Seating cast bullets that are close to the bore

B

BJung

New member
Has anyone tried shooting cast bullets that are close to their bore from lands to lands?

I am loading test loads for my 7.7 Arisaka today. The diameter from groove to grove is about .3115 and starting diameter of a finished cast bullet should be .3125. I thought .312 should suffice. I bought a Lee .311 sizer die and have a RCBS .311 plug to flare the case mouth and expand the case neck to .311. But there is no .312, .312, .313.. plug available. Expanding my resizing die to .312 with a .311 sized neck would only swage closer to .311. Writing this, maybe it would swage to .3115 even if the lead is softer than the brass?

My question is, can I get away with a .3110 sized bullet shot in a .3115 bore until I can get a plunger ( only one available is .321" ) and have it machined down to .3125? I'm shooting on Friday. I'm going to try my idea anyway and compare it to later results.

BTW. I have a .309 sizer die and .309 RCBS plunger and the bullet seats very well in the case. The .309 sized bullet slips in the case mouth by hand ( practically falls through ), when sized with the .310 plunger
 
The good news is that Arisaka rifles have a chromed bore so if you do lead it up, it won't be that hard to clean. At least it wasn't when I did it several years ago.

Tony
 
I was just thinking today, I could size to .311 and then powder coat it, adding .001" and leaving it.
 
FWIW, I have custom expanders made to give me the right amount of neck tension to securely hold the bullet. They work with both Lyman and RCBS dies. In your case, with the Arisaka, you would get a Lyman Type M Die to put it in.

Don
 
USSR. Just looking at the Buffalo Arms resizing die image and i can't figure out how it works. Is it a mandrel of some sort?
 
Powder coating sounds like a good solution. Would it be possible to run them thought the process twice to put on a thicker layer of polymer coating?

This is something I planned to do a long time ago but never followed though on. I can't remember the last time I fired one of my Arisaka Rifles.

Tony
 
burbank_j, if you haven't found your solution yet, this may be of help to you;

www.buffaloarms.com/312-straight-custom-expander-f-lyman-rcbs-dies-van312straight

I ordered one of these for my bpcr needs in .444, and they had it to me in a couple of weeks. Mine was noted as "out of stock," too. The folks at Buffalo Arms are fine folks, shooters all. They will do whatever they can, as quickly as they can to help you out. Call them, they're all fine folks who want to help, and do it very well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top