.303Br with Cast/Preliminary Results

[Beadwindow]

Hello Again,

Continuing the practice of reporting on my experiences with cast bullets, this week I'll be providing findings with two Lee Enfields that I fired last Saturday. They were a #5 Jungle Carbine dated January 1945, replete with Ishapore screw and scrubbed markings (the manufacturing date was barely visible). While the finish on the metal was worn, the rifling was great and there were no major dings on the wood. The second rifle was an Ishapore SMLE #1mk3* with GRI markings indicating that it was of pre-independance origin. The rifle looks like it was arsenal refurbed at some point, and had a perfect bore beneath the thick grease preservative. Luckily both rifles seemed clean of copper fouling while being cleaned/prepared to shoot cast.

Similar to the Mannlichers that I tried the previous weekend, loads were prepared with 18grs of H4198, 17grs of H4227 and 24grs of IMR3031. The bullets were Lee 185 Gr with gas checks,sized to .311 and fired with Win LR primers and Winchester cases, except for the IMR 3031 loads that were fired from S&B cases. This week I had my MTM Predator Shooting Rest instead of just resting the forend on wooden blocks like with the Mannlichers. I suspect that I'll be purchasing a heavier rest eventually, since the recoil from my relatively minor loads did tend to move the rifle and rest after each shot, and with open sights it was difficult to tell whether the rifle was sighted back to the precise same aiming point. If I'm doing anything wrong with the rest, please tell me! I was able to get considerably tighter groups later in the day trying to sight in my M305 with a 9x scope at 50yrds, but only because the magnification ensured that I fired at the same aiming point after re-adjusting the rifle after most shots. Incidentally, the B-Square mount that I was using and economy scope will require some Loctite to keep the scope from shifting between groups.

The first rifle fired was the SMLE, which consistently shot about 1 1/2 to 2inches low and a bit more to the right. My first group at 50yds with H4198measured 2.9 inches or 1.8 inches if you counted the best four of five. My second group with H4227 measured 3.3 inches, however with 2 shots very close together and another two close to each other but 2 inches lower, I think that movement of the rifle at some point between shots might have changed the point of impact. My final group with four rounds of IMR 3031 gave a solid 2" group just over 2 inches to the right and about an inch low. Though my groups weren't exactly bragging material, and might have been increased by the factors mentioned, it was reassuring to see bullets clustering fairly consistently with all loads, perhaps approaching what I might be able to get from a .22 semi-auto at those ranges. The one flier in my first group (H4198) and vertical spread with H4227 could have been due to the effect of small charges in large cases, though I'll keep paying attention to any trends to see if that is really the case.

Firing the Jungle Carbine, my first group missed the target completely, though with the bolt removed I was able to bore sight the rifle by raising the sight elevation to 500m. They could probably still be raised a few clicks as the following groups tended to shoot just a bit low. My first group with H4198 was an unimpressive evenly spread 3.3 inches. With H4227 I was able to get a more respectable 2.1 inch grouping. IMR 3031 did alright, with a 4.1 inch group, but 1.9" with the best four out of five. Some later practice of three groups in sitting, kneeling and standing positions suggested that I need some further practice with this rifle and perhaps some more accurate loads if I'm to get it shooting accurately at 100-200m. At least the reduced loads made the Jungle Carbine fun to shoot, though I'd expect better accuracy with the peep sights and a barrel in such good condition.

In conclusion, the cast bullets did decently in the SMLE, though I might want to try the 200m setting, as well as adjust the front sight a bit to the right, otherwise she might shoot to the right of the target at distances beyond
100m. Accuracy was good enough to suggest a decent fit of bullets to bore, and all powders tested did fine. The Jungle Carbine was a different ballgame however and I might try some unsized bullets through her next time (any hints on how to get the gas checks on without the sizer would be greatly appreciated!). Since by all acounts the accuracy of my M95 rifle the previous week was unusually good, I realized beforehand not to get disappointed should I not match that previous week's success. If I find the time to load up the 50 bullets that I currently have available, I might have another report for next week, perhaps through my #4mk1 as well. I might also pick up Alliant 2400 at the range and see how that fares on a later outing.

With Regards,

Frank

[Badger]

Very educational partner, particularly for a neophyte in this topic area like me.... :lol:

I learned something from your post .... thanks... :thup:

You should bind these posts into an electronic PDF document and we can put them in the technical articles area of the MKL (Milsurp Knowledge Library).

Regards,
Badger

[Beadwindow]

Very educational partner, particularly for a neophyte in this topic area like me.... :lol:

I learned something from your post .... thanks... :thup:

You should bind these posts into an electronic PDF document and we can put them in the technical articles area of the MKL (Milsurp Knowledge Library).

Regards,
Badger

Hi Badger,

I've kept the targets referred to in my posts and might be purchasing a digital camera in the next couple of months to help with posting those as well. If nothing else, I'm sure that a friend could snap the photos for me. Though my next priority is to glass bed and sight in my 9.3mm Husky's before I'm away in August, I'll hopefully also be casting for my 8mm Mausers and .308bullets for some 7.62 NATO and Swiss rifles, perhaps even 7.62x39 if I could find enough brass. I'd be happy to put all of my findings to the purpose that you've proposed.

With Regards,

Frank

[robertbank]

I have pertty much settled on 18.5 gr of 4227 under a Lyman 314299 boolit sized .313 in my Longbranch. Accuracy is excellent considering my eyes aren't what they used to be. AT 100 yds I can keep them in a 4" circle if I do my part. Another load that I like is 16 gr of 2400 under the same boolit.

Take Care

Bob

[ganderite]

I am a bit confused about how you are using the rest. Usually with a sporting type rifle I put my left hand underthe forend and rest the back of my hand on the rest. I aim the rifle carefully for every shot, holding the rifle quite firmly.

Your description makes it sound like you are not aiming after the first shot - but I must be misreading that part.

[Dante]

I am using SR4759 (20.0 gns.) topped with plastic filler under a 210 grain bullet. I use the SR4759 as I already had it on hand to load "duplex" in my 57 Sniders and 577-450 Martini Henrys. These are the first with the filler which weighed 12.7 grns. to fill to within 3/16" of the case mouth. Off to the range when I get a chance. Bullets are from MT Chambers Supply...x-hard alloy with gas check @ 205 grns. and .314" diameter. I believe the bullet is the 314299 from Lyman. Great to see some posts about using cast.

[buckbrush]

don't size your bullets, just lube them. All 6 of my .303's prefer unsized bullets at .314 minimum. I use Lee 180 and Lyman 314299. Just starting to play with a 3 cavity Cramer mold that is a 175 semi spitzer, drops from the mold at .3165 -.317 .

[robertbank]

I was out yesterday and managed to shoot a 1 1/2" group at 100 yds using 18.5 gr of 4227 uynder Lyman 314299 boolit. While I am happy with these results I am going to cast my chamber and if necessary, order a mold from CBE out of Australia to match the freebore of the rifle. Should mention the boolits are water quenched from WW.

Take Care

Bob

[kent9497]

I have been working on cast bullet loads for a couple of Lee Enfield No. 5's for a while now and am making good progress. It would be better if I could get to the range more often though!

I found both guns shot on the outside edge of mediocrity with milsurp ammo giving groups of 4" to 6" at 50 meters. Accuracy improved dramatically with a lapped and Beagled Lyman 314299 with 0.305" nose bore riding section and 0.315" body. After slugging the barrel I found that I have a large groove diameter of about 0.314" so that explains large diameter bullet preference.

So far I have found continual accuracy improvements and have loaded this bullet with: Unique, IMR 4198, IMR 4227, IMR 4064 and IMR 4320. So far the faster powders have given best accuracy with IMR 4198 and IMR 4227 being about the same.

I have also found that Cream 'o Wheat filler has helped accuracy both with and without gas checks.

Looks like your results are similar to mine for accuracy. I find the peeps a little coarse and with my old eyes I am thinking of adding a scope to eliminate my error. Groups are currently running between about 1 1/2" to about 4" at 50 yards but more are in the 1 1/2" to 2"+ range lately.

As a side note, once I found how large the groove diameter was I decided to pull some bullets from factory rounds and knurl them a little larger with a tool I made for other purposes. The original bullets were 0.311" diameter and gave about 6" groups at 50 meters. After knurling they were 0.313" diameter and I think if I could shoot better I would have had one ragged hole at 50 meters. I couldn't believe the accuracy improvement from buckshot pattern to sub 1 1/2".

Kent9497

[10x]

I have pertty much settled on 18.5 gr of 4227 under a Lyman 314299 boolit sized .313 in my Longbranch. Accuracy is excellent considering my eyes aren't what they used to be. AT 100 yds I can keep them in a 4" circle if I do my part. Another load that I like is 16 gr of 2400 under the same boolit.

Take Care

Bob


I use 13 grains of Unique under the Lyman 314299 bullet unsized but lubed with a gas check. This is very close to a max load with this bullet according to the lyman manual. I have found these bullets are more accurate unsized than sized.
I have also found that one martine 303 and two No.4 rifles will cause the bullet to tumble with every cast bullet I have tried. All have bores larger than 0.314".

[kent9497]

10X

Check out David Southall's articles on .303's with oversize bores here:

Cast Bullets in the Lee Enfield Rifle (http://www.303british.com/id37.html)

While I haven't had the tumbling problem David Southall says that fillers can help fix that.

Also, most moulds for .303's seem a little undersize for old military bores but at least one outfit makes moulds specifically for oversize .303's:

CAST BULLET ENGINEERING Bullet Moulds Molds (http://www.castbulletengineering.bigpondhosting.com/photos/custom_005.htm)

kent9497

[conifergreen]

About six months ago there was an ad in our local paper that read" Canadian made British .303 military ammo for sale". So I gave the guy a call. He lived in a city not too far from here. He told me that it was older ammo and that there were 48 cartridges per box. He thought it might be from the late 1940`s or 50`s. So I agreed to buy a couple of boxes for $25 dollars per box. His wife brought it to town here and so I met with her and purchased a couple of boxes. As it turned out, this was older RCMP ammunition, still in the original boxes, seals still intact. I opened up a box and the stuff looked brand new. So I was happy. About a week went by when I realized that this was quite a find. He told me that he had three more boxes for sale. When I called him back, he told me that he had sold the other three boxes to a friend of his. After doing more research and reading some of the info on this web site, I realize I really really let a great oppurtunity slip through my fingers. This is RCMP FMJ ammunition. I don`t have the boxes in front of me right at this moment and they are locked away in my steel ammo boxes but I can post what it says on them later if anyone is interested.
The fellow who sold them also told me that he had at one time owned unissued Long Branch number 4`s that he had bought still in the shipping boxes and packed in grease. He had sold them a few years earlier. I groaned when I heard that.
But now I am wondering what I should do with this ammo. This is rare and precious stuff in my mind. Should I just sit on it and keep it as a collectors item or should I fire it and reload it? The brass is probably military spec.
How I wish I would have bought those other three boxes...

[gerry303ca]

I have just started trying cast loads in my 1949 Long Branch Mk 1*.
So far I have onlytried bullets made from the 185 gr Lee mold sized .312. IMR3031, 20 gr gave me 2"-2.5" @ 50 yds with iron sights (ladder type). I fired 3 shots with the battle sight for a 1.5" group. I also tried Trail Boss, 7-8.5 gr. The best was 1.5" @ 50 yds with 41 gr. Lots more powders to try but this is the first LE I've had that would shoot these bullets with any accuracy. Most key-holed in my P-14's.
For a fun plinking load , try Hornady 85 gr HP/XTP pistol bullets (.312) with 40 gr of H4895. I loaded up 5 last week and got a 1.4" group @ 50 yds, but 4 of those were in .5" with iron sights. I loaded more to try next trip to the range.

[buffdog]

.
I'll have to go back through my "Handloaders Digests" to find a good article on cast bullets for most Surplus rifles.

I believe the article was written by C.E. Harris, who contributed many articles to the "American Rifleman", and leaned toward cast bullets. In this article, he suggested a load of 13 grains of Red Dot. I have used this load as a reference or starting load for most military rifles such as .303, 7.62X54 Russian, 7mm Mauser, 8mm Mauser, .308, 30-06, 30-40, and various other calibres of the same case capacity.

WARNING....DO NOT USE THIS LOAD IN SMALLER CASES SUCH AS 7.62X39.

Back many moons ago, when I was shooting targets, I used up a lot of cast bullets in .303 calibre. I had one rifle set aside for cast bullets only, and used it for practice. With proper sight adjustments, I could shoot about as well with a cast bullet to 300 yards as I could with issue Mark 7 ammo.

One critical thing you have to do. Clean out ALL the copper from the bore. If you fire cast bullets, then jacketed bullets or vise versa, you will not get the best accuracy. Really clean out the copper fouling.

I used to shoot cast bullets out to 600 yards with the .303. I used the Lyman 311299, about 205 grains, unsized, and Texaco Hot Box lube (used on railways). The rifle had a minimum bore diameter, the mould cast a 1/15 lead mixture bullet a bit oversize at .314.

I found heavier bullets tend to group better. Possibly the lighter ones do not stabilize well in the military bores. You should slug the bore and measure it. For the .303, I have seen bores running up to .319 diameter. A bullet about .002 oversize has worked best for me under most circumstances.

Lyman MADE a lot of bullet moulds in different sizes. They have cut down to a few calibres now. In the .30 calibres or .303 you could once get .308, .311,.313,.316, and .319 moulds. Also, Lyman moulds can be marked with the number and the letters "U" or "US" or "OS" meaning the mould will throw the bullet UNDERSIZED or OVERSIZED. You can still find the older Lyman moulds on E-Bay.

Lubricator-sizers such as the Lyman and RCBS, etc., do not give the best sizing accuracy. This type sizer pushes the unsized bullet downward BASE FIRST. If the nose punch is not perfectly aligned, it can tilt the bullet and you size more on one side than the other. Also, the older Lyman sizer dies had a step on them. When you pushed the bullet into the die, it shaved off a lot of lead. Newer ones were tapered, and worked better. I found the best dies at the time were home made ones that mounted in a reloading press and pushed the bullet up NOSE FIRST. There seemed to be less distortion to the bullets. LEE later made sizer dies of this design.

I still play around with cast bullets. My latest use is in a 9.3x57 Husqvarna. The larger bores seem to work better with cast bullets for accuracy and hunting. Millions of Buffalo were taken with cast bullets, so they are effective.

The way things are going pricewise and availability of components for reloading, and ammunition, I keep lots of primers, enough powder, and bullet moulds for most of my favorite rifles and calibres. It is a cheap assurance that I can still enjoy firing my rifles if need be.
.

[wheaty]

try 11.2 grains of UNIQUE with dacron or kapok filler. Should be able to pick the fly **** out of the pepper at 100 yds but again, all rifles vary. Found this load worked well in most of the ones I tried it in.

[Curator]

Check out Steve Regwell's web site, 303britsh.com. He has an article I wrote a few years ago about using cast bullets in Lee Enfields. There is a lot of information learned "the hard way" that will help you avoid some of the same mistakes I made when first starting out. Cast bullets can be (and often are) more accurate than jacketed bullets. You just can't drive then as fast.
Follow this link to the article:

Cast Bullets in the Lee Enfield Rifle (http://www.303british.com/id37.html)

[Beadwindow]

I got my rifles out to the range two weeks ago for the first time this season and tried out some of the loads that I reported on last season in an Ishapore SMLE, No4 Mk1 and Jungle carbine.

Some adjustment of the SMLE's sights were needed to zero the groups, that seem to keep under 2" at 50 yrd with the Lee bullets sized down to .311. I was shooting the same combinations of H4198, IMR 3031 and H4227 that I used in the opening post.

The No4 Mk1 was doing similarly well, but for some reason the Lee Bullets were sometimes getting caught at the front of the mag or mag well and jammed the rifle. In one case I pushed the bullet back into the case while trying to load it! Does anyone have any suggestions as to what may be wrong? I'd like to make it my primary cast .303 rifle (due to the peep sights) but might decide otherwise if I cannot make her feed consistently.

Finally, the No5 fed wihout a glitch but the groups were enormous. Since the bore looks pretty good, I presume that this is probably a typical case of a larger diameter bore that requires larger bullets.

I have loaded a large batch of 200 cartridges with 24 grains of IMR 3031 pushing the gas checked 185gr Lee bullets unsized (about .313" diameter). I have another 25 loaded up from 24-28 gr that I'll test with one of the rifles to come up with an ideal loading for it, after which I have another 75 bullets and prepped cases to load up. I just wanted to get some practice in with my earlier loads as well as fire a couple of groups so that I can better gauge any differences between my these different batches of bullets and loads.

I concur with the earlier posters recommending C.E. Harris' article on shooting cast in military rifles, as well as Steve Redgwell's excellent work. Harris' article provided the basis for my first loadings in my Enfields and Mannlicher rifles, while Redgwell's detailed rundown of the Lee Enfield really makes one appreciate all of the factors that go into making an effective cast load.

[Curator]

check out Steve Regwell's website: 303british.com (www.303british.com). He has a link to an article entitled: cast bullets in the lee enfield, that was very halpful to me in getting my .303s to shoot lead.

[Beadwindow]

Well folks, I finally got a camera so that I can show you some pics of my groups.

The first picture shows a typical grouping from my Jungle Carbine at 50yds benched with 24grains of IMR 3031 shooting a Lee bullet sized to .311 calibre. This load was getting about double the group size than what I was getting from my SMLE and #4mk1.:

http://i340.photobucket.com/albums/o339/MonozlaiFL/CastBulletGroupingsinMilsurpRifl-1.jpg

Since the bore looked very good on this rifle, and the groupings on my other rifles were also bit larger than I'd have liked, I decided to load a few more cartridges without sizing the bullets (gas checks were pushed on by hand) to see if it was a case of my shooting undersized bullets in an overly large bore. Here's another group from the same rifle taken last weekend at 50yds benched:

http://i340.photobucket.com/albums/o339/MonozlaiFL/CastBulletGroupingsinMilsurpRifles0.jpg

A remarkable improvement to to say the least which reinforces what I've read in a few articles and was told by those of you who posted their opinions. Thank-you!

This newly discovered accuracy motivated me to sight in the rifle at 100m, where I got the following group from a bench. Note the arrow pointing towards a bullet that shot low and to the left just off target. When I fired another 5 round group with the rifle sitting, I got a slightly larger group than the one pictured below, with two bullets shooting to the left and one of them also a bit low. Perhaps some further practice will confirm whether this was merely a coincidence or part of a consistent pattern, (i.e. a changing POI as the barrel heats up.....AKA the infamous wandering zero?):

http://i340.photobucket.com/albums/o339/MonozlaiFL/CastBulletGroupingsinMilsurpRifl-2.jpg

Below are two groups from my Ishapore SMLE. It used to shoot about 3" to the right consistently, and boresighting confirmed that it was due to the sights being off centre. The front sight has since been drifted to the right. These two groups were taken at 50m benched with a load of 24grs IMR 3031 using the sized ammo (another group taken at the end of the day with the unsized bullets showed similar if not a tad bit better accuracy):

http://i340.photobucket.com/albums/o339/MonozlaiFL/CastBulletGroupingsinMilsurpRifl-3.jpg

I might still have to move the sights a tiny bit back to the right since the rifle now seems to shoot about an inch to the left at 50m. It was good enough however to move to the 100m firing point, and after making some adjustments for bullet drop, I fired managed a 5 round group from the sitting position at 100m. While I grouped all over the target, I am confident that it was more due to lack of practice than any deficiency on the part of the rifle and load.

My #4mk one has produced groups similar to the #1mk3 with the sized bullets, though I've found that they often don't feed well from the magazine but get caught in the process. Any suggestions?....and yes, I did load the stripper clips properly! Here's two groups fired from 50yds benched; the second group was hindered by loading problems that caused me to raise my head and adjust the rounds (note the two pairs of bullets that are touching/nearly touching and separated by a longer distance).

http://i340.photobucket.com/albums/o339/MonozlaiFL/MilsurpRifles001.jpg

Since this #4Mk1 only came with the 300/600m flip aperture sites and shot about 6" below POI at 100m, I'll either have to get one of the adjustable rear sights or perhaps dedicate her to shooting jacketed ammo. Since I think that the rounds jaming might have been due to the shape of the Lee bullets, I suspect that the pointed SP bullets might just work better in this rifle anyhow.

In conclusion, my experiments with .303 cast in these rifles has shown that with a bit of patience and attention to the various factors involved, it's possible to develop consistently accurate loads. I can now practice shooting in field positions with at least two of my three Enfields up to 100m. In addition to another 150 rounds of .303 loaded up with unsized bullets and the same load of IMR 3031, I have 25 rounds loaded up from 24-28gr of IMR 3031. If I get the same or similar accuracy at 27 or 28 grains, I will then try to sight these rifles in for 200m shooting as well.

[kent9497]

I just posted a new thread in the Lee Enfield Knowledge Library ~ maybe the wrong forum but that's where I found another older post of mine. I haven't been here in a while. If it is in the wrong place would someone please move it?

Anyway, looks like your groups are improving even more than mine.

I have been working up loads for a couple of No. 5's making slow but good progress. Neither shoots factory ammo well at all. The only way I have gotten decent accuracy from jacketed bullets is to knurl them up a few thou in diameter. Then they do okay.

Cast at around 0.315" are doing pretty well and paper patched bullets gave good accuracy as well. I find paper patching kind of tedious though so will stick with as cast wherever possible.

I've also been finding Cream 'O Wheat filler seems to help especially without gas checks. I will do some more comparisons though before drawing conclusions. If I can get good accuracy with COW and no gas check that is the route I will go.

[kragluver]

I too have had good luck with between 19-22 gr of SR4759 under a 180 gr CBE bullet sized .315 (air cooled WW; no filler). Easy on the shoulder and great for punching holes in paper (my kids can shoot it too). I've tried PSB filler in the past with no luck; however, I may give it another try with this load and see what sort of differences it makes.

Also, take care when using filler as you need to account for the weight of the filler when working up your powder charge. Add the filler weight to the bullet weight (e.g., 180 gr bullet + 20 gr filler = 200 gr) and keep your max charge weight at or below the published max load for the heavier weight (200 gr in my example). Never use filler with a "slow" powder as this can lead to excessive pressures.

[billw_willy]

I use 13 grains of Unique under the Lyman 314299 bullet unsized but lubed with a gas check. This is very close to a max load with this bullet according to the lyman manual. I have found these bullets are more accurate unsized than sized.
I have also found that one martine 303 and two No.4 rifles will cause the bullet to tumble with every cast bullet I have tried. All have bores larger than 0.314".

I'm just now reading this thread on the 303 Brit. I have a #1, #4 and #5 that taught me many lesson on bullet size after I slugged the bores and used Cerrosafe to cast the chambers and throats. The #1 5-groove worked perfectly with the 314299 casting at 0.313/0.303 body and nose, and lubed in a 0.313" size die. The #4 Long Branch 2-groove bore was 0.317"/0.303" and although the 314299 shot OK sized in a 0.314", it wasn't as accurate as I wanted and so I had a custom mould made in 0.318"/0.305" with a 0.318" lube/size die and incidentally this bullet solved the #5 keyholing with the 314299. Temporarily, I shot the #5 with Nabisco Instant Cream of Wheat (COW), granulated, not flake as a filler with a carefully reduced load of rifle powder and this took care of any keyholing. I was so happy I kept pushing the target frame from 50 out to 400 yds and got a 14" group on the 24" square frame. The #5 5-groove bore was of normal 0.313"/0.303" dimensions but the throat was larger and longer than the #4 rifle but tool marks indicated that the throat was not worn. I have not shot a jacketed bullet in any of them although I have some modern factory loads. I had no trouble getting the bigger diameter bullet to shoot in either rifle. I used Lee Collet dies to only neck size in order to preserve the limited brass I had for 3 rifles. The #5 had been "bubba'ed" by cutting off the rear sling attachment and the barrel was blued; all else was about normal other than 4 tapped holes on the left side apparently for a mount of some kind. After having cataracts and didn't know it, I designed a scope mount of aluminum to fit a Weaver base for a scope in order to see better. I now have lens implants and have distant vision vs. severe myopia (that has its advantages) and have to use reading glasses to see the FS. I made a tool to loosen the #4 FS set screw in order to adjust the FS; it is the reverse image of a flat head screwdriver made from a junk screwdriver. The #1 and 5 FS must be forced to move with the proper tools and a vernier caliper is useful to measure the amount of adjustment. I use a drift and mallet.

My powder charges have ranged from 12.0 gr Unique or AA#2(two), 17-4227, 18 gr 2230-S with COW (no airspace!) and all loads were about 1400-1500 fps and comfortable to shoot. I really like these old warhorses and I have a bunch of other military rifles and handguns I load with cast bullets.

I have found some alloys (wheelweights with arsenic) can be hardened with water dropping from the mould or heat treating in my kitchen oven at 450F for 45 minutes and quickly quenching in tap water, aged for at least 30 hours and then lubed and seating of gas checks. I usually add an equal amount of soft lead sheeting lead to my WW metal to get the sprue cuts cleaner and sharper without any tears or bumps. If the bullet needs any major sizing or other forming, it should be done prior to heat treating with gas checks seated (my best method) or immediately after heat treat with gas checks seated and lubed. The hardening process starts within 30 minutes of quenching and final hardness is reached between 30 and 72 hours. An oversized bullet after aging is a booger to get through a size or taper die and I know that for sure.
Bill McGraw

[gerry303ca]

Lee have a .32 SWC 90 gr pistol bullet mold sized .314. I wonder what that one would do in a Lee Enfield. Has anyone tried it? The Hornady .32 cal (.312) 85 gr HP/XTP handgun bullet works well in most of my Enfields with 40 gr of H4895 at 50 metres with little recoil, great for the kids or wife.

[muzzle flash]

The 90 gr. might work but I doubt it. You need to have cast bullet's snug up against the land's. With this short bullet you will most likely be .500 thou. off the lands. But you dont know until you try.

[smelly sam]

Best thing in developing tight groups is slugging out the barrel, although measuring a five groove barrel can be a bit tricky as no two grooves or lands line up across the diameter of the projectile. :(

Then me thinks why not fill them in... insert the slugged lead into a low speed drill, drill into a block of soap or wax, remove and then measure.

Found that .001" over groove size worked best.

Best moulds come from CBE in Australia and he has a new range for .303 Brit.

CAST BULLET ENGINEERING Bullet Moulds Molds (http://www.castbulletengineering.bigpondhosting.com/custom.htm)

:)