LOADS FOR Eagan MX4- 30 ARD GC boolits in different calibers

[tomon]

I picked up a bunch of these that weigh 229gr, and are sized .309. I load for 30-06 in a 1903 Rock Island Springfield, a Remington 700 Varminter in .308, and 30WCF in Winchester 54. Some powders I have on hand are 4895, 4064, 3031, 4350 in IMR, Unique, 700X, Varget, and some others. I want to shoot these at 100 yards in local matches. Ideas, comments, and opinions wanted! Thanks in advance!

[tomon]

Negative on the Rem 700 .308 loads with this bullet! Barrel throat is WAY too short. It fits OK for the Rock Island 03, and next I'll try the Winchester 54 in 30WCF. The 314299 sized to .310 fit perfectly from the neck/ shoulder junction tight to the lands in this rifle.

[tomon]

If anyone would rather not list any handloads here, feel free to PM or email me through the site. One gentleman already did that, for which I am very appreciative! I DO have some IMR 4831 to try.

[Forrest r]

Don't know how hard you can push them being sized to .309"

The throats on the 30-06 & 30wcf are .05" longer than the 308w.

The chambers on the 30-06 & 30wcf are .340" where the chamber holds the necks of the brass. The 308w is .344".

That bullet is probably working in the 30-06 & 30wcf due to worn/eroded throats. That bullet has a 2* taper to it to fill/seat in the leade's of the throat. The 30-06 & 30wcf have 1* 22min angles and the 308w has a 1* 45min angle. All 3 chambers have a .310 ball throat, 300/308 bbl.

I don't use that bullet, I use the mx4-30a eagan. It's shorter than the mx4-30 ard you're using along with a wider body (.312" vs .309") and the nose is also wider (.302" vs .301). Cast with 4 parts range scrap and 1 part mono-type the mx4-30a casts a .3115" bullet with a .3015" bore riding nose that you can feel being set in the lands when you close the bolt.

Just starting shooting the mx4-30a in a custom 308w bbl. Had the chamber cut with a .340" neck in the chamber. Now the 308w mirrors the 30-06 & 30wcf necks/bullet release with cast bullets. That truly is the bad part about the 308w and cast. A .344" chamber at the neck area of the chamber and a .310" ball throat. A .311" bullet and the thicker military brass spec out at .339" in the necks of the reloads with .311" cast bullets. Excellent!!!

You have that same fit with your 30-06 & 30wcf with thicker brass.

If I were you I'd start looking at those eagan bullets in the 30-06 1st & the 30wcf 2nd using the unique powder & do some ladder tests. If you do a search you will find a lot of excellent testing by the casters on this forum using a bunch of different cast bullets in all 3 of those cartridges you listed. Take your time and read a lot of the threads in the search, You'll find/see a common theme with all the different posts/results. This will give you an excellent place to start.

Myself I haven't gotten around to looking for extreme accuracy yet. Figured I chase the high velocity with cast bullets cat's tail for awhile doing head to head tests with traditional cast/lubed bullets vs the same cast bullet (cast from the same pot/alloy) and power coated.

There's some really and I mean really good casters on this website that have have made outstanding reloads for there rifles. A little time in front of the computer will save you a lot of time at the range.

good luck

[tomon]

I picked up a bunch of these that weigh 229gr, and are sized .309. I load for 30-06 in a 1903 Rock Island Springfield, a Remington 700 Varminter in .308, and 30WCF in Winchester 54. Some powders I have on hand are 4895, 4064, 3031, 4350 in IMR, Unique, 700X, Varget, and some others. I want to shoot these at 100 yards in local matches. Ideas, comments, and opinions wanted! Thanks in advance! OK........I went down and got the inventory on powders. Apparently I used the last of the Unique in the gallery loads for my wife's Chief Special Airweight 37. I DO have available,by burning rate, 700X, Bullseye, IMR4756, Hercules 2400, H110, IMR4227, IMR4198, H335, IMR4895, IMR4064, Varget, IMR4320, IMR4350, and IMR4831. I took out the Ball powders. So I will start searching for the low end start for, say, 700X, IMR4895, and IMR4831. I'll set the 229gr. MX4-30ARD tight out to the lands on the Rock Island 03. Now that You know the powders I can put my hands on, If you want to suggest alternatives, feel free!
I'm thinking of starting at 20gr. of the 4895, and/or 35gr of the 4831. I need to do more of a search for the 700X load as I have only used it in pistol cartridges.

[Forrest r]

2400 is your friend

[tomon]

2400 is your friend

I'll look into using it. I've had VERY good results with that powder in my 45-70 Pedersoli Rolling block. I stayed up till 1am reading through the threads and links about CB loading. My problem is......Too many rifles and loads to stuff and/or shoot!

About the 700X.... Maybe start at 10gr for the 06, and 9gr for the 30WCF?

[tomon]

Update.... I finally got to the Winchester 54 30WCF and set a MX4-30ARD bullet into the brass and tried to chamber it. No go on that! The bullet would have to be set so deep through the cartridge neck as to bare the lead in front of the gas check. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that would be a bad thing. So now it's down to the Rock Island '03. It's second in line after the 308 loads I need to prepare for upcoming trips to the range!