.32 pistol bullets in rifles

[gnoahhh]

Has anybody fooled with .32 pistol bullets in .30 rifles? I cast both 98 gr. RN's and 98gr. SWC's for my .32's, but have never sized them down to .310-.311 and tried them at sub-sonic levels in a rifle. I know it's been done and am dimly aware of having read of it, but never tried it myself. Any real-world experience out there? Should I not get my hopes built up? I would be satisfied with beer-cans-at-50 yds.-accuracy. Load suggestions with Bullseye, Clays, Red Dot, etc? Fillers or not? Sorry to pile so many questions into one posting!

Gary

[Reloader06]

My FIL and I played around with a Lyman 98 grn swc in a 30-'06. IIRC it was 7.0 grn of Unique with a magnum primer. They were pan lubed in an old Lee cookie cutter kit for 32 cal. First attempt and boring results. 25 yd groups with battle sights were 1 very small ragged hole. This was with 2 different 03-a3's as issued. Point of aim and point of impact were the same. This is the go to load if you are attacked by herds of wild bunnies! Hope this helps.

Matt

[JeffinNZ]

They go just great providing you don't push them too hard. I use a 311008 in my .303 Brits at rimfire velocity.

Now if you REALLY want a rip, snorter load I used to pull MILSURP 7.62X39 FMJ's and transplant a Hornady .312, 100gr, XTP. Nasty on smaller game.

[Cactus Farmer]

I shoot 31133s (311008 HP) and 311359 in my 30-06..308 and 30-30. Small amounts I of 2400 or Unique to suit my purpose. They are all amazingly accurate and sure death on small varmits around the farm.

[Larry Gibson]

I shoot thousands of Lee TL-314-90-SWCs out of all of my .30/.31 cals with case capcity of 7.62x39 up through the '06 capacity. I cast the bullets soft out of range lead or WW/pb at 50/50. They drop at .314/.315 out of my Lee 6 holer. I tumble lube as cast and then push them through a Lee.414 sizer base first (keeps the bases square. Most of my .31s take the .314 bullet. For the .30s I then push the .314 sized bullets base first through a Lee .311 sized. Lubing them prior to sizing keeps the lube grooves from being sized away. I've found no need to lube then after the intial lubing.

I load them over 2.7 gr Bullseye in the 7.62x39 and 3 gr in the 30-30. In larger cases up through the '06 capacity 3.2 gr works very well. Velocity will be between 800 and 900 fps. 1" groups of 10+ shots at 50 yards are the norm. No leading, little recoil and very low muzzle balst makes them very fun to shoot. The are excellent small game/pest getters too. I use well fire formed cases with these and with rimless cases I drill the LR flasholes out with a #28 drill which then prevents shoulder setback and headspace problems. Many times a case can be used for several firings before any neck sizing is needed.

Below is a 50 yard target with the Mini MK X 7.62x39 and the 2.7 gr load. Conditions were perfect for this 10 shot group. Most 10 10 shot groups run 1 - 1 1/2 " at 50 yards with a good rifle.

The Hornady 90 gr swaged lead .32 cal pistol/revolver bullet is also an excellent factory bullet for these loads.

Larry Gibson

BTW; I mismarked the target; should be WSP primers.

[pmeisel]

Larry, I assume those don't function the action in the 7.62x39 at that velocity.... am I right?

[gnoahhh]

Perfect! Just what I was looking for! Thank you.

No mention of fillers? I'm not a big fan of them, but I'm thinking that with such minuscule charges....

[Larry Gibson]

Larry, I assume those don't function the action in the 7.62x39 at that velocity.... am I right?

No they don't function the action, the Mini Mk X is functioned by "Armstrong".....it's a bolt action:-)

Larry Gibson

[Larry Gibson]

Perfect! Just what I was looking for! Thank you.

No mention of fillers? I'm not a big fan of them, but I'm thinking that with such minuscule charges....

No filler necessary or needed with Bullseye. It ignites quite easily and is not position sensitive, even in the '06 sized cases, unless shooting straight up or down. I've chronographed and even pressure tested (30-30) hundreds of these loads and there has never once been any indication of "detenation" as per the "Wave Theory". I've shot many thousands of them in all of my .30/.31s over the years with nothing except excellent results.

What's an even better benefit is that when a case gives signs of insipient head seperation I consign it to these loads. There is not any case expansion in the web area and I've not ever had a case head seperation with these loads, even with some pretty close to seperated Norma 7.62x54R cases. Thus instead of throwing those cases away I get a whole lot more use out of them.

Larry Gibson

[JDFuchs]

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productNumber=254640 is by far my most used 30cal. Ive done a lot with it in 30-30 and 32H&R. I plan on useing it in my 30-06 hear soon. In both the 30-30 and 32H&R ive loaded it up till it gass cuts with pistol powders (still well below max loads in manuals for gas checked or jacked rounds in that weight range) and reduce it a bit from there and have some fine super light recoil loads

[rhbrink]

Larry are sure about the .3 grain of Bullseye in the 30-30 I measured up .3 of a grain of Bullseye and that ain't much?

[Larry Gibson]

Larry are sure about the .3 grain of Bullseye in the 30-30 I measured up .3 of a grain of Bullseye and that ain't much?

Good catch, should be 3 gr as evidenced by the other loads given. Thanks, I corrected the post.

Larry Gibson

[Mk42gunner]

Quote:
Originally Posted by rhbrink
Larry are sure about the .3 grain of Bullseye in the 30-30 I measured up .3 of a grain of Bullseye and that ain't much?

Good catch, should be 3 gr as evidenced by the other loads given. Thanks, I corrected the post.

Larry Gibson

Yet another reason to always make sure of your load data; especially on the internet.

It is very easy to transpose two numbers and not catch it while proofreading your post. You know what you meant to type and your brain automatically reads what should be there, not what is actually there.

This is why there should be two people present when changing combinations on safes. Don't ask how I know that.

Robert

[bruce drake]

Before I discovered casting boolits, I used to load Hornady's .312 85gr and 100gr XTP hollowpoints for my No4 Mk1 Enfield (303 Brit) with 8gr of Red Dot behind them.

That load was awesome for accuracy at 50 and 100 yards. Now I load my 303 Brit rifles with Lyman's 130gr plain base 311410 with that same 8gr loading.

[Lloyd Smale]

My favorte two are the ballistic cast 120swcgc and the lbt 115rfgc. Ive pushed those bullets to well over 2000 in the 3030. At around 2500 they hit rocks with real athourity. I usually size them to 309 in the star as is lube them and then take them and tumble lube them too. Cast out of linotype i havent had any leading it my 16 inch tc carbine or 24 inch marlin at those speeds. Lost all my load data in the fire but i believe i was using re7 to do it.

[AviatorTroy]

I shoot the Lee 311-100-2R out of almost any .30 caliber ish rifle all the time. No need to size, just load up with anywhere between 3-6 gr of Bullseye and have fun, its about like shooting a .22LR and seems to be quite accurate as well.

[fgd135]

I have to concur with all these comments. I shoot 98 grain swc in Mosins and other .30 cal rifles all the time. I've used light loads of Unique, Red Dot, etc., and in every instance, accuracy is superb out to 50 yards or so, and recoil is nil.
This is my favorite load in Mosin carbines, making most of them tack drivers at 15 and 25 yards.
Cases last forever.
Fwiw, I use the same .313" swc in my Nagant revolvers. 2.5 grains of Red Dot in reformed .32-20 cases produces an excellent load for these goofy pistols.

[excavman]

Years ago I loaded some 80 gr JHP .310 pistol bullets over a case full of 4064 in a 7.7 I had at the time. I guess-timated the velocity at 4000+. The bullets virtually disappeared on contact with a gallon can of water, didn't do the can any good either.

Larry

[Thumbcocker]

I use the soup can, sans gas check, over red dot in charges similar to Larry's and get good accuracy in 30-30 and .30-40.

[Guesser]

I have used a 311316 GC in 30-30 for many years, great bullet and will cycle thru a lever gun and a bolt gun, had a little trouble getting it to work smoothly thru a Savage Model 170 pump gun. Very accurate but did not want to feed out of the magazine, the Savage was picky!!!!!