Anybody doing this? This mold dropped out at .310 and we have 700X powder and unique. A rural yard plinking load out to a max. of 100 yards is all we want. Gun used is a old savage bolt action 30-30. Thanks
Anybody doing this? This mold dropped out at .310 and we have 700X powder and unique. A rural yard plinking load out to a max. of 100 yards is all we want. Gun used is a old savage bolt action 30-30. Thanks
It was done more commonly in days past. You can find some old load data for it as well. Should be able to meet your expectations for it.
I am out of town right now and away from my Lyman cast bullet handbook of 1973, lots of 700x and unique loads in it. We are going to start with 7-8 grains unique. My friends unique is getting low, and we are well stocked on 700x for the moment.
10 mph wind today and resting on a cardboard box in a table. No sandbags. Sometimes waited for the wind to die down to take the shot but slightly over a 2” group at 50 yards with 6 1/2 grains unique. It was a bigger group with 8 grains unique. 3-9 power scope. The trigger is a bit spongy on the 50 plus year old Savage 340. Front and rear sandbags would have tightened the group. It’s a usable load but would have preferred it shot close to an inch at 50 yards.
Try some loads with the 700x, it might burn a little better with your light bullet. I've shot some nice groups with 700x and plain based bullets in a Krag. Good, cheap fun.
https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...Rifles-Article
Lots of good info in the article in the first post.
I have loaded the group buy 314-120 (pretty close to the 311008, if a bit heavier) in the .30-30 with a small amount of Green Dot. Its been several years, but they were accurate enough for the uses you suggest. I don't think I ever shot them more than fifty yards, but they worked well enough up close I would have no qualms about trying plinking targets at 100.
Robert
I've shot several of these bullets in both my 30-30 rifles. They will do a little better than 2" at 50 but considering your rest, I'll call you doing good. I load them with Red Dot & Green Dot so no help with your powders. I do like the bullet though.
Yep its a fun load to play with. I use 7.5 grs of unique and at 25 yds the hole just gets a little bigger with each shot at 50 yds its about an inch and at 100 yds its around 2 inches or less. I'm using an iron sighted savage 219 but when time allows I want to try them in my scoped marlin 336a. The 311008 is a very versatile bullet in any .30 cals and in the .32-20 its wonderful. Another one to try is 311359 its a 115gr spire point of the same weight. Its not for tube magazines but in anything else it will do the same as 311008 with the same powder charges.
Does the 311008 cycle good in a lever action?
Edit: No crimp groove?
We are barely crimping in the last lube groove. This bolt action savage is a magazine feed clip. Thanks everyone.
It's a good gopher getter!
I powder coat the 311008 and my LEE push thru
sizer leaves them at .3105. I use a .309 NOE neck
expander and a Redding taper crimp to avoid
sizing down the boolit.
I use Trail Boss, Unique or Red Dot (listed
in order of velocity) with Trail Boss giving
most generally good results in all 7 of
my 30-30's. Red Dot is #2.
Good combo for walk-about and close
range ground hog hunting.
When I had my 94 and Marlin 336SC I used to use that boolit quit often for plinking - usually over some Red Dit or Bulls Eye - a good plinking round and also good for small critters and prats. A woodchuck made the mistake of coming out of his hole one day as I went out to do some shooting - he never knew what hit him.
Well I got one on the way! Excited to see how it does in my Win 94
SMK: We call them squibs and use them for competitive shooting.
My load in .30-30 for this bullet is 5 gns AP70(Universal)/Unique, for about 1050 fps. I size to .310" for an old cut groove Marlin 336A. Alloy is soft, but not too soft (about 4% non-lead). Bullets are seated to engage the rifling, meaning one grease groove is covered and one exposed. I use pistol primers, mainly because I have a lot of them, but do not hold firm views on pistol versus rifle primers for squibs. This is actually my most accurate load in this rifle, with numerous groups under 1" at 50 meters. This is with peep and bead.
The benefit of subsonic becomes apparent at 100 m, with groups holding the same angular dispersion. Slightly heavier loads, whose bullets have to come back through the transonic zone before reaching 100, are more likely to shoot 4" - 6" groups at 100.
Subsonic loads with #311008 are entirely adequate for LAS chickens at 50 m. Surprisingly, they will also knock over some pigs and turkeys (100 m and 150 m), but in slow motion and not reliably. They may also be used for practice on the paper version of the the ram at 200 m, and shoot better groups at that distance than the normal ram power loads.
Do not be tempted to try jacketed (or Berry) bullets at low speed - you may sooner or later stick one in the barrel. This should also be a caution to use soft alloys with very light loads, and to investigate any shot that you think was a "dud".
Last edited by Wilderness; 11-10-2021 at 07:18 AM.
It'll be handy if I never need it.
Insomniac, agnostic, dyslectic - awake all night wondering if there is a Dog.
The 311008 feeds fine in my 94 Winchester
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |