I cast my first bullets for my 3030 out of some 32/40 bullets that did not work out for my other Win 94 They dropped out of the mould at .309, my rifle slugged at .307 so that is good, I used Lyman gas checks on the bullets and loaded 14.5 gr IMR4227 with large pistol primers and try not to laugh but stole some margerine out of the fridge and finger applied for lube (only six rounds),Went to the range and they shot pretty good . My questions are as I did not run them through a sizer and did not use the best lube procedures will proper sizing and lube likely gain me much in accuracy. Also I just pushed the gas checks on and do you think with the reduced loads I even need the gas checks ( the rounds I melted down were advertised as 25 BN so they are quite hard to begin with)
first cast bullets
- Thread starter lyktohunt
- Start date
The bottom line is they worked.
Sizing them could easily make them shoot worse. The magic word with shooting cast bullets is, experiment.
There are not too many hard and fast rules that apply to shooting cast bullets. That is, there are so many variables and many can not be predicted with accuracy.
With that hardness you should not need gas checks.
But, experiment, try it.
What I have against your lubricant would be the salt in the margarine. Pure lard, without salt, would be much better.
Also good is any automotive grease you may have.
Sizing them could easily make them shoot worse. The magic word with shooting cast bullets is, experiment.
There are not too many hard and fast rules that apply to shooting cast bullets. That is, there are so many variables and many can not be predicted with accuracy.
With that hardness you should not need gas checks.
But, experiment, try it.
What I have against your lubricant would be the salt in the margarine. Pure lard, without salt, would be much better.
Also good is any automotive grease you may have.
Thanks I will get the proper lube and sizer set up ,I was just impatient to get out and try my first attempt at cast and as I feel happy with the results I am hooked and will move onto casting for my revolvers and work on the 32/40.
my thoughts too.
the lube sizer serves a good way to apply lube on very efficiently and the bullet sizing is done by the barrel when the bullet is shot out as some casters say.
casting bullets is lots of fun and it brings on a whole new set of challenges and variables to reloading.
i would have to agree with ben on the lube part but im not objective on the topic since that is "my specialty".
for a 30/30 you would not need a high velocity, in fact a lube designed for high velocity will actually preform not so good in lower velocities.
The guys are right about the salt in the butter - you'd better clean very thoroughly. However, you probably only need a lee bullet sizer if you're prepared to apply your lube by hand. I use Canadian Tire moly grease, and have loaded 30 06 to over 2500 feet/second. Use the price of a lubrisizer for more bullt molds and loading components.
Grouch
Grouch
Thanks for all the replys , I just went ahead and purchased the Lee Alox and tumble lubed a hundred or so and will try that with out resizing. As I mentioned before I am working on getting my 32/40 shooting and as talked about before was less than impressed with my first commercial cast bullets,so I slugged the barrel and found it to be just slightly under .322 so I am thinking about some fairly soft bullets in the .323 to .324 range. Am I correct that the 8mm is .323 and is there a bullet or mold in .324. Another question, I have lots of pure lead available to me and I was wondering if shooting pure lead at the 1200fps is going to be a problem or will I have to harden it
1200 would be the max. for pure lead or 30-1, most 8mm molds are pointed somewhat and gas check design, not the best for a tubular mag. and for plinking. There are some nice molds out there that are meant for the .32/40 and they drop at .324" or so, they are plain base and flat pt., unfortunately the Lyman 165gr. drops on the small side. LBT makes some very nice molds that are .324" FP and can be done up without GC, prolly the best molds out there.
One thing I noticed in your post. You believed because you melted down bullets that had a bhn of 25 that your bullets will be about 25. This is probably incorrect. The most common source of lead is wheelweights and we use heat treating to get the hardness level up. Reheating and poring new bullets will bring the bhn back down to 12 or so.
The only way which your bhn would stay up would be if the original metal was linotype.
I shoot 30-30 with cast. You can load and shoot a plain base bullet. Loaded light they work, but I get much better results from a gas check. To get your gas check on the bullets need to be passed through a sizer. If the bullets are dropping big enough I would buy a larger sizer. Not to size the bullet but just crimp on the gas check.
The only way which your bhn would stay up would be if the original metal was linotype.
I shoot 30-30 with cast. You can load and shoot a plain base bullet. Loaded light they work, but I get much better results from a gas check. To get your gas check on the bullets need to be passed through a sizer. If the bullets are dropping big enough I would buy a larger sizer. Not to size the bullet but just crimp on the gas check.
Did I read that someone was making bullets for the .32/40 or .32 WS that were BHN 25?? This makes no sense at all, I would think that a bullet made 20-1 or so and a bhn of 10 would be about right for smokeless and 30-1 if using BP. I like to use tin and pure lead to avoid any brittleness normally found with WW metals, esp. if bullets are used on game.
Yes you did read that the bullets I bought for my 32/40 had an advertised BHN of 25 from a previous post and I think you mentioned that was one of the reasons I could not get it to shoot.
Also in this thread you told me about molds that would drop bullets .324, are these LEE molds? If I go to a .324 bullet will I have difficulty seating the bullet (shaving lead )
Also thanks to the other poster that informed me that once I melt down previous cast bullets the hardness changes and in my case that is good.
I have no experience with Lee .32 Cal. molds but i doubt that they drop that large, one of the two cavities may. The molds that I was talking about are basically custom made to your specs by LBT, or one of the other great mold makers, such as Mountain Molds, CBE , and others.
I have a "LEE" mold that drops .324 slugs that are 175 grn. I tumble lube them and push the gas check on by hand and shoot them as is. Some of the older guns like the 32-40 need a slightly oversized bullet. The soft lead virtually swells up to fit the bore. Too hard of lead may allow gas to blow-bye and accuracy will suffer. I bell the case mouth slightly to get the slug started and seat the bullet about halfway,stop and give the case a 180 degree turn and finish the seating stroke. There may be a sliver of shaved lead but it is nothing to get excited about. Make sure you are seating slugs deep enough to cycle through your magazine and action. On my 32-40 almost 3/4 to 7/8ths of the bullet is in the case. The web site http://castboolits.gunloads.com/ has lots of info for new and old bullet casters.
