I use IMR4227 exclusively for cast anymore. I agree w/ the guy at your range. I don’t think your Unique load has enough poop. In my faux 4T sniper I use Lyman 314299 cast bullet sized to .313. It works pretty good. 1500-1800 FPS is a good range for your Jungle Carbine.

Well, I tried 19 grains of 4227, and 20 grains of 4198. No joy with either one. Still tumbling like crazy at 25 yards. I'm starting to think that I'm going to need a completely different mold, or just give up on cast for this gun and stick to jacketed, which kinda sucks.


I'm not sure why this gun hates these bullets so much. I use the same bullet and Unique charge in the SMLE and my Krag, and it works great in both.

What bullet/mould are you using?

I have seen guys do well w/ cast w/ rough bores. Now, I have found out pitting is not conducive to decent accuracy.

It's the Lee C312-185-1R

Ok. I have noticed a/ Lee their bullet moulds seem to cast on the narrow side. May I suggest the Lyman or NOE 314229. Great bullet that casts true to size. They are heavier than your Lee and maybe a little longer.

Yeah, back when you sent me those bullets to try the Lyman molds were unavailable and I ended up with the Lee. Maybe things have improved since then. I'll do some shopping

Those actually came out of a NOE copy of the Lyman mould. Basically the same thing but, easier to find.

I decided to try paper patching my current cast bullets, and shoved them through a .314 sizing die to seat the patch. It was my first time trying this, and I will say, it's a huge PITA getting them seated in the cases without ripping the patch. But it fixed the problem. I can now make nice round holes in the target with the No5.

I apparently need to get my bullet diameter up to at least .314. I think I'll try casting some more, and double-layer powdercoat them to get the diameter up a couple of thousandths. I've considered not sizing them at all, too, but if I do that I'm going to have to figure out how to seat the gas checks as I typically do that when I push them through the sizing die.

I would find a bigger mold to get them to drop at .314 or.315. They are out there or you can try it yourself and “beagle” the mould out to make it that diameter. People do it and there are people out there that will do it for yours.

I would never do it myself… I would F it up in about 1.54 seconds!!!

Powder coating is a good, quick, and easier choice than paper patching. Lot of the cast bullet competition guys are doing that.

Yeah I've been powdercoating my cast bullets for a while now, but my intent to this point has just been as an alternative to lube...I've never used it to increase bullet diameter. In theory it sounds like it should work.

If it doesn't, I did a little research on mold lapping with a couple of bullets and valve grinding compound...seems pretty straightforward, and thankfully if I do screw it up Lee molds are available and relatively inexpensive. I'd kinda prefer not to modify the mold, though, since it currently drops bullets that work well in the SMLE and the Krag.

Moulds are like milsurp rifles… you always have an excuse to buy another!!!

I cast up some 187s and some 150s yesterday afternoon, and triple-layer powdercoated them. They're between .315 and .316 before sizing, and between .313 and .314 after running them through my .314 sizing die. I double-checked the other ones I had and they were actually .311, so these offer a substantial increase in diameter. I loaded 5 of each weight, both un-sized and .314 sized. Next day off I'll give them a try and see what we get.

It worked! Both the .314 sized and the unsized worked well, the 150s just a hair better than the 187s. The below groups are at 50 yards...not real far, but we were just trying to see if they made round holes. I shot the unsized first (These are my three then my son put two on a different target), then I tapped the front sight a bit for windage put all five of the .314s on their own target target. Now I've gotta load up some more and try them at 100-200yd.

Well, it's not as accurate at 100, at least not with cast.

The 187s:



The 150s (yeah, that's one way down there at 4:30-5:00):



Still, surprisingly accurate with .311 jacketed. I ran out of bullets to load and only had limited ammo (ended up running out), was trying to re-zero and kind of chasing multiple groups with this target. The circles are two separate consecutive 2-shot groups at 100 yards. The other three holes were the initial 3 shot group after shooting cast, and the first round was clearly a flier, which was not unexpected:



This gun may turn out to be a shooter yet, I just might have to suck it up and pay for jacketed.

Well, I have a problem. I kept looking at those No4s on the RTI website and telling myself it was stupid to buy one sight unseen. Then I was crusing the LGS and came across a No4 Mk1* that had been drilled and tapped. They wanted too much for it, and I didn't like the split bolt track, or the stamped rear sight...but holding it reminded me how much I wanted one.

I called RTI and spoke to a really nice lady, who assured me that they could get me exactly what I was looking for. It cost me an extra $100 for hand-select, but that came with a guarantee of a "good" bore, so I decided to give it a shot.

It took a month to ship. I'm not sure why so long, but It's in-line with what they said on their website, so I really can't complain. Then after wasting a couple of days for failed delivery promises from Fedex, it finally showed up at the house. Thankfully they packaged it very well, because the outer box looked like Fedex had left it out in the rain for three days...which they probably did.





It's a No4 Mk1, with a full bolt track and the micrometer rear sight, which I'd requested. Condition is about what I expected as well...it has a little more finish left than the No5, but a bit more rust, especially around the muzzle. It also came complete with a full serving of east-African gak, including bugs. Hopefully those were all fully-dead, or that if not they were finally neutralized by liberal application of hoppes and mineral spirits, otherwise my house may end up being ground-zero for the next pandemic outbreak.









The bore was pretty nasty. It took quite a bit of scrubbing to get all the crud out, but the rifling is still sound (way better than the No5), and half a box of PPU 180gr later and the lands are nice and shiny with just the usual darkness down in the grooves.

We took it to the range today along with the No5 and my son's Garand, and managed this at 100 yards...nothing to get too excited about, but not bad for an abused old milsurp.



All in all, I felt like RTI accurately represented what they sold me. I've got some work left to do to get it completely cleaned up, but the price was cheaper than the LGS, and I got exactly what I wanted. That said, just yesterday a No4 Mk2 showed up on a "local" gun board for the same money I paid to RTI, and it looks to be in pristine condition...had the guy posted that one a month ago instead of now, I'd have definitely gone that route...but hindsight is 20/20.

not a horrible group,


reloads may tighten it up a bit,


No 4 related, I picked up a No 4T last week, with chest, but none of the extras,

quote:

reloads may tighten it up a bit,


No 4 related, I picked up a No 4T last week, with chest, but none of the extras,

Reloads are the plan...I'm one of those crazy guys who buys factory ammo just so I can shoot it up to free up the brass, lol.

Got any pics of that No 4T?

Took the No4 out again today. Didn't have time to put any reloads together, but I did go through another box of that factory PPU. This was the first target out of the gate at 100 yards. Not sure what the deal was with that little guy down in the 8-ring, and I want to just chalk it up to me needing to suck less...but maybe not



Sadly, I couldn't repeat this...My son shot it next and was all over the paper, and then I put up two more 5-shot groups, some of which didn't even stay on paper. I'm not sure if this was pure luck or if the rifle just falls apart when it warms up...it's going to take another range trip to verify.

quote:

Originally posted by 92fstech:

quote:

reloads may tighten it up a bit,


No 4 related, I picked up a No 4T last week, with chest, but none of the extras,

Reloads are the plan...I'm one of those crazy guys who buys factory ammo just so I can shoot it up to free up the brass, lol.

Got any pics of that No 4T?

not on this laptop, thought I had some in imgur,, but nope,

I have some on the shop laptop, will post tomorrow if I can remember,

the scope is a Mk III, and the windage\Elevationis frozen, so I sent it off to a guy that goes by Wheaty on Gunboards and Milsurps to get a repair,
I have 2 others, one with a Weaver in place of a No 32 (bubba I guess) and a No 4 trials converted with a repro mount and scope,


oddly, and as luck would have it, I also picked up loose No 32 Mk 3 with mount, that is like new,

when it rains it pours

sorry for the delay,


https://imgur.com/DSe0Deb
https://imgur.com/aot6GOn
https://imgur.com/9FS91I1
https://imgur.com/QN29k2u

scope not matching the rifle, (most don't)

English made
spent time and got a rebuild in Singapore, then apparently to Canada (maybe) before making to to Central VA and living in a closet for 40 yrs