Home Forums Reloading Bullet Casting Anybody use the Ranch dog 30 cal 165?

I'm looking for another mold for my Winchester 30-30. I've been looking at the Ranch Dog 165. Just wondering if any of you gents have any opinions on the NOE version Or know of any other 150-170 grainers that might serve as an accurate hunting bullet also.
Thanks, Jeff

Funny you should ask, I just posted a pic of a tray full of them. This is the TLC311 165 grain flat nose. These are from the Lee produced mold sold by Ranch Dog.

I haven't hunted anything with them but they are at least as accurate as the Lyman 31141 .

Looks nice Jim. What kind of accuracy do you get-where did you pick up your mold? Sorry for all the questions, I'm green as the grass at castin and my Lee 170 is all I know and I wonder if we've been properly interduced.

I bought this mold directly from the Ranch Dog website when he was selling them. I haven't followed them since he quit selling them but I guess there are some group buys using these designs on http://castboolits.gunloads.com/

Mine shoot about as accurately as my 1955 Marlin 336 SC will allow. I've gotten several 10 shot groups into about 2" or a whisker less at 100 yards, fired benchrest with a 4X scope. That's with a full power load of 33.0 grains RL-15 which runs right at 2160 to 2170 fps. 19.0 grains of IMR4198 has produced some nice 5 shot groups into about 1 1/4" but velocity was 1670 fps the one time I chronographed it.

As a FWIW, I made a post about "good ol' iron sight" up in the hunting rifle forum where I talked about shooting a .30-30 with iron sights out to 200 yards. I used this exact TLC311-165 RF with 33.0 RL-15 load for that shooting, so it will easily stay on an 8" gong at 100 and reliably hit a 12" square gong at 200, all of that from the kneeling position.

I've never grouped it bench rest at 200 yards with a scope but it might be fun to see what it will do.

Thanks Jim. Just the info I's looking for. What would it be worth to ya for a handful of unsized Ranch 165's?

I'd be glad to send you some but don't have any unsized, they're all lubed and ready to go.

If .309" diameter will work for you PM me your mailing info and I'll send some of those to you. Would 30 be sufficient or do you need more?

Jim,
Thank you. That would be perfect, I resize to.309 also. Would you be interested in some Lee 170 flat nose to try? If so, let me know how you'd like them. PM inbound.
Thank you, Jeff