Nose Sizing for .30-30 Ruger No. 1

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  • Last Post 19 August 2020
alphabrass posted this 18 August 2020

Greetings,

My Ruger No. 1 in .30-30 has the typical very short to non-existent throat.  Normal .30-30 cast bullets such as the RCBS .30-150-CM and Lyman 311041 will not chamber without significant force or seated deeper than desirable.  They also did not nose size so well with the Noe sizing die as a ring of displaced metal formed at the junction of nose and shank.  Looking through my small collection of molds I saw that the Lyman 3112840 for .30-40 had a good sized relief in the right place.  As I want a plain base bullet it is a simple matter to cut the base off using a small lathe.  Before and after:

I wanted to improve on the alignment of the bullet into the sizing die so made a holder for the bullet.  The holder also allowed the ram to be at a higher position with more mechanical advantage compared to the Noe equipment.  The holder also served to stop the travel of the bullet into the die.  The bore for the bullet is reamed to .3125.

The Noe nose punch doesn't push the bullet out of the die so a new longer nose punch was made.

Imperial sizing wax significantly reduce the force necessary.  The ring of metal created by the sizing sheared off when it was pushed on to the relief groove and is easily removed.

When seated to just below the relief groove they chamber and extract easily.  These bullets are Lyman #2 alloy.  I have not shot them yet.  The next step will be to improve the concentricity between the nose and shank, about .002 now.

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Spindrift posted this 19 August 2020

Very interesting and impressive work, alphabrass!

I have some limited uses of the nose sizer myself, and have encountered the same limitations as you describe. But I have never combined it with a bullet with such a relief groove, however. 

Good luck with your load development, and please keep us posted on your results!

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Squid Boy posted this 19 August 2020

Interesting method you employ and I would like to see the follow-up shooting too. How much are you taking off the nose? I have a similar situation but need to go down .008" Thanks, Squid 

"Squid Pro Quo"

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alphabrass posted this 19 August 2020

Thank you for the kind words.  I'm happy to have kindred souls to be able to share my work with.  Time spent in the shop, at the loading bench, or at the range is great.  I'm fortunate to be able to do so.  Now if the temps in the desert southwest would cool a bit!  Lows are mid-eighties with more humidity than usual.

As cast the bullet nose runs .2990-.2995.  I'm using a Noe .298 nose die.  After sizing they are .2981-.2985, so a nominal reduction of .001.  I was surprised by the amount of force needed to achieve this reduction.

alphabrass

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