Bullet weight & mold for 30.06?

[MRGoodwin]

Hello folks! I have been a casting for years but mostly for 45 cal lever guns. I have a beautiful Browning Xbolt medallion in 30.06 that I would like to cast for. I'm sure this has been covered here many times before but just wondering what bullet weight is optimal for cast 30.06 and what mold preferences do you have. I would like to order a mold from Accurate Molds for this rifle but unsure which bullet design would be best for stabilization etc. This will be a hunting round kept inside 200 yards and will likely plink with it a bit as well. Thanks in advance!

[Conditor22]

The 30 XCB NOE mold 310-165-GC is one of the best (if not the best) 30 cal boolit out there

http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/advance...c94fm3&x=0&y=0

[lotech]

I've tried many with good results but have been using only the Lyman design #314299 for quite a while now. Cast of wheelweight (about 200 grains) Lyman #2, or even a little harder alloy and sized in a .311" die. Very accurate bullet in standard form or hollowpointed. I've had similar results with this bullet in .308 and .30-40.

[JM7.7x58]

In my sporterized, 5 groove (slugs at .310”), M1917 in 30-06 I use the Lyman 311291 and 16 grains of 2400. I can put ten shots into a silver dollar sized hole at 75 yards. I crimp in the first lube groove, so that the nose is ingraved by the rifling. I lightly roll crimp so that I can unload without leaving a bullet in the barrel. I install a gas check and size to .311. I tumble three times in 45/45/10.

I haven’t used this load on deer. Others have. More often they use a bit more 2400, somewhere in the 18 grain range. More than a few people I have read will drill a hollow point in this bullet.

Your mileage may very,
JM

[WRideout]

Boolit weight accuracy depends to some degree on barrel twist. According to my Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook, 3d edition, your Browning should be 1 in 10 which is reasonably fast twist. Faster twist equals heavier boolit, which you probably know anyway.

I have been getting satisfactory service out of my Interarms Mark X 30-06 with the Lyman 311284, gas checked and sized to .311". Loaded over 35.0 gr H4895 in surplus military cases.

Wayne

[Dan Cash]

I use this: http://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_...31-215LG-D.png

It drops right at 220 with my alloy and is usefull in both my .30-40 and in several .30-06 rifles. I size the bullet to .303 and paper patch to .311/.312. The addition of a gas check does not seem necessary. For the .30-40 I use 42 gr of Reloader 19 and for the -06, 52 grains of the same does well. This load has accounted for two antelope and 10 or so deer in the last 8 years.

Without the paper patch, lube with a soft lube and launch with 16 to 20 grains of 2400 should give good results. .30 cal rifles don't seem to be hard to make shoot well with cast.

[MRGoodwin]

Dan Cash, I like that boolit. Do you crimp it?

[KCSO]

Optimal for what... Plinking, small game hunting target shooting? Each one has a bullet that will work better than one of the others. For small game and varmits I like a 120 grain RN made for the 30 carbine and for target shooting a 180 grain semi spire point from an old mould made for the 30-40 in the 1920's. For hunting I like the 170 grain flat point from Ideal.

[MRGoodwin]

I tend to like heavy lead, and in all honesty I guess I'm looking for a hunting round to keep inside 100 yards using the heaviest bullet possible. With a 1 in 10 twist, will the .06 stabilize a 220-240 gr boolit? Does anybody have any experience with heavy lead like this in a hunting round?

[brewer12345]

As a data point, my Tika with what I recall as an 11 inch twist has no problem stabilizing a 200 grain bullet. Would guess a 220 grainer would be fine in the Browning.

[Larry Gibson]

I've quite a bit of experience killing black tail, mule deer and a couple elk with 30/31 caliber cast bullets of 178 - 220 gr weight. Your X Bolt should have a 10" twist so it should stabilized the 220 gr cast bullets w/o problem at 1800 - 2000 fps. However. there are other considerations, for me there would be anyway. I would want the bullet to seat not deeper than the top of the GC still in the neck at the shoulder/neck junction. The front drive band should not be too far off the leade. A simple chamber cast would give those dimensions. The bullet nose then with the bullet seated so should still fit within the magazine. A measurement of the cartridge oal allowed by the magazine will give that measurement. The nose should have a reasonable meplat or be bluff shaped to ensure reliable feeding from the magazine with the magazine fully loaded. Accurate moulds makes lots of different designs and one should be close to those needs to fit your rifle. I prefer softer cast alloyed bullets and most often HP the hunting rounds after loading with the 1/8" Forster HP tool. Many recommend WFN bullets but in my experience many times they are not reliable feeders from the magazine, especially the left side of the magazine, with many rifles.

Truthfully, with a velocity in the 1850 - 2000 fps range if hunting deer sized animals you won't see a lot of difference in terminal effectiveness between 170 - 220 gr weight .30 caliber cast bullets given the same basic nose configuration [meplat or HP] unless you plan on taking Texas heart shots and need full body length penetration. I don't take such shots so have never had penetration problems with the softer alloyed HP'd cast bullets.

While I am a proponent of the NOE 30 XCB 165 gr bullet (I helped design it and use it extensively in numerous 30 cal rifles including the 30-06) I have no experience with it on game other than prairie dogs. Cast softer and pushed to 2000+ fps it might prove excellent for hunting. Accurate makes a similar XCB bullet with a larger meplat that might be the better choice for hunting(?).

[MRGoodwin]

Thanks for your extensive knowledge Larry Gibson.

[fcvan]

I've quite a bit of experience killing black tail, mule deer and a couple elk with 30/31 caliber cast bullets of 178 - 220 gr weight. Your X Bolt should have a 10" twist so it should stabilized the 220 gr cast bullets w/o problem at 1800 - 2000 fps. However. there are other considerations, for me there would be anyway. I would want the bullet to seat not deeper than the top of the GC still in the neck at the shoulder/neck junction. The front drive band should not be too far off the leade. A simple chamber cast would give those dimensions. The bullet nose then with the bullet seated so should still fit within the magazine. A measurement of the cartridge oal allowed by the magazine will give that measurement. The nose should have a reasonable meplat or be bluff shaped to ensure reliable feeding from the magazine with the magazine fully loaded. Accurate moulds makes lots of different designs and one should be close to those needs to fit your rifle. I prefer softer cast alloyed bullets and most often HP the hunting rounds after loading with the 1/8" Forster HP tool. Many recommend WFN bullets but in my experience many times they are not reliable feeders from the magazine, especially the left side of the magazine, with many rifles.

Truthfully, with a velocity in the 1850 - 2000 fps range if hunting deer sized animals you won't see a lot of difference in terminal effectiveness between 170 - 220 gr weight .30 caliber cast bullets given the same basic nose configuration [meplat or HP] unless you plan on taking Texas heart shots and need full body length penetration. I don't take such shots so have never had penetration problems with the softer alloyed HP'd cast bullets.

While I am a proponent of the NOE 30 XCB 165 gr bullet (I helped design it and use it extensively in numerous 30 cal rifles including the 30-06) I have no experience with it on game other than prairie dogs. Cast softer and pushed to 2000+ fps it might prove excellent for hunting. Accurate makes a similar XCB bullet with a larger meplat that might be the better choice for hunting(?).

Whenever I have a question regarding such things, I refer to the book of cast boolits, under Larry Gibson, chapter and verse. Larry really is a plethora of useful knowledge.

[bmortell]

I use accurate 31-220LG its like the popular 311284 but modified a bit to be stronger under launch. hunt around 1800-2000 with lead being 2.5% tin 2.5% antimony or 20-1, 16-1 something like that would be a good start

[MRGoodwin]

I use accurate 31-220LG its like the popular 311284 but modified a bit to be stronger under launch. hunt around 1800-2000 with lead being 2.5% tin 2.5% antimony or 20-1, 16-1 something like that would be a good start

I looked at that boolit and I like it. Unsure of powder at this point but I am a fan of Accurate powders....thinking I will try to work up a load using AA4064.

[Dan Cash]

Dan Cash, I like that boolit. Do you crimp it?

Just enough to straighten the case neck. Paper patch won't tolerate much crimp but crimp is not needed with sufficient neck tension. I also paper patch for .30-30 and have no trouble with the slightest taper crimp in tubular magazine Marlins.

[bmortell]

in this thread theres a quickload for all powders in 30-06 to make a 220gr go 2,000fps
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...IMR-4350-H4831
I tried a few in 2 guns, h4831 works good in both, h4895 works good in 1, few others not so good accuracy. but its kinda random anyway what works good in a gun

[Conditor22]

LEE TL309-230-5R 309 3.32 1 1/8 group @ 150 ft over BE

LEE .308-165 SIL 309 1 group @ 150 ft over 2400

LEE C312-155-2R 309 3.19 1 1/8 group @ 150 ft over

[charlie b]

Don't know about hunting but I have been impressed with several cast bullets in my .308 including the Lee 180. IMR4198, IMR4895 and Varget have all been good for me.

What surprised me was the accuracy of the plinking loads (8gn Blue Dot). Less than 1000fps and still MOA or better at 100yd. Really fun to shoot.

Before ordering, slug your barrel to see what sizes you need. Throat, bore and groove dia are all important with cast.

[Shiloh]

I've tried many with good results but have been using only the Lyman design #314299 for quite a while now. Cast of wheelweight (about 200 grains) Lyman #2, or even a little harder alloy and sized in a .311" die. Very accurate bullet in standard form or hollowpointed. I've had similar results with this bullet in .308 and .30-40.

Best shooting boolit for me as well. .312 for the Krag.

Shiloh