Recommendations for mould, etc.?

[Dakota Widowmaker]

I have fired some of those rounds from the lyman mould you listed.

It holds just as much lube as my modified Lee mould bullets.

In using either bullet, there is no hard fouling to speak of after 3 mag tubes of shooting.
(I did this with GOEX FFFg and Pyrodex P...)

You should be able to get 40gr with a drop tube in under the Lyman bullet.

I think I was able to put a full 48gr of Pyrodex P under the bullet right before a cold spell hit. I didn't chrono it, but, it was real accurate.
(7 round group was about 4" at 50 yards, which is good for me)

[Sliprock]

Wagon Wheel,
You asked who makes the loading dies for Armi Sport, I got this from the NSSA site:
C-H Tool & Die/4D Custom Die Co.
Mt. Vrenon, Ohio

Sliprock

[Wagon Wheel]

   Greetings!
When I bought my Spencer, I had L. Romano send a bullet mould with it; he made a little 300gr. RNFP that cycles well, and shoots o.k.

MTMarfield,

By any chance can you find the load data for that 300 gr bullet?  I have a hankering to try out the Barnes Original .510 JFP bullet.  I sent a request for a 5 piece sample so maybe I will have them waiting for me when I get back from vacation in Texas on the 7th.

Regards,

Thomas (WW)

[mtmarfield]

   Greetings, Wagon Wheel!

The bullet dropped from the mould shown on Romano's site is quite different from mine: it has a driving band over the lube groove; mine tapers to its flat-point almost immediately over the lube groove. I'm not sure if he's making his moulds, or not... Give him a call!

  From my "potluck soft alloy", this slug is: 320gr., d=.513", L=.709"; my first load with this slug was 40gr. GOEX fffg/light compression, Fed #215 mag.rifle caps, shortened BELL .50-70 brass/shortened .348Win brass. Dad forgot batteries for his chrono, but those slugs I recovered from the soft embankment were either flattened cylinders, or in the process of becoming your  classic "mushroom" profile.

  Jacketed slugs...? Hmmm. If you're fulfilling the "letter of the Law" in Your Hunting Regs, as in Need To use jacketed/expanding slugs, o.k. I guess. I would assume those are designed for "Express" velocities, and expansion would be nil to zero; you would however have a Jacketed Bullet, with a flat lead point to transmit whallop. With the high friction that the jacketed bullet would produce, relative to even a hard cast bullet, you should have enough inertia to ignite ffg powder very well. For now I'd NOT recommend "hotter" substitute powders, or fffg... Try ffg.
   
  Now... L. Romano suggested to me that I cast hard {d=.515" with harder alloy}, and size to .515", for the .510" of his Spencer's barrel. Now, This Is Food For Thought!
  Some of You have stated that your slugs are a little loose in your cases; I don't know what YOUR groove dimensions are, but if your carbine/rifle Will Easily Chamber with .515" slugs, TRY IT! Stick with a middle-of-the-road powder charge, and Watch Your Primers For Pressure Signs / use common sense. You just might get better accuracy, velocity, and combustion with less-than-MAX powder charges.

  I REALLY need a lead hardness tester... Any advice out there? Is LEE o.k.?

  GUYS! Don't worry too much about the lube grooves for your short carbine barrels; as long as there's a "lube star" on your muzzle, you're o.k.... Now, for your extended cowboy scenarios, or rifle-length barrels, I can't comment ~ yet!!
  I'm also planning to slightly open up the primer flash-hole to see if the BP combustion can be improved, like J. S. Wolf did in his Trapdoor .45-70 Reloading Book {Buy this book, "trapdoor" shooters! It WORKS!}. I'll keep you all posted.

Cimarron is UPS-REDing my Infantry Rifle to my FFL!!! It'll be here Friday!!!! WooHooo!!!!! You All can bet that before spring semester begins, I'll have reloading data with all of my bullets, maybe even chrono info, if I'm lucky...!

  Hope you all don't mind the 'wind'...!

                     Be Well!

                                             M.T.Marfield
                                               12-29-05