Specialty Pistols Specialty Pistols Forums Bolt Action, Falling Block & Rotary Breech Pistols 30 BR lead gun up and runningGo | New | Find | Notify | Tools | Reply | |
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Been working on my 30 BR lead pistol since last September. Been busy with other stuff over winter and have been pouring,weghing and swagging my bullets and working on load development.Im shooting a LBT custom 180 bullet shooting LINO and swagging with a Corbin press and dies. When the conditions are right... it will shoot. Cast bullet shooting is a different animal than jacketed.We have the cast bullet reginals coming up in May...hope to be ready. 100 yard five shot group.  <a href="http://http://s21.photobucket.com/user/billstallings/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_16.jpeg.html" target="_blank"> </a> | ||
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That's a nice 5 shot hole. I know it didn't come easy using cast but good cast will shoot. | |||
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That's really cool. Sounds like a lot of work. You weight sort after casting? If so, what's your criteria for good/rejects? mike ------------------------------ JUST SAY NO To Gun Bans, JOIN Gun Owners of America
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I really like that! It must be some what involved! Congrats that's a shooter!!! --------------------------------- Veteran and NRA Life Member | |||
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yes i do sort. good bases and sharp edges is a must,no wrinkles or frosting. i weigh every bullet right after a pouring session.these bullets are seperated into tin buckets by grain such as 180.0-180.1 ect. if i do my part in pouring they never way more than .180.0-.180.9 they are looked over for any defects under a jewelers lighted magnfiers glass. they are then sized,checked and lubed.then they are swagged back down to a cylinder and the formed back up,tapered and pointed in my corbin press. lots of time is an understatement.when the bullet shortage happen several years ago our benchrest club almost stopped shooting because of no componets so we all built cast bullet guns alot of us have stuck with it.we shot at 100 and 200 yrds saturday.learning to read the wind shooting cast is way different than when shooting jacketed bullets. | |||
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What twist barrel are you using for the 30br? | |||
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13 twist kreiger | |||
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To the best of my knowledge Veral is the only mold cutter left that cuts a mold specifically for your throat. Paul Jones used to and a lot of guys around here used him, maybe there are others but I don't know who they are. Barnabus what alloy are you using? Lube? | |||
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But the exact mold dimensions don't really matter since the 'slug' is completely re-swaged... . . “The 30-06 is the world's most over-rated big game cartridge" - Elmer Keith | |||
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thats not a altogether complete statement.its poured as the one on the left then sized at .310 lubed and checked.Then its swagged to .970 sized at .309 Its then put in another Corbin point and taper die to finish at 1.180.  | |||
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That's an awesome group for any type of shooting, much less cast! The amount of work you describe is crazy. Casting is already quite time consuming though I still enjoy it. How does the gun shoot if you don't go through the swaging steps? Does it make that big a difference in groups? | |||
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barnabus thanks for sharing that last photo with us. In you opening post I stared at that cast bullet for a long time trying to figure it out. That lino's got to be a bearcat to run into the pointing die. Care to share with us how you ventured down this path? I have a feeling it's an interesting story. | |||
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the bullet will not shoot even close to that without the process. | |||
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well....it started with designing a custom reamer based on conversations with my gunsmith.from there we talked to Verel and what we were trying to accomplish,sent him some drawings and had a mold made.then it was endless conversations with Corbin about what "wouldnt work" and if he could actually make a die set to do what i wanted.That took almost 6 months of design and delivery cuz he couldnt find out how to do it in 2 steps.He had someone outside actually make my die swag in one step and a point die that could put a 1 degree taper on the bullet like the reamer i had used. i played with the point up die making the bullet shorter and longer and found that it shoots best when the bullet is at 1.180-1.200 If i finish the bullet at 1.200 or greater the groups begin to open up. Im shooting 30 grains of Varget and a FSRM primmer with a .325 bushing. I must say its been a journey,not one i would do again simply cuz of cost.i have over 2K just in reamers, dies,mold design and two corbin presses and more than that in the gun. | |||
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Wow cool story thanks for sharing! --------------------------------- Veteran and NRA Life Member | |||
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Wow! That is some group and quite the process. When you swage the cast bullet down the first time (center in photo above) do you get excess lead thru a bleed hole in the die? You must have been working with Corbin Mfg? A buddy and I have a walnut hill press and get dies from Richard Corbin at RCE. When we put our lead core ingots in the core form die the excess lead comes out a bleed hole. All of the cores weight exactly the same. Now I am wondering if Richard can make me a die to re-swage the point on a nose rider bullet I use a lot....this is gonna end up costing me some money...but if groups tighten up like yours, it will be $$ well spent. Love it!! Nice shooting. Steve  --------------------------------- "Life is a play before an audience of one. When your play is over, will your audience stand and applaude, or stay seated and cry?" | |||
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Daves die also has a weep hole but all i did was adjust it so no lead was pushed out during the swagging into a cyclinder....thats basically how i came up with the overall length of the cylinder in the middle.If dave cant make the die he has some others than contract with him for specialty work beyond what he can do.If you have deep pockets and a strong heart....its possible but painful. | |||
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GREAT GROUP!! That is true commitment to accuracy, I did not realize the complexity of cast bullets DAN | |||
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Thats awesome. Never seen a cast bullet shoot that well before. Whats the deal with your rear bag? Looks kinda like the rear "bag" that the BR guys use for a true heavy gun. Aaron | |||
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Specialty Pistols Specialty Pistols Forums Bolt Action, Falling Block & Rotary Breech Pistols 30 BR lead gun up and running
