doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com .30-06 loads with 3031

150 gr. Rem. - IMR 4895 44.0 gr.

150 gr. FMJ - 18.0 4759 Reduced load

I am not recommending these loads, they are sourced from this forum, on another thread. Reference a loading manual.

I use two reduced loads for my early Sporters, one for hunting, and one for paper.

The first load, for hunting, is 37.5 grains 4895 and a 170 grain round nose Nosler Partition designed for the 30-30. It's just like shooting a 30-30, and, if you shoot 'em in the right place, it kills pigs like they have been struck by lightning.

The second load, for paper, is right out of the Speer 13th Reloading Manual. 27 grains Accurate Arms 5744 and nearly any bullet (I have shot 125 to 168 grain bullets with this load), and it is plenty accurate for any thing we shoot. One 10 shot group fired in a vintage match out of an original 03 Heavy Barreled Target Rifle could be covered with a nickel. This is a wonderful load, mild, accurate, but must be weighed with care; 5744 will bridge if you're not careful. While setting up my Redding powder measure for this load, one throw was 17 grains, the next was 37. The moral to this story is that all my 5744 loads are weighed on an RCBS Chargemaster.

YMMV

after using Google to search this forum I found a little bit by Michael about using 3031 in a .25 caliber of some sort. It is not what I was vaguely remembering however. And he was using jacketed bullets (copper jacketed that is). He was also experimenting with some ancient powder called "Lightening"
http://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=229347&page=1. Nice to read these old posts.

Well, I will pull out a manual and do some homework.

Also, thanks for the caution on the 5744. I have some and I use it in a Krag. I am no an especially experienced reloader of smokeless so, while I have heard of bridging, being reminded of it is a good thing for me. I shall weigh everything.

Brent

I think Michael's load was IMR or H4895 about 45 grs or so. That would give about 2500fps with a 150gr bullet and be a nice pleasant shooting load.

I use a lot of H4895 or IMR4064 for my Garand and M1a but have never used or consider IMR3031 particularly appropriate for the '06 bolt or semiauto.

If you are looking for higher power then I prefer H4350 in the '06. It's a near ideal powder for this cartridge.

By the way how is your Krag doing?

Jerry Liles

Jerry, I"m looking for closer to 2200 or even a titch less with a lead GC bullet. I have a bullet of 220 gr that I would like to make work. I am determined to avoid copper jackets but one day, I will try paper jackets for sure.

I can't find my Lyman Cast Bullet book but it is around here somewhere. I should have bought 2-3 copies so I might double or triple my chances of finding one of them.

The Krag is well. But it is about a 2 MOA gun so far though all of my shooting with it has been under dreadful sighting conditions. I am having some issues with the sights as well. I now have two front ramps for it and the shorter one is too short to reach to 500 meters (an important goal that is necessary to get me dinner) and the tall one will overshoot 200 meters by a bunch using reasonable 5744 loads. These are two interesting guns for me, but I don't let them detract from my attentions to the singleshots when we are in the heart of the competition season as we are now. I slightly over one week away from launching to Raton and maybe 2/3s of the way through my reloading for those rifles.

See if link works

http://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=165636

Art

Yup. It does. I found it a few hours ago. I thought for sure that Michael shot some cast bullets but I no longer think that is right per what Gary said. I've found some other loads that are very workable.

I have the cast bullet book. What bullet are you using?

The Lyman manual shows 5744 for the .311284 bullet out of #2 alloy weighing 210grs - 28grs @1885fps and 30,300psi up to 38.5grs @ 2327 and 57,900psi

Yup. I found my copy within 2 ft of my elbow under some certificates. That lesser load is the more accurate for that particular test. I think that is what I will try. I have 4# of the powder so, enough to keep me busy.

Be careful, re: 2200fps loads in the Krag. Back around the turn of the last century it was felt to be necessary to up the velocity of the 220 grain service bullet from 2000fps to 2200fps. That is when cracked bolt lugs started turning up. They cut it back to 2000fps and all was well again. You now know as much as I do- there may well have been other mitigating circumstances, but still...