30-06 small game loads

[HillbillyGadget]

Does anybody  have a favorite recipe?
 I've read Col. whelan liked a load at 1600'/sec with a fmj 150 gr, what load would achieve that or is there a newer load?

[jbtazgrabber]

i use 8 gr. of red dot and a 180 gr. lead bullet  repeat LEAD....killed tree rats.. raggets .....a turkey.and a fox ...no noise no recoil.

[Dusty Miller]

Hey folks, you can load 110 gr. bullets in your '06 that'll fly at 3000 fps.  That ought to serve as an adequate small game round.

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

Dusty,

Your load would certainly dispatch them humanely, however I'm guessing there wouldn't be much meat left.  That sounds more like a varmint round to me.

I don't know if I would use a FMJ for small game, at least not a spitzer.  You could probably get away with a roundnose or flat point .30-30 bullet.

I've been working up a load with a single buckshot for my .357magnum lever action.  I used black powder which will suit me fine, but I think I'll also try to find a smokeless load too.  

A .30 caliber ball will weigh about like a .22 slug, something in the neighborhood of 35 to 44 grains.  I just feel better using something light for squirrels as you are generally shooting skyward which is a big no-no for any other rifle.  Plus the balls are so aerodynamically poor that they behave like a flu-flu arrow where they come out fast, but slow down really quick, so they won't even go the mile that a .22 supposedly can.

[HillbillyGadget]

jb, do you use a filler with the 8.0 red dot?
 and with the round ball are you swaging them, what lube?

[HillbillyGadget]

I talked with a tech, at Sierra bullets, he came up with a 150gr over 12gr unique which is great since I use a ton of it for .45lc, Ill probably use a 150 gr 30-30 bullet, he said it shouldn't expand on small game and only slightly on coyotes.

[jbtazgrabber]

no i dont use a  filler...i have used unique also i liked it too....i cast my own bullets out of wheel weights i use lee alox bullrt lube ...i put bullets in a to go cup pore in bullet lube shake then dump out on wax paper...lrt dry overnight a load....lee makes a chape molds ...wheel weights from tire shop ...usally free...7 gr. unique...a primer and you have a cheap <3006>  22 ......ive used balls in rifles also...used unique   and red dot  its ok but can grt better range and accury if i use bullets   ...JB

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

Hillbilly,

I actually paper-patched the roundballs that I've played with.  Paper-patching is way too tedious for any amount of plinking work - but it's alright for hunting bullets.  

The reason I paper-patched was because I just used a roundball mold for a .36 caliber muzzle loader.  Since muzzle loader balls tend to be .01" less than bore, the mold throws .350" balls.  I patched 'em up so they'd be about .360" to fit snug in the .357 case.

The paper acts like a jacket and there is no need for lube if you use smokeless powder.  

Now that I know it works OK, I may see if there's a buckshot size that's close to .360 or .357 then I could skip the patching.

[Leftoverdj]

Jacque, some 000 is the right size, .360 +or-. Hornady runs too small.

For you .30 cal shooters, the easy route is the swaged Hornady .314s 90 grain SWCs intended for .32 pistols. Run them through an $12 Lee .311 sizer and you are in business. Good idea to relube with Liquid Alox or Johnson's Paste Wax.

[Vern Humphrey]

I shoot a 160 grain Lee gas-checked bullet, cast from wheel weights, ahead of 14 grains of H4227 from an 03A3 Springfield.  This started as a plinking load, but it does so well on small game, I use it for squirrel hunting now and then.

But one caution -- I have access to a couple of thousand acres, and can shoot in some directions with no fear of endangering someone else.  I wouldn't use this load in more confined quarters.

[patw]

Does anyone know if shooting the lead bullet will change the point of impact.  If I am sighted in with my hunting loads, will shooting the small game load with a lead bullet mess up the next shot with the jacketed  hunting load?

[Vern Humphrey]

The lead bullet will shoot to a different point of impact than a full-charge jacketed load.  If you're lucky, the diffence will be only in the vertical direction.  It may be possible (expecially if you have a mil dot, dual X, or similar reticle) to select an aiming point for cast bullets and leave the rifle zeroed for the jacketed hunting load.

A change in zero just from firing a lead bullet is unlikely.