Hollow point .30 cal, worth pursuing?

Big JD-From the hills

Big JD-From the hills

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So I have casted on and off for a number of years now, all lee equipment. Mostly for pistol calibers using the double cavity moulds and bottom pour pot. I have gotten rid of most of handgun calibers in the last couple years. Anyway with the rising cost of jacketed bullets, powder and loaded ammo I'm looking at developing some hunting capable ammo for the rifles. I'm not interested in plinking loads as I am of the mindset of practice with what your going to use.

I am wondering if a hollow point bullet in the 150-180grain range is worth pursuing? Should I just rig up a way to drill a normal bullet, or try and source a dedicated hollow point mould? Or just use a flat point and hope the alloy is soft enough to expand?

Mostly will be for 308 Winchester maybe some 7.62x54 or 39 but primarily.308.
 
Noe has molds that can be flat point, hollow point and some that can also be round nose all in the same mold. Unless you powder coat the crap outta the bullets i wouldn't use them for x54r or x39.
 
Id use a simi flat nose hard lead bullet. And honestly you will be able to push them pretty hard if they have a gas check and good lube, no power coat needed. In and or around 2500 fps for a 30 cal wouldn't he unheard of, over 3000 fps in a 7mm happens pretty often

and before Im told Im crazy by people who have read about casting bullets and think they fly at 1400fps

ht tp://castbulletassoc.org/forum/thread/13059-testing-bullet-lubes-at-3000-fps/
no coating just lube, 10 shot groups 1.48"

here is a bit more testing at 3175 fps in a 7mm ht tp://castbulletassoc.org/forum/thread/13125-testing-alloys-at-3150-fps/ and there is lots more info out there for loads for lead that are the same as jacketed

I've personally fired non gas checked hard lead in a few Lee Enfields at 1800fps with 124gr and 96gr cast without leading issues after 250 rounds before cleaning, i also push pure lead, no lube, no gas checks 430gr in my 43 mauser at 1650 fps no issues, i clean the rifle after every 40 rounds, no lead but that's the most i can load at once do to brass.
 
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Ding ding ding, we have a winner ^^ yup too tight is just right when shooting cast lead. Its funny watching the faces of jacketed bullet shooters when i say i cast 0.003" bigger then my slug and size it down to 0.002" over slug and load to shoot. Personilly i like 0.002" larger then my slug. In a 308 id try to have sized bullets at 0.310" and in the 54/39 id try to have sized bullets at 0.313 and as long as they are hard enough and have gas checks you can run them at factory velocitys. Id buy a lube made for real fast cast though,
 
I would a regular boolit and see how it performed before I dropped cash on a hollowpoint mold. I get satisfactory expansion from my 311041 mold at a 50-50 mix of wheelwhight and pure lead.

My test medium is a cardboard box full of newspapers. I get around 8 to 10 inches of penetration and about 3/8 to 1/2 inch expansion. The papers are wet and soggy and stay out all year long and only get changed when they get too punched up from shooting at. The papers are flyers that show up in the mailbox all year long. Nothing special, just consistent from year to year and shot to shot.

This is also on my private range, right off my deck. I don't have to lug gear to the range and home again all the time.
 
Brass is also a lot heavier than aluminum if that's important to you, as it is for me. Also mold prep is much more important with brass molds as lead can solder to an unconditioned mold. They need a layer of oxidization on them before pouring lead into them. I prefer aluminum but do have a few real nice brass MP molds. Most of my molds are NOE but do have a dozen or so Lee molds, either ones not offered by better makers or older "group buy" molds. NOE is never a mistake. As far as hunting, a hollow point cast bullet is not needed for hunting. That's why Ranch Dog bullets were never originally designed as hollow points. Ranch Dog (Michael) has taken hundreds of animals with them. Lots of hogs, deer and bigger. As with all hunting, shot placement is paramount. You do your part and a flat point won't let you down.
 
Photo bucket sucks so i cant get proper links for the pic on my phone. So you have to click the link. But the pics is of 288gr .314" soft lead, just wheel weights. It was fired at 900fps using 3gr of w231
the first ones were as loaded, not resized, tumbled lubed

The second group was fired into wet softwood end ( douglas furr)

the third group was fired into wet Ash into the end of the log ( with grain)

and the forth single bullet was fired into a half inch sheet of lexan, i fired three but grass was to long to find the others.

Lexan is probably like bone so id assume anything higher then 1000fps with just ww would come apart when hitting a bone. Hollow point would shater unless it was quite a bit harder.

http://s776.photobucket.com/user/Evanguy/media/DSC01705_zpsu8s3bwsq.jpg.html

Ps that wasnt a final bullet design, i just quick made a mold up at work that will cast that desing in 88-120-150-180-240 and 288gr for testing reasons. Since i have bought a few molds and made a few on the cnc mill. Much better designs. Ive made probably 30 molds since these.
 
Cast hunting bullet needs some velocity to work better.
1555 fps or thereabouts and above, will require GC.

I would suggest that 30 caliber without HP really needs FP and/or heavy weight for bore diameter. North or 180 I think so myself.
8mm in heavy weight (or bigger) would win out every time at normal hunting distances versus smaller bore IMO.
 
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I've had (minute of deer) success with a lyman 30 cal mold (311041) in my 30-30, using the hollow pointing rig set up on a Forster case trimmer.
I'm gonna start PC coated experiments with the same boolit in .308 this summer in the local pit
 
Big JD-From the hills said:
ok now what about brass vs a steel lyman unit? I think I am tempted to go for the ranch dog from noe in brass, not sure if I should go old or revised model.
Click to expand...

Lyman steel molds usually cast very nice but you certainly can't get a Lyman cut for a Eanch Dog mold. Also you're playing with fire with modern Lyman molds. Most drop too small for success use. You don't get the support from them either that you do from NOE. Al Nelson is fantastic to deal with. As for which version to get, the original RD profile was designed for old Marlin 30-30s that had a specific chamber with a very large throat. Not really suitable for anything else unless you seat really deep. The newer design is for a more SAAMI chamber design and works in other 30-30 rifles and the newer Marlins. I see in your first post you are looking for mainly .308 Winchester. There is a Ranch Dog specifically for the 308 Winchester. It keeps the gas check in the neck. I would get that one. Molds suitable for 308 don't usually work for 7.62x39 as the Russian round needs a bigger diameter bullet.

N.O.E._Bullet_Moulds_TLC310-180-RF_(308_Win)_176_gr_Sketch.Jpg
 
Brutus said:
Cast hunting bullet needs some velocity to work better.
1555 fps or thereabouts and above, will require GC.

I would suggest that 30 caliber without HP really needs FP and/or heavy weight for bore diameter. North or 180 I think so myself.
8mm in heavy weight (or bigger) would win out every time at normal hunting distances versus smaller bore IMO.
Click to expand...

I'm currently casting for an enfield with a very large bore and it is the only way I can get it to shoot decently. Thankfully it loves the Lyman 314299 200gr bullets, even with a frosty bore but strong rifling I am easily getting upwards of 1700 fps on my chrony and no signs of leading at all. I would love to use it as a rough hunting/scouting gun but was worried about bullets selection.

By what you are saying, I should be good with this bullet at maybe a bit higher velocity for deer sized game? I assume the longer bullets would yaw on impact rather than expand even with 50/50 WW and pure lead mix?
 
You could try filing a few of those 314299's flat and see how the accuracy is. You can also hollow point them once loaded with a lathe type case trimmer. Forster makes an adapter for thiers but the Lyman ones can use a small drill bit in the hole for the pilot as well. Pretty sure most of them work the same way.
 
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