I just bought a new-condition single-cavity 311334 on Ebay.

Any information on recipes for this nominally-190-grain boolit in the Krag and .30-06 would be much appreciated.

Regards from BruceB (aka bren Mk1)

BruceB, My Lyman "Cast Bullet Handbk." has loading data for the .30-06, but not the Krag. However, since the nominal wt. of -334 (187 gr.) is fairly close to -290 (208 gr.), I suppose you can use data for the latter in the Krag. For the '06, Lyman recommends 20 gr. 2400 or IMR 4227; 23 gr. IMR 4198; 22 gr. SR 4759; 30 gr. IMR 3031 or H 4895, and 32 gr. IMR 4064. For the Krag with #311290 Lyman recommends 16 gr. 2400; 17 gr. IMR 4227; or 21 gr. IMR 4198. Since your bullet will be a bit lighter, you can boost the IMR 4198 by a grain. That being said, Maven recommends 46 to 48 gr. WC 860 in either cartridge (sans filler); 47 to 49 gr. IMR 5010 with Grex or powdered bran (Grex is better though.) or 14-16 gr. WC 820. Hope this helps, ...Maven

BruceB (aka bren Mk1)

What ever you do DON'T USE THAT MOULD!!!
Immediately box it up and send it to me.

Naw... just pulling your leg. I've had a 311334 since 1969 and you won't get mine unless you pry it from my cold dead fingers.

I've heard that a lot of these are somewhat small in the ogive. Mine was and would give a ogive diameter of .299 until I honed it out to about .3015 (The honing process caused mine to be egg shaped, actually measuring .301X302.)

I would suggest that if yours is undersized that you not hone it out but "Beagle" it instead with a bit of aluminum tape on the nose section of your mould. "Beagling" can give you a slight egg shape on your bullet but it does not seem to hurt.

Using the aluminum tape adjust your mould so your bullet ogive just touches the origin of your lands. Bullet body diameter for my two 03 Springfields seems to be best at .3095.

The load I have currently settled on as my standard for my two 03's is 62 gr of WC872. Velocity is at 2203 fps with a standard deviation of 12. If I do my part this load will stay in the ten ring of a MR-1 target at 100 yards.

The bullet metal I have been using for the last year is Wheel Weights with 10% shot added for the arsenic and about 1% of a bullet enrighment metal (for the tin) I got from GAR several years ago. This metal gives me maximum weight and I have been oven heat treating it to a BHN of 20-22. My 311334 bullets in this metal with gas check & lube weigh out at 205 gr.

I checked my records and have used the 311334 in my Krag, it shot just as well as in the Springfields but I went to the 311284 because I needed to seat the 311334 out too far to work in the magazine.

My Krag loads were 52 gr of WC-872 which gave me a velocity of 2022 fps and a Standard deviation of 17.

As you can tell I am partial to WC-872, Hmm ... I'm down to about 17 pounds of it better get some more, don't want to run out.

I did use some WC-852 (slow) in the 03 Springfields with this bullet (187 gr) out of linotype. The load I used was 45 gr of WC852 which gave a velocity of 2000 fps to 2200 fps. I found in this instance that WC-852 seemed to be position sensitive.

If I raising the muzzle so the powder was against the primer, I got an average vel of 2147 an ES-114 and Sd-38 for 5 rounds. With powder "forward" the velocity was 2000, ES-49, SD-17 for 8 rounds.

Using a 1/2" cube of foam to consistantly keep the powder up against the primer I found that I got avg vel of 2199, ES-45, SD-14 for 20 rounds with "10 ring" capability.

Hope this helps.

Have Fun, JCherry

I bought a two hole 311334 in 1965 (give or take a year). I cast up a bunch of bullets out of linotype at that time. A year or so ago, I dug out the last few hundred and shot them in a Krag. They produced excellent accuracy (2 - 2.5 MOA)when fired over 18/4759. When cast of lino they ogive will lightly engrave on the rifling when inserted into the muzzle. I load them just long enough to feed through the magazine, which does give the bullets a jump before hitting the lands. I could probablly improve the accuracy by loading the bullet out and shooting them single shot, but I am not interested in a single shot Krag.

I recently cast up a couple of hundred from No. 2 and these measure .299 on the ogive and won't engrave on the rifling when inserted into the muzzle. I have not shot them yet.

Being a recent convert to WC872 I receive with gladness some of the other posts here. I might have to try to aluminium tape trick.

I have it on my schedule to try them in my 03A3 but with RCBS 165 SIL shooting so good, I have not got my round tuit. I can't imagine them shooting better than the RCBS bullet.

Bren Mk1,
That is one good bullet out of my 1903. I have one mould in HP and one in normal config. The HP one running about 2000 fps is a great deer killer. I use 36-38 grs of H4895. For a little slower speed around 1800 fps I use 25 grs of 2400 or 27 grs of IMR4198. Both mine drop bullets with noses right at .300 Orygun