Casting for auto loader.

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  • Last Post 07 May 2009
mosinutty posted this 01 January 2009

Getting ready to cast for a Norinco SKS. .312 Dia. 160 Gr. Would a .30 cal. gas check be used for this bullet? A friend shoots these as cast, But in order to seat the gas check properly it will have to be ran through a .311 sizer. Simply pushing the gas check on the .312 without sizing would not be optimal would it?

  How well will these rounds cycle in an automatic? Just fearful of bullets being jamed into the neck of the case. What do ya think?

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CWME posted this 02 January 2009

The first thing that comes to mind would be to use a Lyman GC seater. Only push the bullet in far enough to crimp the GC on. This would leave the majority of the bullet unsized.

This is just an idea, I am interested in what the correct answer is, hopefully one of the more experienced guys will chime in.

I fire Cast out of my M1 Garand without issue. I am ignorant to the workings of the SKS though.  

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RicinYakima posted this 02 January 2009

Have you searched this forum? Ed Harris is a regular here, and over the last 2 years has posted quite a bit about what you want to do. Ric

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CB posted this 02 January 2009

mosinutty wrote: Getting ready to cast for a Norinco SKS. .312 Dia. 160 Gr. Would a .30 cal. gas check be used for this bullet? A friend shoots these as cast, But in order to seat the gas check properly it will have to be ran through a .311 sizer. Simply pushing the gas check on the .312 without sizing would not be optimal would it?

  How well will these rounds cycle in an automatic? Just fearful of bullets being jamed into the neck of the case. What do ya think? If you do not want to size below .312", the 30cal. gas check will still work. The 30cal. gas check has something like .316” - .320” outside diameter and have plenty of ID to fit on your .312 CBs. The gas check shank is not .312".  Simply apply the check and run it through your .312 sizing die................Dan

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mosinutty posted this 03 January 2009

Thanks fella's. I'm going to try and cast some of the 7.62x39's today. I ordered the rest of the loading equipment yesterday so I hope to be able and try them out in a couple of weeks.

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superior posted this 13 January 2009

I just ordered a Lee 312-160-2r for MY sks paratrooper along with a .314 Lee sizer die. I'm thinking the sizer will install the gas checks without touching the bullet. I would rather the bullets be on the large size instead of small from what I've read here and on other forums. Let me know how you make out and I'll let you know how my set-up works.

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mosinutty posted this 14 January 2009

Casted 80 last week. Had to take load data for jacketed and reduce the powder charge, no data available for cast 7.62x39 I could find. Going tot he range today and give them a try. The Chicom SKS I'm taking has never been shot so I'll be sighting in with Wolf before I go to the cast rounds. I'll report back with results and load data if they function properly.

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CB posted this 18 January 2009

I would try the 32 cal GCs on a bullet that is sized .312. I also have a question abou the SKS rilfes boares, are they really .311 or can they vary a great deal?

Thanks,

Jerry

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mosinutty posted this 19 January 2009

Not sure of the bore size Jerry. I picked up a Yougo 59/66 yesterday. I will slug the bore on it and the Norinco in a couple of day's and let ya know.

Load data for 160 grain cast 7.62x39=

Hodgdon H4198-22 grains-OAL 2.180-.30 cal. gas check-2” group @ 50 yrds.

Accurate 5744-25 grains-OAL 2.180-.30 cal. gas check-1” group @ 50 yrds.

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CB posted this 24 January 2009

Good Shooting!

Jerry

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Ed Harris posted this 26 January 2009

For the SKS try the Lee TL312-1552R cast of wheelweights, use .30 cal. GC and run through .313 or .314 sizer to crimp the GC only, leaving rest of the bullet unsized. Wheelweight alloy is fine. You don't need to quench them, but no harm to do so as long as you don't size bullets. Starting load is 13 grs. of #2400, increase until cycling is reliable. Do not exceed 16 grs. If you don't want to experiment alot with load development, alot of people simply load 15 grs., go forth and plink.

Other loads which work well are 18 grs. of 4227, 20 grs. of 4198, 21 grs. of RL-7 or 25 grs. of 4895.

73 de KE4SKY In Home Mix We Trust From the Home of Ed's Red in "Almost Heaven" West Virginia

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mosinutty posted this 26 January 2009

Thanks for the load data Ed.

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superior posted this 16 February 2009

My c312-160's shot into 1.5 inches at 55 yards with 25 grains of h4895. (not bad for a 16” bbl paratrooper) The same bullet in my Enfield over 16gr 2400 did even better.

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mosinutty posted this 09 March 2009

Slugged the bores on a couple of SKS's.

Yugo 59/66=.313

Norinco=.312

 

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mosinutty posted this 29 March 2009

Visited the range to test some of my 7.62x39 loads using my Yugo SKS. I noticed that when shooting the cast loads I had a lot of smoke weeping out of the rifle. Some friends told me that the smoke was from the bullet lube burning off? I didn't notice as much if any smoke when I fired the same round through my Norinco. I wonder if the difference's in bore diameter would have anything to do with the smoking issue?

 I purchased some RL7 this weekend and Dad and I casted another 120 bullets. I'm going to load some today and see if I have the smoking issue with this load.

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OleGrunt posted this 09 April 2009

Notice the same phenomenon when shooting a Romanian SKS that i brought back from Vietnam. In this rifle the majority of the observable smoke leaks from the connection between the gas port extension above the barrel and the gas piston housing in the upper hand guard. The actual amount of smoke is not objectionable, and it does not affect sighting; it's just noticable when shooting cast bullets. Probably caused by a somewhat loose fitting at the juncture of the gas port and piston housing. Out of curiousity I taped a paper curtain 1 inch behind this juncture to see if there might be a safety problem but there was no gas cutting or staining on the paper so I think the problem is just caused by the nature of the bullet/weapon design combination. Again, this does not occur when shooting jacketed ammunition.

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mosinutty posted this 09 April 2009

 I haven't had an opportunity to visit the range and test the Reloader #7 rounds yet. I believe you are correct about the type of rifle and ammo combination causing the smoking issue. I've also converted some Yugo mil-surp ammo from berdan to boxer and loaded with the RL7 that I'm anxious to try out.

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mosinutty posted this 07 May 2009

 Ok folk's, Made it to the range finally. The RL7 loads we shot were loaded at 21.0 grains. We first shot some jacketed loads that we had loaded with RL7 to sight in our scopes. The hand loads and the milsurp ammo we shot grouped great at 100 yards. When we shot our cast rounds though we were disappointed some what. We couldn't achieve any pattern of groupings at all with them, They were spread out fairly wild.

 Should I increase the charge? Could we have something else going on? An older gentleman that I have discussions with at the range from time to time told me that shooting jacketed before the cast will have an effect on the accuracy, Is this so? any ideas would be greatly appreciated! Thanks all!:dude:

 

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