30 M1 carbine

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  • Last Post 21 May 2014
locksmith1 posted this 17 May 2014

I have a lot of Lee 120 gr round nose gas checked bullets that have been giving me the blues. Mainly failure to feed from magazine any of the magazines I have (6). Some hang up going into the chamber, some the bolt will not completely chamber & some will fire but not extract. The load I am using is 13.5- 14.0 grains of WW296 ball powder. All cases have been trimmed to correct length. I am wondering about the seating depth of the bullet. I don't have this problem with the Lyman cast bullet 311359. All bullets are cast with linotype alloy & gas checked, sized .308. What say you out there? Bob  

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onondaga posted this 17 May 2014

Linotype is a very hard alloy and will magnify feed problems due to bullet diameter and seating depth.

Like any semi-auto with cast bullets, you have to walk away from length overall recommendations in the books and use the LOA that works in your firearm.

Sooner or later you will find that the largest diameter bullet that feeds reliably in your firearm used with the lightest charge that reliably operates the semi-auto system  will also give you the best accuracy.

I'd recommend alloy no harder than Hardball alloy or Lyman #2, both at BHN 15 hardness for your application. There is also specific steps needed to be taken to determine best bullet diameter for your firearm.

This stuff takes patience and work to do well. Just using recommended bullet diameter doesn't work well all the time and the hard linotype alloy will make bullet fit errors yell at you and trip your firearm up.

My old experience with the M1 Carbine was that mine liked soft bullets with no gas check sized .310” and loaded to minimum charge that would operate the action. I adjusted LOA for function and used a light roll crimp. It took some work to get it right.

Cast does not equal Jacketed and about everything is different for loading.

Linotype certainly can be used in the carbine but size and LOA are very critical with that hard alloy.  Casting your own bullets oversize and sizing them to chamber throat diameter minus  .0005” for the carbine works well. Undersize shoot all over the place and oversize fail to feed at any LOA. Be ready to face that....that is what happens with cast and semi-autos. They take work to do well.

Cast bullets sized at .308 for the carbine can be made to go bang, but that is about it as .308” is generally too small for the carbine with cast. Softer BHN15 cast bullets .310- .311” are usually needed for the carbine to function and hit stuff well.

Gary

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Larry Gibson posted this 17 May 2014

I've shot thousands of cast bullets through numerous M1/M2 Carbines over the years.  I've used both PB'd and GC'd cast and always prefer the GC'd cast bullets. I've shot a lot of them cast out of COWWs, COWWs + 2% tin, #2 alloy and linotype.  All those alloys worked fine.  No reason your Lee bullet should not work. I came early on to just size at .309 but shot a whole lot sized at .308 before that.  I found many Carbines would not chamber (bolt wouldn't close) if a .310 or larger cast or jacketed bullet was used.  Make sure you are Taper crimping and removing the case mouth flair completely.  Also the Lee bullet has a long bearing surface which must be seated deep into the case.  Make sure the GC, when seated isn't bulging out the case midway.  If it is then the lee bullet probably won't work with those cases in your rifles chamber. The bullet shold be seated so the case mouth is well up over the top groove onto the top drive band.  Do the loaded rounds drop easily into the chamber by hand?  If not they should. I use and consider 13.5 gr to me a max load of H110/296 with either the 311359 or the Lee 120 bullet.  Suggest you try 12, 12.5 and 13 gr of your 296.  You might also have to polish and/or open the feed ramp a bit on your M1 Carbine for positive feeding with other than FMJ bullets.

LMG

Concealment is not cover.........

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onondaga posted this 17 May 2014

http://www.castbulletassoc.org/view_user.php?id=7226>locksmith1

 The decision on bullet size is easily solved with a chamber casting to measure your chamber throat and then go 1/2 of a thousandth of an inch smaller for the semi auto.

Lifetime supply  of chamber casting alloy, $14.99 with good instructions right on the product page:

http://www.rotometals.com/product-p/chambercastingalloy.htm

Gary

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locksmith1 posted this 18 May 2014

Thanks for the help. Now I have some new leads to work on. They should have me up & running in no time. This is a great forum ! Bob

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locksmith1 posted this 19 May 2014

Success. I tried the suggestions I got from everyone. Carbine runs just fine. Thanks guys. Bob

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Ken Campbell Iowa posted this 20 May 2014

i would like to hear kinda more exactly what you did to get the carbine rollin' better.

i have used up all my 30 carbine ammo trimming ice storm broken branches ... so much fun i hope we have more ice storms ( g ) . i wuz using ideal 3118 hollow points; terrific performance but slow casting, might go to lee 120 gr.

thanks, ken

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locksmith1 posted this 20 May 2014

I started off by checking case length, trim to 1.288. Alloy used was linotype. Sized bullets to .309 with Hornady gas check. .310 proved to be too large for my Postal Meter. Dropped my powder charge down to 12.5 grs. WW296/H110.Seat Lee bullet deep enough to cover top lube grove. Lube used was Lyman alox. The next batch of bullets I cast will be with a softer alloy. Seems to point of aim. The 14.5 grs of WW296 gave almost 2000 fps on my chronrgraph. Too fast! I also dropped my jacketed bullet load down to 14. grs WW296/ H110. Bob

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Larry Gibson posted this 20 May 2014

Well done.

LMG

Concealment is not cover.........

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locksmith1 posted this 20 May 2014

Thank you LMG, you were spot on. Now I can use up all those Lee bullets I cast. Bob

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Ken Campbell Iowa posted this 21 May 2014

thanks ...h110 is my serious powder also for 30 carbine.

ken

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