Reloading ?

[CharlesHarris]

I have cast my own bullets and reloaded rifle and handgun ammunition for many years. With factory ammunition becoming more expensive and in short supply these days loading your own makes more sense than ever. While suppressors are legal here and can be purchased and registered, they are subject to a $200 transfer tax and restrictions similar to a fully-automatic weapon. If low cost, reduced recoil and lower noise are the goal, it is simple to assemble subsonic loads for most center-fire rifles. I use a cast 150-grain lead bullet with a light charge of pistol powder in my .30-'06 hunting rifles, at a velocity similar to .22LR ammunition, and accuracy is quite good to 200 yards or so. It is not as quiet as my Army & Navy Cooperative Society rook rifle, relined to .32 S&W Long, but it is more effective on larger varmints such as coyotes and truth be told, during the legal hunting season I have taken my share of deer out the kitchen window without disturbing the neighbours.

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(1 November 2013, 12:26)Skean Dhude Wrote: I do a little reloading. Want to get more into it next year.

List any specific questions you have, I'd be glad to help. This is an area in which I have a great deal of experience, but I don't to blather on without attention to exactly what information is needed.

[Steve]

(1 November 2013, 23:18)Midnitemo Wrote: the heavy bullet was the problem...the lands weren't picking up the bullet and getting it spinning adequately in his 20 inch barrel at such low muzzle velocity mine was quite a bit better but a lighter bullet was the way to go , much less inertia to overcome getting it to start its spin.

If that was happening then the bullet diameter was way too small for the barrel and would never be accurate. A correct fitting bullet will engrave deep into the rifling as soon as it enters the rifling and should never slip at low velocities. It is possible to strip a cast bullet by driving it too fast, this will leave the barrel in a mess and once again accuracy is gone. My cast bullets work well at around 1300fps, hard cast bullets can be pushed faster but you are better using a gas check which adds to the cost.

[CharlesHarris]

If the bullet has an excessive ratio of length to diameter for the twist rate, gyroscopic stability will be inadequate for the bullet to fly with its point coincident with is axis. It is normal for a bullet bullet in stable flight to have a minute nutation of its base about the longitudinal axis, but if gyroscopic stability is inadequate so that the point rotates about the axis, the yaw will accentuate.

Faster rates of rifling pitch will stabilize longer bullets at lower velocities. I have fired flat-based, blunt roundnosed cast bullets as heavy as 240 grains accurate at subsonic velocities in the .30-'06 and .303, whereas elongated, streamlined, pointed boattail cast bullets, of similar weight, which designed for use at subsonic velocities from the .300 Blackout, normally having a twist rate of 7 inches per turn, keyhole wildly when fired in a ten-inch twist barrel.

[Mortblanc]

If barrel length was the issue then no lead pistol bullet would ever stabilize. The lead bullet engages the rifling in the throat and if the bullet strips it will not "recover" as it goes down a long barrel. It has been reduced to a sub-caliber projectile at the point of stripping.

I cast for both rifle and pistol and black powder muzzle loaders in every mid-range caliber, bullet weight, barrel length and at about every velocity between 500fps and 2000fps.

I cast for 30 caliber in weights ranging from 90 grains up to 200 grains. 30-30/30-06/.308/.303/7.62x54 are all included with charges and bullet weights suitable for game from rabbits and squirrels to deer, American elk and large cattle if necessary.

Some of those calibers do better with heavy bullets than light, with only the 30-30 and 30-06 doing well with all bullet weights in my particular rifles. I have a couple of bullet molds that cast a bullet that rivals jacketed bullet accuracy at 100 yards.

I have found that the depth of rifling is the greatest influence. Our modern rifles usually have rifling only .003-.005 depth, which is fine for jacketed bullets but not ideal for cast lead. I avoid certain brands of firearms due to their shallow grove rifling. If you look back at the target rifles of the 1800s, when all they had was lead or lead with paper patch, you will find deep rifling and extremely long heavy bullets dominated the target ranges with the Whitworth rifle eliminating stripping problems by using a hexagonal bore/bullet with no rifling as we know it.

The longer bullet gives a longer surface area for the rifling to grasp, so the deep grove barrels give some extremely good results with heavy cast lead bullets if the twist is not greater than 1/12.

One of the features of using cast bullets is the uniform top velocity of around 2000fps which is a restriction of the properties of lead. Since one is restricted in velocity, bullet weight/alloy hardness is the only way left to improve bullet performance. When using a 30 caliber cast bullet one will achieve the same ballistic performance from a 30-30 that one can achieve from a .300 Winchester magnum due to the limitations of the projectile.

I can get a shallow grove fast twist barrel to shoot, but only at very low velocities. Fortunately, most light/short bullets will stabilize in whatever one has at very low velocities, and those loads are usually intended for small game at close range. A 90 grain 30 caliber bullet at 500-600fps is completely adequate for bunnies and such within its 25-50 yard limits.

If one desires an in depth study of these properties the Lyman Company has done extensive research over the past 150 years and have most of their findings in print, specifically in the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook, in which the first 200 pages are reference material and the last section load data.

[Midnitemo]

My friends theory in using my gun was an extra 6 inches of rifling cant help but improve the stabilisation of the bullet ... more than an extra half rotation of rifling....my gun shot much tighter groups than his too with identical ammunition....180 grn bullet would keyhole below 1300fps he was finally succesful in getting a decent subsonic round by dropping the bullet size significantly.

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it wasn't the goal he was after though ... he wanted a heavy round at 1050 fps to deliver a lot of energy on target quietly...he failed...got a quiet round in the end but it didn't hit as hard as he wanted.

[Midnitemo]

I told him to stop being so tight and get a variation on his FAC and buy the proper gun to do what he wants, a .45 acp de lisle silenced carbine.

[Tigs]

started a couple of months ago with .308 after doing a 3 day course now reload .223, .44 mag , .22lr (even thou its cheap) .357 mag and 30-06 and just started reloading shot gun shells mainly AAA

[Mortblanc]

Pray tell, how do you reload those .22lr cartridges?

Where do you get your new primers, what powder do you use and what is your source of slugs?

[Stevew]

i reload for 12 bore i cast my own shot with molds from http://www.buckshotmold.com/ ive got the #4 buckshot 00 buckshot(sg) and 000 buckshot (lg) i use emptys i scavenge from clay grounds 36 grains of bluedot for 1oz loads and 30 grains for up too 1 3/4oz loads, i make my own wads and over shot cards with a 12g punch and finish them off with a roll crimp.
(i don`t take responsibility for any one trying my loads they work for me and my guns never gone boom in the wrong place and ive never had a squib load)

[Tigs]

(3 November 2013, 11:33)Mortblanc Wrote: Pray tell, how do you reload those .22lr cartridges?

Where do you get your new primers, what powder do you use and what is your source of slugs?

ok should have said I load my own .22lr not reload I use pre primed cases crimping tool, since the diameter of the bullet is as large as the outside diameter of the case and have a powder measure capable of dropping powder at about 1.5 grains