1 CAST BULLETS FOR BEGINNER AND EXPERT SECOND ... - Home

snugly fit the bore, and base bands about .310” diameter. If the breech end of the barrel is worn,
the nose and body should be larger. Some barrels will accept bullets with noses of .303"- .304".
Shooting a bullet that is too small in diameter for the barrel causes a lot of trouble. The
bullet must be big enough! Leading of barrels at lower velocities, 1400-1600 feet per second or
below, is almost always caused by bullets that are too small.
Today the conventional wisdom is that the bullet must fit the throat of the rifle. Harry
Pope wrote that the bullet must fit the throat over 75 years ago. The throat is that part of the
chamber between the end of the cartridge case and the rifling. The bullet should be as large as
the throat.
The more advanced cast bullet shooters have molds and bumping/swaging dies made to
form the bullet to the shape and size of the throat, and chamber rifles for this tapered fit of the
bullet to the throat. The rest of us can get good accuracy without leading by shooting big bullets.
THE LYMAN-POPE 308403
This bullet was originally the Lyman 308403, and later the number was changed to
311403. According to Rudi Prusok, the ASSRA archivist, this bullet was first listed in the
Ideal/Lyman handbook in 1927, and was listed until 1957-when the number was changed to
311403.
From the 1927 Ideal Hand Book:
“308403. Bullet designed by Mr. Harry Pope for extreme accuracy in competitive
shooting in the .30 Springfield rifle. Should be used as cast and not resized.
Diameter of first four bands from point .301”, fifth band .303, sixth band .305”,
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