Garand-Cast Lead PC

[straight-shooter]

I've been running the Lee C309-200-1R Cast bullet in my M1 Garand in lead form only with no problems through a couple hundred rounds. I cast some more but this time I powder coated them. Keep in mind this bullet is a bore rider style bullet. Today after firing 28 rounds the 29th got stuck in the chamber and the rifle didn't go fully into battery.

I pulled back on the bolt and extracted the round. Unfortunately the brass extracted but left the bullet in the chamber. I brought the rifle home and poked it out with a brass cleaning rod.

What this is telling me is it's probably not the best idea to powder coat a bore rider style bullet. Makes sense anyway.

I'm looking for others opinions on this hypothesis and also I would like a recommendation of a non bore rider style bullet that is also in the 200gr ballpark that may allow powder coat usage in the M1 Garand.

What cha say firingline ?

 

[straight-shooter]

Ok, I'm going to back the truck up here. I just done a complete cleaning of the M1 Garand I was shooting today. After close inspection I found the chamber to be a bit more dirty than expected. I completely cleaned it out and the rounds seem to chamber and extract much easier. At this point I'm going to chalk this up to a dirty chamber until further tests.

If my notes are correct I found that I neglected to clean the rifle from the previous outing which I was shooting lead with no powder coating. I suspect this may be the culprit.

 

[Beagle333]

I don't have a Garand, but you could get a nose sizer if you keep having trouble and want to use that particular bullet.

Mine uses a standard Redding bushing (available in any .001" increment from .185" up to .369") and I had a fellow make me a special hollow Lyman die to hold the bushing.

Right = a .3015 nose bullet.(before)
Left = a .300 nose bullet. (after)
This example is lubed, but they size great (even easier) after powdercoating too.

 

[straight-shooter]

Thank you for the followup Beagle. I done some more investigating and here's what I found. I smoked a piece of brass with a candle and inserted it. It appears this DEN brass I have must have been fired in a rifle with a larger chamber. Even after full length sizing in a Lee die it doesn't fit at the base. Spring back must be what's happening. Either that or my Garand has a tight chamber.

I ordered a RCBS small base 30-06 die and a Wilson case length headspace gage and I'll for sure find out what's happening here. Either way the good news is it's not the powder coated bullet as I initially thought.

 

[straight-shooter]

Ok well, I was right on both accounts. I did indeed need the small base resizer die and this fixed the problem with the brass and it now fits the chamber perfectly. Unfortunately the bullets are also the culprit. I reloaded a single round with the newly resized brass. The bullet is indeed going into the chamber and hanging up 1/4" before fully seating into the chamber.

This is unacceptable as it would cause a OOB condition like I experienced at the range last week.

Now I could either get a resizer die like Beagle mentioned and size the bore rider portion of these bullets or try to find a non bore rider style bullet.

At this point i'm going to research other bullets as all I would need is a double cavity mold.

Dog gone it anyways! LOL

 

[stubbicatt]

Straight Shooter, maybe look at the NEI or Accurate offerings. Maybe a little more expensive than an off the shelf mould, but they can cut to the dimensions you specify so you could basically duplicate the bullet you are shooting now, if you otherwise like it, but specify a smaller diameter nose rider portion.

 

[T. O'Heir]

Far more likely to be the sizer die being down a tick too far and pushing the shoulders down. Possibly an OAL issue. But it won't be due to painting the bullets.