Cast bullets in the SKS

[wgttgw]

I am new to the forum and I notice the interest in cast bullets so I thought I would post my latest cast bullet venture.

These are the Lee C312-155-2R basically loaded as cast. I did run them through a .314 Lee sizing die to seat the gas check. They are lube in one of my home made lubes. One batch loaded over 14.5 gr of 2400 and another over 15 gr.

I will be shooting these out of a Chinese SKS and will post the result if anyone interested.

 

[Atlasarmory]

I think I have the same mold. I had trouble finding brass and moved on to somthing else. Looking Foward to your results

 

[yellowsled]

 

[ENT Shooter]

Yes, Interested to see how they shoot. They do look sweet.

 

[duckslayer]

What are you lubing with?

 

[wgttgw]

What are you lubing with?

It is another shooter formula so I would not feel right telling the whole recipe. He calls it Ben’s Red. The two main ingredients are beeswax and red wheel bearing grease. This will be my first time using it, My normal lube is Beeswax, synthetic 2 cycle oil and carnauba wax.

I pan lube and cut the bullets out with a spent case.

 

[Todd S]

Definately post some results. I'd like to hear how they shoot. Now if only I could find some brass.

 

[44man]

cool, i will be waiting for the results also. i wonder if they will lead the barrel? how many fps do you think they are running?

 

[wgttgw]

44man,
I am not too worried about leading the barrel. I would expect the gas piston and cylinder to get a little leading. We will see though. Data shows around 1800 fps.

 

[duckslayer]

I just mixed a batch of simple.green bot have yet to try it. I hope it works out its my first attempt . I am loading lee cast 240 grainers for 300 blk these are a tumble lune design. W are still having function issues with them.

 

[John from MD]

I did this many years ago. I found that I needed to cut back the recoil spring so that the rifle would operate with the reduced loads.

The piston head does get some lead build up but it is easy to clean on a wire wheel. You may run out of elevation if you try to shoot at 100 yards with a scope.

Regards,

John

 

[44man]

44man,
I am not too worried about leading the barrel. I would expect the gas piston and cylinder to get a little leading. We will see though. Data shows around 1800 fps.

i have never shot cast bullets in a rifle because if i push then too fast in my pistols i get leading even with pretty hard cast bullets. i always assumed it was from shoving them down the barrel too fast but i may be doing it to myself by sizing the bullets a bit too small for the hotter loads. as soon as i get a bunch of baby chickens out of my reloading room i will try a bunch not sized and see how they work.

 

[wgttgw]

John,
It seems the functioning of these riffles vary greatly. I have read of people getting them to cycle with as little as 13gr of 2400 while others exceed the max load and never get reliable cycling. It seems as those who can't get the rifle to function with 2400 can get success with different powders like AA1680 H4198 and Rx7. I have some 4198 I will try if the 2400 does not function the gun.

Hopefully I will clean the copper fouling out of the barrel tonight and shoot the cast loads this weekend.

44man,
Size rules all with cast. Next would be alloy and last the lube. The last two won't fix the first. Just my experience anyway. I shoot a plain based 250 Keith SWC at 1450 + fps in my Black hawk cast in wheel weight with no leading.

 

[John from MD]

WGTTW:

I agree, SKS's do differ in operation but it is not due to the design but due the wear and tear the rifle has experience. Gas leakage is the biggest problem with the operation of these rifles especially those with the grenade launchers. Using Red Silicone is one way to seal them up and it works well for a while. Of course you don't want to do this if you shoot surplus as you want to tear it down to clean the salts out.

Most Chinese SKS rifles had Chrome lined barrels. Shooting lead in them was a breeze because it does not lead up like a chromemoly bore. If you don't shoot surplus ammo in them, you don't need to take them down often.

I just checked my load data and I was using 18gns of 2400 behind an Ed Harris bullet. I did not size them and did use gas checks. I only used them for 50 yard practice as the I had plenty of surplus ammo for longer ranges.

Regards,

John

 

[wgttgw]

John,

Not doubting your data at all but where did the 18gr of 2400 come from? The article of have of Harris had him shooting 14.5 -15.5 gr of 2400. Current data list max of 14.8 with 155 jacketed @ 1800 fps (I know the fps is not a given).

 

[John from MD]

The 2400 cast loads that Ed worked out were not max loads for pressure purposes. 16.0 of 2400, at the time, would give @1600 FPS and no vertical stringing. When I worked up the 18gn load, it was because it worked best IN MY SKS.

One of the reasons that we worked up the lead loads in the sixties and seventies was because precision bench shooting was the thing at the time. Additionally, surplus ammo was not available or cost prohibitive for many calibers.

An SKS was never a precision rifle and not until @ 1988 or so did they become a household word because they were sold so cheap. Prior to that, the only ones you could buy were the ones we were allowed to bring back from Vietnam.

I wouldn't put alot of time into trying to make it shoot tight groups. Just work up a load that will function at 50 yards and be happy.

John

 

[wgttgw]

I shot the 50 round I loaded for the SKS. The loads did not cycle the action with 100% reliability. 14.5 grains of 2400 functioned the gun approx 70% and 15 grains approx 80%. I plan to step the charge up to 15.5 where the data from Ed Harris (the original bullet designer) stops and see if I can increase the reliability of the action. Depending on how increasing the charge does I will most likely try some 4198.

Accuracy was on par with the Wolf ammo I had shot in the past through the gun and to be honest about where I expected it to be.

0 leading of the barrel and only very minimal on the gas piston. I also included pictures of 2 recovered lead bullets next to 1 jacketed 30-06 bullets I happened to find digging my berm.

 

[44man]

Generally size to 429 for my 44 work and I use a mix of9 lbs ww and 1 lb 95/5 solder for the tin and lee liquid a lox for lube. I am going to start not sizing some and sizing some to430 and see how they act. What charge,powder and barrel length do you use for 1450 plug fps. Man that's hot.

 

[wgttgw]

44man,

I load my 44 SBH with the classic Keith load which started it all. The powder is 2400 and is over current data so I won't post it. I do not make it a habit of ignoring current max data, but after a lot of research on the switch from Herco 2400 to Alliant 2400 I believe the reduced data came from Alliants lawyers and not from a change in the powder. Max data I think is 19 grains and that in my gun was dirty and inaccurate. All I can say is Elmer new what he was doing and once I approached his load the stars seemed to line up so to speak.

I worked up some vary hot loads of H110 and did not lead the barrel either. In fact I have never leaded a barrel yet, I may just be lucky. The H110 load was a good one but the 2400 was a little better and metered better for me. This is my hunting load. For just fun shooting 10 grains of unique is very very good as well.

I am shooting a old square groove Lyman 429421 (many believe this is the vary bullet designed by Keith) sized a .430.

For a revolver I would recommend sizing the bullet so a very small amount of force is need to push the bullet through the cylinder throats. Then as long as the cylinder throats are larger than the bore (most cases they are)you will be perfect.

 

[wgttgw]

I re-read your question and it is a Ruger super black hawk hunter, 44 mag, 7 1/2” barrel