Plain Base .30 Calibers

[richhodg66]

Seems most of my shooting the past several years has been .30 caliber cast bullets on my 100 yard range here at the house. A while back, I bought a couple of NOE molds, one of which is a plain based version of the 311284, which I have found to be the most accurate cast design in the .30-06. I cast some up a few days ago, like all NOE molds, it turned out great bullets easily.

Sized them to .311 like all my .30s, used Carnuba Red. Started with the load that worked well with the gas checked version, 13.5 grains of Herco, did not end well, big groups and leading. Fortunately, I was watching for this and got it scrubbed out pretty quickly and the rifle back in the game.

Tried 11 grains of Unique next with much better results, actually grouped quite well (I use ten shot groups to gauge when doing this sort of thing). Dropped to ten grains of Unique next, I couldn't tell that the group was any better than 11 grains. I then tried 9 grains of 700X which actually was the best group of the four I shot.

I started cleaning the rifle again and did get a few flakes of leading on the patches. but not bad at all, and I don't know which of the three loads did it, so I need to get back to this.

i have a scope mount issue with that rifle I need to address first before I get back to this, but any advice on getting plain based to work well? I really like the idea of dispensing with the gas checks for the shooting I do and I'm OK with slow speeds and light recoil. One problem is I seem to have run out of up adjustment and they still hit low with loads like these, so I need to get that figured out too.

Any thoughts on things to try for plain based target loads in "small bores"? Pretty easy to do with .45-70, a bit more challenging with .30s.

[Tatume]

Sounds very good. Should be good pest ammo too.

[Outpost75]

I shoot alot of plainbased target and gallery loads in the '06, mostly in the vintage boltguns with iron sights.

Attachment 283012Attachment 283013Attachment 283014

[jimb16]

Three suggestions: size .001 larger, used a slightly softer lube, use a harder alloy. Any or all of these might help with the minor leading problem.

[Budzilla 19]

As for the elevation problem, a shim made of soda can aluminum will add some height to the front ring, just install between the ring and action. Just my suggestion, as it has cured problems for me in the past! Good luck.

[richhodg66]

As for the elevation problem, a shim made of soda can aluminum will add some height to the front ring, just install between the ring and action. Just my suggestion, as it has cured problems for me in the past! Good luck.

Would this shim go inside the scope ring? How much adjustment would a thickness of soda can material give?

[FredBuddy]

I'm having pretty good luck with the NOE
165 Ranch Dog, plain base and powder
coated. I'm loading them to about 1800 fps
in a couple of cooperative 30-30's. Need more
testing but I don't want to dig too far into
my stash just yet.

Haven't tried them in 308 or 30-06 yet. Might
want something more aerodynamic, too.

[Maven]

Some GC-shanked CB's shoot very well without those pricey "attachments" albeit at lower velocity. Here are the results of two such "naked" but sized CB's @ 50 yd. from my .30-06. The load was 8.8gr. Unique and those CB's were sized to .311".

[richhodg66]

That Ranchdog is an excellent design, probably could never want for a better deer bullet in .30 caliber. I have one of the original Ranchdogs from when he was still in business, but have only used it cast relatively soft and gas checked.

I think what this is really going to come down to is being very, very fussy about quality control, particularly where base fill out and sprue cut are concerned. These were cast pretty hard. kind of wondering is I can get awy with shooting them unsized. they are already at .311 and have no problem chambering, so maybe .312 or unsized is in order.

[richhodg66]

Some GC-shanked CB's shoot very well without those pricey "attachments" albeit at lower velocity. Here are the results of two such "naked" but sized CB's @ 50 yd. from my .30-06. The load was 8.8gr. Unique and those CB's were sized to .311".

I do shoot gas check designs sans checks in pistols from time to time, most notably, the Lyman 215 grain one (can't remember the mold#). My Dad did this a lot and I inherited a whole lot of these from him which were already sized and lubed but not checked and with mild loads in my .44 specials, I can't tell that they shoot any differently from the ones with checks.

[Mk42gunner]

I don't really know about the heavier PB boolits in .30 cal. Whenever I want to go with no recoil and PB, I usually drop on down to 90-120 grain .32 pistol boolits and a few grains of shotgun or pistol powder.

They still make a bit of noise, punch holes in paper, and move aluminum cans with authority.

Burris Posi-Align rings with offset inserts sound like the thing for your scope's elevation issues, with less chance of marring the scope tube.

Robert

[30calflash]

IIRC Col. Harrison wrote that a few flakes of lead is to be expected in plainbase loads. Much of his tests were conducted with 30-06 at the time.

If your groups continue to be consistent and minor changes whether with alloy or charge for trials, it looks like you have a good load to run.

Some pics would be good.

[charlie b]

I like to shoot the plinker loads too. .308Win, Blue Dot, 700X or TiteGroup. Mine does not like GC bullets without the GC so I have a PB mold for this kind of work. Powder coated so no problem with leading. ~2" at 100yd. Between 900 and 1100fps.

We have a steel Ram target at 300yd. It is fun to try to hit it with these loads. Takes a good reading of windage, which I am not that good at.

Sizing depends on the rifle. You can try it and see how it works.

Here is load data for different calibers. I use the .30-30 data for the .308. Results are pretty close.
http://www.gmdr.com/lever/lowveldata.htm

[richhodg66]

I don't really know about the heavier PB boolits in .30 cal. Whenever I want to go with no recoil and PB, I usually drop on down to 90-120 grain .32 pistol boolits and a few grains of shotgun or pistol powder.

They still make a bit of noise, punch holes in paper, and move aluminum cans with authority.

Burris Posi-Align rings with offset inserts sound like the thing for your scope's elevation issues, with less chance of marring the scope tube.

Robert

I think I'm gonna try some of those Burris rings.

[sigep1764]

I shoot plain base boolits in my Marlin 30-30 with 7 grains of Red Dot sized at .313-.314. They have been shot with Carnuba Blue lube and lately with PC. Keep the velocity lower, under 1400-1500 and you should be ok. The shim should go under the rear scope ring if the boolits are hitting low.

[popper]

I think I'm gonna try some of those Burris rings.
i got a set for my BO cva. didn't work. They are Aluminum (Ad said steel), inserts are glass filled ABS, OK. The recoil lug was too big for the rail. Idea is nice but never could get them to work - went with a one piece cantilever I already had.
I ran PB 145gr in BO to 100 with accuracy @ 100, 170gr in 30/30 pretty fast too, no problems. Fit, alloy and BASE.

[centershot]

Rich,
I've been shooting PB 30's from my 30-30 and '06 for years with no problem. The bullet is from a 6-cavity Lee Group Buy that Junior 1941 (R.I.P Junior!) honcho'd years ago. It is a copy of the Lyman 311041 except PB. These bullets should be treated like "30 caliber 22's", that is, cast soft and shoot them at about 1200 fps. They work great! As suggested, you can use a GC design, sans GC, and accomplish the same thing. You DO NOT WANT A HARD ALLOY for these loads! ACWW alloy is plenty hard enough, I mix it 50-50 with pure and it is fine. I shoot them as-cast with tumble lube over a small charge of fast pistol/shotgun powder. Use the data from the Lyman Cast Bullet handbooks, keep your velocity around 11-1200 fps. I strongly recommend the use of a Lyman M-die, it makes a significant difference! The following link may be helpful to you:

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...Rifles-Article

[DonHowe]

Re scope elevation adjustment: simply raise the POI or gain elevation adjustment?
Shooting at distance (200-300 yds) with low velocity/high trajectory bullets/ctgs is akin to shooting 800 to 100+yds with high velocity centerfire. The same situation exists in shooting 200 yds with. 22 LR. Many scopes lack sufficient elevation adjustment to do this. Commonly a scope mount is used which inclines the scope towards the muzzle causing the scope to be zeroed lower in it's adjustment range, freeing up vertical adjustment.
https://warnescopemounts.com/20moa-explained/

I have little experience with PB bullets seated in cases (except black powder ctg) so can't say if things work the same but I do know a 25:1 or 30:1 lead/tin. Breechseated throat-diameter PB .32-40 bullet backed by 14.5 gr of 4227 at 1400/1450 fps is capable of very fine accuracy at 200 yds. Don't know how a powder of that burning rate would fare with bullet seated in ctg case but think it could give a bit "softer" launch than the fast pistol powders.

[quilbilly]

I have also had success with shooting plain base boolits in both my 30 and 270 calibers as long as I kept velocities around 1350 or less using lee Alox tumble lube. Red Dot has been the powder.