30-30 plinkers with unique

H4831 said:
Why you should never post in a hurry.
Why you should always recheck your post.
Why you should never go by what other people post.
OK.
Enough excuses!
It was 2400 powder I was looking at, instead of Unique.
Unique with 150 grain bullet was starting of 9 grains, for 1360 and
max of 15 grains for 1850.
Sorry guys.
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Can you edit your other post just in case someone doesn't read the whole thread.

Take Care

Bob
 
H4831 said:
Why you should never post in a hurry.
Why you should always recheck your post.
Why you should never go by what other people post.
OK.
Enough excuses!
It was 2400 powder I was looking at, instead of Unique.
Unique with 150 grain bullet was starting of 9 grains, for 1360 and
max of 15 grains for 1850.
Sorry guys.
Click to expand...

No problem, I figured it had to be something like that. You've been hand loading longer than most posters here have been alive!
 
20 grains of Unique could have been exciting!
Been thinking of playing around with these loads as I have several pounds of Unique and nothing to use it in. 30/30 plinking could be a lot of fun.
 
Holleyman said:
Very cool. Now I really want to try this.
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What got me was the big lob to 400 yards. After my first run of loads today I'm a believer.

Since the Berry's bullets I was using are plated I was worried about over crimping and breaking the plating so I took it easy with a medium roll crimp. I brought my calipers with me, loaded a full mag then just cycled them through without firing. I found the crimp wasn't quite enough because, after measuring, the bullets had seated another 0.020" or so. Not a lot but I don't want them to move at all.

I ordered a lee factory crimp die last week and I'm still waiting on it. With the results I've seen so far I don't think the bullet seating is that big of an issue. For now I want to dial in velocity. Normally that would be counter-intuitive but, like I said before, I'm looking for a load that has about the same POI as a hunting load @ about 50 yards and right now the plinkers are shooting low. I think they need a tad more pepper.
 
Big Mouth from my experience in order to get to where you want to be you are going to have to move up the velocity ladder. I have had fairly good sucess with WC735 powder from Higginsons. 25 gr under my 311041 water quenched lead boolit and runs along at 1975 fps and was very accurate in my '94. The boolits were gas checked using a soft lube.

Bruce 15 gr sure seems hot to me. I wouldn't be using that in a lever gun for sure.

Take Care

Bob
 
HELP! I sold my soul to the Internet, I never would have thought that a few hundred feet per second would have mattered that much at 50 yards.

In all seriousness I appreciate the input. A major consideration these days, though, is powders we have available in this climate.
 
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07blackwater said:
HELP! I sold my soul to the Internet, I never would have thought that a few hundred feet per second would have mattered that much at 50 yards.

In all seriousness I appreciate the input. A major consideration these days, though, is powders we have available in this climate.
Click to expand...

Shooting lead boolits with accuracy at longer ranges leaves science and logic behind and enters the world of Black Magic, sorcery, alchemy and good old fashioned hard work. But when you discover the sweet load for your rifle...

Take Care

Bob
 
I loaded up a bunch today with 9,10 and 11 grains. The weather is supposed to be good tomorrow, if it holds out I'll chrony them and check the velocity.

Something of interest I noticed last time I shot these rounds was that the barrel only got warm under the rear sight.

I guess since unique is a pistol powder it all burns in the first few inches. When I switched to store bought ammo the barrel warmed up further down. Makes sense.

Bob, I plan on picking up some 170 grain lead boolits to play with as well but I haven't been able to find any with gas checks. Know where to find some?
 
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Well I finally made it up to the range...and after a 12 hour night shift too!

So I am happy to say I've got my plinking load dialed in I think.
11 grains of unique is giving me an average velocity of around 1550 fps. Well under the maximum of 1700 suggested by berry's with these 150 grain and with fairly acceptable accuracy for wiping out pop cans.

First some numbers.
These are 3 shot averages and keep in mind I didn't weigh each load but threw them through my uniflow.

9 grains ES 23.19 SD 11.57 Average velocity 1337
10 grains ES 13.31 SD 7.34 Average velocity 1447
11 grains ES 16.26 SD 8.18 Average velocity 1559

A 10 shot string @ 11 grains gave me ES 15.49 SD 10.09 and an average velocity of 1549

These groups are with tired eyes @ 50 yards. I call it acceptable for my needs.



 
Thanks Sask! With 6 quick ones the barrel was warm but not enough to quit shooting and I don't like to heat my guns up too much. I think if you dumped a mag then went to set up new cans and repeated there wouldn't be any cooling time involved (another requisite for this load).

I didn't notice very much difference in recoil between the 9 and 11 grain loads but the trajectory was a bit flatter @ 11 so I'm sticking with it.

There's enough kick to make it fun but the kids can handle them no problem. Mission accomplished!

These were fired from my win 94 with the crappy factory sights.

Next load will be 38's or 357's for my Rossi. More to come.
 
Thanks Bob! I'm still dialing in loads for my 270, 7mm mag and 357 but when I'm done with those I have about 50 or 60 pounds of pure lead saved up and plan on giving casting a go.
 
07blackwater said:
Thanks Bob! I'm still dialing in loads for my 270, 7mm mag and 357 but when I'm done with those I have about 50 or 60 pounds of pure lead saved up and plan on giving casting a go.
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Pure lead will be to soft for most applications including rifle. You could mix say 6lbs of WW alloy with your pure lead and water quench the bullets as they drop from the mold and then use gas checks for rifle applications.


Take Care

Bob
 
I've heard solder works good too. A buddy gave me the new Lyman casting manual but I haven't really had a chance to go through it yet.

I was thinking of eventually getting a black powder rifle so that's why I started collecting the lead in the first place.
 
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