30-06 cast bullet load....

I have been loading 30-06 with Lee 155 gr cast boolits for 30 years. Have used IMR-3031 exclusively. With that getting harder to find, I bought a couple other IMR varieties and have found loads for some of my other rifle cartridges. But, in the absence of data I decided to stick with 3031 for the '06.
 
I've always used Red Dot w/lead bullets (and ssometimes jacketed too) in 30-06 as well as 30-40, 8x57, etc.

I've got quite a lot, but also have Herco which I didn't know until now was usable for reduced load in 30-06. An 8#(?) sits un opened.
Plus some Blue-Dot that I wondered what to use in as well.

I do have 4759 as well,,I guess I have more than I really need. But the reduced load CF rifle is nice to shoot.
 
What Powder(s) do you have or are available to you .
My Pet cast bullet 30-06 load involves 13.0 grs. Red Dot and a 170 gr. FN-GC cast lead bullet ... You got Red Dot ?

There are others to choose from ... but the question is ...
what can you put your hands on !

I hate these stinking Shortages !

Gary

I have BE-86, Titegroup and IMR4064 on hand.. I can get most Hodgon powders locally. It's my longstanding Alliant powders that haven't been available since pre-COVID days.
 
Yup........

I have BE-86, Titegroup and IMR4064 on hand.. I can get most Hodgon powders locally. It's my longstanding Alliant powders that haven't been available since pre-COVID days.


,,,, and the way it's going you are better off just making the switch to Hodgdon's many offerings, Accurate, Ramshot, Vihta Vuori or any other manufacturer that doesn't leave consumers out in the cold.
 
I have BE-86, Titegroup and IMR4064 on hand.. I can get most Hodgon powders locally. It's my longstanding Alliant powders that haven't been available since pre-COVID days.
I have no data / no experience with those three powders in 30-06 cast bullet loads .My best advice is see if you can locate some:

AA 5744 (Accurate Arms)
RX-7
imr 3031

I see where Accurate Arms makes a AA-2400 and wonder if this is a replacement for our old beloved 2400 ... check it out .

The 3 powders I have listed I do have experience with and data is shown in the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook 4th Edition .
All three have worked well in cast bullet 30-06 loads .
Gary
 
I have read this thread with great interest as I love the 30-06 cartridge. I have loaded many rifle calibers, yet I have a long running unanswered question which is case fill. I read about these loads like "33 grains of H335" and wonder about the free space in the case. without any type of fill to keep the powder against the base, what prevents detonation if the powder lays horizontally?
 
I have read this thread with great interest as I love the 30-06 cartridge. I have loaded many rifle calibers, yet I have a long running unanswered question which is case fill. I read about these loads like "33 grains of H335" and wonder about the free space in the case. without any type of fill to keep the powder against the base, what prevents detonation if the powder lays horizontally?

Things like pillow batting are used as fillers.
Robot or human?

Cut a 1/2" x 1/2" piece and pull/stretch it out and then insert it into the case on top of the powder. Then seat the bullet.
 
There will not be "detonation" with small charges of faster burning powder. Supposedly, there has been "detonation" with small charges of very slow burning powder, but I am not aware of this ever being duplicated in a laboratory, so I think it is an old wives tale.

NEVER use any filler in any bottle necked cartridge (I wouldn't do it in any cartridge). Doing so is unneeded and dangerous. Fast burning powder will ignite just fine regardless of its position in the case, but some people like to point the muzzle to the vertical position before taking final aim and firing. I never noticed any appreciable difference doing so.
 
Any pistol powder will work.

I'd use reddot data for the titegroup (10gr to 14gr)
unique data for the be-86 (10gr to 15gr)
4064 (29gr to 44gr)

Used to cast/shoot a lot of lead in the 30-36's. I now shoot lead/cast in a 308w.

Had bought 1# of ww super handicap at a gunshow years ago. It was cheap, didn't need it & really had no use for it. Ended up burning it up with cast bullets in a 308w making plinking/blammo ammo loads.
10shot groups @ 50yds.
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There will not be "detonation" with small charges of faster burning powder. Supposedly, there has been "detonation" with small charges of very slow burning powder, but I am not aware of this ever being duplicated in a laboratory, so I think it is an old wives tale.

NEVER use any filler in any bottle necked cartridge (I wouldn't do it in any cartridge). Doing so is unneeded and dangerous. Fast burning powder will ignite just fine regardless of its position in the case, but some people like to point the muzzle to the vertical position before taking final aim and firing. I never noticed any appreciable difference doing so.

You are absolutely correct about "you don't need fillers with fast burning (pistol) powders".

Slower burning powders like the H335 he asked about can benefit from having +/- 100% case fill by using fillers.

Playing around with H335 in a 308w and a 160gr cast bullet. Doing ladder tests with fillers in all cases.
tEeK5wb.jpg


Used filler in these 4064 loads.
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Used filler in these rl-19 loads
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That target pictured above (rl-19) is a perfect example of what happens when a cast bullet is driven too hard/fast and nose slumping occurs. The left target is a sp and the right target is a hp of the same bullet cast in a 2 cavity cramer mold. 1 cavity is sp, the other cavity is a hp version of the same bullet. The cramer bullets used in that rl-19 target
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I love to experiment with reduced loads. I can make my 30-06 shoot like a .22.

Me too. My loads run about 1600 fps, and my current boolit is a 155 grain, although I used to shoot slugs in the 190 gr range. I just love shooting my 03 and 03A3 with these loads, in addition to my deer rifle 06s.

In fact, our NRA Highpower League shoots the reduced 100 yd course on reduced targets and for years I competed with my .30-06 cast loads in my 03A3 match gun. I was very competitive. Nowadays I do the same thing with a .223 Howa I set up as a match gun, and I'm shooting cast out of that too.
 
Just off the top of my head, Red Dot and 700X have worked the best for me in 30-30 and 30-06.
For heavier cast loads SR4759 has worked best, but I had the luck to buy a jug of it a while back. Don't know what I'll use if that gets used up.
 
I had very good luck with slow powders, WC 870 and 872, both pull down 50 BMG powders. A case full with a Saeco 315 will do wonders.
 
Do you think is it possible to use hard cast bullets in a modern rifle like 30 caliber or 6.5mm with no gas cheks and no powder coating?
 
Do you think is it possible to use hard cast bullets in a modern rifle like 30 caliber or 6.5mm with no gas cheks and no powder coating?


Use them absolutely. Use for accuracy and cleanliness? Maybe if powder coated and velocities are kept under 1600 fps. Some are shooting bare bottomed with powder coating to higher but they sure aren't "hard cast".
This would involve a special alloy that is a lot softer.

There is no definition for hard cast. It generally means to a seller " I use a very hard, easy to cast allow that reduces dings if bullets happen to hit each other during packaging and shipping". Dotto for hard lubes.

30 caliber would be easier than 6.5 due to the twist rates of most of the 6.5's.
 
I've gotten very good luck with boolits (there, I said it) in the 30-06 and the similar 7.5x55. Red Dot was my go-to until I ran out.

I got some really good groups using it, even in rack-stock 03A3's-

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I wouldn't hesitate to try something like 700-X as it's very similar to Red Dot.

Years ago I bought an 8 lb. jug of AA#7 simply because it at $85 it was too cheap to pass up. When I ran out of Red Dot, on a whim I tried AA#7 and found it worked great. 14.0-14.5 gr. yielded around 1450 fps with most bullets and satisfactory accuracy-

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