Getting ready for my 30-06 project…. I have ?

fiver

fiver

Well-Known Member
the filler will act like you put more powder in the case.
bout a grain of filler is bout the same as a grain of powder.
the 0-6 will need about 1.5grs of Dacron to fluff up properly on top of 28-30grs of 4895 or 3031.
dryer lint is a bit denser so you end up using a bit more by weight... it isn't really a lot more weight, just something to be aware of.

it also tends to 'dry out' a barrel more than Dacron does, and it carry's out the barrel all the way if you pack a little too much of it in the case so you end up seeing a little foof in the breeze.
 
S

STIHL

Well-Known Member
Dacron seems easier anyway, not as messy, but in a pinch...... I have a bag of poly fill, which I believe is 100% polyester.
 
R

richhodg66

Well-Known Member
Never with a .30-06 (odd, I love the cartridge) but I've killed deer cleanly with several .30 calibers using cast and a 7mm once.

When I was asking about it, I was told to use a heavy for caliber bullet with a flat nose. Bigger meplat is better. Cast them of 50/50 clip on wheel weights to pure and then add 2% of the weight of the wheel weights in tin. Push said bullets to 1800-2000 FPS and you have a dead deer if you put it in the lungs. That formula has worked well for me. I tend to hunt close from tree stands or ground blinds at unalarmed deer and it works very well in those conditions.
 
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richhodg66

Well-Known Member
And you are very likely correct. Lightest I went was the Ranchdog .30-30 bullet, cast of that allow and propelled by 28 grains of IMR4895 with a tuft of dacron on top in a .308 so not max even for cast like that. Anyway, shot was at about 60 yards, went diagonally through a decent sized buck, just behind the last rib on the near side, out low and just forward of thr shoulder on the far side, so penetration wasn't a problem, I doubt 15 grains less bullet weight would have mattered.
 
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richhodg66

Well-Known Member
That same basic formula worked well in a .358 Winchester, twice with a .351 WSL and in a 7x57 Mauser. The first deer I killed with "small bore" cast (had been doing it with muzzle loaders for years) was in a Savage 340 in .30-30. Used wheel weights straight with 2% pewter added and the load was 25 grains of B-West 36 powder, unavailable now, but burned like 3031. Made a bloody mess, but the deer was very, very closeand fell over after about three or four steps. This was from a tree stand and was almost a point blank shot. When I ate the heart which the bullet had grazed, I bit down on a sliver of lead, only time I ever had that happen, but I figured the bullet had fragmented somewhat and then red more and got the advice I mentioned above. I think the softer 50/50 plus 2% tin is more malleable and less likely to fragment, my opinion, but seems to make sense.
 
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STIHL

Well-Known Member
That alloy recipe sounds nice and very doable as I have everything but the tin. It’s cheap enough and they sell it every day, I have the rest. I still have about 40 pounds of what I know is COWW alloy, and plenty of pure, this may be a recipe I make and try out.

I have another issue at the moment. I have hornady gas checks and some sage checks and they are both too small to go over my cast shanks, much less PC shanks. Fixin to go make me a check expansder for 30 Cal here in a few so I can start getting my projectiles sorted out and sized up.

One other issue, is how much neck tension. All my brass is sized and the neck runs right at .300 after I bump it with a Lyman M die. Bullets are PC at .312 ish and I’m going to size .310 or .311, maybe both. I have no idea what fired brass is from that rifle, but that will be easy enough. Now sizing becomes my next issue. Seems like a bushing die may be what I need. Any thoughts on that? Or just let it eat at that neck tension?
 
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richhodg66

Well-Known Member
I began dabbling with one of the Lee collet neck sizing dies and got side tracked, but it seems like a good idea to be able to vary neck tension like that. I wonder if that Lee can do just as good a job as the RCBS?
 
fiver

fiver

Well-Known Member
well the BR boys like to mess around with neck tension as a tuning trick... they seem to pretty much settle down at 2 or 3.
i normally shoot for .002 as a general pile of ammo amount.
if i'm playing with a target rifle or the like then i mess around with it and do a bunch of oal changes etc. just to see.

the only time i ever ended up with a high neck tension amount was one 308 load where i basically scooped the case full to the mouth, and worked the bullet down in it, i ended up at .005.
mostly cause that was all i could get,,, and it was enough to keep the bullet where i put it.
 
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STIHL

Well-Known Member
I was thinking .005 was my norm in jacketed loads, I’m going to have to measure some brass i sized compared to my new brass. My target gun gets .003 neck tension it’s what it likes and it works, I may have to seat a jacketed bullet and then pull it to stretch my necks out and get me to at least .005 tension. Then a slight flare with my universal expander for my first round of tests, then I Can bushing size.

I’m going to look into one of those Gold Medal X Dies.
 
fiver

fiver

Well-Known Member
measure the expanders in some of your other dies.
nuthin wrong with using a 303 brit or 32-20 expander to get your tension and flair set.
except when you forget where you put the stuff when you go to load some of those rounds.

for example i use a 38 special die set to load my 358 winchester cases...
 
Spindrift

Spindrift

Well-Known Member
I'm very happy with my slightly modified Lee Collet die, described below.

The .31-06 Lee collet auto-flare

Like probably many of you, I like and use the Lee collet die for neck- sizing my rifle brass. It is an affordable, effective tool that creates good cartridges. After sizing the necks, I expand and flare the necks using the appropriate expander plug. Lee offer many spare die- parts, and...
artfulbullet.com artfulbullet.com
 
Cadillac Jeff

Cadillac Jeff

Well-Known Member
I use an old herters die with a 311 expander & I only size the neck, just to get the tension for the bullet.....don't know what size it ends up? But I have one 308 also so I use both on the first 10 bullets ( 5each size) when I cast a new batch , just to see ..... I outside turn the neck on the fat ones ...311 .....I think it is redundant but I have 50 I turned a few years ago...

1. I only load 12 gr. Of unique
2. I have no idea what my lead is...but I do recover it from my berm
3. Only shot in same rifle....an old remchester ( remington action,Winchester bolt )model 1917 with a 1" 1/4 X 30" barrel, Timmy trigger , on a very old really big thumhole stock with a 36 power target scope.
 
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richhodg66

Well-Known Member
Cadillac Jeff said:
I use an old herters die with a 311 expander & I only size the neck, just to get the tension for the bullet.....don't know what size it ends up? But I have one 308 also so I use both on the first 10 bullets ( 5each size) when I cast a new batch , just to see ..... I outside turn the neck on the fat ones ...311 .....I think it is redundant but I have 50 I turned a few years ago...

1. I only load 12 gr. Of unique
2. I have no idea what my lead is...but I do recover it from my berm
3. Only shot in same rifle....an old remchester ( remington action,Winchester bolt )model 1917 with a 1" 1/4 X 30" barrel, Timmy trigger , on a very old really big thumhole stock with a 36 power target scope.
Click to expand...
That sounds like an interesting rifle. Care to post a picture of it?

I now have two rifles, a .308 and a .30-06, both heavy bench guns which are dedicated cast bullet experimentation rifles, sounds like you have the same.
 
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