30 Cal Cast Bullets ?

[kleanbore 1]

I picked up some 185gr gas check lead bullets at a gun show thinking they were 308 or 309 diameter. When I got home and mic'd them they are actually .3115. My intent was to load them in 30-06 for my 03a3 and 03a4 rifles. Now I'm hesitant to try shooting them in a .308 bore. Should I pass them along to some one with a 303 or similar? Opinions Please?

 

[JohnW...ski]

If your case necks and throat have enough clearance to fit a loaded cartridge they will work. Accuracy will suffer though, .309 would be best.

 

[762plinker]

well the truth is .001/.0015 over is typically best but it s lead and will form easily if they will chamber.
try getting a reading on the bbls but i think you will be fine

 

[lotech]

I've found a .310" or very slightly larger at about .3105" will generally shoot a bit more accurately than a .309" bullet in the .30-40 Krag, .308, and .30-06, but keep in mind there are always exceptions. If a .3115" bullet in a dummy cartridge will chamber without difficulty, try it. However, I usually have to turn case necks when using a .310" or larger bullet to provide adequate clearance. You probably won't have to neck turn with a .309" bullet, but it may not shoot as well.

 

[JSH]

Size is king, period.
Slug the barrel, see what you have as far as groove depth.
I have had zero luck with “by guess and by golly” with cast bullets.
I would advise a thorough cleaning, milsurps can have layer after layer of fouling.
As to cast bullets bought in bulk, you may or may not have luck with them. I have found most are made to sell and look pretty.

One last thing if this is your first go with cast. If you run into leading of the bore, there are those that will tell you to just run a jacketed bullet through and that will clean it out. The very WORST mess I EVER had with cast was doing that.

Good luck to ya. Cast bullets can perform over and above what many would have others to believe.

 

[Ggmac]

Lee has a very affordable bullet sizing die . It works with a regular press .
There bullet Tumble Lube is pretty good also .

 

[451whitworth]

The Lyman/Ideal standard mold size for a .30 caliber cast bullet is .311" Whether a 30-30, 30-40, 300 Savage, 30-06, or 300 H&H. Personally I have never found .309" to out perform a bigger diameter in production rifles.

 

[kleanbore 1]

Thanks everyone for the info. I'm thinking I might just pass them on to someone with a 303 British or 91/30.

 

[David Mayfield]

Thanks everyone for the info. I'm thinking I might just pass them on to someone with a 303 British or 91/30.

I routinely run 0.310-0.3105 bullets in all my 30 caliber rifles. If a dummy round will chamber load them as long as possible and still close the bolt. 14-15gr of 2400 in a 308, a little more in a 30/06. The picture is 10 shots, prone with a sling at 100yds. 14.5gr 2400 with a 0.3105 sized 210gr bullet.

 

[JSH]

The Lyman/Ideal standard mold size for a .30 caliber cast bullet is .311" Whether a 30-30, 30-40, 300 Savage, 30-06, or 300 H&H. Personally I have never found .309" to out perform a bigger diameter in production rifles.

I have to totally disagree with that statement. After having bought, traded,swapped and sold hundreds of molds, using and trying all of them, what they advertise and what the numbers are supposed to mean is false.
What they advertise and what it actually is, there can be a large swing.
I don’t care what caliber, but will stick to the 30’s. I have seen as small as .306 and as large as .318, all of the same mold#. Molds made for the “masses”, never assume.

I know a lot of people look down on a cast bullet as just a novelty or just for shooting tin cans at close range. Nothing is further from the truth.
A person that cast their own at home, oddly this is the hey day for cast bullet molds. More TRUE info out there than ever before. Proven data on what a specific alloy does on shrinking and expanding, so mold makers know what to cut the at. Custom molds are a bargain. Order one that is listed as a .310 with your alloy and that’s what you get.
Yeah that $10 garage sale find might be a diamond, it can also give a bunch of grief to an ill informed soul.

 

[451whitworth]

I have to totally disagree with that statement. After having bought, traded,swapped and sold hundreds of molds, using and trying all of them, what they advertise and what the numbers are supposed to mean is false.
What they advertise and what it actually is, there can be a large swing.
I don’t care what caliber, but will stick to the 30’s. I have seen as small as .306 and as large as .318, all of the same mold#. Molds made for the “masses”, never assume.

I know a lot of people look down on a cast bullet as just a novelty or just for shooting tin cans at close range. Nothing is further from the truth.
A person that cast their own at home, oddly this is the hey day for cast bullet molds. More TRUE info out there than ever before. Proven data on what a specific alloy does on shrinking and expanding, so mold makers know what to cut the at. Custom molds are a bargain. Order one that is listed as a .310 with your alloy and that’s what you get.
Yeah that $10 garage sale find might be a diamond, it can also give a bunch of grief to an ill informed soul.

We bullet casters have all seen the same thing with the various manufacturing dimensions of Lyman/Ideal molds made over the past 100 years. The point I was trying to make is .311" is a very common diameter to start with (and used in the design name) in virtually any .30 caliber production rifle. It's my most commonly used diameter in dozens of .30 caliber rifles. It wasn't until the early 1990's that I got my first custom mold cut from LBT that I was able to actually specify the dimension I wanted and not have to hope a Lyman, RCBS, or Saeco mold I bought would not cast undersized.