lee 230 keyholing

[limpy]

DS,I did notice I was shaving them when I seated the bullets.I'll have to get an expander die. We can't have cans yet in Minnesota so I wasn't to worried about them being subsonic but I'm going to try sizing them to .311 after powdercoating and thanks guys for all the good info. I just joined this site and I'm loving it! Limpy

[Dolomite_Supafly]

DS,I did notice I was shaving them when I seated the bullets.I'll have to get an expander die. We can't have cans yet in Minnesota so I wasn't to worried about them being subsonic but I'm going to try sizing them to .311 after powdercoating and thanks guys for all the good info. I just joined this site and I'm loving it! Limpy

You also need to get a universal neck expanding die. When you load cast you almost always have to bell the case mouth.
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/140461 ... anding-die

You might also want to case lube the bullets to help them seat. When I seat dry .311" bullets they can deform some because of the resistance.

[limpy]

thanks DS,I had a set of 7.62x39 dies from my sks days,ran some blkout case necks thru them and loaded some 230 lee cast pc'd bullets at 10.7 A1680. nice round holes in target and decent group. I put 1 more coat of paint on bullets to get them to .312 but didn't have a sizer so I loaded them up and shot them.had some chambering issues but crimped them a little,group was about the same as single coated bullets but I,m very happy they are stabilized,thanks again for all your help.gun show in Fargo next week I,m going to look for expand die and 155 gr. bullet mold. Limpy

[Dolomite_Supafly]

thanks DS,I had a set of 7.62x39 dies from my sks days,ran some blkout case necks thru them and loaded some 230 lee cast pc'd bullets at 10.7 A1680. nice round holes in target and decent group. I put 1 more coat of paint on bullets to get them to .312 but didn't have a sizer so I loaded them up and shot them.had some chambering issues but crimped them a little,group was about the same as single coated bullets but I,m very happy they are stabilized,thanks again for all your help.gun show in Fargo next week I,m going to look for expand die and 155 gr. bullet mold. Limpy

I have found that once you get at, or above, .311" with a coated bullet it swells the case mouth enough to cause chambering issues. With uncoated bullets it is not an issue because the case neck swages the bullet down some. I run cast bullets at .311" and run my coated bullets at .309"-.310".

I run a expander ball for 7.62x54 in my RCBS small base dies for the 300 Blackout. With the factory expander ball it was sizing the cast bullets down too much for my liking. I am not sure if a powder coated bullet will get sized down too much if I use the factory expander. The 7.62x54 expander provides plenty of neck tension on a cast and coated bullet that is sized to .310".

My next experiment is going to load some coated bullets and then apply a crimp. Then impact pull them to see if the crimp scraps the coating off. Then I may shoot some to see if it affects leading or accuracy. As a general rule I do not normally crimp but I am sure some people would like to know.

BTW, I have had great luck with the Lee 155 in most of my guns. Seems like some did not like it but that was before I started powder coating as well. I might give it another try in the picky guns with coated bullets.

I will say that coating the Lee 230 made a world of difference as far as accuracy and leading goes. It might actually end up being my #1 pick if the long range performance matches the 25 yard groups. I know 25 yards isn't a lot but it is long enough to tell whether a cast bullet is worth trying at longer distances. At 25 yards I had one hole 5 shot groups and by one hole I mean ONE HOLE. At 25 they shot as well as any jacketed bullets I have tried. The BC on the Lee 230 is also pretty high so if it shoots accurately it should work pretty well for longer distances. I am going to do some testing at 100, then 200 and then go to another range and try some even longer distances. As long as I know the velocity, which I do, and my scope has enough UP I should be able to get to 300 yards pretty easily.