If this topic isn't in the correct place, let me know and I'll repost it in the right spot!
What is your favorite reduced load?
The ones you would put together for rifle or revolver?
Bill
Printable View
If this topic isn't in the correct place, let me know and I'll repost it in the right spot!
What is your favorite reduced load?
The ones you would put together for rifle or revolver?
Bill
6.5 grains of Red Dot under a 250 grain keith boolit, in a 45LC.
I shoot a thousand or so per year of this load.
..............45-70, 12.0 Unique and either the Lyman 292 FNPB or the RCBS 300gr FNGC.
30-06 is 8.0 SR7625 and the Lee C309-113F
357 is 3.0 W231 and most any 140 to 158 WC or SWC.
...............Buckshot
.45-70 or .458 Win Mag -- .457 roundball & 9 gr Unique It's a real zipper, resonably accurate (enough for rabbits and coons), and quiet.
11 gr of Red Dot in basically any military cartridge of the 30 cal class with bullets up to 200 gr.
19.5 grs. of 4759 with 180-205gr. cast gc bullet in the .308 Win.
My Standard Loads, where typical means start one grain lower than shown:
32WS is 30-33 of any of the H335/WC844 variants with the one and only RCBS 170 grainer.
35Rem is 38-40 of any of the H335/WC844 variants with any of the 180 grainer boolits.
308W is 23.0 VeeVee-N120 and the Lee C309-113F.
22-250 is 15.0 VeeVee-N110, or 19.0 VeeVee-N120 and the Lyman 225646.
222 is 9.0 BlueDot, or VeeVee-N105 and the Lyman 225646.
357Mag is 13.0 WC820 or 13.0 AA-9, any boolit/bullet at or less than 165 grains.
44Mag is 19.5 WC820 typical or 18.5 AA-9 for any boolit/bullet at or less than 250 grains.
41Mag is 17.5 WC820 typical for any of the 220-230 Keith types.
45Colt is a case full of RL7 or WC680 with any boolit heavier than 300 grains with zero compression, boolit just touching powder. This is NOT a cowboy load.
... felix
11.5 grs. of 820 with 115 gr. RCBS cast gc boolit in the M1 Carbine. Ron
30-06 - 20-22/4227 and just about any GC'd 165-200 grainer
35 Whelan - 38-40/4895 or 40-42/4064 and 358009 (not really a reduced load)
6.5x55 - 17.0/4227 and Ly 150 grainer (don't recall the #)
32 Win Spl - what Felix said
308 Win - 4895 and 311041 and push it as hard as accuracy allows
30-30 - 16.0/4227 and 311041 (this is a very mild shooting and accurate load)
.357 Mag - 10.0/HS7 and 358156 (nice medium load)
35 Rem - 4895 and the RSBS 35-200-FN (you pick the charge/fps)
44 Mag or 44 Spl - any of the Grn Dot cowboy loads (I prefer Lee 200 RF for the light loads)
5gr BP or Sub under Farina and a 180gr pure lead boolit in .38 or .357... though I may try 1gr Titegroup next...
357 Magnum 4 grains TiteGroup and any 158-160 grain cast bullet (cowboy load)
357 Magnum 15 grains H110 and 170 Sierra JHC, 13-15 grains H110 and any 180 -200 grain cast bullet [Federal 205 primers] (full power loads)
375 Win./38-55 23-25 grains H4198 255 grain cast bullet.
44 Magnum 6.4 grains TiteGroup and any 240 grain cast bullet (cowboy load)
45-70 25 grains H4198 & RBS 45-325-FN-U Plain Base
Most of my rifle CB loads could be called "reduced," being in the 1400-1800 fps muzzle velocitiy range. To avoid redundancy, I'll list only one greatly reduced load. Rifle and revolver .44 Magnum load: 7.0 gr. Green Dot/RCBS 245 PB SWC. This load is very accurate in a S&W 8 3/8" M629, mv 950. It also shoots about as good as any load in a Marlin Cowboy 24", mv 1200.
30 - 06 Springfield
11.5 grs. Unique
Cast bullet 160 - 200 grs. in weight.
Always an accurate load in all 06's I've shot it in.
Ben
This thread needs a sticky...
6 grains Red Dot under 150 or 170 grain gas checked in the 30-30 or 32 Special. Lobs them in slow and quiet.
10.0 grs Unique in .308 WCF under 100 grain Speer Plinker or 110 gr cast bullet, guesstimate it being about 1550 fps...
My favorite reduced load for the 308 is 16grains of 2400 powder under the RCBS 30-180 bullet Bob B
30-30: 6 gr of 4756 under a 170gr cast bullet, with a GC it averages 980fps, plain base averages 1057 fps (not sure why that is..). Accuracy is very good out to 50 yards but requires moving the rear sight up three notches to be zero'd, minimal recoil and report. It shoots very clean too.
45-70: 11gr of Red Dot under a 405gr cast bullet. averages just over 1000 fps in all of my 45-70s regardless of barrel length. Easy shooting and accurate out to 100 yards.
Trail Boss is your perfect reduced load powder. Designed for bulkiness to fill the case and still maintain the low pressures that are favored by Cowboy Action shooters. My 44 caliber loads (44 special and 44-40) really like 5.5 grains under a 200 grain projectile.
This may be a obvious question to most of you, but when you load up a reduced load, do you have to "wall off" the powder to keep it all together in the cartridge or do you just let it lay. I've been hesitant to experiment with smaller loads because I didn't know the mechanics.
Basically, do you need to put a small wad over the powder before you seat the bullet?
Thanks!
30/30 reduced loads:
18.0 gr 2400, Lee 150 RF GC WWWQ'd, Felix, 1860 fps
10.0 gr Herco, Lee 150 RF GC WWWQ'd, Felix, 1500 fps
2.5 gr Bullseye, case full of Cream of Wheat, pure lead round ball, 500 fps-quiet, doesn't feed, so I single shot them, good for skunks just inside the city limits (my yard)
.357 snubby reduced loads in .357 cases
4.0 gr Bullseye, 358091, 358089, 358156 w/o GC, Lee TL 150 SWC, 800-900 fps
Other .357 reduced loads: .38 specials, all flavors
LET-CA:
As I understand it - from reading here, not from personal experience - some powders are not sensitive to being loose in the case, while others perform better in charges that require contact or compression by the bullet; but I'm hesitant to specify which powders behave which way. BUT, putting a small wad over the powder, with substantial space between it and the bullet base, is a definite NO-NO. There may be exceptions; I'll hope others with more knowledge chime in on this - I just wanted to give you a "heads-up".
floodgate
I've got to second Floodgate's statement. DO NOT "WALL OFF" the powder to hold it to the primer and leave space between the wall and the base of the bullet. This is asking for a ringed chamber at the least. If you use a filler to hold the powder to the primer, it should fill all the space between the powder and the bullet base.
44mag---7.2gr WW231 and the lyman 429421
I have used unique gun powder in every pistol and rifle I have owned ..from 32 auto to 50-70 and at least 30 different cailb in between for the last 40 years with great sucess with cast and jacketed bullets..I only stock three powders and I can loads everything on this earth with them... Unique, IMR 4227 and 3031 and I buy them in 8 lbs containers.. I got tired of 10 different powders with one for each gun, seem like I was out of that powder to reload or everyone was out of stock
:coffee: --- If you don't mind tearing up the X ring in the bullseye any 190 200 or 225gr.swc with 6.5grs. of good old bullseye or 255gr. swc with 6grs. of bull will get the job done if you do your part in the 45 Long Colt. A filler load for these boolits would be 5grs. of bull with a solid type filler (ground walnut) no compression ---- Start 1 gr. lower --- Note: The filler load will leave your gun clean.
Note: Filler load for RUGER only would not try in other 45 Long Colt guns. --- Mag_01
As with any load data use caution --- These loads have worked for me---:castmine:
I generally use a reduced load to fire form my brass. I got a deal on .308 brass, primed, but the shoulder were sized too far down. Got these for a penny each. So what ever power I have, any misc bullets, I formed these and then load them for serious loads.
I am thinking burying an old oil drum in mt back field to have a safe place to discharge these and some day recover the lead.
Happy New Years,
Jerry
Me too, but substitute 'shoot' for 'farm'.
.250 Savage: Lyman 257464-H.P., 91 gn., 6.5-8.2 gn. Winchester Super-lite powder, WLR primer. good precision @ 50yds., consistently under 1" grps.
.308: Lyman 311467-H.P., 4gn. WC-846, CCI-200, Mv(ave)=1435 fps, .482" grp @ 50 yds from an out-of-the-box Rem 700.
.375 H&H : Lyman 375449, either 26-28gn. Blue Dot OR..45-47 gn. WC-846, WLRM primer, Mv(ave)=1800 fps, consistently <1" @ 50 yds.
.458 Win mag: 500 gn. NEI, 50 gn. IMR 4895, WLRM primer. Mv(ave)=1380 fps from my 21 " bbl. Shoots "cloverleafs" from 50 yds.
.41 mag: 6.7 gn. Unique, CCI-300, 225gn. commercial cast...This is a VERY mild load which exhibits excellent precision from all of my .41's.
My Personal Fav. Loads are:
.38spcl-----3.8gr of Unique under a 158gr LSWC
.40S&W----3.8gr of Unique under a 180gr RNFP <---(Lead)
.40S&W----4.0gr or Red-Dot under a 180gr FMJ
.40S&W----4.4gr of WSF under a 180gr RNFP <-----(Lead)
*All WSP Primers*
I have More but I dont have my Notes with me...
One load I developed to help my son get used to centerfire pistol - I started him shooting when he was 8. He very quickly became comfortable with 22 pistol and a 10/22 rifle.
So I ginned up a load for my 686 to help him step up to the big boy rig...
.38 special 2.5 grains Red Dot under a 105gr SWC (Lee 6-cav). I used Red Dot because I had a four pounder.
It's a good target load, won't knock over 8" steel plates reliably, and you can actually see the bullets in the air with the sun to your back :)
Great topic! It's interesting how many posted loads are the same as some of my own, but I can still contribute a few.
1. Multi-bullet loads for .357 rifle or pistol: 6.0g H-110 or 2400 under three bullets, seated to compress and crimped to prevent the pressure from de-bulleting the round. This was originally worked up with three 000 buckshot, with a bit of wax paper between them to enable sure separation. Worked pretty well, but it was perfected when I machined off the top of a 148g wadcutter bullet. This gave me a cast bullet of 75g full wadcutter, and with a short raised nose. Durn thing was actually wider than it was long, but it shot fine, at least at reasonable distances. But when I put three of them over the powder in a .357 case, it was a winner. (you can only get two in a .38 Spl case). Fired from a 6" revolver, it packed plenty of punch, and made a consistent equilateral triangle that spread out to ~ eight inches at 15 yards. A friend still carries nothing else to entertain unexpected guests, but it has considerable potential for short range bunnies or even phesants or tin cans in the air. Needn't worry too much about hurting someone a mile away, because the slugs are so light that I don't thnk they'll travel much more than a couple hundred yards, nor hurt anything much beyond a hundred yards or so.
I once pulled a real trick on a friend with them. We went paper target shooting, and both loaded up with six rounds (yeah, I know, but this wasn't formal NRA bullseye) and emptied our guns at 25 yards. When we went up, his target was cut all to pieces, and he couldn't understand it. When he said something like "What the BLEEP?, I pretended innocence when I looked over. He asked me if I was missing any shots, but I of course told him no. He asked if I was SURE, and I told him, "Look, here are six empty cases, and six holes in my target. How could I have done it? You know, I wonder if your barrel is lined up straight. You know if it isn't, the bullet might be breaking up as it goes across the gap, and that would explain why you have so many holes in your target." had a lot of fun, but finally showed him what was really going on. He promptly got a grin and filched half a box. Wonder who else got the trick played on them?
2. Everyone knows what a squib load is, and most of us play with them at times. One of the nice things about .308 to .312 bores is that 00 buckshot works just fine in them for squib loads, but most other common calibers aren't so fortunate. But a while back, I was reading a BP article that commented on the importance of patch thickness vs ball diameter. The idea was that a thicker patch was needed if your mold cast an undersized ball. A light went on!
I had a 25-20 that I didn't have a mold for (yet), but I had some misc. small buckshot around the shop. Using a case as a guage, it was quick and easy to sort them into (goes in) and (no-go) piles. Then I miked the (goes in) to find a handfull of common size buckshot that went in the case. I preped about 25 cases (primer, belled and charged with (as I recall) 2.0g PB. Then I dug through my wife's rag bag until I found a cotton cloth resembling denim. I soaked it with some Crisco, and blotted it nearly dry. Then I copied the ML approach of placing the patching material over the charged case, adding the buckshot and pressing it flush with the mouth of the case. That was it. I found that it delivered pretty decent accuracy - though I didn't target it, I did shoot a few squirrels with it, quite effectively. The same basic technique should work for any caliber or case, so long as you can get a round ball close to bore diameter, and some sort of cloth that makes it a tight fit in the case.
Molly
Molly, thanks for jogging my memory. This post is directed more towards the new guys who might want to experiment with light loads.
Years ago I went really light with my .357, can't even remember the load now but I learned an easy way to clear the barrel after a squib. When I loaded light, I got in the habit of carrying a couple of primed cases to the range. If a boolit should stick in the bore, a magnum primer generates enough pressure to pop it out and there's no chance of ringing the barrel or scraping it up with hand tools. The first time I had to take a mallet and cleaning rod to my new revolver was the last time.
Has anyone here worked up any good reduced loads with Trail Boss? It looks like it should work very well in this application.
John
I've been playing with IMR 700X in rifles. .308, .303, 7.5SR, 8x57.
So far it seems like 10.0gr to 11.0gr works really well. Clean burning.
Maybe I am the unsafe guy, but I shoot an old Spanish FR8 in 308. I use brass that has been thru the mill with a door gunner or salavaged out from a commercial loader. I shoot 120 grain spire point lead GC bullets and what ever powder I have onhand. I try to have about 50% of the book max load in it.
This either fire forms the brass for me or just is a lot of fun to shot cheaply, some times both. :Fire:
A few years ago some commercial loader had some 308 military brass that had been primed and load, but was pushed too deep in the sizer die. Worked great in the FR8 and they were only a penny each. I bought 5,000.
Jerry
Well I have loaded down some stuff to help with teaching the girlfriend and it turned out to be a bit of a laugh when I grabbed it by mistake to shoot at a steel match. I shot one of those plastic 55 gallon drums from about 15-20 feet and it went in didnt come out you could here it swirling around in there[smilie=1:[smilie=1: At first i thought holy crap I messed up when loading but 2 more rounds same thing. load was 3.6gr Titegroup with 200gr rainier in my 625 , I tried a few in my 1911 wouldnt cycle it. But i worked well to get her more confident with the bigger pistol......
Anybody load "light" for a 243 Win? I've worked with 30-06 and 35 Whelen with good results, but the 243 Win is new territory for me.