cast bullet loads

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marky123

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Hello
does anyone use cast bullets through their m14?
max loads of TrailBoss and 150 gn bullets wont cycle the action and I wondered if anyone had any other data.
MARK
 
marky123 said:
Hello
does anyone use cast bullets through their m14?
max loads of TrailBoss and 150 gn bullets wont cycle the action and I wondered if anyone had any other data.
MARK
Click to expand...

I have used 187 grain lyman 311334 gas check bullet with H335 at 1950 fps (Chronograph). Bullet is sized to 0.310". Lube is lyman stick
This load cycles the M-305 very nicely and the brass lands in a very neat pile about 18 inches away from the action.
This load came from the Lyman #3 cast bullet manual is was the starting load.

Groups at 100 metres are less than 2 inches off sandbags and with the peep sight. That is about as good as old eyes let me shoot any more.
 
CAST in a gas gun?? Your #### Will Fall Off!!

Or that's about what a gunsmith in a small shop told me a little bit ago. Leading of the gas port, blown up rifle, etc etc....

A good few hundred rounds of nothing but cast and I just finished tearing my rifle down to de-coke the gas system, and wtf? No lead? Not even a scrap? I must be doing something wrong, since my ####'s still properly indexed and headspace is good.

Anyway, I've been doing load development for a few months and I've gotten some good results, but consistency is a bit elusive.

Here's my data so far.

RCBS 165 silhouette bullet of #2 alloy or thereabouts, sized to .311 (in reality it's probably .310 for as much as the sizing die touches it unevenly about its circumference), crimped ahead of the first driving band in order to keep the ogive from engraving on the rifling upon chambering.

I've tried the following

2400 15-19gr. Very fine accuracy, but will not fully cycle the action (too fast a powder, but I had to try it once)
RL7 Needs further testing, but the 26-28gr range seems promising.
H4895 this one is hot and cold for me. One string will be lovely, the next will be scattered, and vice versa. Anyway, 30.5 +\- 1gr seems to be orbiting the sweet spot
H335 30gr +\- 1gr is again orbiting the sweet spot.
AA5744 - 20-25gr tested. Results not terribly promising, but I may re-test later. Best group was 23gr

Next weekend I hope to reexamine reloader 7 and H335. Just got my test loads done up tonight. I've not had a chance to shoot the thing more than once since installing an SA flash hider and match front sight. So far the only difference that seems to have made (other than the better sight picture) is that my rear sight is cranked all the way down and I still shoot high at the 75 metres that I've been testing at.

I've just added one more shim tonight as well, making my gas lock plastic-hammer-tight. The rifle is as tight as I can make it with hammer and locktite now, so perhaps consistency will follow.
 
That's awesome ^^^.

Talk about cutting your ammo costs in half. With the money saved, you should invest in a progress press considering the extra time you spend making your bullets.
 
I've used 7.5gr of unique behind a .311 165gr boolit no gas check with nice results. Have to cycle the action manually but is fun for plinking steel targets and costs about the same as .22lr. I have tried IMR 4198 and it will cycle the bolt but with poor accuracy. I need to try some other powders to find something good. H335 and H4895 seem to be the ones I keep reading are good.
 
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Very interested in this, I'm trying to use cast as much as possible for everything. Having good results with 160/.312 lee cast bullet in my sks, I have sized this bullet to .309 for my wife's .30-30. I would like to try it in my M305, also have a .312/180 gr that I could size to .309.
I have Unique, h4895, Reloader 7, and Alliant2400.
This will be a winter project after hunting season!
 
Been using 32.5 grains of H4895 and a 175 grain cast @ 1950 fps. Shoots just under 2 inches @ 50 yards . Tried the 165 gr. ranch dog and lyman 311041 both sized .310. Action cycles just fine. Makes for cheap shooting and easy on the brass
 
Keeping this alive for general interest.

Used my usual RCBS 165-sil, crimped in front of the first driving band, loaded into IVI brass, #34 primers and bullets only visually inspected for obvious minor casting defects - I'm not going for scientific. I just want an accurate plinker.

Retested 26-28 grains RL7. Shooting at 65m, -6 Celsius, no wind. 26 grains held to about an inch and a half for 4, vertical string, with the 5th an inch and a half to the left. 27 grains gave me 4 holes strung in an inch, almost touching, and a 5th an inch to the side. Groups began to open with 28grains.

So I've got a good feeling that 26.5 will be my load. I'll have to load up some quantity and check for consistency next. RL7 has in general been a fine cast bullet rifle powder for me in everything from 30-30 to 45-70, save for a recalcitrant Swiss k11 that hates everything that I feed it.

30 grains of H335 also performed well, though not as tight a group. That could easily be me, however.

Can't wait to have a Garand to shoot cheap cast bullet ammo in ;)
 
With the Norinco twist of 1/10” you have to keep the cast bullet velocity roughly..1600 to 2000 fps

Yes cast in a gas gun can be done.. and with out leading----> think in hundreds to a thousands of round with out cleaning

I have done 400 rounds with out cleaning could have been longer but got rained on and rifle got wet so had to clean

Key is gas port pressure

heaver bullets work better than lighter bullets
why
easier to get correct port pressure with the heaver bullet at less than 2000 fps

Lots of reading here
h t tp://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?3558-7-62x51-NATO-%28-308-WCF%29-in-the-Springfield-M1A
 
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