230 lee cast keyholing

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limpy
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230 lee cast keyholing

Post by limpy »

just shot some pc'd lee 230 cast subsonics. bullets keyholed. 1-8 twist oly 16" pistol gas,10g lil gun, any idea what I did wrong? :roll:
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gds
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Re: 230 lee cast keyholing

Post by gds »

what was the measured diameter. I had some problems with undersized bullets and even after powder coating they were still undersized.

Moved this to the casting section
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limpy
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Re: 230 lee cast keyholing

Post by limpy »

gds,sized,309 after pc.
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gds
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Re: 230 lee cast keyholing

Post by gds »

May sound like a dumb question. But did you measure them. And are they consistent? What method did you use to powder coat. How hard wasbit to size them? If it was easy to run them thru the sizer. Like no reistence at all they may be to small.

I personnaly size everything to .311. Has ended key hole issues for me.
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Re: 230 lee cast keyholing

Post by pvanwagner »

GDS, What does your barrel slug as and what type of rifling do you have? Can I ask what kind of barrel you have? I'm curious since I've only shot jacketed bullets in all my different Blackouts, but I've shot a lot of Bayou Bullets through my 9&45.
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Re: 230 lee cast keyholing

Post by Dolomite_Supafly »

What size are they after they leave the case? I have had cast bullets get sized down to under the bore diameter by the case necks. If you are not using a larger than stock expander ball the bullets are likely smaller than the bore if you are starting out at .309".

And he other MAJOR issue is the bullet suffers from a large amount of gas cutting because of the boat tail. You need to coat the bullet or add a gas check or remove the boat tail. I had similar issues until I removed the boat tail on my first mold. And I PC my second mold and even though I kept the boat tail it doesn't gas cut or keyhole.
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Dolomite_Supafly
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Re: 230 lee cast keyholing

Post by Dolomite_Supafly »

I too size my cast bullets to .311" with bullets I do not coat. And with the larger expander ball the bullets get sized down to .310" by the neck. That .002" makes a big difference in sealing the bore as well as preventing gas cutting.
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Re: 230 lee cast keyholing

Post by Dolomite_Supafly »

One more thing, I promise.

You need to be belling the case mouths too otherwise the case necks will skim the bullet reducing its size.
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Re: 230 lee cast keyholing

Post by boost »

limpy wrote:just shot some pc'd lee 230 cast subsonics. bullets keyholed. 1-8 twist oly 16" pistol gas,10g lil gun, any idea what I did wrong? :roll:
Do you chrono?

At 10grs of LilGun I was pushing the 230's @ 1300fps. Same barrel lenth and twist rate.
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gds
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Re: 230 lee cast keyholing

Post by gds »

pvanwagner wrote:GDS, What does your barrel slug as and what type of rifling do you have? Can I ask what kind of barrel you have? I'm curious since I've only shot jacketed bullets in all my different Blackouts, but I've shot a lot of Bayou Bullets through my 9&45.

Honestly I believe I have only slugged one and it was a long time back. As I recall it measure .308. Except for my model 7, the other 2 barrels I have were custom jobs. I have tried a few different sizings, and as Dolomite said I have found that for my 300 blk and my .308 guns that sizing to .311 works. I do it for my cast and also my powder coated cast rounds.

to the OP. the Lee gave me a fit. every time i thought I had it working something would make the rounds go crazy. But i had one of the first ones and there were some reported problems. Just my personal opinion but i think you cannot go wrong sizing to .311, for the basic reason that dolomite gives. Frankly he is pretty much the go to guy when it comes to cast in the 300 blk.

Another thing to consider. I use to water drop my boolits from the mold. But I was going to fast and not letting the boolits harden in the mold before dropping them. I found out after a lot of frustration that my boolits were bent. I was fortunate not to have a bullet strike.
Yes, I am a Baptist, and yes I carry a gun. You might think I carry a gun because I don't trust God. Well you would be wrong. I have complete faith in my Lord. It is mankind I have no trust in
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