I was messing around getting a load ready for squirrel season when it occurred to me that what I was doing might be useful to some of you guys who have not gotten into reloading or bullet casting yet. My squirrel loads are built around the Hornady swaged 90 grain .314 SWC. They are dirt cheap, around $15 for 500 from MidSouth. I was shooting a 7.62X39 and they work perfectly in that. They would also work in the 7.7 Jap, .303 Brit, 7.63 Argentine, 7.62x54R, etc.
The interesting part is that they work in the .30-30, the .308, and the .30-06, generally without reloading tools. Because the bullet is nearly pure lead, it can be safely shot that much oversize. Decap a case with a blunted icepick or any punch that will fit through the primer hole, reprime by setting a primer on a flat steel surface and using a bolt through the case neck to tap the case down around the primer. Add your charge and thumb press the bullet in place. To do this with the fat .30's you may have to mash the case neck a little so it will hold the bullet.
I use five grains of Unique or Universal for this and don't much care what case I drop it in. A dipper works fine for this. The .32 S&W Short and the .32 ACP cases are about the right size, but get someone with a scale to check to see that they drop between five and six grains. Exact weight is not important at this level as long as they are uniform. You'll get about 1400 shots from a pound of powder.
If you are already reloading, buy a Lee .311 sizer die, the loads will shoot a bit better sized to that diameter and you can relube after sizing with the bottle of Liquid Alox Lee throws in. Size your cases normally and flare with any tapered object handy.
These little loads are great for small game and starting new shooters. They only cost about 6 cents a pop and are very quiet.
