Lee 309-170F: Possible for 300BO?

[VariableRecall]

The only 309 diameter I have handy is a Lee 170gn Flat nose projectile. I was loading 30-30 for a friend, and this mold was the one I used for him. I had powder coated them, then lubrisized and gas-checked them.

From the look of it, when I had loaded the round, it's awfully short when lined up to the crimp groove. This batch of 20 are loaded with 15gn of Hodgon H110. From my own expectation, these are going to be some stiff suckers going downrange.

However, most likely, I see their ability to feed being a potentially rough issue. These are flat pointed projectiles, and considering how much space is left in the magazine, there's going to be a great deal of FTF's going on.

I'm hoping to upgrade to another Lee Mold, perhaps a 4 cavity or more so that I can more efficiently cast for the rifle. I'm thinking a heavier, 200-230gn projectile with the ability to gas check.

Will I be able to use this current flat point mold effectively, or should this be a 20 round experiment to be never tried again?
Photo of the complete loaded rounds, with a comparison of projectile in a MAGPUL PMAG.
(just open the image in a new tab to save your place on the page)
https://imgur.com/0rcuhF0

[dellet]

In general, flat nose bullets seem to do better a bit short, so you may be fine. It doesn’t look like you can go much shorter, but play with the length. All you can do is try, a lot of bullets that “shouldn’t work” that will if you have some patience.

Hard to tell from the photo, but can you get the .250” portion of the nose on the rim?
Might be a good place to start.

[BJK]

I had a few hundred of a somewhat similar .30/30 bullet nose and loaded them just to use them up since the manufacturer went belly up and there are no more of them. Mine might have a slightly smaller meplat. If I just let the gun function they work fine supersonic. I did have one FTF and I don't remember the exact circumstance, but I put myself in the mix. Maybe I eased the round forward but I don't remember. Anyway, they feed fine if I just let the gun do it's thing. Hopefully yours will too. Thinking good thoughts if that's worth anything. You'll find out.

NOE has some good mould designs that work fine for 300BLK in an AR. Below is the link to one that works fine for a subsonic load. But it wouldn't be difficult to make it supersonic if one had a mind to do that. I don't know how supersonic it could be as that wasn't what I wanted. You have the powder that I found works best with the bullet below (H110). Yes, you want the GC version but there is also a bare base version.
https://noebulletmolds.com/site/shop/bu ... cavity-gc/

If you look around you'll find other moulds on the NOE site that should also work fine for supersonic loads. I have 2 more (147 GC & 150g bare base) to try if I ever get weather and time to cast some of them. Now I'm waiting for spring since I cast outdoors so it'll be awhile. Last I knew NOE was right out straight working 4x the hours and couldn't keep up so don't be surprised if you order and wait for a time to get it shipped.

Just something I noticed on your bullets... tiny bare spots. Are you dry powder coating? I sorta powder coat, but I dissolve the HiTech coating in acetone then put very little on the bullets (you'll think it's wayyy too little), agitate to coat, allow to dry on a screen, bake, cool, then repeat. No bare spots since the coating is dry and stable before anything else major touches them. Each bullet gets it's own silicone "ice cube cell" in a tray in the oven. No dust (acetone fumes), very easy and even I can do it. Can your coating dissolve in acetone or ketone? I use a crappy junked toaster broiler for baking out in the shop and listen to "my" music on a crappy weather day that's good for nothing else. I use a timer and it mostly keeps me hopping with just a few minutes between batches.

[VariableRecall]

Those spots are likely due to voids in the powder coat. I had prepared my very first powder coating batch on aluminum foil, and that was a mistake. It left voids where it lay flat, and foil stuck to the projectiles.

The powder coat is a proprietary mix called "Flame Red" mixed together by a guy from the castboolits forum. The color is fantastic, but consider that this is my first time applying a powder coat in the first place. I generate static electricity in a plastic container and shake it around. Then, I use tweezers to lay them flat in a toaster oven on parchment paper. I've put them on about 370f for about 15 minutes. Earlier, when I went for 20 I managed to warp and melt them, but one bad batch in my first time was not so bad.

Now, I use parchment paper. It's basically one-time use, but they release flawlessly. Also, some powder coating sheared off a bit during the lubrisizing process.

Personally, I like the flat nose concept as it increases the melpat and gives a lot more real estate that will engage the rifling, and I hope to find a projectile that will do a similar thing, but a bit longer in the future.

[VariableRecall]

Hard to tell from the photo, but can you get the .250” portion of the nose on the rim?
Might be a good place to start.

I'm not entirely sure what you meant by that, sorry. One thing I did notice when I was seating my gas checks and lubrisizing is that I may have squashed some of the projectile's noses down in the gas check seating process. I felt that the lead for a few projectiles was bulged out more than it should, and felt a faint rim of where the top punch sat. As it turns out, you don't need much more force on your projectiles to seat the checks, so that will be a mistake I can avoid in the future.

I'd been casting projectiles for a while now, but this is my first time powder coating and also gas checking my projectiles, so it's an exciting experience overall. It's also my first 300BO load!

[imashooter2]

These are my results with the Lee 150, same profile, just a bit shorter. They fed, but they got scared up pretty good by the locking lugs. I never shot groups with them.

[VariableRecall]

These are my results with the Lee 150, same profile, just a bit shorter. They fed, but they got scared up pretty good by the locking lugs. I never shot groups with them.

I'm thankful there's at least one AR out there that can feed those flat nosed fellas. I'm not looking for long-ranged accuracy, just to be able to feed my 300BO rifle and practice with it. I can accurize my ammo later, I'm just taking my first steps loading this projectile overall.

[bangbangping]

I've put them on about 370f for about 15 minutes. Earlier, when I went for 20 I managed to warp and melt them, but one bad batch in my first time was not so bad.

If you're melting lead at 370 then your oven is way off. Might want to get a thermometer to calibrate it so you can bake at the proper time/temp.

[VariableRecall]

I've put them on about 370f for about 15 minutes. Earlier, when I went for 20 I managed to warp and melt them, but one bad batch in my first time was not so bad.

If you're melting lead at 370 then your oven is way off. Might want to get a thermometer to calibrate it so you can bake at the proper time/temp.

It's a $3.79 toaster oven from Goodwill. Considering the 400f setting was warping lead and partially burning powder coat, that thing's WAY off in terms of temperature. Either way, a small price to pay for pretty colored projectiles.

[dellet]

Hard to tell from the photo, but can you get the .250” portion of the nose on the rim?
Might be a good place to start.

I'm not entirely sure what you meant by that, sorry. One thing I did notice when I was seating my gas checks and lubrisizing is that I may have squashed some of the projectile's noses down in the gas check seating process. I felt that the lead for a few projectiles was bulged out more than it should, and felt a faint rim of where the top punch sat. As it turns out, you don't need much more force on your projectiles to seat the checks, so that will be a mistake I can avoid in the future.

I'd been casting projectiles for a while now, but this is my first time powder coating and also gas checking my projectiles, so it's an exciting experience overall. It's also my first 300BO load!

Sorry about that, should have read “rib” not rim.

In the magazine will be a rib designed to keep the cartridge straight. It generally is positioned so the neck of a 223 cartridge rides on it. If the .308” portion of the bullet is on this rib, it can cause the cartridge to sit somewhat sideways and cause feeding issues. Flat nose bullets have enough trouble, so it’s just something to try. Seat the bullet so more of the point rides the rib. The .250” diameter portin.

You can also file down that rib pretty easy and accomplish the same thing.