30-30, Saeco 315 PB, Herco and Red Dot load data

[CGT80]

I just got my Dillon 550 back from being rebuilt, by dillon. It feels much tighter now and they replaced my powder thrower (only sent 1 out of 7 that I have) and priming system. I also recently got a new boolit mold, an NOE 311 175 FN PB 5 cavity aluminum (Saeco #315), and I have a few hundred boolits to load up. I was using a 159 RN PB over 6.0 grains of red dot. I have a ton of red dot and about half a 13lb keg of Herco. I run 9 grains of herco under the 159 PB RN when shooting my 30-06. I will have to work up a load for the 315 and 30-06. I got tired of casting one boolit at a time with the 159.

For 30-30, I intend to compete in a lever action sillouette match. For now it will be 50 and 100 yards with the smallest target being a chicken at 100 yards. My 159 boolit did just fine at 1116 fps, and I was able to hit a 12" square plate pretty consistently at 160 yards with this load. I want to do the same with the new boolits. I was thinking of using up the herco first, but I could use either powder for either rifle.

I checked a couple old load books and found that 9-11 grains of herco should be suitable for a 170+ grain flat nose boolit, in 30-30. The load was for a GC boolit, but mine is PB. I plan to start at 9.0 and work up.....maybe in increments of 0.2 grains. I usually shoot 5-10 through the chrono and onto a paper target, then look for good groups and decent chrono consistency.

I lubed the bottom 3 rings with White Label Cred and sized the boolits to 0.311" I weighed a few and they were all very close to 180 grains with lube. The lead is unknown, probably wheel weights and pure and I added 2% tin. The rifle is a Winchester 94 from the early 70's. The sights are iron and the adjustments are not very fine. I can adjust the sight blade with a screwdriver to fine tune it, but I will rely on the notches of the rear sight to get my basic elevation for this load. The match may go out to 230 yards if the club gets some property rights taken care of. I can shoot informally to 230 if I want. I would like to run this load at 230 if possible, but I can also just make up a different load for the long targets, using a GC Spire point boolit that I make, and loading direct to the chamber. In the competition, I have about two minutes to get each 5 round string sent down range.

Does my plan sound good?

Thanks,

Chris

[CGT80]

A photo of my wonderful new..........well, now once used, NOE mold. I love my MP brass mold, but I really like the light weight of the aluminum mold.

89914

[cbrick]

Very curious where your shooting the cast bullet rifle silhouette matches? The ranges/targets you mention have me a bit confused.

Can't help much with your loads, while I shoot a lot of 30-30 I haven't tried those powders. I have that boolit in a SAECO 4 cavity but have done very little with it because of the taper, a real PITA to lube. I also have a full 3 pound coffee can of that boolit given to me by John Adams (previous owner of SAECO) that I think are lino but again not lubed. I use mostly the RCBS 150 and 180 FP's with SR 4759, recently I've been testing Vihtavouri N133 & N135 with good success.

If your load is 1600 fps or under the plain base should work well. I've never tried to go much past that velocity with PB rifle boolits but your testing could surprise you, need to try it & see. I'd be interested in your results.

Rick

[btroj]

Rick, he has it slightly wrong. Chickens are at 50, pigs at 100 for lever action rifle silhouette.

I saw many guys try to do the light load for lower impact at 50 and 100 to avoid holding over at 200 for rams. I just used a single, good load and held accordingly. I held just under the base on the chickens, low middle on pigs, dead on turkey's, and high back on rams. It worked.

[cbrick]

:mrgreen: Yep, I understand the silhouette game pretty well. I ran the Los Angeles Silhouette Club for several years and shot silhouette for 30 years. I was the Chief Range Officer for four consecutive NRA National Championships. My question was that perhaps he had a different place to shoot but he is in SoCal and the only place I'm aware of there currently is the LASC. Thus my wording to see if LASC is correct.

Rick

[btroj]

I know your background. He did confuse me with targets at 50 and 100 but the closest are chickens at 100. If that is true then what are the targets at 50?

Lever action silhouette can be enjoyable. Our club has about 20 regular shooters and in general they are a good group of guys. Not overly competitive but fun. A score of 32 to 34 is usually going to be high overall. No equipment race which I like.

[brotherdarrell]

CGT80 - my 30-30 gets a steady diet of Herco and boolits. I have the same mold and have shot it with up to 10 grains with excellent accuracy with the plain base version. I will just note that my rifle is a single shot and the boolit is likely seated much further out than what you would need for your lever.

Darrell

ps - when I say excellent accuracy I mean close to moa out to 100 yds

[Ben]

This may or may not be of interest to you.

Ben

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?113325-SAECO-315-Plain-Base

[cbrick]

Thanks Ben, I remember that thread, was almost enough to get me to lube some of them. I truly hate pan lubing and the boolit is tapered enough to be a real mess in the lubrisizer. I've heard nothing but praise about how well this boolit shoots . . . Just that lubing thing.

Rick

[CGT80]

Nope, I have it correct. Chickens at 100 yards is the smallest and furthest target so far. We shoot chickens at 50, pigs at approx. 90, and turkeys at 105. They used to go out to 200 yards or better, but we can not have our boolits impact the back of the range anymore, due to where our property line sits. After the above strings, we moved the chickens to 105 yards, instead of doing rams out further. It is improvised to deal with range limitations. They still let members shoot out to 230 for plinking.

The range is West End Gun Club in Lytle Creek, just below Cajon pass. 15 freeway and Sierra exit. The range is private, but the competitions are open to the public. The lever action match was $15 for members. I also shoot LESA and 3gun out there. If anyone is nearby and wants to join me, I would love to meet other boolit casters.

I shot the silhouette match for the first time, about two weeks ago. I was surprised to see some younger guys like me there. The match directors were great. They were patient, and willing to help me figure out the game. The competitors were fun to be around. It was a laid back match, much like just hanging out with your buddies at the range. Yep......they got me hooked. I have been shooting my win 94 and win 54 30-06, among others, on steel plates out to 230 yards. My skills have been improving. I joined the club last January and hadn't had much experience shooting rifles at even 100 yards prior to that. I scored 21 points and tied with two other people. Two people had 20 points, and were the lowest scores. 4-5 people had 22 points and ended up having a tie breaker. The wind was very cold (for our area) and made for a tough day of shooting.

The Saeco 315 was very easy to lube. I have a lyman heater with no thermostat. When the lube is right, I can easily get the bottom three rings filled without it squeezing out onto the top rings. The bases are pretty clean as well. I left the RCBS LAM I set the same as what I used for me previous 159 PB RN. Of course, I was using CRed, so it is stiff when not fully warmed up.

I am using the PB boolits and light loads to keep cost down, and because they are very easy on the shooter. I shot the match with full power loads under 170 Jwords. I had some light loads with me and was surprised to find that they did very well out to 100 yards, for knocking over the steel. I can use a different load for longer targets, if or when we get back to them, or I can adjust the slider on my rear sight, or just hold over. The next match isn't until March, so I have some time to work up loads and practice on my steel plates (12" circle in ar 500 and 12" square in mild steel that I use at 100 and 160 yards, and some 6 and 8 inch ar 500 circles that I haven't tried as far as 100 yards yet).

I will make up some ladder loads starting at 9 grains of herco. I will have to play with some dummy rounds to get my COAL as well.

Thanks for the input.

Chris

[cbrick]

Ah, West End, didn't know they were shooting silhouette out there. Inland did for a long time and I was also the Match Director there for spell.

Since your hooked you should check out the Los Angeles Silhouette Club. Monthly matches year round, the monthly handgun silhouette matches also offer a concurrent club match as cast bullet rifle plus NRA sanctioned Cowboy Lever Action Rifle. Distances are 50 - 100 - 150 - 200 meters. The monthly matches are two days and camping at the range Saturday night is free. There's also a Saturday evening BBQ for those that stay. The next monthly match is next weekend, the 14th & 15th. Always the second full weekend of the month. Lots of perks there including an onsite gunsmith. More fun can't be had with your clothes on.

Jerry Ray is the current club Pres. - jrray@pacbell.net Contact him for more info.

Rick

[CGT80]

LASC sounds like it might be fun. I don't usually go that far for shooting, but a two day match and camping would be really cool. Do they allow travel trailers on their grounds? I have a 21' toy hauler that I don't take out often enough. Right now my dune buggy needs the carbs rebuilt so I haven't gone camping in a long time.

I have the 30-30 lever and a remington bolt action 22 that I could use. I shoot a Smith 460 xvr, which I have lighter loads for, or I could borrow a revolver from my grandfather in 38/357 or 44 mag (I think all his are single action). I don't have any cowboy gear and don't plan to buy any, so I haven't done any cowboy shoots, but the lever action sounds fun. Do they have different events on Saturday and Sunday?

When I get my loads setup and get a bit more comfortable, I will have to check out that match. This month is already busy for me, so I wouldn't have time to head out there.

Thanks for the info on that. I did find their web site and I may contact Jerry down the road.

[cbrick]

No cowboy gear needed, it's not that type of match, it's just called cowboy rifle. Your RV is quite welcome and there is free electric hook up, water at the range but not at the camp site. Free RV dump also but again not at the camp site. No need for the dune buggy. There is also concurrent small bore match, 1/2 size, hunters pistol. The only limit on the guns is target damage so bring what ya got. Single action is the only revolver I ever shoot at a silhouette match.

Rick

[cbrick]

Oh and Chris, I forgot to mention something you may find interesting. Also at Angeles Ranges (where LASC is located) is a full service retail store dedicated to handloading. Everything you can imagine for handloading, tools, dies, powder, equipment & supplies of all kinds. While the public range there does sell loaded ammo, the store is dedicated to the handloader.

Rick