Cast bullets ina 7.62x39 AR ? YEP

[Wolfdog91]

Just a disclaimer,I'm not a bench rest or super precision guy,I'm just a 1moa shooter who like to reload and do wacky stuff with my poverty their guns and gear so this will probably be less then exciting or whatever to many in here but I know more then a few folks said they enjoyed my cast bullet shenanigans . So instead of sleeping like a sane person last night I had a little idea. Since this mold I recently got is supposed to be THE thing for standard 30cal .308 bore and the like...and my bear creek AR has a .308 bore.... Why not ?
Now for those who don't know the model in question is know as the 30XCB ( NOE 310-165-FN ),I've talked about it on a 30-06 project I did before in another form but basically it was designed to just plain work in 30-06 , but apparently it's just the vibe for standard 30cals like .308, 30-06 ect. The 30XCB is some cast bullet shooting cartridge or chamber deal I'm not 100% on but this mold is just so entwined with it that the name just stuck.

The Lyman hand book was kinda a waste of time since it basically says don't waste your time with cast and semi autos, but looking in the Hornady hand book I saw that most of the loads where running in the same ball park as what this bullet apparently likes for cast velocity (1700-upper 1900's is supposed to be ita happy place) soooo,did a little bit of a SWAG and decided 22.5 GR of accurate 2015 should be a good place. I've used accurate 2015 a good little bit in case .223 and it worked pretty decent and I just got a new can so hay I took it as a sign!

Honestly didn't get super crazy with brass prep like I usually do because one I've only ever fed this thing steel cased and two ....I may have been half asleep at 1 a.m

so standard, lube ,size ,trim champer rice tumble all that goodness then expand with a NOE .311x307 plug. Then I just kinda fiddled around till I found a seating depth that would chamber the round with me using my thumb to just barely press the bolt carrier home.
Actually a little surprised but these need to be in kinda far but recon the powder coat got the noses a little fatter then my chamber liked.

And today's set up. 50 yd feeding from the mag , front rest rear bag 1-4 monstrum LPVO bear creek 7.62x39 upper FMK Polly lower ( really really poor their beater gun , most of y'all probably have scope rings or bases that cost more then this entire rig ) magneto speed Chrono which I must say, isn't the biggest fan of cast lol, she's a lil picky

 

[Wolfdog91]

Now I gotta say I wasn't expecting much but after the first 6rd of getting on paper ( thing have been sitting around in pieces for the last few months so yeah it was a little off lol , bore sighting down the barrel usually gets me on paper at least but still was like like a foot high and to the left lol ) I didn't have ANY feeding issues, as far as the bolt not catching or picking up, did have to mortar the charging handle though but fixed the seating depth a little to hopefully alleviate that. And honestly that's most people's really big problem when it comes to cast and semi auto rifles is getting reliable functionality.
But guys when I got on target !
First three rounds at 50 after getting some what zeroed, only read two of them right though



And I know I know " 50yd" look that's the standard for testing cast loads , why ? I have no clue, all I know all the books test their loads at 50yd , that's what's eveyone says do so heck alot of people say if you can keep a group on a paper plate at 50 with cast your doing great lol..idk about that but hayyyy thats the standard apparently. Also like I said this is basically like a 30-30 bruh gun for me so honestly it it keeps a 3" group out to 100yd I'm happy, bang flopped or hogs with this thing then anything else I own
And the next load up


So honestly I'm pretty friggin happy because these shoot better then the factory stuff ! And pretty colors
Make and want to get into .300blk next

 

[Fuj]

A buddy of mine shoots cast in his AK. Two inches at 100 yards and
just about the same as the surplus steel cased ammo. He's running
around 1800 fps with 4227 and a gas checked bullet.

 

[ebb]

Woolf I don't think you need a 300BLK, this gun is already a 30 caliber. Try loading subsonic rounds for it before you take the plunge??? I may shoot way better than you expect. 220 grain cast, the 7.62-39 case is a little big but you may find a power that works just right

 

[rockhound78]

Good work , will have to try that in my AR and maybe my #1. That boolit was designed for full power '06 loads in a 1-15" twist barrel.