Cast bullets through 300 savage in an arisaka?

[2meterB]

I got burned on an arisaka buy, and turns out it's (probably) in 300 savage, and not 7.7. Anyway.

I had an idea.. to use Xtreme 7.62 bullets (123gr, .312 diameter) in 300 savage cases, with a light load, for ~100 yard plinking.

Has anyone done something like this? Has anyone seen 300 savage brass for sale any time in the recent past?

[elk hunter]

Slug the bore and find out what your rifle needs then start looking. You could probably use any of several jacketed bullets but if it were me I would use a cast bullet, cheap side of me is showing.

[2meterB]

Yeah i was thinking plated.

[BigBronco]

Cast and powder coat I would.

[gunboat]

For cast bullets in your 7.7x300s you have two issues -
you will need about 311-314 diameter bullets - depending on your bore diameter --
The short neck of the 300s case will require a balance between the exposed grease grooves and grease grooves being exposed below the case shoulder -

Buying commercial cast bullets that satisfy those parameters may prove difficult -

I would start with lyman 311359 GC, 311316 GC or equal by any other maker moulds. They are both about 115gr.
They usually cast big so could be used unsized and hand lubed -
They are both short so could be seated with only one grease groove in the neck. The other groove would be exposed so could be lubed or not. If the groove is lubed care would be required when handling the cartridge -- a mite messy.
A load of about 19g of 2400 would produce about 1900fps -- A fairly healthy load -
Another possible bullet would be 311466 GC about 150 gr -
It is a loverin style bullet -- lot of grease grooves -- again hand lubed in only the two bottom grooves may work --
Any of the .311-.312 (7.7/303) jacketed bullets to about 180gr would probably be suitable.
You might try at castboolits to get some "as cast" 30 cal boolits then hand lube them yourself -
my ha-penny

[CGT80]

If you use Cred lube, an exposed and lubed grease groove is no big deal. That is how my 30-06 ammo ends up. In the 30-30 I seat with the three lubed grooves in the neck and two clean grooves exposed. Both of the cartridges use 9.6 grains of herco for the 180 grain plain base boolit, and I get 1300 fps from the 30-30 in a short win 94 lever gun. It is great for plinking to 100+ yards and does well in steel silhouette competitions at that distance.

NOE molds are excellent, and a 5 cavity runs $99. Powder coat is a good idea, but I don't like the hassle for rifle boolits. PC is perfect for pistol boolits. The NOE 175 FN (saeco #315) is stamped .311 and drops just over 0.311", so I can use a 0.311" sizer. Good molds will drop a bit over what they are rated. Some Lee molds are undersized, but there are fixes for that, although I don't plan to buy a lee mold again if I can help it.

I am not familiar with either cartridge that the OP listed. Shotgun/pistol powders will give the lowest velocities. Plain base boolits are said to be good under 1300 fps. Copper plated has a limit, most likely between 1200 and 1700 or so fps. Gas checked cast boolits will easily go over 2k fps if the size and hardness are correct. If the rifle is semi auto, the light loads, like I use, probably won't cycle it.

[rsrocket1]

You really need to find out the true diameter of the grooves in your bore. If it's .308, Xtreme makes some 110g RN plated bullets intended for 30 carbine. It makes a great plinker for .308 Winchester rifles with 10g Unique. Before I started casting my 30 cal bullets, I went through a lot of those bullets and was getting nearly 1 MOA with the same 100 yard impact points as my full power .308 loads. That made an excellent practice round for my kids and I never had to adjust the scope for the different loads.

[6mmintl]

I use the Xtreme SKS bullets in my 32-20 and they shoot really well, keep them below 1500 and you should be ok.

On another note for the Arisaka, because of the polygonal rifling form you will need "Hardcast" lead bullets so they do not strip in the rifling, Lee makes a 165 grain flatbase SKS bullet but you can also get up to 180 grain molds from Lee and other vendors, or you can buy from any of the cast bullet mfgrs.

[2meterB]

Interesting, thanks!