Shooting Hard Cast bullets in my Rem700,XCR Tactical rifle (.308Win)

dthunter

dthunter

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Hi guys! I posted this same question in the "PRECISION RIFLES" section.
I am just hoping to catch a few more experienced shooters observations.
I hope this is O.K.

I was toying with the idea to shoot "some"(1-200) cast bullets as accurately as possible (with the guns I own).
I am shooting a 170 grain round nose, sized to .309"

I will keep my velocities around 1200- 1500fps.
To try to keep the leading from occurring.
The alloy is close to Lynotype(hard). And a crimp on gas check will be used.

Has anyone experienced any problems with accuracy after switching back to jacketed bullets to shoot 1000-1300 yards?

I plan to shoot these cast bullets inside of 200yards. For target primarily.

I dont want my curiosity of shooting cast bullets to jeprodize the potential of my long range .308 rifle.

Please Give me some of your ideas guys.
 
Thanks for the encouragement Grouch.

Its just that I have never shot a 1000+ yard precision rifle with lead cast bullets before.
The rifle shoots very well indeed, but I never talked to anyone who shot long(with jacketed) and short range,(with cast) with the same rifle.

Have you heard of any troubles with impuities in the cast lead causing problems?
Like sand? Even if the lead was fluxed and cleaned repeatedly?
 
For what it's worth, here's my best experience :

Calibre: 303 British
Brass: IVI 2001
Bullet: lee C312-155-2R OR CTL312-160-2R. .313 sized to .312 Gator gas check and Dragon Bullet Lube (site sponsor) Yellow Dragon or Lee Liquid Alox. 167-170gr finished.
Powder: 40 grains of BL-C (2)
Primer: CCI 200

Shooting at 100 yards, getting 2" groups using a N4 Mk 1* Longbranch Lee Enfield that shoots about 1" with winchester super x factory 180s. Don't have a chrony, but using 170gr with 5% reduced case capacity i'm getting around 2350-2400FPS. I'm using pure WW lead, so they might be melting a little despite the gas check. There is a little smoke but i'm pretty sure it's lube burning off. I'd love to try some quenched linotype. Still, leading is minimal and doesn't require anything other than a normal wet patch brush dry patch cleaning.
 
using a hard alloy you could go faster than 2000fps

I am shooting 175g cast with ww air cooled at around 1900 and no leading
sized to .3095

your rifle will tell you when you go too fast (larger groups)

leading --> poor fit / bad lube / too high pressure / wrong powder

if every thing is right 2500 fps is reachable
( but 2100 is still a great velocity)and more forgiving for a plinking round

just watch every thing, you watch for when working up a load for jacketed
and when groups get bigger that's it for that combination

One day i watched one of the members of my club shoot 223 cast at 100yds 2500fps sub 1 inch groups (bolt gun)
 
Im in the prossess of devoliping a load for my rifle (308 aswell)
hard cast with no gas check 165 grn
going to start with
10 grns trail boss
and go from there

if it groups at 50 yards ill be happy, just a plinking load for friends to shot, they dont need to shoot the good stuff, ill save my dollar a shot stuff for myself :) haha
 
The other day I shot a five shot group with my 7.62X39 Ruger Hawkeye.
IMR SR4759,178 gr. Round nose cast bullet , sized to .310". Seated to +0.015" jam fit into the rifling.
The first three shots were inside .5" at 100 yards!!!
I was elated!........., Till shots 4-5 expanded the group to 2"!

Needless to say, I am tuning that load in hopes of controlling those "fliers".
I would be very happy with 1-1/2" or smaller groups!

This is fun stuff!
 
Shooting good groups with your own cast bullets is the ultimate test of shooter/reloader/equipment as it is tough to do. Remember the record for cast bullet group size(in competition) is .154" at 100yds., so we all have a little ways to go. I find it much more interesting and challenging then using jacketed bullets which anyone can do.
 
I used to practice off-hand shooting for metallic silhouett shooting with my heavy barrel .308 on a regular basis with cast bullets--used the 170 fp bullet, a 190 round nose and a 190 tapered target bullet--loaded to around 1750-1800 fps. Never noticed any detriment to the accuracy of the barrel with jacketed bullets afterwards.

44Bore.
 
Good lord thats small!
Do you know what caliber that group was fired with?

I have also noticed that Traill Boss loads are FAR more consistant with lead cast bullets.
My Standard Deviation was as low as 4.0, and as high as 28fps.ish.
What kinds of powders do you use in the .303, .308?

I get a little nervous when shooting cast bullets past 1600-1700 fps.
I really get worried of leading! Its a bit@#ch to get out.
How do you deal with this Ben?
 
My Husquavarna consistently shoots inside an inch at 100 yards from a bench using cast boolits. Three shot groups all touching is the norm. Go to the Cast Bullet Forum. One of our members "BruceB" has a long thread on his experiences with the .308 in his M14. Worth reviewing.

Take Care

Bob
 
ben hunchak said:
Shooting good groups with your own cast bullets is the ultimate test of shooter/reloader/equipment as it is tough to do. Remember the record for cast bullet group size(in competition) is .154" at 100yds., so we all have a little ways to go. I find it much more interesting and challenging then using jacketed bullets which anyone can do.
Click to expand...

Couldn't agree more. With jacketed bullets usually you can find a load that will do 1" at 100 yards within 40 rounds and call it good from any modern bolt rifle.

With cast it is a hole different ball game and sometimes it takes a while to get the 1" at 100 yards.

The only thing that I don't shoot cast in regularly is my Garands all the other firearms I have shoot cast 99% of the time.

As far as leading goes, make sure that you are at least 1 thou over measured bore diameter. Use the correct lube and bullet hardness and you should be ok.

I have about 130 molds and I also design and modify them to my personal needs.

No one said that a microgroove .444 Marlin was accurate and you can't get cast bullets to shoot quickly.

So I designed the perfect bullet for my rifle and had mountain molds make it up for me and then I hollow pointed it just for kicks. Well this little 200 grn hollow point puppy fly's right along at 2300 fps with no leading and has 2 deer and 1 moose under its belt so far in the last two hunting seasons.

444-1.jpg


I pulled the 3rd shoot otherwise a good group.

IM002125.jpg
 
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