Powders for Cast Bullets

[yugonut]

I know I should probably ask this over at the cast bullet shooters forum but I'm not a member over there so here it goes. Wanting to get started shooting cast bullets is three of my rifles, a K31, K98 mauser, and a Mosin 91/30. I'm going to start with the K98. What are some good powder choices that are not position sensitive or fill the case enough to prevent this problem? I'm not interested in using any wads or fillers. Have been reading about Alliant 2400, if I could just find some. Any pet loads you care to share would be appreciated.

[Frank46]

yugonut,I shoot lyman's 314299 cast from wheel weights with about 2% tin. I have only used 4759 powder for this cartridge. Should work well in your moisin as well. 2400 is another good powder for cast bullets in the 8mm mauser and also reduced loads of 4895. I have a k31 but have yet to start cast bullets with this rifle. My Finnish reworked moisin loves 20grs of 4759 with the lyman 314299. Its a model 27 dated 1935. Finn barrel is marked VKT and has a mirror bore. Swapped a lee enfield for it and never looked back. Hopefully some more folks will chime in and give you some more info. I've never chronographed my load but would estimate its velocity at about 1600 feet per second. Have fun, Frank

[czak]

AA 5744 is a great powder in the 303 Brit and 7.65 Argentine Mauser w/ 200gr cast bullets. Should work excellent in any of the military calibers with cast loads. IMR 4198 and SR 4759 have been recommended for cast loads since those powders have been around.

[Russ68]

yugonut,I shoot lyman's 314299 cast from wheel weights with about 2% tin. I have only used 4759 powder for this cartridge. Should work well in your moisin as well. 2400 is another good powder for cast bullets in the 8mm mauser and also reduced loads of 4895. I have a k31 but have yet to start cast bullets with this rifle. My Finnish reworked moisin loves 20grs of 4759 with the lyman 314299. Its a model 27 dated 1935. Finn barrel is marked VKT and has a mirror bore. Swapped a lee enfield for it and never looked back. Hopefully some more folks will chime in and give you some more info. I've never chronographed my load but would estimate its velocity at about 1600 feet per second. Have fun, Frank

Whoa :eek: you do realize how extremely rare (and valuable) a 1935 VKT M27 is right? I'd say you made a trade of the century for that one :D

[NuJudge]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=13425

The three best powders for cast bullets in bolt action rifles are 2400, SR4759, and AA5744. Some people would add Red Dot to that. IMR4198 and H4198 are also good. For higher performance, 4895 works.

Beware of using anything slower than that, as reduced loads with really slow powders can give one Secondary Explosion Effect, or SEE.

CDD

[AmmoSgt]

Light Loads, regardless of powder speed can be dangerious.. SEE has happened with fast powders

http://www.reloadammo.com/liteload.htm some examples and discusion

[yugonut]

I'm not really interested in reloading light plinking loads and after reading that info I'm glad. My pet load for my K98 is 48grs Varget with a 175gr Sierra pro-hunter. Would a load in this range work with a gas-checked cast bullet?

[AmmoSgt]

I'm not really interested in reloading light plinking loads and after reading that info I'm glad. My pet load for my K98 is 48grs Varget with a 175gr Sierra pro-hunter. Would a load in this range work with a gas-checked cast bullet?

Yeah, basically.. starting loads are different for cast leadw/gascheck ..and you would have to know your bullet weight.. cast bullets weight different depending on the alloy.. you would probably want a fairly hardcast bullet.. Lyman's manual has the load charts.. Lee's second edition does a pretty good job of mentioning cast bullets.. go down 10% and work up same-o same-o basically

[Big commander]

I am a "non-believer" concerning the fairytales that correct reduced loads (lead bullets) in rifles can be dangerous. I know ... I know, even the large powder factories all over the world put a warning in their leaflets. Give me a scientific proof please ... at best of one of the powder factories. No arm chair philosophy, no armchair knowledge ... just the facts!
On the other end ... I'm a strong believer in double/triple amounts of powder in a case caused by stupidity or simple distraction.
I may be wrong but you have to prove it beyond any doubt.

[doctorxring]

.

For reduced loads, either cast or jacketed, I use Blue Dot.
This powder is not position sensitive at all and has produced
superb accuracy for me. No filler is needed, or desired.

You could start with about 18 grains with the cartridges you
mentioned and go up to 24 grains, but you probably won't
need that much. I've found 20 to 21 grains to be the number
for this case capacity.




Open sights at 50 yards with a K31 and 155 HPBT's --











Open sights at 100 yards with an 1885 Browning in 30-30 Win with Berry's bullets --

[RU shooter]

I am a "non-believer" concerning the fairytales that correct reduced loads (lead bullets) in rifles can be dangerous. I know ... I know, even the large powder factories all over the world put a warning in their leaflets. Give me a scientific proof please ... at best of one of the powder factories. No arm chair philosophy, no armchair knowledge ... just the facts!
On the other end ... I'm a strong believer in double/triple amounts of powder in a case caused by stupidity or simple distraction.
I may be wrong but you have to prove it beyond any doubt.

I'll second Big Commanders comments above!

Powders I have used sucessfully with cast in the 7.5 Swiss,54R,303,308,30-06 Are on the fast side Bullseye,231,Red Dot,Unique with Unique the best of the bunch in the 10-15 gr range with 150-200 gr bullets(cast) in the middle 4759,2400,5744,4227,AA2015,3031 and 4895

If you have any of those powders with a bit of experimenting you can find an acceptably accurate load with cast bullets and a decent rifle. As far as favorites here are mine for the 30-06 and can be basicly used in most milsurp size cases.

Light plinker 100 yd loads.150-185 gr cast bullets Vel.1100 fps + or -

6 grs of bullseye
7.5 gr W231
10 gr Unique

Medium speed loads 1500-1700 fps range

14-15 grs of Unique (deadly accurate in several of my rifles)
16-20 grs 2400
20 gr 5744 or 4759 or 4227

1800+ loads

28-30 grs 4895
25 grs 3031 or 2015


Hope that helps ,Tim

[AmmoSgt]

I am a "non-believer" concerning the fairytales that correct reduced loads (lead bullets) in rifles can be dangerous. I know ... I know, even the large powder factories all over the world put a warning in their leaflets. Give me a scientific proof please ... at best of one of the powder factories. No arm chair philosophy, no armchair knowledge ... just the facts!
On the other end ... I'm a strong believer in double/triple amounts of powder in a case caused by stupidity or simple distraction.
I may be wrong but you have to prove it beyond any doubt.

Big Commander.. go over those examples I posted.. look at the one loaded on the progresive press.. think about it.

[yugonut]

Almost every case of double charge or no charge causing a bullet to be lodged in the bore resulting in a ruined revolver can be traced back to a progressive press. This is why I won't use them. I'm not in that big of a hurry. Just ordered 8 lbs of 4064. It was just about the only rifle powder Graf's had available. I've used it in the past but didn't like the way it metered. The Accurate version is supposed to be cut shorter to enhance metering. If it doesn't work for cast bullets I'll use it on jacketed ones.