Have you considered paper patching?  It was still state-of-the-art when our Krags were made. No gas checks, sizing, groove or pan lubing. Just get a mould that throws .308 plain base bullets at your desired hardness ( and with paper jackets, wheel weight alloy is as hard as you need up to @ 2400 fps) and patch out to .312 - .315. Finger lube the patch with a Vaseline / Beeswax mix (also waterproofs). It's fully in keeping your black powder and beef tallow experience. 

Just a thought.

I shoot that same bullet (the Lee C185-312-1R) cast from pure WW and run through the sizer at .312 to seat the gas check. The sizer barely touches the bullet. I tumble lube with LLA and shoot over 19.0 gr of SR4759. As Gunboat stated, I too get 1.5" groups at 100 using peep sights.

Slug your barrel first and then choose bullet diameter. You want the bullet at or 0.001 over bore diameter. I've tried this same bullet in one of my 1917s and it does well. The Lee C200-308 shoots better in my '03A3.

Parashooter, not to derail the flow of this thread, but did that bullet in your picture sized to .312 and fired in a .303/.313 barrel show symptoms of leading when fired for real, not a squib load?  Will the gas check keep it from leading even if the bullet is not .001" over groove diameter?

gunboat57 wrote on Jun 11^th, 2013 at 2:04am:

I suspect you may have fallen prey to the popular myth that undersize cast bullets cause leading via some "hot jet of flame" squirting past the naked alloy in the grooves. I'm afraid that one's as thermodynamically bogus as the idea that undersize jacketed bullets cause erosion in the grooves by "gas cutting effect." (Essentially, the amount of heat in any escaping gas isn't great enough to melt bullet alloy during a very brief trip down the barrel - much less barrel steel. The vast majority of hot gas remains behind the bullet.)

The true causes of lead fouling are complex and poorly understood, as are the demonstrable benefits of the gas check at higher velocities. I haven't had any leading problems with cast bullets in medium military rifle cartridges when loading them to appropriate velocity for the bullet's configuration. Short, light bullets with a high ratio of lube to bearing surface can be driven faster without leading than long, heavy bullets. Hard alloys help avoid leading at higher velocity, but sometimes produce less accuracy than softer alloy at less speed.

I'm new here, but will post a few links to you after I get my mandatory post count in.
Mike

Pentz wrote on Jun 11^th, 2013 at 3:33pm:


I ordered a 314299 from NOE and it arrived so fast I could not believe it.  Very nice design and workmanship.  I have not cast from it yet, but, it won't be long.

I like the 314299 sized to .311. I use it in about anything .30-.31 caliber, usually with 2400 or 5744.
   Just my 2 cents.