[ENGLANDER]

Hello from Scotland

I have decided to try cast gas checked bullets in my M-bolt rifle i have been looking at the Lyman #311041 173gn flat nose gas check and the RCBS 180gn flat nose gas check. Does anyone think one is better than the other or are they much of a muchness ! Im leaning to the RCBS 180gn at present, any reason i should'nt ? Would really value some input on these or other molds suitable ofr the .308

regards Englander

 

[caster]

Englander
 'Twere me, I'd prefer the RCBS. The Lyman moulds tend to have undersized noses ie. 0.299 instead of 0.300.
    tbc

 

[Jack Monteith]

Hi, Englander:
    I've got some of Marshall's lapping bullets here that are out of a 311041 mould and they are .302" ahead of the front driving band.  Marshall may have lapped the mould out a few thousands, so a new mould might be smaller, but you could lap one out too.

    I'm tending towards the Lyman simply because I've already got Lyman mould handles.

Bye
Jack

 

[pourboy]

Englander- I hate to cast confusion into the mix here but, My 180 gr RCBS mould has an undersized nose, and my Lyman 169 gr. is a snug fit in the rifling. The point is, all moulds are individuals and should always be regarded as such. Pick out the bullet design you like and run with the ball. For my uses (hunting), I prefer the RCBS design for the extra weight, which I feel is advantageous for penetration. Are you going to hunt with cast or target shoot? For target shooting, I'd consider something around 200 grains, I have friends who use the Lyman .303 bullet in rifles with larger throats with excellent results. I have the same mould, but haven't tried it in .308 yet. Happy experimenting!!

 

[ENGLANDER]

Pourboy

Any gun i own is first and foremost a hunting "tool" for i am a HUNTER ! Sorry carrot crunchers and lettice munchers its in my blood , the urge to hunt flows in my very veins ! And can not be repressed.

I am just stating out with this casting caper and have much to learn, luckly this site is a endless well of information.
My .308 is a stainless miroku M-bolt which is pretty new and has only ever fired jacketed bulets so far, but im really looking forward to trying casyt bullets in it.

Regards Englander

 

[pourboy]

Englander- Cool!! A man after my own heart. I'd try (and am trying) the RCBS bullet first, simply because of it's (slightly) greater weight and flat nose. Try starting out with an alloy that'll give you about 13-15 bhn to start with and see what kind of accuracy you get. I'm afraid I'm not a big fan of super hard bullets for hunting, unless they're very, very, big. It sounds like you have a great project ahead of you.

 

[arkypete]

While working up the loads for my 375 Whelen, I was lucky to make contact with several people through the Cast Bullet Assoc.'s Fouling Shot who had been down that .380 road.
I found a couple of guys who had Lyman and RCBS molds that they had lapped out, milled down the top of the mold to remove the gas check shank, lapped the bullet nose. I was lucky to get a number of molds fairly inexpensively to experiment with.
This may be a path you'd like to follow.
Jim