Reduced 30-06 for plinking and deer hunting.

[Bazoo]

I have a savage 110 in 30-06 I'm wanting to shoot cast with. Id like some suggestions as to where to start so I don't waste lots of time and components.

My goal is to get slightly less than or close to 30-30 level loads for plinking and maybe deer hunting. I'd like all the accuracy I can get, but 2"-2.5" at 100 would suffice if it comes easy. Trajectory is important in that I want my scope to zero. No iron sights.

I have for bullets
Lyman 31141
Lee 309-150-F
Both with gas checks and lube sized to .3095 and of WW+Sn alloy. My calipers show a sized bullet over .309 but less than .310. It's the only 30 caliber sizer I have but I could get others if it's the deciding factor.

Powder
3031
IMR 4227
Unique
Bullseye

I've done some research on this and I have some questions in regards to things Ive read.

I find lots of people using 4895 which I don't have. So I'm looking first at 3031. I'm game for pistol powders though if it will give acceptable accuracy and trajectory. I don't want to use a filler if I can avoid it. One because I've not done it before, but also ill have to source it. And because it's an extra step.

I see suggestions of seating the bullet further out for a longer OAL. I don't want any exposed grease. Can I get by with only greasing the lower groove? Can I get the accuracy level I'm looking for by seating near the crimp groove?

Crimping, I normally crimp everything. Can I get the accuracy I'm looking for with any amount of crimp? Or should I just forget crimping?

Trajectory, what can I expect? I ain't getting into stuff like expensive scopes with huge amounts of adjustment or shimmed or beveled bases.

I appreciate any suggestions as to direction to start and links to threads germane to my query.

Bazoo

[richhodg66]

If you're limited to those powders, I'd work with Unique, start at about 12 grains and work up slowly til you get what you want. Lots of data out there.

I'd also size them bigger than .309. I personally size mine for .308 bores to .311.

In a bolt action, why crimp? A crimp die may be nice to take any bell out of the case mouth you may have done to facilitate seating, but I think crimping is unnecessary most of the time in anything. Tube magazine lever guns are about the only place I can see it.

If you don't already have a Lyman cast bullet manual, get one. I like the older one from the 70s best (3rd edition I think?) and it can be downloaded for free.

[Bazoo]

Thanks for the suggestion.

I have the Lyman 4th I'm almost done with and the online 3rd edition which I've read.

I am used to loading cast for a winchester 94 in 30-30 and various handguns.

[NyFirefighter357]

Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook - 3rd Edition - 1980

http://marvinstuart.com/firearm/Manuals/Bullet%20Casting/Lyman%20Cast%20Bullet%20Handbook%20-%203rd%20Edition%20-%201980%20-%20Reduce.pdf

[richhodg66]

Ed Harris did an article on having three basic loads for the .30-06. Here's one link to it, you could likely find it elsewhere.

https://www.grantcunningham.com/2012/04/ed-harris-americas-greatest-the-all-around-30-06/

[tazman]

Ed Harris did an article on having three basic loads for the .30-06. Here's one link to it, you could likely find it elsewhere.

https://www.grantcunningham.com/2012/04/ed-harris-americas-greatest-the-all-around-30-06/

Thank you for posting that link. I hadn't seen that article before.
Excellent info.

[Silvercreek Farmer]

I understand wanting to work with what you have, but 2400 has always treated me well. Sub 2" 1800 fps loads seem to be the norm. Trajectory is good enough out to 125 yards or so for deer with no adjustments. Your alloy might be a little hard for good expansion at the longer ranges. You might blend in some soft if you have it.

[charlie b]

Probably some overlap of info but here is the CE Harris article on generic reduced loads.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?13425-Cast-Bullet-Loads-for-Military-Rifles-Article&p=151130&viewfull=1#post151130

[RU shooter]

I understand wanting to work with what you have, but 2400 has always treated me well. Sub 2" 1800 fps loads seem to be the norm. Trajectory is good enough out to 125 yards or so for deer with no adjustments. Your alloy might be a little hard for good expansion at the longer ranges. You might blend in some soft if you have it.

Agree with this ^ 2400 does work well , you should be able to find a similar load with the 4227 you have . And as been mentioned Unique works well also , I've had good accuracy in the14-15 gr range with mid weight bullets

[GregLaROCHE]

I would approach the load needed by the minimum needed for a clean kill on a deer and work up if you want to try to fine tune accuracy. Then use that load for practice/plinking.

To start off right, you should first slug your barrel, if you haven’t already. From that dimension you can determine the diameter boolit you need. Check the forum for how much oversized to make the boolit. Opinions differ. If you need a new resizing die, I strongly recommended the type sold by NOE. You can have many different sizes, for a small investment and experiment.

Next determine max OAL by putting a boolit, of the size and diameter to be used into the chamber, touching the lands. Insert a wooden dowel in muzzle until it just touches the front of the boolit and mark the dowel at the muzzle. Remove the boolit form the chamber, close the bolt, push in the dowel to the bolt face and mark at the muzzle. Measure the distance between the two marks and that’s your max overall length possible, with that boolit. Reduce the length of loaded cartridge you will use by ten thousand or so.

When I was hunting and plinking with .30-06s, I used 3031 all the time. That was years ago with jacketed bullets and I wasn’t going for pin point accuracy.

The article mentioned is quite interesting and worth a read if you haven’t already.

Good luck.

[Texas by God]

I would try 35 grs of IMR 3031 with your Lee C309150F first. You may not have to look farther.

[poppy42]

Bazoo,
Ya need to check out this artical. I’ve used it as a guide to for cat sneeze loads for my 06

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?13425-Cast-Bullet-Loads-for-Military-Rifles-Article

[Cosmic_Charlie]

Make sure to clean all the copper fouling out of your rifle bore before shooting cast. And don't be surprised if cast is all you want to shoot out of it after you try it.

[James Wisner]

Years ago, when the wife and I got together, I built up a 30-06 for her on a FN Mauser.

The load we settled on that shot well for her was 15 grs of Unq under a Lyman 311466 boolit, ( 155 gr ), seated so the gas check was just above the shoulder
She shot one group of 10 rounds that was about 1 3/4" at 100 yds
She even got a couple of deer with that 30-06 load, until I had time to make her up a 257 Roberts on another Mauser.

She never looked back at the 30-06 as the Roberts has a nice Fiddle back Maple stock on it.

J Wisner

[MT Gianni]

If you want to shoot it with 30-30 velocity start with 30-30 load data. You will need to increase it 2-3 gr to get similar velocities due to case differences.

[Jniedbalski]

They Harris article, the loads in it work very well. I have used 130 gr up to 203 gr with 5 to 7 gr of bulseye in a 308 savage axes. The 100 yards they shot great. Another load in my 308 that will work in the 30/06 is 3.2 gr of bulseye. Using the 3.2 gr and a 90 to 100 gr cast pistole bullet sized .311 . These bullets are not gas checked and just lubed with liquid alox or 45/45/10 white label lube. They shoot very good at 25 to 50 yards. JUst like a good shooting 22 lr. This is a very good plinking load

[ShooterAZ]

“The Load” of 13 grains of Red Dot with a 150 or 170 grain boolit really is no slouch, and is very accurate in my 30-06’s. Personally I would go with 20 grains of 2400 though, that one has been a winner for me in the 06 with the same weight range of boolits. 10-12 grains of Unique should serve well too. For an accurate plinking load, I use the LEE TL314-90 boolit sized to .311 and lubed with LLA. 3.2 grains of Bullseye is the ticket in the 06 or 308 with that one.

[Bazoo]

I appreciate all the responses and suggestions. I will read all the links (I did some light skimming).

I would like to say, that the deer hunting is an afterthought, not the primary goal. If I do get into hunting with this I'll likely either soften my alloy or do soft points. My goals for hunting this next season is to take a deer with a handgun, so this would be at least 2 seasons out.

[Winger Ed.]

I've got a 190 GCSP I shoot in my .30-06.

I've burned up a lot of 4198 and 3031 one in it, and it does well.
I've gotten into 'the load' of 13 gr Red Dot recently.
The more of it I shoot, the more impressed with it I'm becoming.

[charlie b]

For lower vel you can also try these.

http://www.gmdr.com/lever/lowveldata.htm

[rtyler8140]

I've been having good results with unique. Going to use the Lee 150F for a deer load and the Lee 170F for plinking. Using COWW powder coated, gas checked, sized to .309. I do a very light taper crimp mostly to take the bell out. These were groups @ 50 yards. The flyer on the 150F was operater error. Respective load data is at the top of the target.

https://i.ibb.co/JqLqhDW/IMG-20200516-150501185.jpg (https://ibb.co/68h8djc)
https://i.ibb.co/T4jktPy/IMG-20200516-145945606.jpg (https://ibb.co/n7dbjQp)