Anyone casting these for close range plinking and possible small game hunting? Hate to waste any material when it can be avoided and would be sweet to pop some grouse with a 30 cal using a projectile weighing little more than your run of the mill grouse getter 22LR bullet. Figure OO buck can also be used in 8mm. Couldn't find much info on this online so figured some here may have done a bit of testing and wouldn't mind sharing some results.
Round balls
- Thread starter jongun
- Start date
kenneth carlson
Regular
- Location
- thunder bay on
Yeah buckshot works good. I usually do a light load of 2400 or trail boss. I use 311 roundballs or 00 buckshot through a lee sizer.
kenneth carlson
Regular
- Location
- thunder bay on
I was using 303 Brit. 30-06. and 308. I haven't truly done to much testing. But accuracy was about 2-3" at 25 yards. I gotta look through my notes for more info.
kenneth carlson
Regular
- Location
- thunder bay on
Yeah if you have time to work up a load it would be great. I'll get I. It again also. Once I find my notes I'll pm you my loads I tried. It seemed to have lots of potential. Now you got me curious again. I may have to get out and do some testing as well.
unstableryan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Beautiful Okanagan Valley
It's not .30 cal, but I cast and shoot a lot of round balls out of my 45-70. I bought a cheap lee mold. I usually shoot 3 140gr balls at a time behind ~12gr of unique or trail boss.
Fun times shooting ammo that you can't buy.
Fun times shooting ammo that you can't buy.
I load a lead bullet backwards in the casing. That way I'm getting a bit better accuracy with a longer bullet, and I don't have to buy another mold.
I can tell at a glance if it is a hunting bullet, or a "grouse" load. Pop a hunting load out of the chamber, and slip one in.
I load with unique or lately trail boss. Accuracy is minute of grouse.
I haven't sat down and tested at longer ranges. Yet.
I can tell at a glance if it is a hunting bullet, or a "grouse" load. Pop a hunting load out of the chamber, and slip one in.
I load with unique or lately trail boss. Accuracy is minute of grouse.
I haven't sat down and tested at longer ranges. Yet.
The whole point of this is mainly to conserve lead and also it's wicked fun working on and developing special loads made for a specific purpose. I've already developed light loads for the M44 using standard cast bullets and Clays powder and have grouped at less than 1/2" at 25m. I just find it would be awesome to use a projectile nearly a third the weight and using even less powder. No doubt I'll be sharing my findings here and thanks to you fellas who have shown interest and also shared ideas and experiences.
Google Hammond Game Getter.
Hammond is a fellow from Alberta that makes or made adapters out of brass, with an offset hole to accept a rimfire Hilti cartridge for ignition. It is made up hold the appropriate size of buckshot for your rifle.
There are also adapters available to use 32acp in your 30cal rifles. Both work well.
What the OP is attempting is doable but with the use of pistol/shotgun powders and fillers. Round balls can be quite accurate up to 20 yards in such a situation. Don't push them to fast though or they will either foul your bore or strip out and become inaccurate.
Hammond is a fellow from Alberta that makes or made adapters out of brass, with an offset hole to accept a rimfire Hilti cartridge for ignition. It is made up hold the appropriate size of buckshot for your rifle.
There are also adapters available to use 32acp in your 30cal rifles. Both work well.
What the OP is attempting is doable but with the use of pistol/shotgun powders and fillers. Round balls can be quite accurate up to 20 yards in such a situation. Don't push them to fast though or they will either foul your bore or strip out and become inaccurate.
The Hammond Gamegetter is just a normal cartridge case with a base inserted in it that takes a Remington power load for a nail gun.You can only use greens or it leads the barrel to much. Each caliber comes with a die to pound pieces of lead through to size them. Even those lead ball weights work for it. I am not sure just how much shooting you can do with the Gamegetter before it would wear out as its just thin cartridge brass. I found light reloads worked fine and never bother using mine.
I tried .433" round balls in 44 mag for a lever rifle and it was comical. I could watch the balls arc to the target at 50yds and punch through. Similar to shooting CB .22 rounds. It had horrid accuracy though; I think it was around 8" @ 50yds.
I've been meaning to try it in a bunch of other calibres but conventional cast bullet reloading has taken up most of my range time.
I have a .32ACP adapter for my .300WM but the firing pin pierces the primers most of the time and throws any accuracy out the window from improper ignition. I've been meaning to try deepening some .32ACP primer pockets to take small rifle primers to try to solve the pierced primer issue but haven't gotten around to it.
I've been meaning to try it in a bunch of other calibres but conventional cast bullet reloading has taken up most of my range time.
I have a .32ACP adapter for my .300WM but the firing pin pierces the primers most of the time and throws any accuracy out the window from improper ignition. I've been meaning to try deepening some .32ACP primer pockets to take small rifle primers to try to solve the pierced primer issue but haven't gotten around to it.
Again, sorry this isn't 30 cal but I'm sure it applies to being the same idea. I used 50 cal lead balls (muzzle loader) pushed through a Lee sizer die (.460 ish) and load them over about 5-7 gr any shotgun powder (700X, Red Dot etc). If I remember I was getting about 2"@ 25 yds offhand out of a 450 Marlin. Recoil is about a 22 RF and fairly quiet. Haven't loaded any for a few years but it's fun to do just for fun and dirt cheap. Best of luck
