CHEAP .309 dia bullets?

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DSC223

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My gal loves shooting my newly acquired Winchester 94 in 30-30. She is big on cowboy flicks (addiction started with Brokeback Mountain oddly enough haha) and I think that's why she prefers the 94 over all.

My question is where can I get CHEAP .309 dia bullets for plinking? I'm using reduced loads so my brass and powder costs are low but I can't find any cheap cast bullets. She'd go through 100 in a day quite easily if I had enough on hand, my problem is that when I'm paying nearly $30 for 100 bullets it becomes costly.
 
DSC223, I don't know a cheap source for 309", but if you are using reduced loads and shooting a lot you may be a prime candidate for casting your own bullets. I used my Lee 303 mold and sized to 309" for plinking in my 30-06. Have you ever considered casting your own bullets?
 
The .30-30 uses .308" bullets. Cast or jacketed. You won't find them cheap either. Nor will you save any money ordering on-line. The shipping will negate any cost saving.
 
Hi-Standard said:
DSC223, I don't know a cheap source for 309", but if you are using reduced loads and shooting a lot you may be a prime candidate for casting your own bullets. I used my Lee 303 mold and sized to 309" for plinking in my 30-06. Have you ever considered casting your own bullets?
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Unfortunately I don't have the space to cast my own, I live in an apartment with 2 other people so space is at a minimum. I've been asking around trying to find others that I could buy bullets from but I haven't had any luck for these particular bullets.

ben hunchak said:
All kinds of .309" cast bullets avail. from M.T. Chambers supply.
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Like sunray said, I think the shipping cost on 100 bullets from MT Chambers might negate the savings. I'm buying bullets at about $7/100 more then MT Chambers is selling them for, I would imagine that shipping on a 0.25 lb. (approx. weight of 100 173gr. bullets) package from the prairies would be that much or more. I'm going to e-mail him regarding shipping costs, it might turn out to be a few bucks cheaper per 100 if I buy 500 or so at a time. Thanks for the link!
 
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I'm looking at using pistol bullets now, .32 ACP is the correct diameter but I doubt very much that I can find any significant amount of those at the right price.

7.62x25 uses a .307" dia bullet, pretty damn close but I'm not sure the implications of using this bullet. It's cost effective, 2,280 rounds from marstar for $225 + shipping. That's less then $10 per 100 bullets before shipping so even if I were to pay $5 worth of shipping on every 100 bullets ($114 of shipping charges) I'd still be saving myself an easy $10 on every hundred bullets...

That's a lot of time spent pulling bullets but I suspect it would be worth my time, even more so if I could use the powder from the 7.62x25 case as a reduced load, but that would be venturing into pretty uncommon ground for me. I have read that people know other people that use the Czech surplus bullets and powder to make Enfield loads, but I haven't read first-hand accounts.

Thoughts?
 
DSC223 said:
I'm looking at using pistol bullets now, .32 ACP is the correct diameter but I doubt very much that I can find any significant amount of those at the right price.

7.62x25 uses a .307" dia bullet, pretty damn close but I'm not sure the implications of using this bullet. It's cost effective, 2,280 rounds from marstar for $225 + shipping. That's less then $10 per 100 bullets before shipping so even if I were to pay $5 worth of shipping on every 100 bullets ($114 of shipping charges) I'd still be saving myself an easy $10 on every hundred bullets...

That's a lot of time spent pulling bullets but I suspect it would be worth my time, even more so if I could use the powder from the 7.62x25 case as a reduced load, but that would be venturing into pretty uncommon ground for me. I have read that people know other people that use the Czech surplus bullets and powder to make Enfield loads, but I haven't read first-hand accounts.

Thoughts?
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I would highly recommend against using unknown powders, and the bullets could end up being a lot more work than the $$$ saved. Also, if they are undersized, you'll get pretty poor accuracy. Just save up, find some place to buy 1000 bullets all at once, and be done with it.
 
sunray said:
The .30-30 uses .308" bullets. Cast or jacketed. You won't find them cheap either. Nor will you save any money ordering on-line. The shipping will negate any cost saving.
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Actually, if you were to shoot cast bullets it is always recommended to slug your bore. Most all 30 cal. rifles have a bore diameter of .308 and if so it is recommeded to shoot your cast bullets at least .001" over bore diameter or .309" for a good gas seal. With regards to the poster who said 32 cal bullets are the correct size, these are a little large at .312". The 32 cal. pistol bullets would be a better match for the .303 British, 7.62X54 Mosin-Nagant, 7.7 Jap, or 7.62X39 Russian at .311 bore.
 
Hornady makes a 100 grain semi jacketed bullet in .30 cal.

Higginson's lists them for $16.93 / 100, which is not bad for bullets these days.

Craig
 
MT Chambers can provide proven cast bullet designs like the Lyman 311041 flat pt. for the 30/30, 314299 a 205gr. spitzer for the .303 and a less expensive 120 gr. Saeco bullet meant for the 32/20 but shows well in the 303 and 30/30. I have shot some great groups with this bullet in the .300 Whisper. Even with shipping costs, I think the latter bullet would be the "bee's knees".
 
You're in Quebec, right? You might want to check-out Marstar's Frontier bullets, the FMB-001 (listed under handgun bullets) is a .308" 110 grn round nose originally intended for .30 Carbine. At $76/k, even with shipping that's pretty good.
As for pulling the bullets from 7.62x25, they'd probably work; but the powder would be pretty fast for loading in .30-30 cases. Do-able, just not great.
And I'm one of the guys that has been using salvaged 7.62x39 bullets and powder in .303 Brit. Now you know someone first-hand. (and it works great)
 
The 32/20 bullets are ready to go.....the testing in the .300 Whisper, .308, and 30/30 went really well,all grouped under 1" at 50yds. and a few under 1" at 100yds.....but this was an easy one as all bullets were sized to .310"...what are the sizes for the 32/20????? .312" ?? Larger???
 
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