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Ever since the 165 gr. 30 XCB bullet came out several years ago I always wanted one for my 30 cal. rifles especially my 30-06 an 300 Sav. It's been a great cast bullet accuracy wise an for longer range shooting as well as a hunting bullet but the initial run of molds were scooped up before I could purchase one and the recent group buy over on Cast Boolits I didn't find out about till it was closed. I know Al always has some overuns so I kept a close watch on his site an sure enough they came up for sale so I ordered one back during the 4th. I've waited about two years to get one.
I ended up buying the 3 cavity gas check version for the price of a two cavity and threw in a top punch as well for my RCBS lube sizer if I want to use it at some point, I mostly shoot powder coated bullets in rifles and handguns but I always test both with identical loads and shoot whats the most accurate. My plan was to use H-4198 to start with an see if I can hit the 2300 fps. velocity range in my 30-06 and see if the accuracy held up at that velocity, there are lots of powders to work with in the slower burn range and alloy combinations to get some excellent results.
I initially cast up about 150 of the 30 XCB bullets, I only had a limited time that day to work with them so I just coated about ten each using Super Durable Clear and Popping Silver Vein gas checked and sized them to see how they would turn out. I cast a random set of samples during the casting process and after they cooled I measure and weighed each set. The bullets across the sampling weighed between 167.0 and 167.3 grs. Two bullets from the mold using my micrometer measured .311" while the third bullet measured .311.5" The powder coating added around .002" to the diameter before sizing and the final sizing was .309" I would have preferred to size larger but the chamber on my Remington is very tight so .309" worked out great.
I finally got out to the back yard range at my buddies house to do some initial testing a while back, I tried several differ powders in mid range and upper mid range loads and they all pretty much shot the same but the H-4198 load gave the best velocity and groups. I ended up settling on a load of 35.0 grs. of H-4198 as my go to load as it shot well at 50 yds. which is a far as I can shoot without driving to a public range which is basically a day trip.
Coated up a few more bullets last weekend. This time I coated one set of bullets with the gas check installed to see if the copper check would take the powder which it did and the second reason is to see if the coated gas check shoot any different with an identical load with the check installed after coating. Some coatings are thicker making installing gas check a bit harder so if the coated check bullet shoot just as well I'll install the gas check before coating. While I was at it I tried a few of my favorite colors on the 30 XCB just to take up some space on the baking tray.
I ended up buying the 3 cavity gas check version for the price of a two cavity and threw in a top punch as well for my RCBS lube sizer if I want to use it at some point, I mostly shoot powder coated bullets in rifles and handguns but I always test both with identical loads and shoot whats the most accurate. My plan was to use H-4198 to start with an see if I can hit the 2300 fps. velocity range in my 30-06 and see if the accuracy held up at that velocity, there are lots of powders to work with in the slower burn range and alloy combinations to get some excellent results.

I initially cast up about 150 of the 30 XCB bullets, I only had a limited time that day to work with them so I just coated about ten each using Super Durable Clear and Popping Silver Vein gas checked and sized them to see how they would turn out. I cast a random set of samples during the casting process and after they cooled I measure and weighed each set. The bullets across the sampling weighed between 167.0 and 167.3 grs. Two bullets from the mold using my micrometer measured .311" while the third bullet measured .311.5" The powder coating added around .002" to the diameter before sizing and the final sizing was .309" I would have preferred to size larger but the chamber on my Remington is very tight so .309" worked out great.

I finally got out to the back yard range at my buddies house to do some initial testing a while back, I tried several differ powders in mid range and upper mid range loads and they all pretty much shot the same but the H-4198 load gave the best velocity and groups. I ended up settling on a load of 35.0 grs. of H-4198 as my go to load as it shot well at 50 yds. which is a far as I can shoot without driving to a public range which is basically a day trip.

Coated up a few more bullets last weekend. This time I coated one set of bullets with the gas check installed to see if the copper check would take the powder which it did and the second reason is to see if the coated gas check shoot any different with an identical load with the check installed after coating. Some coatings are thicker making installing gas check a bit harder so if the coated check bullet shoot just as well I'll install the gas check before coating. While I was at it I tried a few of my favorite colors on the 30 XCB just to take up some space on the baking tray.
