Jump to content
Military Firearm Restoration Corner

M-1 Carbine With Cast Bullets


AzRednek

Recommended Posts

I have an old Lyman 311 mold that drops a round nose slug apx 110 grs. Although the mold is for 32 S&W looks like it would be ideal for the new to me M-1 Carbine. My question is the effect of the waxy bullet lube on the gas piston. Will the bullet lube build up and freeze the piston?

 

I know there is only one way to find out for sure but was hoping somebody may have had some experience with it. If I can find the M-1 piston wrench I have buried in one of my junk boxes I'm going to give it as test run with a hundred or so cast slugs.

 

If anybody has any experience with it, is there a preferred lube to use?? With the normally warm to hot temperatures here in Phoenix. I use a bullet lube (Jake's Red) that requires a temperature of apx 115 degrees to flow through my lube-sizer. Some castings such as the Lee 38 cal 148 double end wadcutter. I use the Lee roll-on goo and dust the slugs with Motor Mica or baby powder.

 

About 25 or so years ago. I used to gather with several friends for weekend shoots. On one occasion somebody's M-1 Carbine's piston stuck. An Apache Indian that came along with his son had used the Carbine in combat in both Korea and Viet Nam prior to the M-16. He put an expended cartridge in the chamber, filled the barrel with water and using a cleaning rod with a patch. He gave the cleaning rod a good wack with a rock and the piston freed up. "That's how we did it in Korea, now put some oil on that piston". Best I recall the M-1 continued to function afterward.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've shot plenty of cast boolits through an AK using conventional lube (RCBS, as that's what I had around before you sent me those red samples). I don't think that's going to bother your gas system. I don't recall ever seeing any wax on anything except recovered boolits, and I've shot a lot of cast over the years. You might think about gas checks, though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thx Doc, I to have shot cast through an AK and SKS. The ammo was a friend's handloads using 2400 pistol powder. Most did not have enough oomph to cleanly eject the brass. My shooting bud claims he tweaked the load and his handloads now work the action properly. Best I recall he was using gas checked castings from a Lee mold specifically made for the 762X39. He was afraid of getting the loads to hot, driving the lead slug to fast and leading the bore. It has been about 10 years but best I recall the gas piston wasn't any dirtier than shooting the cheapie steel cased ammo.

 

The 311 mold I have does not have a gas check base. Might give me an excuse to try the flat base gas checks made from aluminum cans. I'm going to try some hard alloy first. I have a couple bars from Roto Metals. One is Lyman #2 and the other is 70/30 lead/antimony. I also have several rolls of lead free solder I scored dirt cheap at a flea market if I need to add tin to the alloy. I should be able to cast up some super hard slugs that hopefully wont lead up the bore.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

<p>I load cast bullets, no gas ghecks, in my carbine.with 6.8 grains of Hs6.</p>

<p>It works the action and and hit the 4x4 iron plate at 220 meters.</p>

<p>I got 1.4 inch groups firing from sand bags at 100 meters.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>It does make the piston dirty and it can be hard to remove and clean the piston.</p>

<p>Aside from that, it found it a good load.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>You will want to get a tool for taking down the bolt and removing the piston nut.</p>

<p>You can work without them using normal shop tools but it is a PIA.</p>

<p>karl</p>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thx Karl, do you recall the weight of the cast bullet you used with the HS-6? Glad you recommended it as I have plenty of HS-6 and only about a third of a can of 2400 left. Chances are somewhere between slim to none of locating more. 2400 is what I previously used in my Iver Johnson M-1 Carbine launching Hornady 110gr FMJ's.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...