Greetings, all:

What's a good ultra-light .30-'06 load? I'm looking for something relatively low velocity (say 1,500-ish fps), maybe a lead bullet, and sufficient accuracy for potting squirrels or bunnies out to 75 yards or so. Does the Lyman manual list loads like this? My present manuals are oriented toward full-power loads, so aren't helping me with this.

Thanks, and Semper Fi.

Ron H.

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lee mold 150 grain flat point.
8 grains of blue dot and a magnum primer to sledge hammer it into consistency and your about where you want to be

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it just needs more voltage

More years ago than I care to even think about I wrote to the NRA about reduced power loads for the 30-06. they suggested I try what used to be called the old 300 meter load. 125 grain sierra soft point, any case, large rifle primer and anywhere from 38 to 40 grains 4895. I tried this in an old smith corona 1903A3 and after adjusting the sights it was very accurate. I had much better eyesight back then as well. You could also try a cast bullet like lyman's 311291 with 16 grains 2400. Ed Harris called it "the load" as just about any good '06 would shoot it well. If you don't cast bullets look at some of the cast bullet websites and some of them do offer bullets in this weight range 165-175 grains. Hope this may be of some help. Frank

You might try the Hodgdon youth loads or something similar by your favorite powder manufacturer. Just Google "Hodgdon youth loads".

Ah, heck here is a link to it...

www.hodgdon.com/PDF/Youth%20Loads.pdf

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Try the Speer 100 gr. ".30 Plinker" over 15 gr. 2400. Not exactly a "cat sneeze" load, but quite pleasant.

Larry

The Hodgdon Youth Loads linked to in Post #4 are a great place to start. Light loads using H4895 and a light bullet seem to be very accurate.

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SWCA #3437

Here is one I have done a few times and it works very well.
The Load

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Regards,
Guy-Harold Smith II

Interesting. Thanks, all.

Semper Fi,

Ron H.

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Wishin' don't make it so.

A bit faster than you said, but still pretty light: I used a 110gr Speer RNSP with 5744, and came up with an excellent load within SPEER #14 data (26-27gr.). Another one was with the Sierra 125gr spitzer and H4895, using one of the light loads from Lee's #2 (that section at the beginning - cast bullet loads?).

Good luck!

Never used a 30/06 for anything, however, for decades I have downloaded various 7mms for turkey hunting. Heavy round nose bullets at much reduced velocities can be downloaded to strike at POA and small game distances, while full-power hunting loads would print 3,0 or so inches high at 100 meters.

Mostly I used IMR4895 or one of the somewhat faster burning rifle powders.

Properly placed, little or no breast meat lost. Accurate enough for head shots on grouse at woods ranges, while still leaving me always with a round in chamber that is powerful enough for deer with careful shot placement (say, head, neck or spine).

Niklas

Cast LY 3118 or Lee 113 Fp over 8-10 gr Unique is accurate and works for what you want. Many bullet vendors should have some of these.

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Front sight and squeeze

Greetings
I still can't make a post With pictures but I'll try to add something to this question. Reducing loads is said to be very dangerous. I tried something new three years ago and it's better than ANY OPTION EVER BEFORE. Let me start by saying that when guys load less than ten grains there's a problem With Where the powder rests ...? Front of the case, the rear....adding toilet paper or cream of wheat helps but none of us need to do this anymore.
Use TRAIL BOSS & any bullet (cast or jacketed).
Look up the recipe yourself but it goes something like this. Seat the bullet to it's desired depth. Mark a line on the OUTSIDE of the case where the base of the bullet comes to rest within the case.
Remove the bullet. Fill the case to that line with Trail Boss. You're doing "Volume" not weight. Take this amount of powder and reduce it by 8-10%saying in volume. Remember, I'm going on memory so look it up yourself. Once reduced you're ready to load. It actually wouldn't matter if you filled the case then seated a bullet. Trail Boss is totally new and I have used it to FIRE FORM 223 to 223AI with great success. I am constantly surprised at the great loads this new powder can produce. It's not for Bear Hunting but it wasn't designed to be. The best way to start is try it in different rifles. 300 Win Mag, 30-30's, ...everything. It will be your new go to powder.

Years ago the writer and gun enthusiast, Townsend Whelen, developed a 30-'06 small game/grouse load, using a 150 gr FMJ bullet over 18 gr 4759 powder with a Federal primer [don't know if military or commercial brass case]. You can read on this by g00gling 'Townsend Whelen small game load'. After reading such, you can decide if this would work for you.

I suppose that with such lighter loads the possibility of shoulder setback looms its head, so segregating cases might be advisable.

Best of luck.

Dyson

"I suppose that with such lighter loads the possibility of shoulder setback looms its head, so segregating cases might be advisable."

It is advisable to segregate cases with powder puff loads in high-powered rifles because of shoulder set-back.

I've used 10 grains of Unique with both a 150 grain fmj and a 169 grain cast lead bullet (Lyman No. 311413) for short range plinking loads. After working them up, I found it was something that I never really put to a lot of use but it did make for entertaining shooting that wasn't much different than shooting a .32-20 rifle.

Just found this thread. The following has worked for me. I order from Hunter Supply the 165 gr. FN hard cast bullet which I load over 8.5 gr. of Unique. Fired in my 1903 Springfield it averages 96.9 at 100 yds. from the prone position for the last 19 strings of 10 shots. At 50 yds. it will produce one hole groups of about the size of a quarter. It is powerful enough to take any small game. For plinking, it works out to the previously mentioned 100 yds. range. I have found it to be ideal for any shooting I might do that does not require a full-power load. It has worked extremely well in my 03 and 03-A3 rifles as well as my Rem. 700. HTH. Sincerely. bruce.

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Many years ago I used a load of 14.5gr unique with a 110gr spire point. It shot 1/2" groups at 50 yds. out of my win model 70. Also, I checked it out with the experts at Guns & Ammo because people said that load in a big case could cause detonation and they assured me it was safe.

I'll second the use of RedDot.
The Load

I've used it for a long time in '06 and several other calibers (a favorite of mine in 30-40Krag) w/ both cast and jacketed.

I shoot 12gr R/D w/a 164gr castGC currently in my Segley '03 Sporter and Winchester 95, both 30-06.
These are right around 1500 fps.

In the past I've used Unique and Bullseye for light loads w/cast bullets in centerfire rifles w/ excellent results too.

Just takes a bit of experimentation to find a decent load sometimes but that's half the fun of it.