Re: Curing the 30 Caliber Blues... Part III
Posted: 19 Feb 2016 16:04
With 27 survivors of the meltdown, I decided to see how these bullets would fair with a bit more pressure put to them. I was also excited to switch to the Collet resizing die as I had completed a cycle on this small lot of brass, cleaning and annealing it two days ago. With the Collet die set up I started sizing the brass. Three cases in, "BOOM", the Collet Cap blew off! The die was setup correctly, I work with them frequently and have a bunch of them but the threads on the aluminum cap on this new die gave way.
I pulled the cap off another die and got busy completing the loading task. I had order an +.002" oversized mandrel but it didn't fit past the Collet Sleeve. That has something to do with blowout as the standard diameter mandrell is a very tight fit as well. I'm not going to bother Lee about it, I ordered a replacement Collet Cap & Sleeve along with some other parts. As luck would have it, I'm glad I didn't switch to the oversized mandrell as the stock part provided very good neck tension with the .310" bullet. I actually rub the check of all my bullets on a NRA formula stick, even though they have been tumble lubed. It does two things; it sticks the bullet to the case mouth and it eases seating. I do this with jacketed bullets too.
I used the Perfect Powder Measure to drop the 42.2-grains of Varget straight into the Safety Scale pan and then weigh them on the scale. Any that don't fall within the first ½ grain marks. It is very unusual to see any variation with Varget and there was none.
The TLC310-180-RF makes an impressive cartridge!
I loaded three magazines, nine cartridges total, and headed to the range. It is hot (80°) and windy today, winds gusting up to 29 mph, quartering across the range. With the target setup at 50 yards, I was a bit disappointed with the first shot as it was high and left. The last, lighter load step had the POI near the bull. I looked down the muzzle with the help of sunlight and the barrel was a very light gray color like it had been sprayed with primer. The 42.2-grains of Varget should be generating 45.0K PSI and I thought maybe that is too much for the 25 BHN alloy. I decided to shoot the others as the barrel might just be fouling as the last loads hadn't left a any trace that cast had been through it. The next and successive shots did pretty durn good with the exception of one additional flyer. This is a screenshot of the digital target scoring module of my handloading software.
It is getting there! I've only a few bullets from this batch left but decided to weight cull them. They were pretty tight but I tossed three than where +/- .3-grains from the average.
I also talked to a friend of mine yesterday about my project. This fellow is the smartest guy that I've ever met and writes the software I use for bullet design and handloading. He thought my alloy mix was tight but that I should just add a small amount of #8 Mag shot to act as a catalyst to set up the hardening. He told me to heat it at 440°, to stay below the linotype melting point, and then quench it in iced salt water after the hour cook. I will do that within the next week. I do think that I will shoot the bullets as cast but pass them through a .311" sizer to seat the gas check.
My goal is to bust the 2500 FPS mark with the Scout's 20" barrel while bringing the MOA inside 1.5, preferably 1.25. Then, I will be ready to take it out to 100, 200, and then 300 yards.
I pulled the cap off another die and got busy completing the loading task. I had order an +.002" oversized mandrel but it didn't fit past the Collet Sleeve. That has something to do with blowout as the standard diameter mandrell is a very tight fit as well. I'm not going to bother Lee about it, I ordered a replacement Collet Cap & Sleeve along with some other parts. As luck would have it, I'm glad I didn't switch to the oversized mandrell as the stock part provided very good neck tension with the .310" bullet. I actually rub the check of all my bullets on a NRA formula stick, even though they have been tumble lubed. It does two things; it sticks the bullet to the case mouth and it eases seating. I do this with jacketed bullets too.
I used the Perfect Powder Measure to drop the 42.2-grains of Varget straight into the Safety Scale pan and then weigh them on the scale. Any that don't fall within the first ½ grain marks. It is very unusual to see any variation with Varget and there was none.
The TLC310-180-RF makes an impressive cartridge!
I loaded three magazines, nine cartridges total, and headed to the range. It is hot (80°) and windy today, winds gusting up to 29 mph, quartering across the range. With the target setup at 50 yards, I was a bit disappointed with the first shot as it was high and left. The last, lighter load step had the POI near the bull. I looked down the muzzle with the help of sunlight and the barrel was a very light gray color like it had been sprayed with primer. The 42.2-grains of Varget should be generating 45.0K PSI and I thought maybe that is too much for the 25 BHN alloy. I decided to shoot the others as the barrel might just be fouling as the last loads hadn't left a any trace that cast had been through it. The next and successive shots did pretty durn good with the exception of one additional flyer. This is a screenshot of the digital target scoring module of my handloading software.
It is getting there! I've only a few bullets from this batch left but decided to weight cull them. They were pretty tight but I tossed three than where +/- .3-grains from the average.
I also talked to a friend of mine yesterday about my project. This fellow is the smartest guy that I've ever met and writes the software I use for bullet design and handloading. He thought my alloy mix was tight but that I should just add a small amount of #8 Mag shot to act as a catalyst to set up the hardening. He told me to heat it at 440°, to stay below the linotype melting point, and then quench it in iced salt water after the hour cook. I will do that within the next week. I do think that I will shoot the bullets as cast but pass them through a .311" sizer to seat the gas check.
My goal is to bust the 2500 FPS mark with the Scout's 20" barrel while bringing the MOA inside 1.5, preferably 1.25. Then, I will be ready to take it out to 100, 200, and then 300 yards.
