this bullet design and how Lee came to make a version of it?


Thanks,
Mark
 
mmattockx said:
OK, I have to ask. What exactly is the "original design" and why do the people over at castboolits hate the Lee version so much? Does anybody have a link to the history of this bullet design and how Lee came to make a version of it?


Thanks,
Mark
Click to expand...

There is no single link of which I'm aware, but that's a research project you could take on. Apparently the first run was done to spec and then Lee strayed and consistently delivered an altered version - the first shot well, the altered, not so much. There is a Group Buy underway for a "correct" mold:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...id-6-5mm-Cruise-Missle/page2&highlight=cruise

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