30-06 reduced jacketed load?

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  • Last Post 04 August 2013
tturner53 posted this 05 July 2013

A friend wanted a 'house load” for a 30-06 rifle using 150 gr. jacketed SPs and Unique. I took a guess and said try around 13-14 grs. Now I'm wondering if I was a little careless? Can't find anything like this in the books using Unique. Thoughts anyone?

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Ed Harris posted this 05 July 2013

The old M1909 Guard Cartridge used the 150-gr. M1906 FMJ bullet with 9 grains of Bullseye. The only caution with using jacketed bullets in reduced loads is to be sure you have a heavy enough charge to ensure that the bullet exits the barrel.

In my experience about 8-9 grains of any of the fast-burning pistol or shotgun powders such as Bullseye, Clays, Trail Boss, 231, Titegroup, Red Dot, Green Dot, 700X, 7625, Unique or PB will do it with a 150-grain bullet.

13 grains of powder in the Red Dot range, or 14 grains in the Unique or PB range is approaching a full-charge load pressure-wise and should not be exceeded.

With powders such as #2400 about 13 grains should work fine on the low end, but I would not reduce that if using a jacketed bullet.

73 de KE4SKY In Home Mix We Trust From the Home of Ed's Red in "Almost Heaven" West Virginia

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72coupe posted this 05 July 2013

My favorite jacketed bullet load for my 1903A3 is 26 grains of 4198 and a Hornady 150 grain FMJ.

I have a piece of 3/8 mild steel plate that is used for mountning power line towers. I thought I could shoot this load safely at the plate in the back yard. I can't it goes through the plate and the fence.

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delmarskid1 posted this 06 July 2013

My first cast bullet experience was with the 120g Lee .309” with a gas check over 5g of Red Dot. I read the cautions about knowing that the bullet made it out of the barrel. Being anxious and excited about my new hobby I placed the muzzle of my 1917 Enfield an inch from an 8” cedar post to see if it would all go bang. It did indeed go bang and then made three trips across the cellar before it was stopped by the fuel oil barrel. “House load for the '06"? Not a good idea in my experience. I have a 10"X3/4” steel disc hanging 120yards from my firing line. The 200 and 165 grain bullets from the '06 and 308 make nickel sized craters in it about .050” deep. Reduced loads still have plenty of snot.

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Michael K posted this 07 July 2013

Hi Tim, Hope you are doing well. If you fried has his mind set on a house load for his '06, special consideration needs to be given to the bullet type. As Delmarkid points out even a “light” load deserves a lot respect. As we all know the average 150gr .30cal slug is designed to hold together with MVs well over 3000fps. Drop that down into the teens and effectively one has a FMJ with a squishy point. Unless it hits something very hard/dense the term “house” load could easy become plural as in how many houses will it visit.

IMO I would first find a suitable bullet that -will- expand readily and reliably at lower vels and build a load from there. Speer's 110gr HP Varminter, a 110gr-125gr V-Max, or Sierra's little .30cal 85gr pistol bullet may be suitable places to start and do some penetration and expansion testing.

Personally my house loads come in factory loaded ammo only and are measured in ounces and/or pellet count.

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tturner53 posted this 07 July 2013

Thanks for all the input. This guy only has one gun, an old Rem. 721 30-06. I advised him to remove the scope for home defense purposes. It has iron sights. I tried cooking up a cast load but so far everything I have is too fat. Won't chamber. The gun has a really tight throat. I still have many .30 molds to try, some old Lee single cavity jobs that cast undersize may do the trick. We'll see. If so then a light load of Bullseye is in order. He's an Afgh. vet on a tight budget, two little babies. He got an AR lower but no upper yet, prices went thru the roof. I'm trying to convince him he needs a .38 revolver.

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mckg posted this 07 July 2013

Oh...! That kind of house load...

At least he can steer away from expensive wonder bullets; like B&B said, some pistol bullets would do fine, depending on the speed. Boat tail target bullets are reportedly very frangible too.

H&N sells swagged rifle bullets in Europe, maybe they are available in the U.S., but I wouldn't use them indoor without a bit of HP'ing.

http://www.hn-sport.de/en/products/bullets/rifle-bullets.html>http://www.hn-sport.de/en/products/bullets/rifle-bullets.html

load tables are there: http://www.hn-sport.de/fileadmin/user_upload/pdf/service/laborierungsdaten.pdf>http://www.hn-sport.de/fileadmin/userupload/pdf/service/laborierungsdaten.pdf

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tturner53 posted this 08 July 2013

I found a partial box of old Speer .308 110 gr HP's that look like typical pistol bullets. Large HP and a lot of exposed lead up front. These may be more sensible for this purpose, at least until I find a cast bullet that works.

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delmarskid1 posted this 08 July 2013

The Lee 120 that I mentioned works well loaded backwards as a wad cutter.

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Duane Trusty posted this 08 July 2013

Has anyone tried moly coating FMJ bullets for reduced loads? Could that help to prevent a bullet in bore problem?

Duane

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72coupe posted this 08 July 2013

I moly coat everything jacketed but I have not gone below 20 grains of 4198 with a 150 grain fmj in 3006.

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Wineman posted this 23 July 2013

All these loads are in the factory 7.62x39 range so plenty of punch. Tim, try that LEE SC 170 30-30 mould (like the 31141), it may not be too fat for this purpose.

Dave

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AceWarriorJr. posted this 03 August 2013

In that app. I would be using one of the 125-130 gr FP jacketed (those designed for 30/30)atop something in the range of 6-7 gr of Bullseye,Red Dot,or Unique ( maybso biased by what I always have in inventory) AcewarriorJr

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CB posted this 04 August 2013

Speer offers a 110 gr .308 “Varminter” JHP bullet for (what else) varminting. This could be what your friend is looking for, but be careful not to load them too hot. I'd find a load I like at around 1000-1200 FPS muzzle velocity. Tops. There are also a number of 308 varmint style bullets available. I used to load .32 cal revolver bullets in 30-06 and that worked well for me, at least for plinking.

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