Just Grind It Off?

[robertvarner]

Boat tail brass bullets would be perfect for this, but for a 30-30 plinker round I chose coated.lead bullets from Bayou Bullets. I'd rather use their coated bullets rather than just bare lead bullets.

 

[gmerkt]

I was wondering if I'm missing something -- as it turns out I was -- I've not used plain lead in rifle loads.

Boat tail brass bullets would be perfect for this, but for a 30-30 plinker round I chose coated.lead bullets from Bayou Bullets. I'd rather use their coated bullets rather than just bare lead bullets.

Years ago, cast bullets for centerfire rifle loads were to reloading as fly casting is to fishing. It was a specialized and well developed art. Kind of a fussy one, too and you could really spend more money in the long run than just using reasonably priced jacketed bullets. If such thing exists now. But these days, I get a sense that not all that many guys are doing the gung-ho cast bullet thing in rifle. Such as they did in the heyday of the match Springfield rifle. A lot of those cast bullets for rifle wore gas checks. But now we have coated bullets as an alternative but I'm sure the old guys would poo-poo a store-bought bullet like that. I haven't used any coated rifle bullets myself, only some pistol.

I used to cast but I really am not much interested in it any more. It's too fussy and time-consuming. At my age, I've got to use my time more wisely. Plus, I no longer have firearms that justify having special bullets made for them.

 

[robertvarner]

Hey, I'm an "old guy" too but I need to be careful what I poo-poo or I have to change my pants. I guess that goes with old age and experience.

 

[DizzyJ]

I recently started using the Lee universal case expanding die. Never felt the need for using one prior, but I've been working up a .223 load using flat based 34gr Nosler HPs, and even though I've given the brass using a good deal of chamfer (I've tried both the standard and also the VLD testing both against one another) I still get a few that resist seating a little meaning they feel as though they're hanging up on the flat based bottom during the initial part of the seating process.

I was getting some occasion fliers and would also find a small shaving here or there once in awhile. Not good for accuracy. This was even using a competition seating die that has a sleeve to guide the bullet straight into the case mouth.

After reading some suggestions here and elsewhere on the inter-webs, I decided to give it a whirl. Of course I had to then close the mouth back up after giving it a slight flare.

I've got to say those bullets now seat slick as butter with almost zero resistance! I was literally "shocked" by how smooth they went in! I use a Redding taper crimp die to close the mouth back down and it seems to work quite well. Of course when doing this, the cases all need to be trimmed to the same length.

Until I ran into this problem with the short flat based Bullets, I thought the same thing. Just need to chamfer the mouth better and use a seating die that holds the bullet straight. Well this is the first time that didn't work for me. Flaring the case mouth in this instance at least has solved the problem.

Link to said die. Universal Case Expanding Die - Lee Precision

I also ordered the Lyman M-die as it does a similar job. Haven't yet tried it out though.