Shot the First Cast Rounds I Made

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sapper6fd

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Well I managed to escape work a little early today. Took the first 10 rounds I cast and reloaded to the range. Setup the target at 70 yards to see how they would do. I was a little nervous about it not only because it was the first rounds I ever cast, but also because they were the first rounds I ever reloaded.

The were fired from my Lee Enfield .303 slugged at .312 and the boolits cast, gas checked and sized at .314. I used once fired Winchester brass with Winchester Large Rifle Primers and 21 grains of IMR-4227 powder to give approximately 1600 FPS. I have to say I'm EXTREMELY happy with the results. None of they key-holed on me, all fired straight, no leading of the barrel (only time will tell on that one, I don't thing 10 rounds is good enough to tell) and hit the target. The groupings could have been a bit better - but I think my nervousness had a bit to do with that.

A big thanks goes out to the members here who helped get me the info I needed to get to this point. I couldnt have done it without some of you CGN'ers

FYI - I know there's 11 holes, one wasn't a cast on the page with 5 rounds in it (yellow one).

Here are the two targets at 70 yards.

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Really good cast boolit debut there, sapper. You are doing something right for sure.
Assume that was with the issue apertures on your LE?.

You must be itching to get back out with a wee bit of tweaking .. powder charge and maybe seating depth?.
 
Thanks Vviking.

Unfortunately not with the issued aperture sites on the Enfield. Its been sporterized. They are however very similar iron sights with markings from 100 - 900 meters. I was using the 100 meter sights.

I did up another 150 boolits this evening now that I know they will work well. I'm still learning the whole seating depth thing, but keeping it under the OAL Max. I will however up the charge a bit from 21 to 24 or 25 grains. I actually quite enjoyed the 21 grain charge. Low recoil compared to the manufactured rounds. Cut it in half, maybe a little more (fired one Winchester 180 grain round to compare the two - hence the 11th round in the target).

It was also nice seeing the round penetrate the wooden pallet holding up the targets and splash into the backstop. At least I know there's some power behind them!
 
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slugged at .312 and the boolits cast, gas checked and sized at .314. .
Click to expand...
That right there ^, is the first thing you did right !.
What is your Mold?. Alloy?. Lube?.

I like to start off with boolit's seated out to max. reliable mag. feed length, and then, and only if the powder charge tweaks don't yield the results I'm looking for... bump 'em back in .010" increments. Mostly, in my limited experience, the groups tend to tighten up to the load's potential with charge adjustment only. If your mold happens to be of a bore rider design, it pretty much has to engrave into the lands to shoot well, in my experience. Hopefully, that doesn't require single loading too long for the mag. rounds.

There is something very special about evolving a gun/ammo combo to shoot really well with your own homemade boolit's.
Hell, fer some of us, it becomes an addiction.
 
The mould is a Lee C312-185-1R. It's over casting to .3145 and I'm sizing / crimping the gas checks with the Lee Push through .314 sizer after a coat of Lee Liquid Alox. I'll start tinkering with the powder loads pretty soon to find the sweet spot. The alloy being used is wheel weights as is after clean up. Nothing added. One thing I didn't do is trim the cases so they are anywhere from 2.825 (max OAL) to 2.820. I'll be trimming them from here on I'm though to ensure consistent lengths.
 
You are off to a great start there. I would also experiment with different over all lengths. Try touching the lands and then backing off a few thou. Sometimes the throats on those old .303's are pretty deep though. Consistency is the big key here. Keep each and every round you plan to group exactly the same.
 
vviking said:
There is something very special about evolving a gun/ammo combo to shoot really well with your own homemade boolit's.
Hell, fer some of us, it becomes an addiction.
Click to expand...

You said it bud. Very satisfying to bring a firearm to it's potential with that sweet spot loading and especially with your own cast bullets. Bringing old warhorses up to speed to out shoot guys at the range shooting firearms with a much higher price tag has definitely become a passion of mine.

Sapper, keep up the good work.
 
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