9.3X62 and Cast Bullets

[Mauser98]

The Bullet Barn has started making 280 gr gas checked 9.3 bullets with round nose flat point and double lube grooves. They are a bore rider design.

Andy of Bullet Barn was kind enough to give me a handful of these bullets to try in my 9.3X62. Unfortunately, I know next to nothing about using cast bullets so I am looking to be educated.

What kind of velocities should I be trying to achieve? My understanding is that excess velocities can cause bore leading. I have a wide variety of powders(SR 4759 to RL22) to play with.

How far off the lands should I be loading?

Any information will be appreciated.

 

[josquin]

I just got some of these from Lois (for my 9.3x57) but haven't had a chance to try them out. But there is a thread on the Swedish Civilian & Sporting Firearms forum of Gunboards from a fellow there named "pointability" (who may be also a CGN'er under a different name) who was apparently instrumental in getting Bullet Barn to produce these. Some useful info there.

Stuart

 

[brnolvr]

As long as the bullets are sized correctly to fit you bore and good lube is used(1-2 thou over bore size) they should be fine up to 1900 to 2000 fps.

I find best accuracy seating cast bullets long and jamming into the lands 15 to 20 thou, What's important with bore rider bullets is the nose dia is just over size of the lands so the bullet doesn't rattle down the bore.

SR4759 will work just fine, Reloader 7, 5744, are also very good.

 

[josquin]

...SR4759 will work just fine, Reloader 7, 5744, are also very good.

Oh good- I have quite a bit of RL7. I also found this, which I had copied from a post on the Cast Boolit Assoc. website. It is for a 304 gr. cast bullet, but might be useful anyway:

For the 9.3x57 the best cast bullet load I have found so far is 39.0 grains of IMR 4895, Fed 210 primer, underneath the NEI 366-304-GC (#175 in their catalog), sized .368" and GC-ed with Hornady .375 GCs. This load delivers right at 1800 fps and will put 5 shots into 1" at 50 yards with middle-aged eyes and open sights.

Stuart

 

[stocker]

M98: The 4895's are a good match for the cartridge. With 40 grains IMR4895 , 287 grain air cooled cast (Lyman 358009) in a 35 Whelen which is quite similar to your 9.3 I can expect groups near 1" at 100 yards. Velocity in the 1900-2000 range. Actually 4895 is a good way to go with many cartridges when hunting velocity is desired. If you oven harden you can go higher.

 

[H4831]

Everyone seems to ask how fast they can drive a cast bullet before it leads the bore. I don't quite follow this line of logic. My experience has been that leading depends to a great extent on the condition of the barrel. Glassy smooth, won't lead. Rough, but not rough enough to be seen by the naked eye, bore will lead at any velocity. I shot cast bullets in five different 44 magnum revolvers. One Ruger Super Blackhawk would lead, even with the lightest of loads. With another Super Blackhawk, leading was a non issue, even steady shooting full power loads. The other three were some place in between.
As to how fast can you drive them, that is a question you should be telling us the asnwer to, instead of asking us the question. In other words, there are so many variables that no one answer will fit all.
For me, how cast could I drive the bullet, always was answered by the speed it lost accuracy at.
I played around one winter with cast bullets in a 30-06. My Swede rifle had a glassy smooth bore and never leaded, period. I tried lots of different powders, from Unique to H4831. Yes, I used H4831 at about 70 to 75% of full load with my cast bullets. Actually, I used this quite a bit, because it was one of my best powders for accuracy!
Regardless what powder I used,when the charge got too high, accuracy went down the tube. And I mean really down the tube. Like from a 2 inch group to a flyer or two, two feet from the group.
I was the only one shooting cast at that range and when the snow melted I picked up many of my bullets, undamaged from being stopped by the snow. Some of them had a groove blown out fo them, the length of the bullet and about the size of a wooden kitchen match. Yes, they were all gas checked. This groove was obviously where the bullet could no longer hold the pressure and it blew a rut out of the side of the bullet. Also obviously, that was the cause of my wild flyers.
So please, don't ask us how fast you can shoot cast bullets, just experiment, then tell us!

 

[stocker]

H4831's comments are dead on. Cast bullet shooting is a discipline unto itself and although you may get some guidelines from other people until you do some loading and test them in your rifle you haven't got the whole picture. As he stated you'll know from the flyers and poor groups when you have exceeded the ability of the bullet to withstand the various forces and pressures involved. Persons referring to the Lyman manuals see the frequent references to the faster burning powders at quite moderate velocity. Medium and slow burners are usually the way to go if you want to step it up a bit for hunting or just to increase rangeing or bullet stability. Re 19 and 4831's are quite suitable when used properly as are some other powders.

 

[ben hunchak]

The last two posters are right on, each time you load/shoot a cast bullet, you are breaking new ground, every barrel, every mold, every chamber is different, and it all affects the accuracy of your load. Like I tell folks, cast bullets have been tested to 3000fps and i have tried even higher with paper patch bullets, but acceptable(best) accuracy is sometimes 1/2 of those speeds.

 

[RockChucker]

I've played with cast bullets for a few years now and find the best accuracy was had with paper patched bullets, using no lube and not sized. Picky and time consuming to do but end results are well worth the effort.
Must have a mould designed specifically for paper patching. Custom moulds are available in the US for a reasonable price.