toying with #00buck out of my .30cals

hitch.bd

hitch.bd

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So I cast a pile of #00buck shot for the shotgun. .32cal for those that do not know. Last night for sh!ts and giggles, I ran a hand full of them thru my lube a matic and swaged them down to .309 dia. I weighed them on my digital scale and they are all within 0.1 gr +/- of 54 gr.
I remember way back when before the old guys became the disappeared ones...(they who shall not be named) they would post of loading light cast bullets with a little shotgun powder.
I cannot find the old threads ...does anyone have them in their saved for posterity files?
Any safe powder recommendations also welcome!
H4831 feel free to jump in here!!!
 
Well Brad, I have never shot them in a 30 calibre rifle, but if they were mine, I would certainly try them.
To start with, you can virtually forget about any danger to your rifle, any centre fire rifle you can think of.
The bullet is so light and being basically lead, the pressure would just blow right past it, if you get too much pressure.
I think the little ball could be quite accurate, you just have to get the right pressure behind it. The fastest powders, like Bullseye, or W231 would be best. I would try about five, or so, grains of the fastest powder you have. If two or three would go into about the same point of impact at about thirty feet, I would add another grain of powder and keep going up until they no longer make a descent group.
Best accuracy should be just a bit less than the amount of powder that makes a lousy group.
Bruce
 
There is a fellow out of Calgary that goes to a lot of shows. He makes up special adapters out of the case to shoot 00 buck.

He drills an offset hole in the base of the cartridge to accept 22 or 32 caliber Hilti Gun blanks. They actually work quite well out to 25 yards or so. If your rifle is scoped, you will need to learn all about Kentucky Windage.

If you are going to use standard rifle primers under shot gun powders, you will likely need about about a half case full.

I have tried the 00 buck with the Hilti blanks and they are OK. I have also tried 32 cal hard cast light bullets that were hollow base wad cutters. Weight was around 80 grains. The accuracy of those was very good indeed. Good for grouse and rabbits. I had to be careful not to load them to hot, especially for small game.
 
I've done loaded 3 and 2 000 buck in my 357mag, but I forget what charge I used, I think it was 2 or 3gr of w231. I just looked at load data for a close weight and figured out a starting point.

Do what h4831 suggested.
 
Thanks for the Info Bruce I have some W231 with nothing to do!
I think I saw the fella you speak of BH he turns a base out of aluminum and solders it onto the brass...I was going to try that one day when my lathe gets set up here at home.
Do you really think half a case full if using LR primers? I thought shotgun primers were just LP primers with a sleeve around them.
Condomboy - that sounds interesting but I don't think I'll do more than 1 ball in the 30.06 or the others for that matter!
Thanks for the x2 spawn
 
hitch.bd said:
Thanks for the Info Bruce I have some W231 with nothing to do!
I think I saw the fella you speak of BH he turns a base out of aluminum and solders it onto the brass...I was going to try that one day when my lathe gets set up here at home.
Do you really think half a case full if using LR primers? I thought shotgun primers were just LP primers with a sleeve around them.
Condomboy - that sounds interesting but I don't think I'll do more than 1 ball in the 30.06 or the others for that matter!
Thanks for the x2 spawn
Click to expand...

I used appx 1/2 case of 700X and it did the job very well with standard large rifle primers. I also stuffed in some Dacron pillow case stuffing to take up the rest of the space. I don't trust a cartridge with so much free space in it. Just IMHO of course. Almost impossible to get into trouble but if you load hot and your buckshot is soft, it will strip out on the rifling.
 
Makes sense! Thanks for the info! Sounds like I have some experimenting to do!

QUOTE=bearhunter;10150574]I used appx 1/2 case of 700X and it did the job very well with standard large rifle primers. I also stuffed in some Dacron pillow case stuffing to take up the rest of the space. I don't trust a cartridge with so much free space in it. Just IMHO of course. Almost impossible to get into trouble but if you load hot and your buckshot is soft, it will strip out on the rifling.[/QUOTE]
 
I seem to recall for the .303 British case the suggested grouse load was a .22 case filled to the top worth of red/blue dot or bullseye topped with Dacron and a .30cal round ball, was quiet enough to not spook big game and shot pretty close to dead on with the irons to 15-20 yards....

That recipe "should" work well in and mid size .30cal case but YMMV

The Custom adapter to fire Hilti blanks your referring to is known as the Hammond game getter... http://www3.telus.net/gamegetter/
 
What H4831 said...I also tune the load to use the top of my lower duplex reticle as an aiming point...... it works good out to 25 yards.
 
I've used a single 00 Buck pellet in 303 Brit. Simply size it to 0.314" seat it to the end of the flat portion now around its circumference and place a dab of alox on the exposed surface. As for powder, Bullseye or some other fast pistol powder with no "fill" (e.g. Dacron). Choose an amount for the lightest bullet shown in your cast bullet loading manual and work up or down.
 
I have to get a resizer for .314 for my lube a matic next and try the .303 brit out!
I have loaded a few 30.06 rounds with 5 gr of W231 and will try them out when I get a chance!
#4 in my .22 hornet... now you have me thinking... But I've been thinking of selling it to get cash for a .308 precision...too bad I don't have any #4 shot... aaaarggg decisions!!!
 
bearhunter said:
There is a fellow out of Calgary that goes to a lot of shows. He makes up special adapters out of the case to shoot 00 buck.

He drills an offset hole in the base of the cartridge to accept 22 or 32 caliber Hilti Gun blanks. They actually work quite well out to 25 yards or so. If your rifle is scoped, you will need to learn all about Kentucky Windage.

If you are going to use standard rifle primers under shot gun powders, you will likely need about about a half case full.

I have tried the 00 buck with the Hilti blanks and they are OK. I have also tried 32 cal hard cast light bullets that were hollow base wad cutters. Weight was around 80 grains. The accuracy of those was very good indeed. Good for grouse and rabbits. I had to be careful not to load them to hot, especially for small game.
Click to expand...


Hammond Game Getter
 
hitch.bd said:
I have to get a resizer for .314 for my lube a matic next and try the .303 brit out!
I have loaded a few 30.06 rounds with 5 gr of W231 and will try them out when I get a chance!
#4 in my .22 hornet... now you have me thinking... But I've been thinking of selling it to get cash for a .308 precision...too bad I don't have any #4 shot... aaaarggg decisions!!!
Click to expand...

Buy a 5 round box of #4 buckshot, should get you 105 pellets for $5-7.
 
I use in all my 30 cal rifles # "00" buck shot for grouse hunting. "00" buck shot is slightly larger than .308" and has to be resized. Lee makes lead bullet sizer for .308" for approx $20. I use magnum primers and depends on rifle 5-7 gr of Clays powder. It makes less noise than 22, shot goes through without expansion and up to 30 yards is quite accurate.
 
I cast 00 buck with my Lee mold. I don't exactly use pure lead as they recommend so it's wheel weights I melt. Anyway, I size my 00 buck in a .308 sizing mold and they end up having a cylindrical shape in the process, pics to come. I use 4 grains of Trail Boss for 308 winchester and it's surprisingly accurate at 25 yards. Very fun to shoot.
 
I've done it without even sizing the pellets. I just put about 3 gr of Bullseye into the primed case and tapped the pellet in to the case mouth with a plastic mallet until a hemisphere was all that showed. Tapping the pellet in to the case sizes it close enough to count.

Bullseye is the best powder to use because it is tolerant of ignition when lying in a thin layer on the bottom of the case. Some powders do funny things in this situation.
 
Spawn-Inc said:
Buy a 5 round box of #4 buckshot, should get you 105 pellets for $5-7.
Click to expand...
You sir are a genius!

Has anyone noticed heavy leading in the barrel? I'm just wondering if I take a bunch of grouse like this then see a moose/deer/elk, is my important shot gonna be influenced negatively.
 
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