Bunny safari

[gishooter]

I'm looking for advice on a small game/mouse fart load. Rifles are a push feed Mod 70 Featherweight in .308 and a Mod 700 in .308. I've been using the following:

LC case
Hornady swaged lead ball .315 diameter with LLA
2.5 grains Bullseye powder
WLR primer.



They work great on grouse, rabbits, and squirrels. Been using them for years when out hunting elk and deer. Very quiet and shoot to the same POA & POI with my big game loads out to 25 yards. So nice not to have to worry about changing my aiming point or sight picture.
But the problem is the balls become unseated very easily. Even contained in a small carrier in an outside pocket. They are also single load only.

I want to load something that can be fed from the magazine and stay seated in the case. My intent is to use them for the kids to practice with the above rifles. Preferably when out bunny hunting this fall.

After reading about various mouse fart loads in the sticky, I'm considering the Lee molds for 311-93-1R, 311-100-2R, and the TL 314-90-SWC. Plan on loading as cast, without a gas check, use LLA and Bullseye.
Which one of these would you recommend? Primary concern is feeding from the magazine. Any suggestions from folks who cast these molds?

[ShooterAZ]

I use the TL 314-90. In fact, I use it in all of my 30 Cals. I size it to .311 for 308W, 30-06, and 30-30. I size to .314 for my Mosin-Nagant. I get better accuracy from it then some of the other light gas check designs, when used with no gas check. It's perfect! Edit to add that they feed through the magazines just fine, including my M94 30-30.

[gishooter]

Excellent! I was unsure if the SWC profile would allow smooth feeding from the magazine. This is a non-gascheck?

[ShooterAZ]

Yep, its a plain base with a very slight bevel. I shoot jillions of them. Just lightly lubed with LLA, and used with Bullseye.

[Texas by God]

TL 314 90 SWC is the Easy button here. Awesome in the 30-30 for me. It also served very well as a turkey hunting bullet when I had .32 H&R Rugers.

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[gishooter]

Very good. Thank you both. Will order the mold tomorrow.

[Texas by God]

I haven't fired these yet but I'm hopeful they are minute of coke can. Unsized 8x57mm brass containing 4.7 grs Bullseye and a LLA coated 00 buckshot. The ugly brass is converted .270 - perfect for play.

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I tried 2 at 40ft offhand. They work!

[trapper9260]

I load some 00 buck in all my 30cals of 30-30,30-06,308 Win and have then work like a 22 lr also use the 32cals boolites and size them down to use in my 30cals.

[Larry Gibson]

gishooter

I've been using the Lee TL314-90-SWC for 20+ years. Prior I used RBs and commercial swaged 32 WCs and SWCs for subsonic "cat's sneeze" and small game loads. I also used GC'd 105 and 118 gr cast for higher velocity loads for varmint but found they really were too loud and too meat damaging for my needs. I found the Hornady 90 gr SWC swaged 32 cal bullet to feed very well in my 308Ws and 30-06s. I then got the lee mould and have shot thousands of them in all my 30 cals and 31 cals.

I genrally cast them out of scrap alloy that casts well. I TL them with a light coat of LLA and let thoroughly dry and push size them through a .314 Lee sizer for my 31 cals. For my 30 cals I then push size them through a Lee .311 sizer. The pre-lubed bullets with lube in the grooves keeps the grooves from sizing away. Another light coat of LLA may be added.

I suggest the use well fire formed cases be used that have the flash hole drilled out with a #31 drill. That prevents cases headspace from shortening in push feed actions after several firings and allows the primer flash to get into the case volume more readily. I usually use odd head stamped cases for this to simply identify them for these loads. I have pressure tested such cases with heavy cast bullet loads using medium burning powders and found no anomalies pressure wise.

I NS the cases, use a Lyman .31 M-die and seat the TL314-90-SWCs to the 2nd lube groove. I recommend loading them over 3.2 gr of Bullseye which will give 800 - 900+ fps. You will find them exceptionally accurate and deadly on small game. Many a ptarmigan, grouse, rabbit and squirrel have fallen to this load in my hunting .308Ws and 30-06s. The only downside is if you let your wife or kids shoot them all you will be doing is casting and loading the ammo.......

[Texas by God]

The buckshot 8mm load looks good so far accuracy wise but a light for caliber plainbase boolit would be better. I'm not aware of one. Back to the Lee314 90 gr, I used to size them to .309" for my 30-30 loaded in fl sized brass but then I found they shot just as well as cast loaded in unsized cases. A light crimp is used; lube is LLA. My Win94 is no longer a 30-30, so I need to cast some up for my Glenfield and Mauser 30-30s and see how they do.

[Texas by God]

I tried the 00B/8mm load at 40 yards and it grouped 3 shots in 2.5"- not good enough for squirrel at that range. Luckily none of our pecan trees are that tall.

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[fiberoptik]

Anyone care to show photos of these bullets your using?

Does anyone think its a good excuse to get an extra rifle just for bunny ammunitions?

Why not! I bought a rifle for the boolit mould I found just so I could use it on squirrels……(5mm)(591)
Was planning on converting to center fire a la 5mm Craig.

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[Kylongrifle32]

Years ago I loaded low velocity loads for my 44 mag Ruger Black hawk to hunt frog with. I would run a .440 speers round ball thru a Lee .429 sizer die. This would swag the ball into a conical bullet with a good bearing surface and a flattened base. Not much effort to pass them thru the die. Loaded them up with 3 grains of Unique. Way more effective than the old speers shot capsules and when fired in the right sunlight you could watch them fly thru the air.

You may be able to lube a .350 round ball and swag it thru a .311 sizer die don't know how much effort it will take to move the smaller diameter ball .040

[NorthMoccasin]

NOE has a .324 130g rnfp mold. It make bug holes at 25 yds with my 8x57R drilling.

[crankycalico]

Resurection time....

Bought myself some powder today good selection as I was looking at .308 win and 8x57 and 7.62x54R. Ended up with the following:

Greed Dot
Red Dot
2400
IMR 4227

Ended up with a bos of hornady swaged roundball .310. They fit great in unfired PPU brass, barely any tension but they don't fall inside a case that's standing up on the table unless I puss them in with a slight bit of resistance.

Is one of those powders at least going to be UASABLE for bunny loads, or am I looking at another 80 mile trip to get some Bullseye?

[swamp]

I use Red Dot in my light loads. Worked up one using the .310 RB in my 7.62x39.
swamp

[crankycalico]

Whats a good charge weight for those roundballs? my powders are slightly different from BE. don't see a 170 grain cast bullet as a bunny load

[swamp]

The lightest was .5 gr. Red Dot and still get it out the barrel. This is a 16 inch MGM Contender barrel. Also used 77gr. RN.
swamp

[rsrocket1]

Why is everyone recommending big bore bullets? The Lee C309-113-F is a perfect mouse fart load for .308 Win and feeds perfectly at least in my Remington 788 in .308. The bare base version is the 3rd from the left.



With 6-10 grains of Red Dot/Uniqe/Titegroup or any of a couple dozen fast shotgun/pistol powders, it will work great in low recoil loads for kids or adults. No need for gas checks, just rub some lube into the grooves before push sizing them through the Lee 309 sizer.

Here are some groups at 50 yards. The POA is marked with an X which is my sighting for 2640 fps 150g SP bullets at 100 yards.

Your challenge would be to find a load that matches your POA without changing the scope settings. The groups tend to move around with different MV's but the group size does not change drastically. Good enough for bunny busting.

[crankycalico]

.310 round ball isn't exactly big bore, the 170 grain could be considered that..

Its going to be, don't even care if I hit well with them at first. As long as they leave the barrel, and don't leave the case in multiple pieces im pretty cool with the results.