Reduced loads with light bullets for small game

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rm_rang

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I have recently discovered this awesome powder called trail boss for reduced loads. I have come up with this idea to load up lower velocity loads for my big game rifles with a lighter bullet so I can use my rifle on deer with normal loads as well as for small game with my reduced loads and light bullets.

I am wondering if I could have 6mm bullet mould made that would produce a .2435 (6.18 mm) bullet that weighs between 30-40 grains? Basically the bullet can have the same design as a .22lr but not heeled. I’m not worried about lube grooves or gas checks on these.

I was hoping to maybe do the same thing for both my .222 Remington as well as my 6.5 Remington magnum with the diameters being .224 (5.7 mm) and .264 (6.7mm) respectively with the same target weight of 30-40 grains.

Is this realistic? Has any body tried it? Will I have to have a mold made or is somebody out there already doing this?
 
Making short range grouse/bunny loads for big game rifles is easy with Trail boss. Hodgdon even has a formula for it.

I've used cast bullets and jacketed bullets to make very slow and quiet rounds. Personally, I wouldn't bother having a mold made, and you don't necessarily want lightweight bullets anyway, what you want is slow bullets that don't violently expand when you shoot a grouse. You want a nice clean 6mm hole right through them.
 
I haven't have good results with extremely light for calber bullets in reduced / subsonic loads. 45gr bullet accuracy in 243 was poor. 70gr was much better.
 
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I would not even bother with Trail Boss for what you want. I have had good results with light charges of Bullseye, 700-x, Red Dot, or similar powders, and a close to standard weight bullet for the calibre (ie .22 with 55 grain bullet).
I use cast bullets. So, for example, in my .243 I use the Lyman 89 grain RN. If you want you could load this up to be sub-sonic (1000 fps is a good range), to have an accurate and quiet load. It is also more likely to shoot close to the point of aim at short ranges than something really light for calibre. 5-6 grains usually provide a subsonic load.
If you want to keep it really simple, use Lee Liquid Alox or Dragon Lube. No lube sizer required.
 
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Interesting timing since tonight I was developing a subsonic load in 7.62x39, 5gr of trai boss and a 230gr 0.311 bullet for that exact same reason. Since the load is subsonic (low speed estimated at 800 fps) I selected the heaviest bullet that I could find in order to be have more terminal energy. This load should be good enough even for coyotes raccoons.
 
OP, I have seldom seen a scoped rifle that will shoot both reduced loads and hunting loads to the same point of aim or even close to the same point of impact.

I guess it depends on what you call "reduced loads"

Everything changes, trajectory, barrel harmonics and more. Don't forget to include extreme parallax of crosshairs at short ranges they aren't set for.

Mr Hammond's Game Getter is a very good option, but it won't shoot the lead round ball to point of aim in your scope. With practice, you might be able to keep on target in a meaningful manner from 20-30 feet (7-10m) and that's a maybe, depending on your rifle. Not only that, those relatively soft lead balls are going to leave lead fouling in the bore, which will likely effect where the point of impact with jacketed hunting bullets will be from point of aim. Ask me how I know.

I to liked the idea of using reduced loads or even chamber adapters to fire 32 acp/25 acp pistol ammo. I picked up three different chamber adapters intended for 30 cal and one for a 257 bore. None of them were acceptable IMHO. Not even adequate. They may have worked out to 5 meters at most.

I went the route of loading 85 grain pistol bullets into 308, 30-06 and 30-30 cases. My best results were with the powder charge held against the bottom of the case with Dacron fiber and filled to the base of the bullet, which was seated to 1/2 caliber deep. These provided the best, consistent accuracy. I used 700X powder, because it gave the best consistent results.

Even with the handloads, the scope setting was way off windage and elevation wise at working ranges. I had to guesstimate where a Grouse or Rabbit would be in the scope. It definitely wasn't going to be a head shot. Maybe, not even a humane kill shot.

Your choice and even though it sounds like a good idea, please do a lot of practice to know where the bullet will impact before using it on small game
 
It really doesn't need to be that complex. Use a heavy bullet, not a light pistol bullet. Seat it over some Trailboss without any filler, shoot at targets 0-40 yards away to check your POI. You aren't going to be sniping grouse at 250 yards with these loads so you just need to know where your bullet will go at grouse ranges.
 
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