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Shooting Cast BulletsIn Historic Firearms

Griff Elliott

HBSA LECTURE

HMS Belfast Mon, 15 April 2013

Photograph is of 3 shot group fired from my 1960s Savage .308 under lever Model 99c stalking rifle, using 25 grains of accurate 5744behind a home cast Lyman 311413 180 grain hollow point at 100yds.At 2071fps & 1714 ft.lbs it’s actually powerful enough to use on deer.The rifle cost £50, because the high pressure factory ammo that the previous owner used, wouldn’t extract!!!!

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Introduction I’ve been shooting my own cast bullets for

many years now, with very good results, I even have a mould for expanding ammunition and I make my own gas checks

I’m very passionate about preserving historic rifles so they can be shot by future generations and believe that using cast bullets is an aid to their preservation

When I first started historic rifle shooting, people shooting jacketed bullets would laugh at me

Now I often win historic competitions using cast bullets at Bisley and all over the U.K. Mainly against people using jacketed bullets!

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Introduction You can have remarkable accuracy even out

to 600 yards on a calm day On a windy day you’ll need 2 x windage Rae Wills kindly kept my score at the

Trafalgar Meeting once, at 600 yards, he was a little surprised when both my sighters went in the bull

Remember we’re not talking about gallery loads, mine are usually doing between 2000 & 2500fps

Oh, I nearly forgot to mention I’m a time served letterpress printer, so I have an almost endless supply of linotype and monotype

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This all Works for Me But you will find lots of information on the

internet, some using completely different methods to mine, they may still work well; only trial and error will tell you what works for you in your firearms

Cross check all re-loading data with a trusted manual, e.g. Lyman; wherever it comes from

Check out this link if you would like to know more about reloading cast bulletshttp://www.lasc.us/IndexBrennan.htm

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Safety First!!!! The following methods and procedures all

work safely for me, using my tried and tested methods in my firearms

You must remember that many cast bullet loads use less than half a case of fast burning powder

This of course means that it’s possible to double charge a case, with catastrophic consequences if fired

You must develop your own procedure to prevent this e.g. weighing all the finished rounds in a batch and/or keep empty cases upside down and seat the bullet straight away after adding the powder

LOOK FOR SIGNS OFHIGH PRESSURE

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A Few Questions How many of you have stopped using cast

bullets because of poor results? The main problem will be poor bullet fit

10cm group fired from my Nagant M38 Carbine from 200 yards Using 25gr Accurate 5744 and bullets cast from a Lee .311 200 gr bullet mould,bored out to.316 using valve grinding paste and a hand drillThese little carbines can be made to shoot well with cast bullets

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A Few Questions Why would you want to go to all the

bother of casting your own bullets when shooting historic rifles, rather than using jacketed bullets or military surplus ammo?

Photograph is of Enfield Enforcer No 303. A regular McQueen and transitional rapid winner at Bisley, scored 50 on McQueen in 2013 using lead bullets. I had fair accuracy using 24gr Accurate 5744 and the Lee 200gr bullet but the 1 in 12 twist barrel was much more accurate when I changed to the Lee 180gr bullet.

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Why do I Cast My Own Bullets? My main reason is to prevent bore wear and

preserve historic rifles; Cast bullets cause very little wear

Military surplus ammo however, usually has a steel jacket with a copper wash, this can wear out a barrel in short order

Worn out barrels can still be made to shoot well using oversize cast bullets

Many historic service rifles can be made to shoot better with lead bullets than they can with jacketed, e.g. Nagant carbine

Can be cheaper and more easily available than commercial ammo especially for obsolete calibres

Many people already load and shoot cast bullets in pistol calibres

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Aspects of Cast Bullet Reloading The rifle

Bullet moulds/diameter

Bullet alloy composition

Components and tools

Powder and primers

Barrel cleaning

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The Rifle May be irreplaceable May be an obsolete calibre May be worn out and not shooting well with

jacketed bullets Check the rifling twist, heavy bullets need a

faster twist Probably won’t be the bore size you expect it

to be – What is the nominal groove diameter of a .303 rifle?

Check out page 75 of the Lee Enfield story or page 89 of the re-print

SLUG YOUR BARREL

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Slugging the Barrel Take a lead bullet of sufficient

diameter, (it’s no good using a .312 diameter bullet to slug your barrel if your barrel measures .315)

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Slugging the Barrel Remove the bottom driving bands with

a junior hacksaw and discard them All that should be left is the nose and

one or two driving bands

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Slugging the Barrel After oiling the bore with a wet patch,

place the bullet, nose first, into the muzzle and gently tap it towards the breach using a brass cleaning rod until it drops out

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Slugging the Barrel Carefully measure the fattest diameter

of the slug with an accurate vernier or micrometer, being very gentle so as not to damage the soft lead

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Slugging the Barrel This will give you a reasonable

indication of the size of the bore It may also give you some bad news,

because if you feel any tight or slack spots as you tap the bullet down the barrel, this could indicate uneven wear or a bulged barrel and necessitate a visit to your local gunsmith for further investigation and possible re-barrelling

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Slugging the Barrel Now we are getting to one of the most

important points in cast bullet re-loading, preventing gas cutting and therefore leading of the barrel

Keeping those hot high pressure gasses behind the bullet

If we add 2-3 thou to the groove size and use a gas check, we will be half way there; low pressure gallery loads need only 1 thou

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Slugging the Barrel You will need to add 2-3 thou to the slug

diameter and this is the bullet size you need to use in your rifle

If the final bullet is much over .315 you may have the problem of excessive outside case neck diameter

Check to see if your rounds chamber easily, if not ,check to see if there are any brightly coloured witness marks around the case neck where the bullet makes it bulge

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Slugging The Barrel If the outside diameter of the neck is

excessive, you will need to trim the case neck thickness to reduce the diameter

Failure to take this step can lead to bullet retention, which will cause a massive increase in pressure

I had to take off half a thou from the case necks used on my Nagant M38 carbine, this allowed me an extra thou in bullet diameter and improved accuracy

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Slugging The Barrel I have had to part company with one

or two rifles over the years, including a lovely wartime No 4 which had been FTRd in the 50s, with a bore of over .317 it was a non starter for me.

Also a 1960s Pakistan No 4 with a pitted barrel, pitting is not a friend of lead bullets

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The Rifle Most historic service rifles, especially

Lee Enfield, will usually have a very long lead and oversize chamber

ESTABLISH THE OALFOR EACH BULLET YOU USE

The method I’m going to describe is much simpler than making a chamber cast

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Establishing the OAL Check the rifle is clear, close and cock

the action

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Establishing the OAL Take your 30 cal yellow plastic coated

cleaning rod, the one with the large male end and run a smooth cut file over the end to make sure it’s flat, then slide it down the barrel till it rests against the bolt face

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Establishing the OAL Make sure the action is cocked, so the

firing pin does not stick out, giving a false reading

Then draw a line across the rod where it exits the barrel

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Establishing the OAL Make sure the mark lines up with the end of

the barrel I use one of those magnifying head sets to

aid accurate drawing and measuring, you can buy one on ebay for a tenner

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Open the action and remove the bolt Then place the bullet on the magazine

follower, this is the Lee C312-155-2R gas check bullet designed for the7.62 x 39 round

Establishing the OAL

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Establishing the OAL The bullet should be 2-3 thou fatter than the

groove diameter of the bore Push the bullet gently into the chamber with

a piece of dowel or a chamber stick

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Establishing the OAL Hold the bullet in place with the rod Unless you have three hands, it would be

good to have a helper here

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Establishing the OAL Push the yellow cleaning rod gently against

the nose of the bullet and draw a second line where the rod exits the barrel

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Establishing the OAL Measure the distance between the

two marks, with a good vernier, remember to use those magnifiers

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Establishing the OAL The distance between the two marks is a

pretty close OAL for that bullet in that rifle

Crimp/glue the bullet in place and write the OAL on the case with a cd pen, you’ve now got your dummy for when u re-load with that bullet

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Establishing the OAL Don’t forget, the overall length is

normally governed by the length of the magazine, 303 British is 3.075

Your new OAL may be longer than the magazine and will therefore have to be single loaded

Obviously this won’t be good news for the rapid fire and snap shooting discipline and will necessitate a compromise and shorter OAL

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Establishing the OAL Remember to avoid having the the

bullet protruding into the case It has no protection from the hot

gasses when the powder ignites It’s ok to have the gas check inside

the case, but that’s all

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Bullet Moulds/diameter Available off the shelf at a reasonable price,

usually the wrong diameter I always smoke my moulds, using a refillable

butane gas lighter, this aids filling and releases bullets when set

Don’t over tighten your sprue plate, it should almost move under its own weight, this will help with base filling

Moulds can be custom made but will be expensive and will have to come from abroad, so will take a long time

Can be modified very easily and cheaply

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Lee Bullet Moulds Lee bullet moulds, available for the budget conscious,

come with handles fitted and work very well; I’ve not managed to break one or wear one out even after many years of use

The main problem with Lee is that they are unlikely to be the right diameter, unless you’re using them for pistol calibre or .308 and their .303 British bullet mould is way undersize at .312!

Once stripped for cleaning, the sprue plate pivot screw works loose, so I drill and tap the mould body and add a small locking screw

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Lyman are at mid range price wise but you have to buy handles, I use the Lee 6 cavity mould handles, they fit perfectly and are half the price

Made from steel, Lyman have a tendency to rust, so should be oiled when stored; this necessitates the pain of thorough cleaning before re-use

As with most mould handles, the constant heating burns the wood and makes them loose, I repair them with bathroom silicon sealant

Lyman Bullet Moulds

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Custom Bullet Moulds More expensive are custom made moulds,

this one is brass & casts well It’s a 175gr from CBE in Australia but at .316

it was the first one that fit my 303 & 7.62 x 54 R rifles properly

Downside is it has a flat nose, so doesn’t feed so well for rapid fire and snap shooting

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Bullet Moulds/diameter The easiest way to increase bullet diameter is to

use aluminium exhaust tape You simply stick it to each side of the bullet

mould, preventing it from closing fully and hence you get a fatter bullet

The bullet won’t be round but this doesn’t matter You can fatten the nose, driving bands or both This is easily reversed by simply removing the

tape and cleaning the mould with solvent

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Bullet Moulds/diameter Another method I have used is to bore

them out, using valve grinding paste, Lee aluminium moulds are best for this

This will give a more rounded fatter bullet than tape

You can also make one part of the bullet fatter if desired e.g. the driving bands or just the nose

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Bullet Moulds/diameter You don’t need to be an engineer and

you don’t need a lathe or any special tools

First take a self tapping wood screw and cut the head off with a hacksaw

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Bullet Moulds/diameter Then take a bullet that was cast in the mould

cavity you want to enlarge Drill a centre hole in the bullet base, 1mm

smaller than the self tapping screw and screw the screw into the hole

It may take a few attempts to get this right so cast several bullets

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Bullet Moulds/diameter Put a couple of drops of light oil on each side of

the cavity you are enlarging Place the prepared bullet and screw in your drill Then thinly smear the bullet with coarse valve

grinding paste Gently close the mould round the bullet applying

gentle pressure, while rotating the drill clockwise

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Bullet Moulds/diameter Remove the mould and clean with brake cleaner Cast and measure some bullets, you will see they

are getting fatter Now repeat a few more times, using fine grinding

paste, until the resulting bullets are a thou or so fatter than you require

You can also cut the nose off a bullet and enlarge just the driving bands & vice versa

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Bullet Moulds/diameter You can see the marks on this bullet cast in

the bored out mould, don’t worry they won’t affect accuracy and it’s .3165 diam

I’ve now made myself a 200gr custom mould that cost less than twenty quid and its bullets feed well in my 303 rifles as well as my 7.62 x 54R rifles

You can’t reverse this process but Lee moulds aren’t expensive anyway

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Bullet Lubing and Sizing I started casting in the pistol shooting days

and just used LLA When I started rifle shooting I didn’t see the

need to buy one of those Lubrisizing thingamajigs with nose punches, etc

I still just use LLA and Lee sizing kits although, like most things, I modify them to better suit my needs.

You can also fit gas checks as you size and because the bullets go nose first, they self centralize, making them more concentric than the base first Lubrisizers

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Anomalies You will now have nice fat bullets that

your 30 cal gas checks won’t fit onto!

You probably won’t be able to get an off the shelf sizing die above .314!

What will you do?

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Anomalies

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Bullet Alloy composition Pure Linotype is a little too hard Range waste is a little too soft for all but low

pressure pistol calibre bullets 50/50 Linotype and range waste is about the

same as Lyman #2 alloy If your Alloy is a bit on the soft side, I’m told

you can quench harden your bullets by dropping them from the mould into cold water, I’ve never had to do this

BUT BE WARNED: KEEP THE WATER AWAY FROM THE MOLTON LEAD!!!!

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Components & Tools-Cases Brass should be good quality, don’t waste

your time with berdan primed mil surplus brass, use boxer primed brass

Any make will do, so long as you don’t mix them, PPU are reasonably priced

Keep your cases trimmed to length and check them every time they are fired

I clean my cases and the primer pockets after every other firing

The first time I use a batch of cases, I use a de-burier to uniform the flash holes

In keeping with normal practice, once you’ve fire formed a case in your rifle, you can just neck size them to save wear and tear

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Components & Tools-Cases To crimp or not to crimp? It’s generally accepted that crimping

harms accuracy However, you will need to handle

uncrimped ammo with kid gloves I always crimp if I’m doing snaps or

rapid, or ammo could be damaged If you do crimp, batch sort your cases

by length to ensure uniformity

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Components & Tools

I use mainly Lee tools and presses, in particular I like their neck sizing collet dies, as you don’t need to lube the cases

Remember when using oversize lead bullets, the case neck will need to be correspondingly fatter or you will have excessive case neck tension

You will also need to use a case neck flaring die, they are made by Lee or Lyman, Lee ones are universal, Lyman are size and calibre specific

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Components & Tools

I make my own calibre specific neck expander plugs, as Lee and Lyman tend to overwork the case neck, causing splits

Also don’t oversize your case necks, your neck sizing mandrel or M die plug should be 1 thou smaller than the diameter of your cast bullet

I’m quite happy to make you an expander plug for your M die if you tell me the diameter of your bullet, this means you can custom size your case necks for optimum neck tension for each rifle!

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Components & Tools You don’t need anything special A good vernier gauge, dial or digital but keep

it clean, if it’s digital, remember to re-zero every few minutes

Powder scales are important, pay as much as you can afford for a good set

As with all reloading it’s a good idea to batch weigh your bullets to aid accuracy, a digital scale able to weigh .1 or .2 grain increments can be had from ebay at a very reasonable price

Out of production moulds are available from USA via ebay

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Components & Tools Don’t be afraid to experiment and be a little

inventive, when things don’t work, adapt them to make them work

Lee don’t make neck sizing collet dies for 7.62 x 54r so I made my own from a 303 British one

When I had to convert 500 cases from .223 to 300 whisper I used custom full length sizing dies; for re-loading them I made my own collet dies from Lee 7.62 x 39 ones

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Powder and Primers Many pistol powders will give reasonable

results e.g. Unique but don’t double charge! Keep empty cases upside down

Accurate 5744 was developed especially for cast bullets with low density loads

Slower rifle powders e.g. V N150 or N140 can be used with a filler but beware, using fillers can damage your rifle’s chamber

I’ve had good results with N110 & N120 Use a good quality primer, CCI and

Winchester are both good, I use Federal

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Powder and Primers I was once forced by necessity to change my

brand of primer, I used to use Winchester and they completely ran out

Later I was testing 3 different calibres of ammo with the aid of a chronograph and they all exhibited occasional drops in velocity of several hundred fps from shot to shot, the only thing they had in common was this new brand of primer!

I changed my primers to Federal and re tested, the changes in velocity had gone! I’ve used Federal primers ever since

Lee say Federal are too hot, I say they’re hot enough to ensure consistent ignition

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Barrel Cleaning This is a much discussed topic Provided you get your bullet diameter

and lube correct, therefore no leading, you could shoot lead bullets all year and not clean your rifle;I know, I have done so

However, as with .22 rifles, a build up of burned and unburned powder residue can bring about the right conditions for moist air to cause rust;I also know about this from bitter experience and it’s not good

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Barrel Cleaning They say there are three states of barrel: Freshly cleaned and unfired Dirty, after firing many rounds Just off clean after firing say 10-20 shots If you start off with a clean barrel, the zero

will change as the barrel gets dirty Not really what you want in a competition The dirty barrel may have consistency but at

the cost of corrosion, not for me I’ve tried all three and just off clean works

best for me. BTW I use Ed’s red, it works really well

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Barrel Cleaning One very important point, do not shoot lead

bullets from a barrel that has copper fouling 1st clean the barrel with a simple barrel

cleaning liquid, e.g. Ed’s Red Remove copper fouling with a good quality

copper solvent, dry the barrel, then re-clean with simple barrel cleaner

Always start with a clean dry barrel that is free from copper fouling from the outset

I’ve noticed that since I’ve used Ed’s Red, I get less fouling, especially Copper

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Ed's Red Bore Cleaner 1 part Dexron II, IIe or III ATF.

(AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION FLUID) 1 part Kerosene - deodorized, K1

(PARRAFIN) from garage/DIY shop) 1 part Aliphatic Mineral Spirits

(WHITE SPIRIT) not Turps or Turps Sub I ADD 1 PART OF UPPER CYLINDER

CLEANER (REDEX) This makes a very gentle copper solvent that

can be left on the bore overnight Don’t forget if you use copper gas checks there will be copper in your bore!

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Some Universal Loads .303 British 22gr of Accurate 5744 with

bullet weights 170gr – 200gr and Federal primers & a 1 in 10 twist 25 inch barrel

7.62 x 54R 25gr 5744 with bullet weights 170gr – 200gr and Federal primers and a 1 in 10 twist 29 inch barrel

.308/7.62 NATO 24gr 5744 with 180 grain bullet and 1 in 12 twist 26 inch barrel this is much easier to load for, as chambers are much more uniform

Remember to slug barrel and check OAL

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Just to Recap Use as heavy a bullet as you can, bearing in

mind your rifling twist You’ll get good 100yd groups with light

bullets but wind spreads them at 200yds 2-3 thou fatter than bore groove diameter Seat bullet out to touch the lead Check loading manual and choose round

about mid range powder load but don’t use slower burning rifle powders

Don’t use low power gallery loads, at 200 yards a windy day will spread them all over a four foot screen

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Not Just for Historic Rifles Using cast bullets needn’t be confined just to

historic rifles My AIAW will put cast bullets in the same

hole at 300 yards I also have an AR15 in 300 Whisper with a

12 inch barrel that shoots cast bullets just as good as jacketed at 100 yards and only slightly worse at 200 yards

You’ll find that your best accuracy, in most rifles, will be out to 200-300 yards and you’ll need twice as much windage as you will with jacketed bullets

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Commercially Available Cast Bullets Several suppliers sell commercial cast

bullets, they are usually too soft Unless they slug your barrel and check your

rifle’s lead, don’t buy them, they won’t fit

Photograph is of commercial cast bullets. Note how poorly they have been cast,full of wrinkles and certain to be different diameters and weights.

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Good Advice Join the Cast Bullet Association of

America, they’ve forgotten more about cast bullet loading than you or I will ever know

Buy Quickload, it has saved me hundreds of pounds in powder and primers!

LEE 309-180-R GAS CHECK BULLET FIRED FROM 200 YARDS in a 90 degree 20-25 mph wind. Load was Winchester 308 Win cases, Lee Gas Check 309-180-R bullet (sized to .311 and seated to touch the lead with the forward driving band), in front of 24 grains of Accurate 5744, ignited by Federal large rifle primers. The bullets actually weigh about 175 grains as I use a slightly harder alloy of 2 parts linotype and 1 part soft indoor range waste (made up of .22 and soft pistol bullets)