Cast and / or Reduced Contender Loads

[mbopp]

Anybody (besides me) do this? In my 357 Herrett I'll load 158 gr cast or plated bullets over 8-10 gr of pistol powder. Case necks are expanded with a medium Lyman "M" die so the case mouth doesn't shave lead off. 50 yd accuracy is plenty good enough for practice. My most accurate loads are with plated bullets but I'd like to try some 180gr cast ones.

[qwikrick]

I recently started making light loads for my 14'' 30-30.  165gr LFN / CCI #34 / 9gr of trail boss .

its good for about 100 yards and fun for plinking. 

[Dezynco]

I load 1.5 - 3 grains of Bullseye under a 265 grain lead bullet in my 375 Winchester (24" barrel).  Makes a good "pop", but will take down the walls of Jericho!

[Hopalong7]

      I shoot a Lyman 357318 out of my Herret and Max.  It has a gas check and with my alloy drops at 205-207gr.....shoots as good or better than my jacketed bullets, and not just light loads either.  In fact if it wasn't a round nose, it would probably be my hunting load.  But that's what LBT's are made for .
Walt

[Junior1942]

All I've shot in my T-C 10" octagon 357 minimax is cast loads. It's a 357 mag reamed to hold a long 190 gr Lee FP group buy gascheck bullet.  With Lil'Gun I can push that 190 gr bullet to 1734 fps, but the recoil is somewhere between awful and terrible, so I calmed it down to ~1500 fps using WC820 (AA#9-like).  I use that 1500 fps load for deer/hog hunting.  For non-hunting I use either a 158 gr Lasercast or a 158 gr Lee TL and both with WC820 to ~1400 est in the T-C.  Measured velocity of the 158 gr load in my Rossi M92 20" carbine is 1620 fps.

I also shot a 180 gr LaserCast truncated cone-tip non-gascheck cast to ~1700 fps with Lil-Gun in the 10" T-C, but due to recoil switched to the ~1500 fps load.  None of the loads mentioned here gave leading, and they all shot fine and dandy, i.e., better than I can hold.

"Fine and dandy" accuracy = all shots in a 6" bullseye @ 31 yards from a forearm-against-a-tree rest.

[P.A. Myers]

Light loads in big cases, great fun. When doing this ALWAYS use a fast burn powder, otherwise it will blow up. No rumor, I've done it.

P.A.

[Waldo Pepper]

I have had good results with Trail boss in 222 with 10" barrel in 1000 to 1500fps speed range and in S&W 629 4" barrel with Trail Boss and 240 grain HC/RNFT bullet. Also been having excellent results in 357 magnum with Dan Wesson 8" barrel revolver. For light loading it has become my powder of choice and it works out very cheap to use.

[flipajig]

ive used some W-231 or HP-38 6.6 gn with a 240grn cast pill running around 1000fps
shoots good out of my super 14 in 44mag also same load in a SBH 44mag its running around 800fps.
I have to fight my kids off of them when we go out to shoot.

[woodchukhntr]

In my .223 Super 16" I have been using Sierra's 45 gr. Hornet bullet with 9.0 gr. of Blue Dot.  I don't know the velocity (low 2000's I'd estimate), but it shoots under 1" at 100 yd.

[Waldo Pepper]

In my .223 Super 16" I have been using Sierra's 45 gr. Hornet bullet with 9.0 gr. of Blue Dot.  I don't know the velocity (low 2000's I'd estimate), but it shoots under 1" at 100 yd.

I hope you're talking iron sights, cause with my Browning A-bolt in 222 with Barska 6x24x50AO I get a fuzzy 1/4" to 5/16" from bench with front bi-pod and rear sand bag. My late father was even better with his Savage 222 when I was a kid, I have his rifle, but not his Weaver K10 scope or skill.

[woodchukhntr]

I hope you're talking iron sights, cause with my Browning A-bolt in 222 with Barska 6x24x50AO I get a fuzzy 1/4" to 5/16" from bench with front bi-pod and rear sand bag. My late father was even better with his Savage 222 when I was a kid, I have his rifle, but not his Weaver K10 scope or skill.
[/quote]
What does this have to do with reduced loads?  I do not have the skill to shoot as well as you do, so I have to be content with what I am capable of.  I am content with under 1" as a measure of an accurate (for me) gun and load.  And no, this is not with iron sights.

[Waldo Pepper]

I hope you're talking iron sights, cause with my Browning A-bolt in 222 with Barska 6x24x50AO I get a fuzzy 1/4" to 5/16" from bench with front bi-pod and rear sand bag. My late father was even better with his Savage 222 when I was a kid, I have his rifle, but not his Weaver K10 scope or skill.

What does this have to do with reduced loads?  I do not have the skill to shoot as well as you do, so I have to be content with what I am capable of.  I am content with under 1" as a measure of an accurate (for me) gun and load.  And no, this is not with iron sights.
[/quote]Well it may not be you is what I am saying, it may be your choice of powder or or amount of powder. Often with redused loads accuracy goes out the window or becomes erratic, due to powder not covering or being close enough to give same ignition

Sounds like to me when I read your post you had a load problem. But now you sound like maybe you are selling yourself short, or you just need some traing and practice. I was assuming you had the loading problem because a M-16 is capable of sub 1" groups at 100 yards, so your T/C which is more accurate than a M-16 should do sub 1" groups. By the way at 65 I'm not the shooter I was in teens or twenty's and it takes a real effort on my part to shoot a sub 3/4" group at a 100 yards.