Cast accuracy in 300 BLK

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JBMauser
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Cast accuracy in 300 BLK

Post by JBMauser »

I have not cast for my 300 yet. the moulds I have are great for my old milsurps. Do any of you have accurate loads and moulds to recommend. I was looking at ordering some of those 200 gr. coated pills from Palmetto as I have never shot any painted cast pills. Are these blasting pills or can they achieve any real accuracy? I have tried some plated pills in 125 gr .310 and I ran them through a sizer to .309 with a palm sized group at 50 yards. Not anything to get excited about. I am running a 16 in. with 1 in 8 twist. No suppressor now or in the future. thanks in advance
foughtstrong
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Re: Cast accuracy in 300 BLK

Post by foughtstrong »

I've ordered some of the 203 GR from Palmetto Projectiles. Found them to be the cheapest around for plinking subs. I'll update when I start testing them out.
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Dr.Phil
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Re: Cast accuracy in 300 BLK

Post by Dr.Phil »

Getting accuracy out of cast projectiles is a discipline onto itself.
There are may factors that go into getting a cast boolit to shoot.
- alloy hardness
- bullet lube
- bullet crimp
- charge weight / powder selection
- seating depth
- gas check
- projectile shape (Bore riding designs are much more stable.)
- boolit age
It is not as straight forward as loading up a proven & consistent bullet like a 125 SMK or TMK and doing a workup.

There is one definite shortcut though.
Gas Checks...
While they may not be necessary for the velocity that you are using, I have noticed that gas checks are much easier to get shooting well than Plain Base.
"Don't tell fish stories where the people know you; but particularly,
don't tell them where they know the fish."
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JBMauser
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Re: Cast accuracy in 300 BLK

Post by JBMauser »

Dr.Phil, I am well aware of all of the variables involved in making cast bullets. The load density of the 300 AAC cartridge is something I need to get my head around. No need for any Kapok filler! My question is more about accuracy. I am a low volume sand bag target shooter and I guess I am fishing to find similar shooters. Most shooters on this website have 30 round mags. I could not find 5 round mags so I load 5 in ten round mags.
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Dr.Phil
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Re: Cast accuracy in 300 BLK

Post by Dr.Phil »

JBMauser wrote:Dr.Phil, I am well aware of all of the variables involved in making cast bullets. The load density of the 300 AAC cartridge is something I need to get my head around. No need for any Kapok filler! My question is more about accuracy. I am a low volume sand bag target shooter and I guess I am fishing to find similar shooters. Most shooters on this website have 30 round mags. I could not find 5 round mags so I load 5 in ten round mags.
My apologies...
It is difficult to gauge the experience level of members on this site without a long history of posting.

Your use of 300 BLK is a bit unique.
I have to say that for "low volume sand bag target shooting", cast 300 BLK is a bit of an odd choice.
Not that you can't achieve good results, but getting there is going to be challenging.
For some folks, myself included, the challenge of developing effective solutions is part of the charm of the 300 BLK.
It is a very efficient and versatile cartridge, but it is not as forgiving as cartridges like the venerable 308 Winchester.

The two biggest challenges with cast 300 BLK projectiles are:
- Projectile shape that will feel reliably, yet still perform well ballistically.
- Projectiles that will perform well with the 1:8 or 1:7 twist rate of 300 BLK barrels.

http://www.castboolits.gunloads.com/ is an excellent source for information and has some salty old time boolit casters hanging out there.
NOE Bullet Moulds http://noebulletmoulds.com/ has some excellent designs for 300 BLK cast projectiles.
Here are a few of my favorites:
Image

Image

Image

Then you have the legendary NOE "COD" Boolit (Crayola Of Death)
Image
I have not given up on this design and have had reasonable success with it.
The other reason I haven't given up on it is because I'm the one who gave it the nick name "Crayola Of Death" because of it resembling the shape of a Crayola Crayon.

Best of luck to you and enjoy the ride!
"Don't tell fish stories where the people know you; but particularly,
don't tell them where they know the fish."
--Mark Twain
JBMauser
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Re: Cast accuracy in 300 BLK

Post by JBMauser »

Thank you for the info. The pills you provided are to me traditional cast with lube and GC. Do you have any experience with these smooth side, like paper patch bullets, that have no lube but a painted jacket? Are these for "spray and pray" shooting?

Also are the pills you showed loaded as cast or sized to .309?
twcrowe12
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Re: Cast accuracy in 300 BLK

Post by twcrowe12 »

JB,

You may be able to get away with loading as cast, but in all likelyhood you will need to size. Fit to YOUR rifle's bore is important. I recommend that you slug the bore of the rifle you intent to cast for and size to 0.002" over the diameter of your barrel at the grooves. That is, if your barrel slugs at .308, size to .310. That's what I do and I'm happy with the results.
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Dr.Phil
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Re: Cast accuracy in 300 BLK

Post by Dr.Phil »

JBMauser wrote:Thank you for the info. The pills you provided are to me traditional cast with lube and GC. Do you have any experience with these smooth side, like paper patch bullets, that have no lube but a painted jacket? Are these for "spray and pray" shooting?

Also are the pills you showed loaded as cast or sized to .309?
Those can be uses with traditional lube, tumble lube, or Powder Coated.
I cast to .311 and use a Lee push through sizing die to size to .309.
Slugging your barrel to find out exactly the exact bore diameter is fairly important.
Shooting lead projectiles that are too small for your bore is a quick way to lead your barrel and will make it impossible to get decent accuracy.

I've done Powder Coated and Painted boolits, but do not have enough experience with it yet to offer any guidance.

I use cast boolits for practice and inexpensive plinking.
Whenever I need a high level of precision, I go to the 125 or 220 SMK.
"Don't tell fish stories where the people know you; but particularly,
don't tell them where they know the fish."
--Mark Twain
reloader64
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Re: Cast accuracy in 300 BLK

Post by reloader64 »

I cast the Lee 230 gr for BO
I was casting , Tumble lubing and shooting. No good accuracy.

I took some aluminum 'duct tape' and placed a piece on the mold halves to make bigger bullets, lubed them with speed green and sized down to .310

last week I worked up a load to cycle my AR (16", carbine gas,) of 10.5gr of RL7 cycles great and Locks open with best accuracy being .75"@50 yrds.

Adjusted dope on scope and sent 3 rounds down 200yrds for 3" group.

I did check weight and discarded any out of my Perimeters of 231.5gr +-.5gr (231-232gr)
Ended up discarding 15 of the 300 I cast for being lite or heavy.

My lee mold was casting the front driving band .306 progressing to .309 by the back band.
Now it cast them all over .310 and I size down.
I think the increased bearing surface for the lands to grab helped.
JBMauser
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Re: Cast accuracy in 300 BLK

Post by JBMauser »

So you beagled the mould to .310 and you size them to .309? You think the fact that the driving bands are smeared wider and are even at .309 from front to back was the trick? This is interesting and the kind of info I was hoping to find. I guess your barrel is 1 in 8 twist? I have some 200 gr pills from an old lyman mould. unfortunately they are coated in Liquid Alox. But I think I will put gas checks on them and size them to .309 and try your load. My interest is Piqued! Thanks+
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