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#1
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Universal .30 load
Rocky,
I read your article "The Universal .30 Load" on your website. I have loaded the 100 gr plinker bullet in my 30-30 since reading your reply to a post on Hunt Chat a few years ago. I think they're great! I have shared a few rounds with fellow shooters who also enjoy shooting them. I have two questions. Do you crimp the Speer Plinker bullets at all? If you used 115 gr cast bullets, would you use gas checks? I have considered buying a mold and casting my own plinking bullets (I already cast pistol bullets). Thanks, Ed |
#2
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Ed, thank you.
No, crimping is unnecessary with the Plinker. There isn't enough recoil energy to move the bullets in the necks, even in a tube magazine. I've used lots of commercially cast 115 RN plainbased lead bullets with that same load, and while my accuracy isn't quite as good as with Plinkers, I suspect that's more of a case of a jacket fouled bore than lack of a gas check. I suspect if I really cleaned the bore that those little lead slugs would fly just fine. One of the lessons I'm learning about lead bullets is that you simply cannot shoot them indiscriminately with jacketed bullets. In other words, you can't mix them and expect good results. Like a .22LR, the bore seems to get "seasoned" to one or the other over a span of 50 shots or so. And thorough cleaning is needed if you want to switch types. Example: When I started shooting my Savage 340 bolt-action 30-30, I shot a few groups with factory jacketed ammo just to see how the thing shot (pretty well, BTW). Then I switched to cast bullets and got horrible accuracy. I gave it a complete and deep cleaning, then tried the cast loads again. Accuracy was bad at first, but after a few dozen shots, it seemed to just settle in. Now my cast bullet accuracy is just about what the gun shot with factory ammo - and at almost the same speeds, I might point out!
__________________
Freedom of the Press Does NOT mean the right to lie! Visit me at my Reloading Room webpage! Get signed copies of my Vietnam novels at "Baggy Zero Four" "Mike Five Eight" |
#3
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115 Cast Plinker
The Lee 115 RNFP GC boolit is fun in most 30 calibers, especially with pistol powders. I might suggest Blue Dot for a starter. Red Dot should work too but one can get a BUCH of it in a 30 caliber case and get in trouble.
If you are going to do it, get one of the 6 cavity special order molds on the Cast Boolit site and you can run a bunch in an evening! |
#4
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Thanks for the tip on the 115's. I may give that a try. Do you run these bullets through a sizing die or just lube them and shoot them as cast?
Ed |
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