Pavomesa

Good news, Tom. I think you're good to go for awhile! Happy shooting.

HEAD0001

Give those 425's a chance. I think they will shoot well. I will be interested to see how the 300's shoot. Do you have the short barreled Marlin?? If you can not get those bullets to shoot then let me know. I am getting ready to cast some 405's without the GC, and I will send you a few to try. I never could get a GC bullet to shoot in my Marlin's. But I have only tried the GC's in two different guns. And I doubt if I can cast a bullet a well as the guy you are getting your's from. Are they sized at .458?? Tom.

statjunk

Tom,

Both are sized .459. I plan on putting a bullets together for both the 300 and 425. Tommy indicated that his bullets are made of special alloy that makes the real special. He didn't gloat just spoke very matter a fact about it. He claims that the History Channel wants to do a show on his bullets.

If youare intereseted in testing his bullets I could send you a few for your rigs. Let me know.

I will report back to this post when I get all my stuff and finally get a bullet together.

Tom

HEAD0001

Thanks for the offer but I had better pass. I am afraid I would like them, and then what would I do?? I have about 3,000 pounds of lead ingots in the garage.

I do not have much to do today, I think I might go to the garage and cast a few this afternoon. Tom.

Pavomesa

Head, I find it hard to imagine the gas check is the cause of inaccuracy in your Marlin. That's a real puzzler? Have you been able to try sizing your bullets to different diameters. I've shot cast bullets in several Marlin's and never had any problem with accuracy and gas checked bullets...at least in .357 and 30/30. I had a 44 Magnum that didn't much like anything, but as I started oversizing my bullets, it tightened up a bunch.

I'm betting your problem is bullet diameter...not gas checks.

HEAD0001

I was not trying to say the GC caused the problem. My guess is it was the bullet sizing. I was only stating how they shot. I may have been a little vague in how I said it though. Tom.

graybeard 50

I find 405 cast(lee mold) on top of 50 gr. Varget with cabels's fiber wad between bullet & powder, has been working well for me. GB 50

statjunk

Well I officially have all of the reloading components. I'm going to have some time in the middle of the week next week. That's when I'll likely get started. Since I haven't reloaded in over a year and I don't have much experience to boot I'd like to run a list of actions past you guys to make sure I'm doing things correctly. Here is a list of what I got: The brass is brand new winchester brass. I have Winchester standard large rifle primers. I have the lead heads 300 and 425 grain bullets. I'm going to start with IMR 3031 powder. I have the Lyman type M dies. Also a Lyman single stage press.

I have a Nosler reloading manual that I intend to use to make my first loads at the lowest powder setting and then two grains higher.

So here is a list of steps that I intend to take please let me know if I'm on the right track here.

1) Lube cases and full length resize them.

2) Use the Nosler book to find the length of the cases and trim the cases if necessary.

3) Place a primer in each case.

4) Add powder

5) Seat the bullet.

6) Check bullet for oal

7) Crimp the bullet. (I've never crimped a bullet before)

How does that sound?

Is the Nosler reloading manual what I should be using for my load data?

I intend on making 6 cartrides in the 300gr bullet at the lowest grains of powder setting and then 6 more at two grains higher. I want to do the same thing for the 400gr bullet. Any thoughts on this approach?

How much cleaning should I be doing? One cleaning between each three shot group?

Thanks

Tom

Pavomesa

Stat, I think you'll do better with some load data from something like the Lyman Cast Bullet Manual. When you start backing down on the normal rifle powders, you start getting incomplete and even somewhat erratic burn with the powders. I've not had any terrible issues with this practice, however, what I have discovered is that it's really easier to work UP with a slow burning pistol powder or very fast burning rifle powder than it is to try to load DOWN with a slow burning rifle powder.

Let me know if you need me to look up some Lyman data for you with this method. I've got the books. 2400 is an EXCELLENT powder for this project!

statjunk

Pavo,

I've already purchased the IMR 3031 and since I'm on a limited budget I'm going to stick to that. I'm going to try to find the Lyman Cast Bullet Manual.

I looked through the Nosler Book that I have and it didn't help much since it only speaks to the Nosler 300gr jacketed bullet that they sell. Makes sense I guess since it's their book. I do have a Lyman Reloading Manual but it's the one that came with my press. It doesn't cover the bullet grains that I purchased from Tommy at Leadheads.

So does the Lyman Cast Bullet Manual cover all of the various grain bullets for the .45-70?

Thanks

Tom