Attempting bullet casting

[Gav 1,708]

2 minutes ago, KimE said:

What caliber are you casting for Gav?

.308 win

[Wolfdog91 6,242]

28 minutes ago, KimE said:

What do you think sizing the cases 0,5mm are to much? Messuring the lenght on the ogive will give you a more precise messure but your seating die will give the cartridges a lenght based on the shape of the cup inside them anyway.

Well since I only need a bump of 0.002"-0.003 for it to work I'd say yes. Just messing around with my calipers, as much as a they fluctuate on these lower numbers it seems following the  instructions in my dies I've been pushing back my shoulder close to 15 thousands.

And I can still get the measurement I want with my seating dies seating the way they do.  I just keep adjusting my die till it gives me the correct measurement same as with COAL

[Wolfdog91 6,242]

34 minutes ago, Gav said:

 

I've only had chance once with 8 loads, they were landing well @100yds just need to try and get out a bit more and see if I can fine tune them now.

Using 2oz tin 1lbs antimony and 6lbs lead mix.

It gives me around 21BNH so don't want to exceed 28,000psi, ones I tried were around 22,000psi so room for manouver 

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Nice set up you have there ! All Lee brand ? What are you living your bullets with and any velocity readings ? Also how are you getting your PSI readings ?

[Gav 1,708]

7 minutes ago, Wolfdog91 said:

Nice set up you have there ! All Lee brand ? What are you living your bullets with and any velocity readings ? Also how are you getting your PSI readings ?

This should explain 

Hmm it seems to have shrunk that to unreadable, I'll PM you a copy.

Edited January 20, 2021 by Gav

[Wolfdog91 6,242]

So it's 4:08a.m here and I just realized I've been messing with these since about 11:00pm the joys of filming i guess lol. Anyhow got my two main weights all sized down to .225" and gas checked 

Used the NOE Bushing sizer if anyone was curious and just stuck a dryex out water bottle over it to catch the bullets

Just a little comparison here from left two right we have out cast Lee 55gr bullet filled by a serria 50 grain Varminter ,then a 53 grain Hornady vmax and last a Hornady 75grain hpbt (one of my favorite bullets currently)

And I just called everything off and labbeld the bottle with a black sharpie

Think I'm going to wait till tomorrow to edit all the video

[KimE 487]

Nice Gav how fast are you driving them? I havn`t thought about shooting lead slugs in my .308w but I may try in my 300blk . I know a hunter who are casting 9,3mm and are using them for moose in 9,3*62. 

[Gav 1,708]

36 minutes ago, KimE said:

Nice Gav how fast are you driving them? I havn`t thought about shooting lead slugs in my .308w but I may try in my 300blk . I know a hunter who are casting 9,3mm and are using them for moose in 9,3*62. 

38gns of viht n550 gives me just shy of 2000fps muzzle velocity and a chamber pressure of 21300psi which is about where I want to be with a BHN of 21.

I've not tried them on the deer here, I use 165gn sierra spitzers, once I get a chance to get out more and tweek the cast properly I'll see. Its good fun just to get out and plink though too 

Edited January 22, 2021 by Gav

[KimE 487]

Whats plenty of speed!

[Sausagedog 7,381]

25 minutes ago, KimE said:

Whats plenty of speed!

My rule of thumb ( that's English for my own measurement or guide) is that if it dont bounce back at me and hit me it's useful

[Gav 1,708]

43 minutes ago, KimE said:

Whats plenty of speed!

I never thought speed had a lot to with it, it does help but what really matters is the transfer of kinetic energy, the cast I'm chucking is 170gn flat nose so the energy and shock wave when it hits even at low speed is devastating, plus it been lead the distortion too all adds to the fatality of the impact.

[Wolfdog91 6,242]

Got the sizing video up.

 

[Gav 1,708]

I lube mine with liquid allox before sizing, they whizz through the sizer no prob. I don't powder coat mine but I thought you still had to lube?? They are lube grooves after all, ain't they?

[Wolfdog91 6,242]

4 hours ago, Gav said:

I lube mine with liquid allox before sizing, they whizz through the sizer no prob. I don't powder coat mine but I thought you still had to lube?? They are lube grooves after all, ain't they?

Actually no.if done right the power coat acts as the lube persay. One if the big reasons alot of new casters are going to it opposed to traditional

[Gav 1,708]

3 hours ago, Wolfdog91 said:

Actually no.if done right the power coat acts as the lube persay. One if the big reasons alot of new casters are going to it opposed to traditional

It just struck me you had to lube the die with sizing wax, so is powder coat lube enough? I looked at powder coating but too much faff for my liking so I'll stick to my gas checked allox lubed 21bhn pills  

I'm liking your videos and journey into cast, you have more patience and time than me pal. Keep em coming  

[Wolfdog91 6,242]

8 hours ago, Gav said:

It just struck me you had to lube the die with sizing wax, so is powder coat lube enough? I looked at powder coating but too much faff for my liking so I'll stick to my gas checked allox lubed 21bhn pills  

I'm liking your videos and journey into cast, you have more patience and time than me pal. Keep em coming  

Lol part of that was my mold was over casting alot lol. Aloft of my bullets driving bands where around .227- .228 so was kinda a pain to push though. Also had just de greased the whole die and that just made it worse once I got a few dozen ran through it everything with through pretty smooth. Not to mention I don't think I baked these good enough as i had a few chip only 10 out of all of them but think dthat many be a problem. And glad to hear your enjoying them. Just got my new calipers in today and I'll m trying to decide if I should do a case prep video or not

On a side note it's so nice being able to see just how much you bumped the shoulder back. 

Ends up I was originally either bumping like ten thousands or not bumping at all by trying to just follow directions.  4.5 -5 thousands seems like it's going to be the ticket for my AR. Was pretty still closing with anything below 3 thousands and I end up running dirty alot so figured the extra room would help with any jamming issues if my chamber isn't super clean, as usual

Now I just need to go and sort though probably 500 or so range pick up cases that's just the ones I already tumbled by the way probably have 3x that much I haven't touched.

On the bright side the .223/5.56 is already sorted from eveything else I just gotta sort it by head stamp,then by date/lot with the Lack City brass. But hay can't complain too much about free components right

O and for those curious this guy does a good video on power coated vs traditionally coated bullets