I hope this thing will give me a 400 gr WW bullet that keeps the gas check in the neck, and the COL of my 416 Rem to 3.575 inches.

The one lube groove location is specified to let me crimp at 3.575, the total number and locations of lube grooves I left up to Veral.

I measured my throat to get the dimensions.

Any opinions?

Since Veral changed his pricing I haven't ordered any molds from him, his molds are good, but not that good. I've been using mountain molds and have been quite happy with them.

As to the design, looks like a good one. I'm not sure that you want lube grooves outside of the case though, it's just an opportunity to pick up dirt and grit and then drive it through the bore. By eliminating the front two grooves, you could slightly shorten the bullet.

The big bores seem to be fairly friendly to cast, you might get some leading if you're going for the full 2400 fps, but @ 2200 it'll be fine.

Paul,

This bullet will be primarily my offhand/rapid fire practice bullet in preparation for a hunt, so the bullets with lube in all grooves will only travel from here to the range.

I want to lube the first two grooves for practice as I want to generate full recoil. So I'm going to try to push these at 2400 fps, hence the exposed lube groove(s). If they lead anyway I will slow them down.

If I ever go hunting with them I can leave the lube out of the exposed groove(s).

I see what you mean about pricing. I should have shopped around. Reckon we'll see if it works.

Don,

I have several LBT molds, and have used many more, and have never had anything bad to say about the molds or the bullets they cast, they all work fine.

That said, I've gotten equally good results with other molds, and for top $ I find balisticast molds to be top notch, and for a very good custom that is reasonably priced, an aluminum mountain mould is my choice. IMHO, LBT molds are now too expensive for what you get, and it seems that he's jacked up his prices based on the high prices his molds were fetching when he wasn't producing them. If he can sell enough of them for what he's asking, more power to him.

As far as the additional lube grooves outside of the case being necessary to prevent leading at 2400 fps, I'm just not sure that they are needed. I haven't done enough testing to proove it, but I believe that lube quality and alloy hardness are much more important to reduce leading, and most bullet designs carry more than enough lube to get the job done. I'd think the 3 lube grooves in the case, plus the lube carried above the gas check would be sufficient for your application.

I'm thinking the use of lots of lube grooves in older bullet designs have more to do with a belief more lube was better than less, and perhaps having to deal with fouling.

Anyhow, looks like a good design and I'm sure you'll be happy with how it shoots. Just let us know how it works.

I never cared for verals shallow lube groves one or two bigger ones have allways worked well for me.