The Fun Rifle

[HEAD0001]

If you are going to order a barrel for the following parameters.
1. Fun Shooting.
2. Off hand practice to about 150 yards.
3. Reasonable accuracy.
4. Cast bullets only.
5. For an Encore.
6. Not necessarily to hunt anything with-mainly a barrel for practice shooting only.
7. Low recoil, for long range(amount of shooting) sessions.
8. Again-cast bullets only-so the cartridge mut be casting friendly.
9. Probably will mount a low power scope on the barrel.

What cartridge would you choose for the above parameters?? And why if you don't mind. What barel length?? I will be casting my own bullets. I prefer a non-GC bullet. I think I would prefer something larger than 22 caliber. I would prefer an easier to cast bullet.

Is the 45 Colt cartridge a bad idea?? Thanks, Tom.

[mroliver77]

The Colt is great but has a rainbow tradjectory for longer shots. Speeding it up will improve this but recoil can rear its ugly head. .38/357 is a blast to shoot and easy to cast/load for. Very many boolit/bullet styles. The 30-30 is one of my favorites. It has low recoil, many boolit styles, easy to reload and can go from mild to wild. I have loaded 30-30 with a round ball over 2 grain of Bulls Eye for squirrel and rabbit up to the 311284 at 310 grain with a case mostly full of H414 that will reliably kill all but the largest North American game.
Jay

[218bee]

I have similar thoughts and was thinking 32/40. An older classic target cartridge used with great success many years ago. Just my .02

[hunter2]

300 blackout,whisper, etc..., 357, 358 gremlin. All three can be loaded down and UP! Would not get a 357 handi rifle unless you could get it rechambered to 357 max.. Very long throat.

[NHlever]

I'll put in another vote for the 30-30 barrel. It will do most things that can be done with a cast bullet in ..30 caliber with little recoil, and low cost. I shoot 115, 150, and 180 grain boolits out of mine over low charge weights of Red Dot, or Unique (5-8 grains) I also have a 165, and a 170 grain .30 calliber mold on the way. RCBS also has a 150 grain cowboy mold that looks very good. The BC's of .30 caliber boolits are better than the shorter handgun caliber molds, recoil goes from .22 LR like to modest, and the cartridge can be very accurate.

[Doc Highwall]

357 mag because you can shoot bullets that weigh barely over 100 grains to over 200 grains. I have a Browning 1885 Lowwall in 357 mag and I shoot the RCBS 35-200 and Lyman 358315 bullets out to 300 yards with no problem.

[stubshaft]

30/30 Decent trajectory and accuracy. Easy to load and a WIDE selection of boolits.

[GabbyM]

For plain based I’d get a 30 caliber with a slow twist barrel. 1-17” for 125-130 grain bullets. The 30 BR , 7.62x39mm or similar case.

http://www.6mmbr.com/30BR.html#reloading

[rhbrink]

30-30, the 7.62x39 would be great if it wasn't for the real short neck, long necks are better for boolits!

[quilbilly]

Make mine a 32-20. I stumbled into a good deal for a 10" 32-20 Contender barrel some years back and had never had any experience with the old caliber.
It fits every requirement you list plus it is seriously deadly on anything smaller than 70 pounds out to 150 yards. I don't think it matters what barrel length you choose or whether you gas check or not. I found it supremely accurate at any MV from 950 fps up to 1700 fps. with either the 113 or 120 Lee molds since T/C makes the barrel in the 308 caliber and not the historically correct 312. I load mine to an MV of 1450 fps.
Alternative - Of all my T/C rifle barrels, my most accurate with cast boolits is the 7mm TCU using the Lee mold. The barrel is 18"and scoped. On my best seeing days (not as many as there used to be), the 7mm TCU barrel shoots cast boolits at 1-1/2 inch groups at 200 yards (2-1/2" any day). I load it to an MV of 1950 so it is not a hot load. It has been more than adequate for blacktail deer out to 150 yards.

[Papa Jack]

I'd have to say .30-30 also for a do -all type cartridge. If you find that it needs a little more poop at longer ranges, ream it out to .30-30 ACK IMP....simple enough.
It's cheap to shoot, lots of range brass available just for picking it up. It'll shoot most any .30 cal. boolits. doesn;t take a lot of powder, light recoil, fairly quiet report with some light loads. Like the man says, you can easily shoot round ball loads for small game and kids practice shooting...."PJ"

[Mk42gunner]

Since you want to shoot large quantities at a time, with little or no recoil, I would go with something in the range of a .357 Mag or smaller.

Personally, I would go with a .25-20, .32-20 or 32 H&R, .357 Magnum, in that order.

Robert

[HEAD0001]

The other day a guy had a really good deal on a 10" Contender barrel in 32-20. I was about 10 minutes too late on that one. I think it would have been a perfect handgun barrel for a Contender. I am also looking for a 32-20 in a Marlin 1894 for a calling rifle. Especially for raccoons.

I have given alot of thought to the 30-30 alot of you guys have recommended. And I already have a Low Wall in 45 Colt. I also really like the 30-30 case for a couple of reasons. Including the fact that it has a rim, and that brass is pretty cheap and easy to find. I have also thought about the 30-40 Krag as a great choice. But I would probably need a GC bullet for the little higher velocty of the 30-40 Krag bullets. But then I could always load it down a bit, and not shoot the GC's. I am not agiasnst GC's. I just don't want to spend the extra money for a practice round.

What bullet do you guys think would make a good 30-30 bullet for what I want to do?? A 180?? What mold?? Thanks, Tom.

[TCLouis]

My vote is for the 30-30 also.

Plenty of boolit choices, mild plinker to hunting (if you change you mind) load and boolit choice.

110-130 PB or bigger in the 150- 220 range.

Mild recoil . . .


Brass out the wazoo lying around at the range every deer season.


What's NOT to like.

[Doc Highwall]

The SAECO # 301 140gr FP plain base, cheep no gas check 1300-1400 fps.

[357Mag]

.35 Rem in about 14" bbl


Regards,
.357Mag

[John Taylor]

A 32-40 with a 26" gets my vote. I would think a longer barrel would be even better. The higher you can get the velocity with the least amount of chamber pressure will make for a flatter shooting round with less recoil. Longer barrels by nature have less recoil than short barrel of the same weight because the gas pressure has dropped more in a long barrel before the bullet leaves. That's why muzzle brakes are more effective on short barrels guns.
The 32-40 is easy to load for and has proven itself for accuracy.

[Lloyd Smale]

i dont know what calibers they come in but id look at a straight walled pistol round like the 32mag 357, 41 or 44. Any of those can be loaded down to pop gun levels and being staight walled there easy to load with carbide dies and bullet molds are plentiful for all of them.

[Larry Gibson]

I'd opt for the 30-30 also. Easy to load, will do everything on your wish list as good if not better than any other cartridge. I'll assume the twist on factory Encore is 10" but perhaps 12"(?). If a custom barrel is ordered I'd go with a 14" twist.

Atrributes;

cases readily available and inexpensive
dies readily avalable and inexpensive
case has long neck-best for cast
neck sizing cases they will last for practically ever
many, many mould designs avaiable
(I plink with the Lee 90 SWC to 200 yards over 2.7 gr Bullseye for 800+ fps, 150 gr PB moulds readily available and numerous GC'd 160 - 180 gr bullets available for high end use)
.30 cal bullets are easy to cast
many bullets per pound of alloy
multiple powders suitable for any purpose
etc., etc, etc.........

Larry Gibson

[1Shirt]

As usual, would probably agree with Larry and for exactly the same reason. Regardless, if it wasn't a 30-30, it would be for sure a rimmed case.
1Shirt!:coffee:

[NHlever]

Both the .357 Mag, and 30-30 have lots of plain based molds available now that cowboy action shooting is on the scene. The RCBS 30-150 PB looks good to me, and I've shot thousands of the Lyman 311008 PB boolits sized to .310-.311 over Unique, or Red Dot over the past 50 years, and have had a lot of fun with it. They are deadly well past 50 yards, and very accurate. In high school, an old saddle ring carbine that I paid $10.00 for (yea, I know) was my only gun, and I used it for everything with cast bullets since I had all I could do to afford the primers, and powder. Rabbits, grouse, deer, and a Russian boar, or two fell to that gun, and I sure wish I had it now, rough looking bore, and all.

[Artful]

straight case 30+ but not larger the 35 caliber - 32 long, 30 carbine, 32 H&R mag, 32-20, .327 fed mag, 38 spl, 357 mag, 357 max - others 9x19mm, 38 super - if you step up beyond that the recoil factor will kick in (41, 44 mag etc)