I'm looking for low pressure loads for my old pre-WW1 bolt action 30-06 for back yard plinking without overly annoying the neighbors.

I started with THE LOAD of 13 grains of Red Dot, but I haven't found a bullet combination that works well for accuracy in my rifle.

16 grains of 2400 behind a 190 grain cast bullet was fantastically accurate but not exactly low pressure (and I'm out of those bullets too).

I have some hoarded Trail Boss on hand and plan to try 13 grains of that on my next trip to the range but I've started wondering about using lower charges of Bullseye or Unique (maybe 4-6 grains?).

Any suggestions?

If you WW I 06 has proper headspace it's safe for any factory ammo.
The Lyman cast bullet book has 100s of 06' loads.
Red Dot, Blue Dot, 4227 and 4198 all work fine.
Join this group and find what you need:
https://forum.castbulletassoc.org/thread/30-06-problem-free-reduced-loads/

Me and my son shot some 95 grain bullets out of my Cramer mold out of his 300Savage over 9gr of Unique. They are a SWC designed for 32 revolvers but I ran them through a .310 sizer.

They shot well enough for him to hit clay pigeons at 50 yards and weren’t much louder than a 22LR.

I might have gotten the load out of an old Lyman manual but I’d have to look at my notes.

My .30-06 plinking load consists of a 150gr. cast bullet over a charge of 10gr. of Unique. I shoot it in my Sedgley Springfield and 1895 Winchester rifles.

That's a pretty broad statement. But we should expect no less from Ol' Larry Roote.

My favorite '06 backyard plinker load is 7gr. Red Dot + Lyman #311241 150gr. plain base cast of 1:30 tin:lead alloy. Under no circumstances substitute a 150gr. jacketed bullet because you might stick it in the bore. Ask me how I know. (In a Krag drop the charge to 6gr.)

Been playing with an original 1895-vintage Frankford Arsenal .30 roundball mold. De- and re-cap, charge with 6gr. Bullseye, thumb seat a ball, smear a trace of lube on it, shoot. Lots of fun, dirt cheap shooting, and plenty accurate for nailing empty cans out to 75 feet.

The mold (intended for this very same type of shooting):




Frankford Arsenal de- and re- capper, circa 1909:



With any of these uber-light charges please double and triple check the powder level in the cases before seating bullets. A double charge would merely startle you but a triple charge could get sporty, especially in a low-number Springfield.

I'll bet 10 gr. Unique is similar to 6 gr. Red Dot. Never tried it (I've always had kegs of Red Dot and only pound cans of Unique so I always went straight to Red Dot), probably works great. Splitting hairs I suppose, given that there's 7000 grains in a pound....

Addendum: I also have experimented with case fillers and wads with these light charges and honestly they don't help if empty beer cans are the targets. Perhaps if trying to use them for match shooting, yes, but I feel the risk of ringing a chamber outweighs a slight increase in accuracy. If really consistent ignition bothers you then simply raise the muzzle before firing, to position the powder consistently in the case.

I quit using Kapok filler long ago, never noticed any difference.

Haha! Yep, around 25 years ago at a yard sale I snagged a few ancient life vests to salvage the kapok in them. Then I abandoned the whole idea of fillers, and dammit I still have the kapok from one of them but threw the others away. D'you realize how much volume of kapok is in a life preserver when it expands to its natural fluffy state? If anybody wants to mess with the stuff I'll send you a wad of it for the price of postage.

This simply not true and is down right dangerous advice.
I'm shooting a low serial number Rock Island Arsenal 1903 which should NEVER be fired with full power factory ammo.

Low number 03A3? A3's were all made within the confines of WWII and as such are very strong and aren't remotely effected by the phenomenon that put the jinx on early WWI-era '03's.

Fixed it. Should have said

1903

All good!

How low is the number on your Rock Island? Above 285,000 they were made of nickel steel and immune from the potential foibles of the low number Springfield Armory guns.

119,xxx

I shoot a 160 gr PB bullet with 6 to 7 grains of Bullseye out of a 1903. This shoots well and POI is perfect at 100 yds. with the issue sights. E.C. (Ed) Harris recommended the load to me and it fairly copies the old "sentry" load, albeit with a cast bullet instead of jacketed. It is a great load will no recoil and good accuracy at 100 yds.

Have you found that little of BE to be position sensitive in the '06 case? I won't use a filler but I have been known to point a rifle skyward before firing.

3049 Krag what is a "PB" bullet

Dinny

Bullseye does not seem to be positive sensitive. All my test loads seem to go bang, but I have yet to find a tack driving low pressure load in my rifle.

Pb is the chemical element symbol for lead.

Thanks.

Oof now I feel dumb. Should have known that. Thanks.

PB = Plain Base in the vernacular of cast bullets. (And Dinny is right too, Pb = lead.) Pbst = Pabst Blue Ribbon

I don't find BE (Bullseye) to be terribly position sensitive in really light .30-06 (and .30-30 & .30-40) loads. Hair splitting accuracy? If a Springfield or Krag prints paper groups at 50 yards that'll subtend a quarter (or heck, even a half dollar) I'm happy since most of my shooting with mouse fart loads in those guns is at empty Pbst cans (what, you think I'd shoot a full one?!) and AR-500 swingers at backyard-like distances. I used to squirrel hunt with a .30-40 Krag and 150 PB RN's + 6gr. Red Dot or BE, and many a headless squirrel came home from the woods with me.

I forgot about Plain Base.

I like the way you put that.

6 grains of bullseye and 180 grain cast bullet seem to group nicely with very little pressure even if it is a foot low at 50 yards!

I hear ya. An added incentive for folks shooting these uber light loads in U.S. milsurps (Krags & '03's) is they hit pretty close to where the battle sights point at close range.

plain base

Funny story regarding fillers, I was shooting on an indoor range with some coworkers and wanted to use my S & W M/29. One of the guys suggested a charge of 3.5gr. of Bullseye and 1gr. of filler. I assembled fifty rounds of .44 Magnum with this and a 240gr. SWC bullet, not realizing that the guys had put me in the trick bag. When the range officer gave the order to commence firing it looked as though I was having a pillow fight on my firing point. The air was filled with clouds of Kapok and the laughter of my coworkers could be heard all over the range. No more fillers for me from that day forward no matter pistol or rifle reduced charge round !

i have a garbage bag full of dacron. i use 2400 and a tuft of dacron for my 35/30-30 and 444 Marlin. i use it some other stuff, but it is all rifle cartridges.

i was using my 444 with/without a tuft of dacron and i found that with a tuft of dacron was more accurate than without.

Keeping most powders in a consistent column adds consistency. Some powders are relatively positioned in sensitive. Most are. I use Dacron in all my rifle cast loads. 30-06, 35 Whelen, 458WM.