Reduced loads

[rbahri5206]

I'm having some problems with my shoulder so I have put away my larger caliber rifles but I'm starting to miss them. I was wondering if you guys could school me on reduced loads, all in know is I can't just use less powder. The rifles I wanna load are bolt acation so cycling is not an issue.

[Rac97crawford]

Lighter bullets too..

[sghart]

Reduced rifle loads are a favorite of mine. I suffer from right shoulder problems after numerous motorcycle and rodeo wrecks.

No need for lighter bullets.

H4895 powder can be reduced to 60% as a starter. My 30 caliber loads (30-30 and 30-06) are very mild.

You can go even lower. 16 gr of 2400 pistol powder or 10 gr of Unique will drive a 180 gr bullet to 200 yards with amazing accuracy. It has the added advantage of a recoil and blast similar to a 22LR. I have been shooting these loads in my 7X57, 30-30 and 30.06 for several years. My 30-30 is a bolt action also. Both loads can hit a 12" X 12" steel plate at 150 yards routinely.

Your brass will last a lot longer too. I will include a link for you that will get you started.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?13425-Cast-Bullet-Loads-for-Military-Rifles-Article

https://www.hodgdon.com/PDF/H4895%20Reduced%20Rifle%20Loads.pdf

The first article talks mostly about cast bullets, which I use a lot. But you can also load jacketed.

Best of luck.

[J-cat]

Blue Dot for half-minute accuracy with 60% case fill and two-thirds velocity.

Trail Boss for 100% load density without powder positioning issues.

[Enfield47]

Trail Boss and Unique are good choices for reduced loads. Here is the Trail Boss reduced load data sheet. Search this forum for gallery, mouse fart, and bunny fart loads and you will find many ideas that others are using.

[rsrocket1]

Read this article on .

Using fast shotgun/pistol powder will ignite the charge without fillers or postion sensitivity. The object is to get at least 15,000 psi peak pressure to the powder in order to get it to burn cleanly and completely. Fast powders do that as long as there is enough in the case. Slow rifle powders don't do this with small charges. I use 10 grains as the starting load with anything from 100g plated bullets to 200g lead bullets in my .308 bolt action gun and they all shoot great. 10 grains of what? So far I've used:
Titewad
Clays
Extra Lite
Red Dot
Bullseye
Unique
Power Pistol

and they all give about the same velocity with equal weight bullets. The sound and recoil is a little more than a 22mag. The bullets I've tested have been:

Lee
C309-113-F
C309-170-F
C309-200-R

Extreme
110g 308 RNP

Hornady
#3005 100g Short jacketed LRN
#3031 SP Jacketed

Not all powders with all bullets. My typical load would be with 10-11 grains of Unique or 6g Red Dot if I am trying to go really slow (like subsonic with the heavy bullets or ultra low recoil with the lighter bullets).

These are really "plinker" loads and NOT "less-than-full-power" loads for deer hunting. I can still get 1" to 1.5" groups @100 yards with the right load in my 788, but I only do this for economical target practice. More importantly, I get the same POI as my full power loads with a lower cost and no sore shoulder after a 40 shot session.

[J-cat]

http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/2000578/Benefits_of_the_223_Blue_Dot_s

[Jimi Jah]

Try a spongy butt stock to soften the impact.

[Bumslie]

http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthr...223_Blue_Dot_s

Interesting. I would love to see the data for blue dot and 55gr.

[meaty-btz]

I had a great deal of trouble with H4895 reduced loads being both very dirty and not-sealing the brass to the chamber. They were also wildly inconsistent in velocity.

This was in 8mm mauser. Other cases might have different burn patterns and might be ok in reduced H4895 but I don't recommend it.

[J-cat]

Interesting. I would love to see the data for blue dot and 55gr.

They all do approximately 2100 FPS with 60% load density, regardless of caliber.

[Bumslie]

They all do approximately 2100 FPS with 60% load density, regardless of caliber.

Awesome. I'm on the hunt for blue dot now.

[rbahri5206]

great info guys, for the guys that recommend pistol powder can i use 700x?

[J-cat]

U can use whatever pistol powder you want, but you have to be careful with your load work up. You can't go too light because you'll stick the bullet in the bore. You have to be careful because you can triple or quadruple charge using some of these powders. Blue Dot is nice in that it takes up more than 50% of case volume so you cannot double charge. It delivers half-minute accuracy. You can't stick a bullet because the sweet spot is between 1900 and 2200 FPS

It is position sensitive so you have to tip your gun up before every shot.

[sunborder]

13 grains of Red Dot/promo with a gas-checked lead or standard jacketed bullet in any military 30-caliber cartridge with 150-180 grain bullet.

Are there better powders for this? Yes. Are there any cheaper? Don't bet on it.

7 Grains of promo with a non-gas-checked lead bullet is perfect for practicing at 25 yards off-hand. No ear protection required.

I do it with a Mosin-Nagant, but it will work with .308, 30-06, .303, 7.7 Arisaka, etc...

.303, 7.7 Arisaka, and 7.62x54R are perfect for this because the headspace on the rim, rather than the case mouth/shoulder. Your brass will last damn-near forever.

J-cat is almost correct in that it is dangerous because of a stuck bullet to download too far, though, so you have to work your load DOWN until you stick a bullet, or better yet, chicken out and don't go any further down.

This is especially important if you have a temperature sensitive powder, since you may test in weather conditions that give you a safe load, until it gets much colder and suddenly your "safe load" sticks a bullet and you don't notice, then blow up your gun. Not sure if this is an issue with pistol powders, but it's definitely an issue with many rifle powders, so be careful when downloading. Also there is some (counter-intuitive and controversial) evidence that downloading slow rifle powders too far can cause a cause a gun to blow up. Be especially careful downloading with rifle powders.