Favorite caliber for Mouse-Farts what do you shoot?

[49FMarlin]

OK so you all know I'm in the beginning stage of casting my own for my 30-30,
I LOVE MY .22 springfield my dad gave me when i was 16, he bought it when he was 15,
It shoots nice and quiet with the subsonic loads, but finding ammo is a tough one, so i don't shoot it much,

Im looking for suggestions other than my 30-30 for a plinking-mouse-fart rifle or long barreled pistol+scope
that i can save up for
to shoot quiet cast rounds out behind my house, killing paper plates and garden-thieves,

don't care what size as long as i can,
cast bullets for it,
reload for it,
find brass for it,
brass case black powder is ok also,
as the powderhouse is up the street from me, (he's got a SWEET 45-70) I'm betting makes a thunder-boom

im NOT looking to spent 1000's of dollars, as i don't have them,
so lets dream of 500 and under

lets hear what you guys like to shoot and why

john

[runfiverun]

you can make quiet easy loads for just about anything.
the 300 rem ultra-mag might be out of the equation a bit but even that could easily be worked into a 1,000 fps type thing.

for something super simple and off the shelf a 300 black-out from ruger would be pretty tough to beat.
I'm shooting the LEE 230 gr mold [20 bucks for the 2 cavity mold] on top of 3.5grs of 700-x [2000 rounds per pound] with a small rifle primer [29.00 a thousand].
I run it through a 310 push through sizer, and tumble lube with homemade 45/45/10 lube.[30 bucks worth of stuff will lube about 10 million boolits]
a smaller 100-120gr plain base mold would use up a lot less lead, and duplicate the 22 lr velocity's pretty closely.

[458mag]

30-06. Lots of brass that wont need a lot of fuss. About any cast boolit under 10 grains of unique. Whats not to love?

[Tatume]

I LOVE MY .22 springfield my dad gave me when i was 16, he bought it when he was 15,
It shoots nice and quiet with the subsonic loads, but finding ammo is a tough one, so i don't shoot it much,

Hi John,

I know what you mean about the Stevens Springfield rifle. A friend gave me one that he found behind the door of his grandfather's barn after the old fellow passed away. If you push the bolt handle it locks the bolt so the gun won't operate semi-automatically, and that long 26" barrel really soaks up the sound. Those guns are accurate too!

Take care, Tom

[gloob]

55 grain cast bullets are stingy on the lead, and 223 REM brass is plentiful. As long as your garden thieves are the sort that can be dispatched with 22LR, .223 will more than do the job. Five grains of pistol powder and a SRP or SPP is accurate out of my rifle with a 1:12 twist, and nary a case will you trim. It's not 22LR level of noise, though. Hearing protection still required. I haven't tried working any lower, yet. I have also had good accuracy up to 19 grains of H335, which will also cycle and group in my semiautomatic with a 1:8 twist.

The only downside is checking 223 bullets feels like it's giving me arthritis, if that's possible.

If you want to further the top end capabilities with cast bullets, 7mm TCU might be of interest, particularly in a long-barreled pistol? I have contemplated building a 7mm TCU bolt rifle, myself. I suppose I would also consider 300BLK in the same line of reasoning... but it looks like 7mm TCU cases are easier to make, and I already cast for 7mm.

Going the other direction, you might consider 22 Hornet. It's one of the smallest reloadable rifle caliber cases, making it cheaper on powder and potentially slightly quieter. It's as close to a reloadable 22LR as you will find, I think.

[longline]

Good afternoon. I have a few favorites here. Everything I load has a focus on accuracy and as little as possible recoil. I can't take the recoil of a full load. I must say my 30 06 gets a great deal of my attention because of the many loads I can cook up safely and enjoy.
Good day all!

[bangerjim]

Yes........because you roll your own, you can make lite loads for just about ANY cal gun. Just watch semi's as they rely on the power of the cart to cycle the gun. Lite loads can jam the gun and at best will require you to manually cycle the action each round.

But I do light loads in all my revolvers and long guns with great success. I have not bought 22LR's in over 2.5 years even though they are in most LGS and shows at rediculous prices. One can cast and load most cal's for around 5 cents or so a round! Why buy 11 cent per round wimly 22LR's? And you just throw the brass away.

My 22LR replacments are 9mm, 38SPL and 45LC. Also do them in 30-30 and 30-06.

Pick your cal. Load 'em lite. Have tons of fun!

banger-j

[Shooter6br]

45-70

[Yodogsandman]

I like the good ol' thutty-thutty! Plenty of cast boolit molds made just for it and easy to load for.

Mostly, whatever you have will work! If you just have to have another rifle, the H&R Handy rifles are fun and cheap.

[MikeBitzenburger]

I have found the 30/30 H&R single shots and the 32/20 Marlin to be the most fun with cat sneeze and mouse fart loads. The 357MAG Marlin cowboy 94's are fun too though. I get the "gun-cussion" headache real easy as my battered body has aged so mousefarts are my favorite type of load. The "cowboy" load sections in the online manuals is a Godsent gift.

[bedbugbilly]

I'm shooting "mouse farts" in my 1905 Danzig GEW98 8mm - I started playing with it last spring with a 130ish NOE PB Round Flat Nose. I've tried Bulls Eye, Unique and have settled on 8 grains of Red Dot - works great at 50 yards.

I recently got a RCBS 8mm "Nambu" mold that throws a 115 grain boolit at .324 - I think that may work even better and will save a little lead along the way.

I'm having so much fun with it that I'm keeping my eyes out for another caliber that I can play with - I'm thinking a 30-06 might be nice as brass is available and I have some on hand as well as molds that will work. If I can't find one, I'm also thinking a 30-30 with reduced loads would be fun as well.

[Blackwater]

Why not that .30/30? .311" round balls rolled in LLA and seated over very small charges of fast burning powders just might surprise you, if you've never tried them. A buddy's kids used to shoot them up by the bag full.

[cold1]

I purchased a H&R single shot 223 for just using mouse farts. Lee Bator mold $20, alox lube and reddot powder. Got them as low as 650fps and up to 1100fps.

If I had to do it again I would probably get one of the CVA single shots.

[Cherokee]

My choice for those kind of loads in rifle or pistol is 32-20. 30 Carbine lite also can be a lot of fun in Ruger SA's. Plenty of bullets and powders will work.

[bangerjim]

Roundballs are EXCELLENT in lite loads! I use them a lot.

[Artful]

.38 special in Rossi Lever action
- whatever boolit you like but my smallest is Lee 105 gr SWC.
- I can still find subsonic 22LR but you have to keep an eye out.
.30-30 I use Lyman's 311316 FN

But as has been said you can work up a load for most any caliber
you cast for that will be subsonic and a pleasant plinker.

[GhostHawk]

Everything from .223 to .444 marlin with significant stops in 7.62 land on the way.

My favorite this week, another vote for the .300 BO, mine is in a slightly over 5 pound single shot.
4 grains of Red dot, a 93 grain cast boolit, a CCI small rifle primer and I can shoot for the same or less as buying .22LR with a whole lot more THUMP on the far end.

These loads are fairly quiet, easy on the shoulder, and are showing signs of potentially good accuracy.
Scope coming soon so I can stretch the range father, see if I can make some cloverleafs.

[Bigslug]

Find a .38 Sp/.357 Mag rifle with the longest barrel you can find. Load heavy bullets with fast powders. Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

[Digital Dan]

49FMarlin, is your .30-30 retarded? Somewhere around 3 grains of Bullseye will push a 180 grain cast bullet at something in the neighborhood of 750-800 fps. Less lead like a roundball requires less powder.

Or if you just want a dedicated mouse fart killer, go with a Handi Rifle or something similar. Any medium to small capacity case will work. .32 H&R, .357 etc, etc, etc.

[waksupi]

Do you guys use some kapok or dacron to keep the powder back by the primer?