150 grain GC load

[Trapper-Jack]

I have aquired a Lee mold that makes a 150 grain gas check flat point.  I have tried them out of a Remington 700 30-06 and have not gottten acceptable results.  These have been loaded with 18 to 24 grains of SR-4759, sized through a Lee 309 push through sizing die with a Hornady gas check.  I also a a quantity of Unique, IMR-4064, IMR-4350 and IMR-3031 to experiment with.  Have any of you had any experience and success with this bullet when used in the 30-06?  Any comments you have will be greatly appriciated.

[Nobade]

Make a chamber cast and see what size the throat in your rifle is. Bullet should be .0005 smaller than that. Certainly no more than .001 smaller. If this is a bore riding design the bore ride nose should be a snug thumb press into the muzzle, with the lands lightly engraving it. Cast hard, water quenched wheel weights or harder, gaschecked, quality lube, you should see very good accuracy assuming nothing wrong with the rifle. If it doesn't fit the throat, it's just plain not gonna work. That's the first place to look.  The 4350 is kind of slow, but the other powders should be able to be used to come up with good loads.

[WayneS]

Noblade is correct about the bullet fitting the throat. Probably the easiest way to see what your throat Dia. is is to use one of your unsized bullets, drop it into the chamber, then take a steel or brass rod, tap the rod several times  to drive the bullet into the throat, then knock it out , the front driving band should have been sized to fit in the throat, then mike it and you have what you should be sizing to.Say it mikes .3095, go to .310. Some will suggest using a egg sinker since it is soft lead and you might be able to use a wooden dowll .

OR seat the GC by hand, and either pan or dip lube some bullets, now see if these bullets will fit in UNSIZED cases, if so try them this way with your 4759 loads.
BUT first of all give your BBl a very good cleaning to remove any copper fouling  that might be left over from shooting jacketed bullets

[Trapper-Jack]

Nobade and WayneS
Thanks for the replys.  This bullet is one of Lee's flat points that when pushed into the muzzle it will go to the back of the olgive and then it is a real hard push for it to go farther.  It has about a quarter of an inch in front of the driving bands that is bore riding.  I've cast them out of wheel weights and am shooting them sized with a gas check.  At this time I haven't looked at the throat to see what it measures other than to get a ballpark measurement for the OAL for the loaded cartridge.  I'll try driving an unsized bullet in up to the first band and see what I have. 
With 24 grains of IMR-4759 I'm guessing the bullet should be going a little over 2000 fps, and at this point there is not any evidence of lead in the barrel.  I haven't done much cast bullet loading with smokeless powder (only black powder) but as I understand it there shouldn't be any danger of excess pressure if the amount of powder used is extended into the jacketed bullet range.  The negative side of using that much powder as I understand it would be poor accuracy and lead deposits in the barrel.  This rifle shoots jacketed bullets very well in the 2800 fps range but I'm looking to develope a more econimical means of shooting. 
I'll try loading some of my bullets unsized as you suggested and see where it goes starting with the low end of the 4759 and working up.  Thanks again for your input.

[WayneS]

TJ,
your welcome, First give the bbl a good cleaning, second try the unsized bullets in unsized cases, unless you have what is called an "M" die your normal sized case necks might be to tight for your bullets and actually size them down a bit, which isn't good.
1800 FPS is the "general" limit on WW alloy, and since you are after  low cost shooting why go to the extra cost of more powder

[Larry Gibson]

TJ

WayneS is correct, and the other info is good to.  Mic the as cast bullets and size them to that. I've found most all .308 groove depth barrels shoot their best with .310/.311" cast bullets.  You do really need the M die and if your using .311 bullets then get the .31 caliber M die.  I'll also suggest you drop back to 22 gr of 4759 and work back up in 1/2 gr increments.  Use a 3/4 gr dacron filler over the powder to greatly increase the ignition efficiency and enhance accuracy.  Keep your velocity below 1950 fps.

Larry Gibson

[blhof]

I have the same mold and in the 30/30 Contender it's a tack driver.  I've used it in both the rifle barrel and the pistol barrel with equal results.  I've also had no leading.  I'm using ww's and water quenching them.

[Trapper-Jack]

Thanks everyone for the comments.  I have a few loaded up that are not sized (they mic at about .310) and seated out as far as possible and still be able to chamber them.  The second grease groove is just covered where before I had only the crimp groove exposed.  They are loaded with 22 grains of the 4759.  Haven't had time yet to see how they shoot.  Hopefully they show improvement.  I'll check back and let you know how they fly after I get some time to shoot.

[Trapper-Jack]

Here is an update on some of the trials.  I've used the Lee 150 with the SR-4759.  I loaded them sized and unsized.  I seated them with the end of the case even with the last grease groove out to where the end of the boolet engraved into the rifling.  I cleaned the bore again with an amonia based bore cleaner in case of any remaining copper.  Powder charges ranged from 18 to 24 grains.  Everything was pretty dismal, in fact I was doing good to keep them on the 8x11 target at 50 yards.
This evening I changed the powder to 8.0 grains of Unique with all the grease grooves seated into the case.  The result was a round 50 tard groop measuring a little over an inch.  This isn't real good but it is an improvement over the 4759.  I plan to play with the powder charge and see where it goes from there.  Thanks everyone for the input.