30'06 @ 200 by the 17th

[David R]

I have a project, trying to get my 1917 enfield to shoot 200 yards by the 17th. There is a DCM match and I don't have anything yet.

The gun shoots 13 grains of Red dot behind a 311466, or C312-150 2R pretty good. Av 1650 fps

20 grains of 2400 so far my best.

25 grains 2400, forget it.

I now have some quenched 31141 and pure linotype 311291 I am trying. They both were keyholing with 20 grs 2400.

I have been sizing them @ 310. I tried .308, great @ 50 but nothing @ 100.

The 311291 are just touched by the sizer die. I just started neck sizing the brass.

Today I Loaded 30 and 35 grains 3031, 28.8 of 5744, 26 grs of SR4759 and 25 grains of 2400 behind each of the last 2 boolits mentioned. I have OAL figured out pretty good for this rifle.

I have to sneak out to the range at lunchtime tomorrow and see how they perform @ 50 yards. what ever works best I will load some more and try @ 100 this weekend.

The bore measures .308 X .299 @ the muzzle. The chamber is looong, I have one grease groove hanging out on the 31141.

This gun will not shoot 311644, nose is too small. Tried it many times gave up.

David

[Mel-4857]

David I usually see keyholing when the bullet is too small. Maybe the lino bullets are too hard. In the Lyman cast Bullet Hand book there's an article on shooting cast in the 30-06 by Frank Marshall. He used a heavy bullet(311284) and keep the velocity at 1600Fps for best accuracy. The heavy bullet held on even at 200yds. I've got an 06 that shows potential with the 200 gr Lee. Just haven't had time to play with it much. Good Luck on the project. Mel

[fatnhappy]

Dave
I sent you my home e-mail addy because I've had terrible luck with the PM software lately. I've shot at that Attica service rifle match before. I believe the first order of business, with your long throat, is that you need to go heavy. I have a DC 314299 you can use for as long as necessary and when pressed, I'm sure this board can cough up some 311284's and some fat 30's for you to try.

I also believe you need to slug your throat and possibly change your sizing diameter. Your bore sounds tight but I'd like to see what your freebore measures and go from there. The reason I say this is your 311291 is barely running .310. My 06 experience is limited to 2 rifles, one of which prefers .312.

[Frank46]

David R, got with fat and heavy. If you get the cast bullet association journal, check out what they are shooting on the '17 and '03 and 03A3. A lot of shooters participate in the cast boolit military matches. And a lot of them seem to like either the 311299 or 314299 in any of those rifles. Seems they feel the length and weight are more forgiving and shoot better than with a lighter bullet such as your 31141 or 311291. I shoot the 314299 in my model 27 finnish rework moisin nagant and it shoots great. Frank

[Buckshot]

http://www.fototime.com/0967B9EB2A52A58/standard.jpg

Shot with my 1917 Remington @ 50 yards. Ly 311284, 23.0grs H4198 + Dacron. Group size 1.05".

.................Buckshot

[David R]

Tried em all. I learned a couple of things.

My Enfield told me It likes the 31141 better than the 311291 and High velocity is a bad thing. My shoulder told me It doesn't like the High velocity (2200) either.

My best group was 2 1/4" @ 75 yards with 30 grains 3031 behind the 31141. 25 grains of 2400 behind the 311291 showed promise, 1/2" wide by 3 1/2" string.

One problem with the 31141 is the boolit is loaded so long, it doesn't feed from the magazine well. The flat nose hits the chamber only when rounds 2 and 4 come up on the left side of the magazine. I am going to try to load them shorter.

I am also going to try the 2400 load again with some filler to see if it gets rid of the verticle string.

Also going to work closer to 1600 fps and see how they work.

Getting there slowly.
David

[David R]

Tonight I loaded 50 rounds of 22.5 2400. I tried using one sheet of toilet paper for filler, tried different seating depths and 4 different boolits.

Best 5 shot group, 311291, OAL 3.040", sized .310, #2 alloy quenched no filler. Av 1840, ES 20, SD 7.54. 1 7/8" X 1 3/8" @ ONE HUNDRED yards.

Second best 10 shots, 31141 OAL 3.005, Sized .310, Wheelweights quenched no filler. AV 1800, ES 58, SD 17.5
3 3/4 X 3 3/8. Remove the 2 fliers and its 2 1/2" X 2"

I'm going to try to get the target scanned.

I'm proud of this one.

Thanks for the help and support

Next I'm going to load one hundred and site it in for 200 yards.

Off to the match I go!

David

[David R]

I shot the match today. Just a couple of snafu's. Thursday night I went and shot at 200 yards off the bench. My rifle was shooting right where I was aiming, 6 O'clock in the black on a 6" bull with the sight (site?) set at 500 yards. I had drifted the front site for a good center hit.

Today I went to the match, they gave us 5 minutes for unlimited siters. I was hitting the bottom of the paper. SO I moved it up to 600 yards. I fired 2 more shots (prone) and ran out of time. I kept thinking it was on last thursday. Then I remembered, it was off sandbags, so off hand would be different. So I shot my first 5 off hand, checked em with the spotting scope and moved the site to 700 yards. This put me right on.

Rapid fire sitting was nothing to get excited over, I only got off 9 shots in 60 seconds including a 5 shot reload with stripper clip. Rapid fire prone, I got all 10 off, but sprayed em pretty good.

Prone, 20 shots in 20 minutes. NICE target. Only 3 out of the black, most of the ones in the black were 8 or higher. Score 154 out of 200. NIce centered round group. I was real happy with my self, the gun and boolits.

I was the only guy on the line with a bolt gun and the only one shooting lead. Final score 341 out of 500. I have not shot a match like this in many years. I had a blast. I even finished ahead of a few others. The best score while I was there was 440.

Final load, 311291 cast of quenched wheel weights and 5% tin coming in at 182 grains nekkid, 22.5 grains 2400, WW brass, WW primers, 3.040 OAL. NO steenkin filler.

Thanks for the help. :)

David