Spiris Posted December 2, 2007 Report Share Posted December 2, 2007 I was wondering how many of you cast lead for the Russian round and what molds do you recommend? Lee has a 185 gr. available (.312) and looks like something that would be good. I'll be heat treating to harden them up. The M44 that I have looks like new in & out, except for a few dings in the stock. I ordered a ATI stock for it and a scout mount for the rear sight. I have a red dot that I plan to use. I have only fired it a few times and still have 400 plus rounds of the Albanian surplus ammo with the lighter ball solid core. Those bad boys with the ill fitting military stock will tear you up. I may pull the ball and reduce the load a little. Spiris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cold shot Posted December 4, 2007 Report Share Posted December 4, 2007 Hi guy, Never got the chance to shoot one of them yet. I do however cast lyman's 31140 170gr flat nose for our 30-30s and the 300 winny. I just load em' at the starting rec. They have been loaded for my bosses' 30-06 also. They're great for just target shooting. Heat em' up an' yer good to go huntin' also. This is just my opinion on the huntin' part. I sent 500 rds to a buddy in alaska, he uses them for huntin'. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiris Posted December 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 5, 2007 I ordered the Lee .312 160 gr. Tumble lube style mold. I've had good luck with the narrow driving bands on other applications. I'll shoot them as cast after heat treating and lathering them in lee liquid alox. Spiris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AzRednek Posted December 5, 2007 Report Share Posted December 5, 2007 Spiris I'm kind of curious about your heat treatment, how do you do it?? Does your Lee slug use a gas check?? Been about 20 years I cast and shot a 31 cal Lee bullet in 7.7 Jap and 7.65. The 30 cal gas check made a night and day difference in accuracy in the Jap rifle. Don't know if Lee still has the same bullet mould available, best I recall it was a round nose flat about 175 grs and cast a slug about .315. It was not the tumble lube style. If I recall correctly I used a sizer die for the 32 S&W. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiris Posted December 6, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2007 I have used the drop quench method involving dropping the bullet directly from the mold into a bucket of water. I shot these from my Turk mauser with the commercial 8mm swede mauser barrel. After less than 10 rounds with a fairly mild load the groups opened up dramatically. I blame the bullet for being too soft but of course there can be many factors in play here. I have not done anything since with the 8mm but will try hardening some of those at the same time. These were gas checked also. From much reading, the wheel weight mix should cast about 10 on the Brinnel scale but how do I really know what I'm getting? I melt the mix and flux and cast. So to maybe improve the hardness of the bullets, I'm going to do the oven deal and quench them. With the cost of shooting jacketed bullets going crazy, I have to try the alternatives. The barrel of the mosin m44 that I have looks like new and the 1in91/2 twist that they are supposed to have, should be perfect for the 160 gr. slug. Ya, I really like doing this stuff. Here's a couple sites that offer some info. http://www.lasc.us/HeatTreat.htm http://www.surplusrifle.com/shooting/alloyhardness/index.asp Spiris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AzRednek Posted December 6, 2007 Report Share Posted December 6, 2007 If accuracy is dropping off after ten rounds, try scrubbing the bore real good and see if it doesn't help. The barrel, especially being new and possibly a little rough might be leading up. A couple of jacketed rounds will also help remove some of the leading. Reducing the velocity might help. A rule of thumb is to keep rifle velocities at or below 30/30 levels to prevent barrel leading when casting with wheel weights. I've never tried the oven method but from what I've read it helps. I do the same as you and drop them right out of the mold into a bucket of water. I can feel the difference using my thumbnail when compared to air cooled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gun nutty Posted December 6, 2007 Report Share Posted December 6, 2007 Water quenching is easy enough. As stated, put a towel in the bottom of a bucket filled with water, and drop from the hot mold. Ageing will also harden the bullets. The NRA has a real nice manual on cast bullets, and the "Lyman Cast Bullet Manual" is THE BIBLE on cast loads. One caution on water and hot lead... safety glasses, gloves and long sleeves. Be very methodical with what you do, and make sure you know where everything is at while you're casting. One drop of water mixed with hot lead will cause an explosion of molten lead to spread everywhere. The water instantly turns to steam, expands, and flashes. I've seen this happen with moisture inside the bullet mold. The tiniest speck of water will do tremendous damage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doble Troble Posted January 9, 2008 Report Share Posted January 9, 2008 I don't have any specific info to add, but I do shoot a lot of cast bullets. These guys have been great for help and advice: . General advice: gas checks will cure a lot of ills, but slugging your bore is essential. These Russian rifles are all over the place in bore dimensions. After you get a good measurement cast or size your bullets one or two thous over bore size and you should be in the game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richp41 Posted January 11, 2008 Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 I do a lot of lead shooting with the MNs I own using the Lyman 314299 mold and the LEE 185 GR mold. I size just slightly over groove diameter and hold velocity to 1500 to 1800 fps. I have found that quenching is not necessary or advantageous at these speed. The alloy I use is 92% lead, 6 % antimony and 2 % tin and I get this by using wheelweights supplemented with linotype and pure tin. This produces a Brinell hardness of about 15 and is perfect for all my rifle needs. Remember-- quenched bullets soften with aging and as-cast harden with age. On a good day with my 66 year old eyes these loads are good for 1.0 to 1.5 " at 100 yds with iron sights. My powder of choice with these bullets is SR4759 and amounts between 16 to 18 grs will tune in excellent accuracy. I've been casting for nearly 45 years and have gone down a variety of experimental roads, but what I have given here has worked best for me. Additionally, the batch of Lapua cases I use have gone over 45 reloadings with only one case mouth failure and I only neck size. Good luck in your efforts. Rich P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiris Posted January 11, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 Thanks for your information, richp41. I'm thinking that I should get some linotype to raise the hardness a bit. I have not shot that much cast in a rifle, only handguns and they are more forgiving. My powder selection is a little limited but I should get results from one of them. I have some 700x, Alliant 410, Imr4227, Imr4198 and of course Unique that should work in reduced loads. I've heard good things about the high volume TrailBoss too, but do not have any at this time and need to research it more. I'll get around to casting when it warms up a little. Thanks all. Spiris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richp41 Posted January 13, 2008 Report Share Posted January 13, 2008 Thanks for your information, richp41. I'm thinking that I should get some linotype to raise the hardness a bit. I have not shot that much cast in a rifle, only handguns and they are more forgiving. My powder selection is a little limited but I should get results from one of them. I have some 700x, Alliant 410, Imr4227, Imr4198 and of course Unique that should work in reduced loads. I've heard good things about the high volume TrailBoss too, but do not have any at this time and need to research it more. I'll get around to casting when it warms up a little. Thanks all. Spiris Spiris, I use 3 parts of linotype to 7 parts of wheelweight to get the hardness I like. I usually make 2 or 3 batches at one time and when I start casting I use equal numbers of ingots from each batch to produce a very consistent alloy makeup. The 4227 and 4198 powders should work also with just a bit of charge weight adjustment. Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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