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Shooting & Reloading - Mausers, Big Bores and others >> Cast Bullets
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450_Ackley
.375 member


Reged: 06/02/03
Posts: 583
Loc: Darling Downs, Qld Australia
Cast bullets for a 348 WCF.
      #183554 - 13/06/11 06:07 PM

Bison-J, a newcomer to Nitro Express and I were at the range today trying various loads. Jim had his newly acquired Browning Model 71 Rifle in 348 WCF today.
I cast him some 220 grain bullets from a CBE mould and he loaded them up with 22 grains of Trailboss, really just to shoot the rifle for the first time.
Quite a surprise but that load chronographed at 1530 fps, quite a bit more than we expected, the cases fell out of the chamber easily and showed no pressure signs at all.
A few 200 grain Winchester factory loads chronographed at a touch over 2350 fps.

Does anyone else here have any experience with cast bullets in a 348 WCF? We would be very interested to hear of your experiences.

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JFE
.224 member


Reged: 03/06/07
Posts: 46
Loc: Vic, Australia
Re: Cast bullets for a 348 WCF. [Re: 450_Ackley]
      #200869 - 28/01/12 12:52 PM

I cast for the 348 Win and once you work out your chamber limitations it's no different to any other calibre. I've got two CBE moulds, both GC designs. I've also patched 338 cal PB cast bullets successfully. This FN design was meant for the 33 Win with a nominal weight of 200 gr.

The Browning I have has no throat at all but the chamber neck is a little long, which might give the impression of a very shallow throat. Both CBE designs foul on the end of the chamber if crimped into the crimp groove. However I use a Lee FCD to crimp the bullets where they will feed, cycle and chamber freely.

I found the heavier CBE mould to be quite accurate, even with the GC sitting below the neck line. The load I developed was using IMR 4064 (old tin). 47 gr worked well and these chronied 2150 fps. I could have gone higher but accuracy fell off. I might try a slower powder next time to try to boost velocity (with accuracy) to develop a load that prints nearer my jacketed load.

The patched 338 cast pill worked well too. I used Veral Smiths glue on patch technique and while time consuming it did work well. In this technique sticky labels are cut to size and stuck on to the bullet. After letting them 'set' for a few days I ran them through the lube sizer (0.350) and then loaded them as per any other cast bullet. I pushed them to near 2400 fps and accuracy was great. A load of 50 gr IMR 4064 produced an accurate load that printed close to the jacketed bullet load I use.

For very light loads you could also size down pills designed for 357 pistols too but haven't got around to doing any of this.

Someone passed on to me a spreadsheet with 348 load data gleaned from a number of sources. If anyone is interested in a copy send me a PM with your email address and I'll forward a copy.

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DarylSModerator
.700 member


Reged: 10/08/05
Posts: 26994
Loc: Beautiful British Columbia, Ca...
Re: Cast bullets for a 348 WCF. [Re: JFE]
      #200972 - 29/01/12 09:27 AM

I have no first hand experience with loading the .348 Winchster - however:

Wolf Publishing "Big Bore Rifles and Cartridges" has an excellent article page 70-74 by Dave Scovill on cast (& jacketed) shooting in the .348 Winchester M71.
This is probably a repeat of a Handloader magazine article.

Scovill's loads hold to 200 and 250gr. bullets.
Scovill's cast loads with RCBS and LBT bullets made 5 shot groups averaging an inch or less at 100 yards using 27gr. H4198. The RCBS bullet of 200gr. was doing 1,721fps while the LBT 250gr. was running 1,672fps. He also experimented filing the case with grex with some of the 4198 loads. His other cat loads were with H4895 to 43.0gr. and H4831 to 63.0gr. Velocities ran to almost 2,200fps with H4895 and just over 2,000fps with H4831..

John Kronfield takes the next 4 1/2 pages to do an article on the .348 Ackley Improved with both jacekted and cast.

Kronfield's data also lists cast loads with 200 and 250's along with 300gr. Hoch bullet.

--------------------
Daryl


"a gun without hammers is like a Spaniel without ears" King George V

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JFE
.224 member


Reged: 03/06/07
Posts: 46
Loc: Vic, Australia
Re: Cast bullets for a 348 WCF. [Re: DarylS]
      #201046 - 29/01/12 09:18 PM

I'd like to have sharper eyesight to shoot 1" groups with open sights !!

Having said that those Browning B-71's are well put together and a lot of owners report excellent accuracy. It's
easily my most accurate levergun.

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greenshoots
.300 member


Reged: 23/05/08
Posts: 204
Loc: uk
Re: Cast bullets for a 348 WCF. [Re: JFE]
      #201066 - 30/01/12 03:40 AM

have no experience shooting the 348wcf how ever i have made 348 into
45/75 wcf and i can tell you it is one tuff brass and after 4 firings
its still shrinking

greenshoots

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