It Works! - Lazy Man's Plinker Small Game Springfield 1903 30-06 load

[Dimner]

It works, and it works far better than I ever expected!

We all read tons of small game / plinking load questions for our springfield 1903's or other bolt action rifles. It seems like alot of people load up a 150 or 180gr boolit at a very low velocity and go on their way.

Me? I'm cheap. I want to spend the least amount of money, powder, lead, primers, etc... to achieve this goal. So I want to use something smaller than a 180gr bullet. I want less powder and less lead. But also, I'm looking for a low velocity accurate plinking and small game load. It's got to be quiet enough to not spook the woods and it needs to hit a squirrel at 50 yards every time. Being honest, I'm not inventing something new here. You can find the base for what I came up with in Ed Harris' Cast bullets for military rifles - Small game/Gallery load - But I needed to tweak it to my cheapness, laziness, and accuracy expectations.

So I set out on this quest and have been working on it off and on with another project I'm working on. Well, yesterday, I confirmed the results (because results have to be repeatable) at the range.

Easy to cast
Easy to lube
Cheapest primers I can find
Very little powder
No gas checks
Brass untrimmed
Straight up wheel weights

There are some things I need to work on to make this even easier. Need to test the bullet not being resized and need to test how consistent the velocities are when I do not hand measure the loads. I'm getting 5-7 as standard deviation values, I'm thinking the time savings is going out way the small amount of consistency I give up. Also, will be reducing steps in brass prep. As long as accuracy is the same, I will skip any step I can.

Lazy Man's '06 Plinker Load

Summary - Useful load for shorter range small game hunting or plinking. Very low noise and good accuracy.
Powder - TrailBoss
Powder Charge - 8.2 gr and 7.5 gr gr for accuracy, 7.3 gr for hunting (better trajectory and less noise)
Bullet - Lyman 3118
Alloy - Straight Clip on Wheel Weights
Lube - Ben's Liquid Lube, 2 light coats
Bullet Sized - .311 push through sizer
Brass - Have tried with success: R-P, FC, PPU, Winchester
Brass Length - untrimmed 2.484 - 2.489
Primers - S&B LR primer
COAL - 2.870"
Crimp - None
Brass Prep - Tumbled, Full length sized, Mdie mouth flared, Primer pocket cleaned, Mouth chamfered
Bullet Prep - Weight sorted, culled defects, two light coats of lube

All groups were shot with a 2 groove Springfield 1903a4 30-06. Weaver K4 fixed 4 power scope. Shot from a bench and using front rest and rear bag @ 50 yards.

Description: A4 3118 Trailboss BLL 7.3gr
Temp: 59 °F
BP: 29.98 inHG
Shots
# FPS FT-LBS PF
5 1168 0.00 0.00
4 1159 0.00 0.00
3 1164 0.00 0.00
2 1156 0.00 0.00
1 1157 0.00 0.00
Average: 1160.80
StdDev: 5.07
Min: 1156
Max: 1168
Spread: 12
177737

Description: A4 3118 Trailboss BLL 8.2gr
Temp: 66 °F
BP: 30.12 inHG
Shots
# FPS FT-LBS PF
5 1274 0.00 0.00
4 1264 0.00 0.00
3 1267 0.00 0.00
2 1256 0.00 0.00
1 1263 0.00 0.00
Average: 1264.80
StdDev: 6.53
Min: 1256
Max: 1274
Spread: 18
177738

I'm obviously not the best shooter in the world. Someone could load up 10 different 5 shot groups and show much better (and less) holes in the paper. But the squirrels, raccoons, and occasional grounded grouse wont care a bit.

[Earlwb]

I think it is pretty good. Actually the varmints would care, as since they get shot, they won't like it.
You are pretty much creating or duplicating a .32 H&R magnum or .327 Federal kind of round. Those made pretty good rabbit guns too. The .32's were good varmint and small game guns in their day.

[Scharfschuetze]

Deleted. Double post for some reason.

[Scharfschuetze]

Always a good project, these small game or plinking load in the old Ought-Six.

My 1903 Springfield load has always been the RCBS 115 grain round nose M1 Carbine boolit (COWW alloy) over either Bullseye or Unique for about 1,300 fps. I've bagged my limit of 10 cotton tails with only 12 shots at times with it. Head shoot 'em though as even the light Ought-Six loads will damage a lot of meat if the hit is in the body. In Western Colorado in the 70s one could select his shots and knock off sitting bunnies out to 50 yards or so and the loads (like the OPs targets demonstrate) would easily hold for a head shot.

[leeggen]

I use 3 gr of bulseye with the 93 gr lee pistol boolit in my 1917 06. Larry Gibson and several others have alot of imfo. on doing mouse fart loads or cat sneeze loads. Glad it worked for you.
CD

[Lead Fred]

Yer right on the verge of subsonic also. Opens up all new possibilities

[GhostHawk]

I do the same. I have a 7.62x39 load using the .314 90 grain truncated cone plain base Lee Mold. Over 4.6 grains of Red Dot. It does turn my semi auto SKS into a straight pull bolt like the Swiss.
The good news is brass is a lot easier to find, this round is nice and quiet at the range and hits target dead center at 25 yards when my rifle is sighted for factory loads at 50.

I also shoot the same load in the Mosin with fair accuracy.

[Ithaca Gunner]

I've been doing some-what the same with a LEE 100gr. .32 S&W boolit and Red Dot in the '06 for years. I never thought of using Trail Boss though, sounds like a worthwhile venture.

[JeffinNZ]

I have a similar velocity load for .303 British using that bullet. I used to shoot an area that was heavy in rabbits. Came over a rise one afternoon and happened on a mod of bunnies. By the time the ten round magazine was empty I had 7 rabbits.

[FredBuddy]

Yup. Same boolit, only powder coated.

30-30, 300 savage too.

Only trouble is Trail Boss is scarce.

[3006guns]

Many years ago (late 1960's) a man gave me a handful of 30-06 cartridges with lead boolits. He remarked that he'd been playing around with 32-20 boolits over a light charge of shotgun powder. I had the chance to try them in my 1903 a few days later and found them to be VERY accurate at 50 yards using the battle sight which is calibrated at 546 yards. I was absolutely enthralled..........and did I ever think to ask for the charge? Nooooooooo.........

So now, after all these years and thanks to the OP, I have a new toy to play with!

[Outpost75]

FWIW, in my '03 Springfield the Accurate 31-155D plainbased bullet with 7 grains of Bullseye shoots on at 50 yards with the battle sight. Velocity is subsonic, about 1050 fps. VERY accurate and reasonably quiet.

177934

[Jack Stanley]

Many years ago (late 1960's) a man gave me a handful of 30-06 cartridges with lead boolits. He remarked that he'd been playing around with 32-20 boolits over a light charge of shotgun powder. I had the chance to try them in my 1903 a few days later and found them to be VERY accurate at 50 yards using the battle sight which is calibrated at 546 yards. I was absolutely enthralled..........and did I ever think to ask for the charge? Nooooooooo.........

So now, after all these years and thanks to the OP, I have a new toy to play with!

I can help you with the charge weights for that battle sight 03 . seven and a half grains of unique and a 155 grain bullet and nine point two grains with a 170 grain bullet . I use the Lyman 311466 and 311291 respectively .

Jack

[3006guns]

I can help you with the charge weights for that battle sight 03 . seven and a half grains of unique and a 155 grain bullet and nine point two grains with a 170 grain bullet . I use the Lyman 311466 and 311291 respectively .

Jack

Thank you.......made a note!

[Mauser48]

I like the lee c309-113 on 10 grains of 700x l. Basically the same boolit as that lyman.

[3006guns]

Talk about frustrating! I found a lovely lot of tumbled/sized/primed 30-06 brass in my stash and married ten rounds of it to some 113.5 grain 32-20 boolits and 7.3 grains of Trail Boss. Next we grab my wonderful 1903 and..........

It's raining.......sigh.......well, maybe in a couple of days. Really want to try this load as we have bazillions of Robertson's ground squirrels up in my area. They're real pests and a .22 is the normal medicine. When you can find ammo...........

[DerekP Houston]

great, now I've got a new mold to add to my list of "christmas goodies". I like the idea of using a light weight bullet in my 30-06, will keep my search for that lyman mold saved.

[Mauser48]

;):wink::wink:;)
great, now I've got a new mold to add to my list of "christmas goodies". I like the idea of using a light weight bullet in my 30-06, will keep my search for that lyman mold saved.

It's on clearance at midway

[DerekP Houston]

;):wink::wink:;)

It's on clearance at midway

lmao you enabler, lyman 115 gr 32-30 mold en route now :D. Guess I'll have to bust out the 30-06 this winter!

[mrrch]

I've been shooting the Lee 93 grain boolit with 700x and it works great on tin cans so far.

[gnoahhh]

I've been shooting #311241 150RNPB over 7gr. Bullseye or Red Dot, .30-06, since around 1970. POI with the '03 battle sight reflects y'all's results. Loading the same bullet over 6gr. in the .30-40, 5gr. in .30-30, rounds things out. I couldn't tell you how many thousands of them I fired over the years.

Even as cheap as it is to shoot them, I like to save even more money by shooting lead in the Hornet. Instead of 1000 shots out of a pound of powder, 2500 shots is even better, with a bullet that uses only 1/3 the the amount of lead.

[Texas by God]

I would like to borrow your rifle and a coffee can of those reloads. I'll return it when the ammo's gone. Maybe. Best, Thomas.

[Dimner]

Yer right on the verge of subsonic also. Opens up all new possibilities

I tested these rounds at subsonic, and they gave pretty good accuracy. There were two reasons I chose against it for my hunting application. The muzzle sound was close to as loud as a sonic crack, so I was not gaining any benefit with the reduced load. Also, the drop of the bullet was too much for my liking. I wanted something flatter shooting in the 15-50 yard range since I will have to be flexible with my distance while hunting. If I was just using this for target practice, I would go slower/subsonic. The 3118 also does very well with 6.8gr of trailboss, that had me below the sound barrier at around 1080fps. 1.1" group


lmao you enabler, lyman 115 gr 32-30 mold en route now :D. Guess I'll have to bust out the 30-06 this winter!

That's a great snag and good price. I'm using an old Ideal single cavity version of this mold. takes forever to make a batch of bullets. At one point I broke down and cast for 4 hours straight and now have a supply of around 250-300 of them. When that runs out, I'll be getting a multi cavity version from NOE.


Thanks for all the other replies everyone. I know trailboss can kind of be scarce. I was able to get a 5 pound jug this summer so I am set for a very long time.

I have had good luck with reduced loads in the 30-30. I figured it was always a little easier getting these small bullets to work well in the 30-30. For the 30-06 I was surprised that a bullet without alot of bearing surface like the 3118 would do so well. Especially a plain based bullet.

In my Savage 24 30-30/20ga I have had great success with 5.1 gr of unique over the 3118. Gives 1180fps.
I have even gotten the tiny 85gr lyman 313249 to shoot less than an inch with 4.5gr of unique (1200fps). I will try this bullet next in the 30-06... in my ever changing quest to use less lead per trigger pull.

Oh and in case anyone was wondering.... The Lyman 311316 does even better than the 3118 in the 1903. But I'm cheap and do not want to waste the gas checks.

Lyman 311316 8.0gr Trailboss
178082

[jimlj]

Do you have to use any filler to keep the powder in place with these loads?

[Iowa Fox]

I like messing around with light loads in my 24" 30-06 Encore barrel.

[Outpost75]

Do you have to use any filler to keep the powder in place with these loads?

With the fast-burning pistol or shotgun powders no filler should be used. NOT necessary!

[Dimner]

Results are in! Just got back from my annual squirrel hunting canp

This was the perfect opportunity to give the 1903a4 a good testing of these low power "mouse fart" loads. It took me 5 shots and 2 dead squirrels to realize that this rifle was just too heavy for me to shoot offhand with any consistent headshot results. I just could not keep her steady on a squirrel head sized target. Remember, this rifle is for shooting Krauts back in the day. So I had 2 squirrels in my pouch with gut shots.

The good news was that unlike gut shots with 22 hp ammo, the guts stayed in the fur and the squirrels never ran off. In the whole bunch I got over the weekend, I had zero runners. Something that is far more common when I use a 22.

So after two gut shot little buggers, I changed tactics. I stalked (I'm not much of a sitting in one spot and shooting fan) from here to there, gully to spur, and worked to sight in a squirrel using a 3" thick small tree for a rest. Left hand grasping the tree, rifle on the hand. Even though there were a bunch of squirrels about, I still had to be patient and work towards getting a perfect head shots. This little guys were never standing still. I'd cluck at them and squeek and whistle and they would either continue as if they didn't notice or dart off up a tree. But patience won the day and I landed another 3 squirrels in about an hour. Two Heads and one shoulder shot. 5 is the limit in Michigan.

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161010/f6693f2f50baef3a9f6ef39085efe95c.jpg

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[gnoahhh]

Good job!

I wish we had black squirrels around here. I only ever saw one in the wild.

[Mauser48]

Nice shooting! I'll have to bring my 03a3 next time I go ground squirrel hunting. I had so many walk offs last time it was insane. Most shots are around 100 yards too so that doesn't help.

[kawasakifreak77]

Thats awesome! I wanna work up a similar load for my K31. Quiet, plain base pointy boolit for small game.

[Mauser48]

Thats awesome! I wanna work up a similar load for my K31. Quiet, plain base pointy boolit for small game.

Same here. Let me know if you come up with anything!

[Jniedbalski]

I have had good luck in my savage axis 308 using a 100 grain rnfp cast lead for a 32 pistole. I sized them .311and used 3.2 grains of bullseye. I have also hade really good results using the lee 160 grain sks bullet sized .311 using 6 or 7 grains of bullseye. The noe 203 grain can't rember the number for the molsen Nagant also shoots very good with 7 grains of bullseye

[Buckshot]

http://www.fototime.com/9DDC9AF2291A561/standard.jpg

8.0 grs of Red Dot, Lee C309-113F. 1903A1 Springfield, issue sights @ 50 yards. Velocity is about 1450 fps.

When we lived out in the boonies (about 25 years ago) I'd kind of grown weary of shooting ground squirrels with a 22 rimfire, and was looking for something different. While we weren't over run with the vermin, there was enough to be lazily enjoyable from time to time. I'd set up on a camp chair on the horse's wash rack. Me, a cooler with a iced 6 pack, the Springfield and 20 rounds of the above load.

With the ladder up and the elevator at 500 yards all you had to do was 'Hold 6' on mister (or Missus) squirrel at 50 yards and squeeze. Sometimes it was a little tough as about 50 yards away was a darn steep slope, so sitting in that chair would occasionally require some odd contortions to get on target. Obviously the above target was shot off a bench. It was a quite enjoyable time of a lovely warmish Fall afternoon. One of the most memorable shots was a big fat dude sitting on top of a RR tie corner post, up against the hillside. Chirping. King of all he surveyed, obviously oblivious to me. It was a fat one sitting on it's haunches.

The sun was golden, late afternoon getting ready to set over the hills behind me. That squirrel was in the limelight :-) I drew a bead and made a wonderous shot. The crack, and the 'KA-Waap' of that FN hitting. That squirrel somersaulted backwards through a very visible halo of dust created by the slugs impact! I've made some other neat shots before, and hope to again, but that one would have been suitable for a calendar photo :-)

In any event there were several other similar loads that proved just as capable, using SR7625 I'd tried. But I was loading a lot of 12 ga trap loads at the time so had a couple 8lb jugs of Red Dot. Also at that time GC's were NOT $32/k!

................Buckshot

[Jeffrey]

Check post 4 regarding enlarging primer flash holes to prevent case shoulder set back and resulting excessive headspace. http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?294982-cast-flash-hole

[kawasakifreak77]

Same here. Let me know if you come up with anything!

I been looking for a plain base pointy mold, 150gr+ for this task. Probably dedicate my 1911 rifle to it as the chamber is slightly smaller & throat is longer, opening up my options. Only thing is I haven't came across a pointy plain base mold yet!

[Artful]

I been looking for a plain base pointy mold, 150gr+ for this task. Probably dedicate my 1911 rifle to it as the chamber is slightly smaller & throat is longer, opening up my options. Only thing is I haven't came across a pointy plain base mold yet!

I ordered a 4 cavity 155 Ed Harris from NOE - two cavities plain and two GC - give Al a call