SSN Vet
Member
WDWW cast in a Lee 312-155. (bulk FMJ reload on right for comparison.)
all gas checked and sized to .311 (guessing on this one....need to slug the barell) all were pan lubed with 50/50 and half were lubed a second time with LLA.
Tested Herc. 2400 loads,starting at 14.5 gr, 15 gr., 15.5 gr and 16 gr (which is Harris's recommended max. load). All loads fired in a 16" Saiga 7.62x39 rifle, converted back into it's military config.
Results.....
14.5gr wouldn't cycle the action at all, 15 and even 15.5 gr. would cycle the action fully about half of the time. 16 gr. did the trick and completely cycle every time.
16 gr. did not show any overpressure signs that I could detect. The primers still had radius on the edges and cases looked fine.
I started out at 50 yds. hitting a couple inches low with my 124 gr. FMJ bulk bullets (loaded with AA 1680), and all of my cast bullets loaded with 2400 were off the bottomm of the paper. Raising my POA to the top of the paper finally left a few holes at the very bottom. So there was quite a drop.
No leading observed at all.
Next time I'll start at 16 gr. of 2400 and inch it up a little. I'll also load some with AA 1680 and see how they fair.
Apparently it takes more energy to cycle the Kalasnikov action than the Simonov action, as several threads over on Cast Boolits testify that 14.5 gr of 2400 does the trick in the SKS with this boolit.
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