I'm obsessed with low power loads.........

[Martin Luber]

7 gr of Bullseye in a 30-06 is awesome and lower quality boolets work well. I think the reduced muzzle blast is the reason a poor quality base will shoot well.

[357Mag]

Guard -


OOOOpps !


Sorry if I misread. A thousand appologies !


With regards,
357Mag

[GARD72977]

Guard -


OOOOpps !


Sorry if I misread. A thousand appologies !


With regards,
357Mag

No reason to apologize. Glad to see so many people enjoy these light loads.

[Texas by God]

I'm going to cast some Lee TL314 90gr SWC tomorrow for 30-30 Win and 30-40 Krag fun. I'm going to give Accurate #2 a try for a few but can fall back on Bullseye or Unique if things don't go right.

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[reddog81]

I have been shooting a 300BO (300/221) since 1998. The first was a 12" pistol barrel with 1/10 twist for big bore hand gun. A few years later I ordered a T/C custom shop 300/221 20" carbine barrel with 1/10 twist. Both barrells are very accurrate. I think a 1/12 or 1/14 twist would work better.

Depends on what your shooting. 1/14 would be fine for supersonic options. For 200 grains at 800 FPS I’d take 1:7 every time.

[10x]

Mention of reduced loads for hunting brings back fond memories of a hunt in the Ram River area of the Eastern Rockies in Alberta. The Blue grouse population cycle was at its peak. A walk through the woods or down the access trail would result in seeing between 50 to over 200 over the course of a day. I had my Stevens Crackshot and 200 rounds of Flobert Patronen CB caps. At 5 to 10 yards it was extremely accurate and had almost zero report. Less than an air rifle.
We had an elk hunter with us who was death on shooting grouse with a 22 (Legal in Alberta) because he believed the sound of the shot would spook the Elk and they would leave the area. I went for a short hunt with the 22 and CB caps and came back with my limit of 10 grouse, cleaned and ready for supper. The Elk hunter saw the grouse and asked where they had cam from since he had heard no shot. Upon hearing my story he said "Give me that gun and ammo" and proceeded to take a 20 minute walk coming back with 6 more grouse for supper.
Blue grouse breasts and legs with salt and pepper fried in butter over an open fire.
After that his day included a hour walk with the Stevens and grouse for every meal.
That hunting trip convinced me that there is a place for a 37 grain bullet at less than 1000 fps with limited report.

[charlie b]

These light loads can be accurate. These are from my .308 using 8.0gn of Blue Dot. Lee 180 bullet mold.



It is really fun at the range to see people's faces. The rifle is a Savage heavy barrel set up for long range. Usually am shooting 155gn at 600-1000yds. So then I put in some of my light loads and the looks from people are funny. It's like shooting with a can. Several have come over to warn me about squib loads Then I tell them to watch the soda can at 100yd as it bursts from the shot.

The range I am at has a steel ram set up at 300yd. Shoot, wait a bit, clang! Makes me laugh every time.

And did I mention how cheap it is to shoot? 900 rounds from a pound of powder.

[bcp477]

Have to say that I share the obsession with reduced power loads. The cartridge that got me into hand loading was the 7.92x57JS (commonly called the "8mm Mauser"). Very close to the 30/06 and I always found the recoil to be unpleasant. Bullet availability was always a problem, too...so that got me into cast boolits...and ultimately, into paper patching. Where I ended up was a 170 grain paper-patched boolit, loaded to approximately 30/30 ballistics. With that, through my old Yugo M48, with a replacement barrel, I could put 10 out of 10 into a 2.5" circle at 200 yards - plenty good enough for me. Also, the wimpy (as some called them) downloaded PP loads did just fine on the whitetail deer I hunted at the time.

I always reasoned that lighter loads produce less wear and tear on the gun, the brass...and my shoulder. And they are easier to shoot accurately, as well. So what's not to like ? I always said that I loaded only up to the point of what I needed to get the job done - any more was a waste.

Even today, when all I shoot is a 20 gauge shotgun, I still do reduced power slug loads for it.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

I like shooting cast out of my rifles. But I prefer staying in the 1650 fps range. I recently loaded up about 350 .308 with gas checked 160 gr. boolits over 17 grains of 2400. Now I'm loading the same boolit over 15 grs. for 30-30. So these are 60% loads. Low recoil and blast makes them easy to hit with off hand and they are very accurate to boot. #2 alloy lubed with 45/45/10.

I had tried some 1000 fps loads with Unique and Titegroup but these did not hold my interest for some reason. They were also very accurate and had the bonus of being plain based loads.

[Woodbridge 30-30]

I like this thread because, unlike higher pressure loadings, everyone seems happy to share their actual preferred load details.

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[robg]

i like to shoot a lot so light loads are the ticket,love shooting accurate loads . people have this funny idea that lead is not accurate .fun to show them they are incorrect.

[Flailguy]

I'm still fairly new to casting and reloading in general but the more I do the more I lean towards light loads.
I almost exclusively use Unique. 13.5 with a 350gn boolit in 45-70, 8 with a 280gr boolit in 44mag, 4.5 with a 130gr in 9mm, 4 with a 120gr in 327fed.
I still occasionally load ruger no.1 for my 45-70, and h110 in the 44 but its few and far between.

[highbrow]

I am mostly a lurker here. Recently have become semi retired and have the time to experiment with light loads. Have been using 5 gr Titewad under 165 gr plain based boolit in 30-30 in my M94 carbine. Good accuracy to 50 yards and essentially no recoil. Bore looks clean after 50 rounds.

[barrabruce]

Charlie b that is really sumpth’n you got going there.

[10x]

These light loads can be accurate. These are from my .308 using 8.0gn of Blue Dot. Lee 180 bullet mold.



It is really fun at the range to see people's faces. The rifle is a Savage heavy barrel set up for long range. Usually am shooting 155gn at 600-1000yds. So then I put in some of my light loads and the looks from people are funny. It's like shooting with a can. Several have come over to warn me about squib loads Then I tell them to watch the soda can at 100yd as it bursts from the shot.

The range I am at has a steel ram set up at 300yd. Shoot, wait a bit, clang! Makes me laugh every time.

And did I mention how cheap it is to shoot? 900 rounds from a pound of powder.

I fondly recall Lee 150 grain Gas check, alox lubed bullets, 28 grains of IMR 3031, sighted in for 100 meters, then using the bottom duplex as a post at 250 meters and hitting an 8" gong 5 shots out of 5 offhand. This was done with a Santa Barbara commercial M98 in 30/06 in front of witnesses. Using the duplex as a post sight put the cross hairs about 40" over the gong .
That was over 30 years ago, but fondly remembered

[charlie b]

Charlie b that is really sumpth’n you got going there.

Yep, that was a really good day. Most of the time they are 1" to 1.5" at 100yd.

And I don't shoot them very often. Most of the time I shoot 210gn bullets at 1900fps and longer ranges, 200-400yd.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

i like to shoot a lot so light loads are the ticket,love shooting accurate loads . people have this funny idea that lead is not accurate .fun to show them they are incorrect.

Way back I had tried some hardcast out of my GP 100 and got bad leading. That kept me away from casting my own, especially for rifle since I figured the leading would be worse. What I've discovered since then is that rifles are easier to get results from than my handguns.

[PAndy]

1150 fps ballpark is about as slow as I can stand with 30-30. They are so quiet it feels like I forgot to put the powder in. 7 grains of american select or clean shot or win wst...and usually a 155 gr cast bullet. I do not go this mild with jacketed bullets in a rifle...weird stuff can happen.

[Krag 1901]

I have a bunch of 92 gr .30 Luger/Mauser boolets left over from my broomhandle and tried them in my .308 with 8-9 gr and 700x. very fun and okay at 50 yds. I'm gonna do tat again until I shoot up all those 92s. these are a plain based boolet so no gas checks need apply at ~1100-1200 fps.
I'll look for some cast .32 100 gr in commercial cast bullets fr hand guns. I think those would do as well. No use casting up my rifle alloy if I can buy them.
I'm thinking that a .327 Fed Mag would be great in a single shot rifle like a small RB or a Cadet. IIRC< Navy Arms made small RB in .357 pistol. That action would be great in a rifle about five pounds with a 20" barrel.

Maybe Ruger should resurrect the small RB action in their Rem line in .327 Fed and .357 Max? Investment casting would make that a very inexpensive piece.

[NorthMoccasin]

The 32 H&R in a contender carbine is ideal for low power, cheap and easy to load fun. Many many molds are available and it is quite accurate. I use bullets from 60 gr to 150 gr . Its FUN to shoot and hunt tree rats with!