30-30 afternoon

[JWFilips]

It is a powder I have shyed away from but I'm using it more and more often for semi-light loads.....Seems 7.0 grains of Unique works with every crazy bullet I have in my 30-30 stock ( except the huge 195 Spitzer)
I was blowing out 60 full sized cases today ( In my Savage 340) I had Lyman 440's Noe 150's old Ranch Dog 170 New NOE ranch dog 165's and a few I don't even know what the others were. Darn things all shot ok groups ( even with the crappy scope) and very different grain loadings

 

[Ian]

Something else that works really well is a gas-checked bullet and a case full of......FFg. Not having proper lubed wads the time I fooled with that I balled up a little pill of natural cotton soaked in Emmert's and put it under the bullet and used a bullet with deep grease grooves.

 

[Bret4207]

Ian, I went through a bit of a BP phase some years back. Huh, decades now that I think about it! In almost any cartridge with a BP type look to it like the 30WCF, 303 Savage, 35 Whelen, 35 Rem, a case about full of FF or FFFG will deliver surprising performance. For me it was a bit of a surprise that came out of something I'd read on another board with a EOTWAKI flavor. The guy was right. I wouldn't try in a 22-250 or 7 Rem Mag, but in the straighter cases it works in a pinch. Cleaning the gun is a pain though.

 

[S Mac]

I wondered about the cleaning aspect, especially in a lever gun. Black is so corrosive.

 

[fiver]

my throw together run them off on the Dillon and fill up the bucket load is real simple.
brass, primer, 24.5grs of AA-2230 right off the 223 die head, and the RCBS 30-150 fngc.
it's straight simple from heating the mold to the target.
the 4831 load come about because I have several paper containers marked 4831 that were passed around from like 1958 until I ended up with them.
it's the only load that has ever made the 041 shoot well for me so I tried them all, and they all work pretty much the same.

 

[Bret4207]

I wondered about the cleaning aspect, especially in a lever gun. Black is so corrosive.

It gets EVERYWHERE!!! That fact explains why on older guns ( from when black was common) often have a lot of pitting INSIDE the actions and why many I've torn down seem to have layers of dried oil inside the works and oil soaked wood. Probably people back in the day were just as adverse to tearing a rifle down to it's component parts as I would be and tried to oil the problem away. Same for the old primer that were made with mercury (?). Pierced primers weren't uncommon and any of that stuff getting into an action drew moisture.

 

[Ian]

Shot 65 rounds today and have the universal load sorted for sure.

Savage 219, buck and bead, 80 yards, dropped one but it's no wonder because with light and my eyes elevation was a struggle all morning.



Marlin 336, large aperture receiver peep and small front bead, 100 yards. I was moving the sights a lot for this one. The center group was fired next to last, 3 in 1-1/4" but I tried for five and dropped the last two low left, then tried one more and it also went slightly low left to make another <1-1/4" group. I figure either the light glint was playing tricks on me or the sight shifted, but overall it was six consecutive shots into 2-3/8":



Savage 1899, medium receiver aperture and medium brass bead, 100 yards. My range host had a go and filled in between all these holes, not making the group any larger except the last shot was way out due to suppressor mirage:



Marlin 336 Texan, only one with a scope. This one has a .304" pitted bore, worn cathedral throat, bullet noses not touching anything but air the whole way through the rifle. 100 yard group from cold, dirty barrel, measures an honest 7/8" and the left hole was a called poor follow-through:



Sadly my other Savage 219 was having light primer strikes and I only got to shoot it with some borrowed cast loads made with pistol primers and Unique.

We clanged gongs and shot up a bunch of old paper patched stuff for fun, but I thought I'd share the results of the universal load. Oh, and a very worn, original 24" octagonal-barreled Winchester '94 liked the powder coated loads too, easily producing 1" groups at 50 yards with no barrel prep after shooting lubricated cast.

So, for those interested: Lee group buy copy of Lyman 311041, gas checked, powder coated, ACCOWW +2% Sn, sized .3095", 22.5 grains RX-7, CCI 200 primers, FCD crimped in groove, Remchester brass.

 

[Bret4207]

Not bad at all Ian! I've seen factory do worse. What approx speed does 22.5 Rx7 give you? Got to be up there at 1.5K or so?

 

[Ian]

I didn't chronograph these but they should be right at 1800 fps. I wanted a load I could hunt with if so inclined but that wouldn't beat up my old rifles, the brass, or me.

The limiting factor to the groups was most definitely the front beads sights. None of these rifles have clean post front sights and that makes it really tough to aim small at 100. I'm going to change the front sights on the one Marlin and the 1899. The 219s both still wear their original sights still and I'm going to keep them original.

 

[462]

Unless the rear sight is an aperture/peep, my iron sight shooting leaves much to be desired, especially if they are Mauser military. That said, I'm getting better acquainted with the 1866's semi-buckhorn rear.

Bought a well used Lee 31141 (no zero) from Gary Hyde/Minute of Berm, but its flat nose caused '03A3 feeding hiccups so my son-in-law now has it. A spiffy bullet, nonetheless.
Hmmm . . . it just may be that I need another .30-'06 . . .

 

[freebullet]

T'would seem a great niche to fill with the universal loads. Buncha un-scoped rifles the eyes don't allow much better anyways. Excellent application.

Maybe a little surprised yer universal loads aren't 2350 though.

 

[Ian]

Ohhhh....I still have a super-secret skunkworks load for the scoped one that does 2150 with a 173-grain bullet but I ain't divulging it since it runs over max pressure a bit. Not gonna risk cracking the square-bolt 1899 with that nonesense though.

 

[Spindrift]

Very good results, Ian! Sounds like you had a fine day at the range. I’ve just started loading for the 30/30, but I already love it!