Home Forums Reloading Bullet Casting Wrong bullet profile?

Recently I picked up a Browning 53, 32-20. Sweet little rifle.

Amassed brass, dies, and an RCBS 32-098-swc bullet mold. Casted up 'a few' up the other day, sized to .313 (+.002 over my bore diameter) and last night, I put together a dummy to set up my seat and crimp die.

Crimped into the crimp groove, chambered fine, but when I extracted the round, the bullet had land marks engraved into it. I didn't feel any resistance chambering it; it fed just fine.

Looks like I may need to try the Lyman 3118/311008?

Thoughts?

I don't see a problem. Maybe you ought to shoot it before worrying about it?

On another point, if it is making you twitch, trim your brass back to allow for a shorter COAL.

You might also get a little mileage by sizing to groove or perhaps only .001" over groove.

Maybe put some brandy in your second cup of Joe?

Engraved land marks can usually be a good thing more so than a bad thing. Shoot 'em and see how they do. Unless the land marks are deeper on one side of the bullet than the other (indicating a crooked start into the rifling) I wouldn't sweat it a-tall. (If you get an uneven 'bite' of land engraving, you have other problems you need to address before consistent accuracy will let you go to sleep at night with a smile on your face!)

I almost wondered about your need to crimp and then I remembered it's a tube fed lever gun. Still, a .32-20 doesn't generate much recoil and uncrimped ammo may work just dandy.

I haven't had the chance to take that batch out and run them through yet.. I am curious to see how they shoot after your comment gnoahhh.

The engraving is consistent around the circumference of the bullet, so runout shouldn't be an issue.

I suppose my concerns were two-fold, firstly being pressure, though the woods loafing loads I am putting together (5-6 grains Unique and 7-8 grains of 2400) aren't exactly hot, or even warm for that matter..

Secondly, is purely from an OCD-related cosmetic standpoint. Ridiculous, I know. If they shoot well, I suppose I will just have to live with it!

DigitalDan, I'm not much for Brandy in the coffee.. now, Kahlua or Bailey's Irish Cream top off a good cup of Joe quite nicely!

Yer both wet! Irish whiskey, no sugar, no whipped cream, just the whiskey and coffee. Mmm mmm good!

I don't see a problem with those loads being too hot. Could be a recipe for great accuracy.

most people who shoot cast rifle bullets, (including me) prefer that there be light engraving marks on the nose. Being able to extract them with out the bullet being pulled is definitely what you want.

I'd say you did it just perfectly!

With jacketed bullets I prefer they kiss the lands, as that is where I get my best accuracy.

We have a winner...........

And then there are those of us who do a little breech seating now and then- by stuffing the bullet fully into the rifling ahead of the separate charged case. Talk about engraving marks on a bullet!

Worse, there are some of us that put a charged case in the chamber after seating a bullet from the muzzle.

There is no engraving like full engraving.

What caliber is that whippy-barreled little pea shooter, Dan?

Ed

You're a funny guy!

It would be 19# of whippy shooting a .40 caliber GG bullet of 300 grains seated on a .38-55 Winchester case. It also provides for breech seating but that was done somewhere between Barry Darr building the gun and my ownership. Funny thing about the chamber is that it is a bit longer than SAAMI spec. I can just barely close the action on untrimmed .38-55 basic brass. The crystal ball tells me this gun is going to be fun.

When life settles down a bit I'll do some proper pics and put up some perforated targets for inspection. I spoke with Mr. Darr about a year or two back and he still had spec information on the build. Was a little dismayed that the range rod had been lost but took solace in the fact that I still had the mould, FM and so forth. I assured him I would have another rod built and will, but I've not shot the gun yet.

For one thing, it had no sights but I've managed to snag the same version of Unertl scope that Mr. D supplied to the original owner. It looks a bit like an interstellar telescope. Guessing the weight is up to around 21# with that glass on deck.

Barry assures me it will shoot better than I can.

A fine looking rifle.

Neat cedar furniture too!

Is that false muzzle rifled? I can't see evidence of rifling in the pic.

It is, and in the spirit common to such contrivances it has a very slight internal taper. The lands are effectively erased at the muzzle end and present in full contour at the breech end, aligned with the barrel's internal geometry.