About to give up on trying to shoot cast in my rifle

[Bullshop]

You could also try 10 grains of Unique, 13 grains of Red Dot, or 16 grains of 2400. If your rifle is not accurate with either of these three powder/loads combinations, something else is wrong. .310 (should be fine). What alloy & lube you are using might help answer more questions or solve problems. I just started using 5744, and so far have had decent results. Still need to do more load development.

ShooterAZ
I am querious about why you suggest loads using 10gn Unique or 13gn Red Dot when Red Dot is quite substantially faster burning than Unique.
That would make the Red Dot much hotter (higher pressure) than the Unique load. If the loads are reversed 10/RD and 13/Unique the pressure should be closer to equal.

[Bullshop]

"""I understand you guys telling him to run slower but 1800?.....in an '06?.....Seriously? We can do better than that, he aint shooting a 30 carbine ya know!"""

True the 30/06 is capable of much more just not with 5744 for powder.
Give them a longer slower push if you want higher velocity.

[geargnasher]

If you want to go faster than 1800 with pinpoint accuracy you need to have a LOT of things really right. Nobody's really mentioned the number-one thing here.

Gear

[RugerFan]

IMR 3031 is my go-to powder with .30 cals including 30-06. I have the same rifle and have had good luck PPing.

[MBTcustom]

I confess, I'm an IMR junkie. I would be trying 4895, and 4831 in that rifle. I like IMR powders because I feel safe reducing them. I have found data for 3031 that is all over the place depending on what manual you are using.

The '06 is too much medicine for cast boolits, that is true, and must be reduced in order to get good accuracy and a starting point from which to build on.
However, there is no reason in the world that you should not be able to get an honest 1.5" group at 100 yards running 2400FPS.
You have a rifle that shoots like a musket. If you are after a target load then I concede that these fellers are definitely steering you in the right direction, but if you are just wanting a hunting load, then you can run it a lot faster and still have fairly good accuracy.

I always come down on the hunting side of things. I started out shooting targets, and then I got into hunting and found out that deer meat tastes better than paper. So now, I shoot targets but I'm not too awful worried about clover leaves at 100 yards (of course I wont turn it down either).

[Bullshop]

IMR junkie!!!! Thats funny!!! I am picturing Al Pachino as Scar Face sitting at a table with long lines of extruded powder before him and a straw in his hand and enough powder smeared on his face to load a couple 06 rounds.
OK all you powder junkies lets see if I can muddy the water a bit by confessing to duplexing the 30/06. Oh boy that aught to do it!!!
The 06 case may be too much case for boolits with the IMR powders in the 4350 to 4831 burn range so think slower. Go over the top way past optimun burn and see what happens with some of the way slow 50 bmg powders and heavy boolits. You know like 5010 and the likes. You might get a surprise.

[youngda9]

goodsteel gives good advice in post #20 !

[jed]

My best load for 31141 is 21 of 5744 and 20 for the 311284. I've tried to push them in three 06's, but had my best success with 4759 at 18 grains. Sized 309,310,311 and get about the same results. I intend to try the different powders as Good Steel mentions, but will have to do a better job of alloying my lead and the challenge to shoot better and faster is a good one. Does you barrel lead and does it have any copper in it?

[Fugowii]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for all the feedback. My rifle is a Rem700 BDL with a Leupold 3x9 and it shoots Jacketed to amazing accuracy. My problem is I like to shoot it a lot and thought since I shoot cast exclusively in my handguns I would move on to shooting cast out of the 30-06. Why I used the 311291 and 5744? I have a friend shooting a .308 that is shooting the 311291/5744 combo and has no difficulty achieving excellent accuracy. It's not a Rem700 rifle. I haven't shot cast before this in the rifle so I'm definitely not at the 'tweaking' point at all. As a matter of fact, getting all my shots in a 8 inch pie plate at this time would probably cause me to go on a bender. Right now they are all over a 2x3 target @ 100 yards. I haven't shot it at 50 yards yet as I only load up a dozen in three different loads at a time.

I tried lighter loads with the 5744/311291 and the primers were backing out on me. I have absolutely no signs of pressure with the loadings I posted. I am going to try the .311" sizing and then if I see no signs of improvement move on to a different powder. I don't want to go to a larger boolit than the 311284 (210gr) and would have preferred to stay with the 311291 as I already have that mould. At this point I am mooching boolits from my friend.

I have no leading whatsoever in the rifle. I even tried not cleaning it on subsequent shooting days to see if if seasoning the barrel might help. Didn't.

Again, thanks for all the excellent feedback. I will keep giving it a go. At this point I need to get it ready for deer season so I will have to sight it in using the Rem Core-Lokt 150's. Gets pricey doing that. I really wanted to use cast this year but I've run out of time.

Again, thanks for all the great feedback. It definitely gives me more tangents to go off on trying to get cast to shoot in this rifle.

[Fugowii]

My best load for 31141 is 21 of 5744 and 20 for the 311284. I've tried to push them in three 06's, but had my best success with 4759 at 18 grains. Sized 309,310,311 and get about the same results. I intend to try the different powders as Good Steel mentions, but will have to do a better job of alloying my lead and the challenge to shoot better and faster is a good one. Does you barrel lead and does it have any copper in it?

I am going to load up a dozen to see how your load of 20 with the 5744/311284 works.
Do your primers back out with this load? Can you tell me what length you are loading to?
What are you shooting them in?

[sundog]

My goto load in '06 is 21.0/4227 for just about any 180-200 grain boolit for ~1650 fps. I've shot thousands of rounds of this load in military bolt matches, and it flat works. N120 and 2400 are both good'uns, too. Make sure the boolit is MORE than .001 larger than bore.

[Ben]

Fugowii


You mentioned that your BDL will shoot jacketed well.
Did you remove 100% of the copper fouling from the bore prior to shooting your cast bullets ?

Very impt ! !

Ben

[Bullshop]

Primers backing out? Are you FL sizing? I would size to not alter the head to shoulder dimention. As added insurance to eliminate that problem I would us an OAL that has the boolit in solid contact with the lands.

Sundog I see that we agree on "the load"

[Fugowii]

Fugowii


You mentioned that your BDL will shoot jacketed well.
Did you remove 100% of the copper fouling from the bore prior to shooting your cast bullets ?

Very impt ! !

Ben

Yeah,

Haven't shot copper in it for about 16 months at this point. Just chambered them last year since I didn't even get a shot at a deer last season.

[Fugowii]

Primers backing out? Are you FL sizing? I would size to not alter the head to shoulder dimention. As added insurance to eliminate that problem I would us an OAL that has the boolit in solid contact with the lands.

Sundog I see that we agree on "the load"

Nope, neck sizing with a Lee collet die. I've got them mated to the lands.

[Marlin Junky]

180-190 grain gas checked boolit, sized .311" or a BCH over, cast of just about anything harder than 20:1; e.g., Lyman#2 or water dropped clip-on WW metal or perhaps even air cooled clip-on wheel weight metal. Some of the latter batches will age to BHN 13-14. Powders to be selected from the following:

4759
4227
5744 (too expensive for my taste)
4198
Reloader 7
Reloader 10x
3031
4895 (too slow [dirty at low pressure] for my taste but others like it)

Lube can be just about anything: BAC, TAC, whatever.

If you can't shoot into 2MOA at 1700-1800 fps under these conditions you need to learn how to cast better boolits.

MJ

[Bullshop]

""""""If you can't shoot into 2MOA at 1700-1800 fps under these conditions you need to learn how to cast better boolits.""""

Maybe and maybe not. Lots of good castings are ruined in the sizing/lubing process.
That might be two other places to look for problems.

[Marlin Junky]

""""""If you can't shoot into 2MOA at 1700-1800 fps under these conditions you need to learn how to cast better boolits.""""

Maybe and maybe not. Lots of good castings are ruined in the sizing/lubing process.
That might be two other places to look for problems.

Very true... assuming you are using gas checked boolits, are the gaschecks going on properly? A little flaring tool is handy in case you're dealing with GC shanks that are a little large in diameter. Given enough force on the sizer handle, you can also bend your boolits, but that rarely happens with a 185 grain .311" cast of something at least as strong as COWW metal.

MJ

[geargnasher]

Lots of good castings are ruined in the firing process, too.

Gear

[mto7464]

Seriously try 2400, start at 16 grains and work up. Your loads I think are way to hot for the hardness of your boolits. Fit should not be a problem. A buddy of mine shot some cast the other day that were loaded full JB charges. Key holed them all over the target. I could tell by the report he had over loaded them.