Home Forums Reloading Bullet Casting 30'06 cast bullet recommendation

I have cast bullets for quite some time for 38 special, 44 mag, and 45/70 with adequate success for my needs. I cast from wheel weights and tumble lube the pistol bullets - they shoot as well as I can shoot a handgun. I have tumbled lubed some of the 45/70 bullets and shot them as cast using Unique and they were plenty accurate for off hand shooting at 50 yards.

I would like a recommendation for a 30 caliber bullet mold that can be tumbled lubed and is likely to work well in a 30'06 with loads using Unique (or Reloader #7) to make a plinking load for off hand practice. Any recommendations of charge weight of Unique or Reloader #7 also would be appreciated.

I am aware that powder coating is the new great thing in cast bullets but I prefer to stick to tumble lubing as I have ALOT of Alox.

Thank you.

Several '06's and I have many molds...but I always go back to the lowly Lee 170 gas check, around 12 Bhn, unsized, tumble lubed, 27 gr of RL-7 with a mild primer. Superb accuracy, decent velocity at around 1700 fps depending on the brass (I still use a lot of GI that just won't wear out and I like the slightly reduced internal volume). My Lee Liquid Alox is spiked with a little Johnson's Liquid to dry the finish somewhat. Unless you have a really strange throat it should work. I seat them to the crimp groove for Rem and Win chambers, and leave one driving band exposed on the Mannlicher Schoenauer which has a long throat.

Flintlocke, thank you for the reply. I was hoping to use bullets as cast and without gas checks. Keeping velocity below 1100 fps is fine with me. Would there be a better bullet choice if planning on shooting them without gas checks?

Thanks, again.

Maybe go on the search for an old Lyman 311241 mould? 155 grain nominal weight, plain base, ideal for low vel plinking bullets if you insist on only tumble lubing. You can certainly shoot gas check bullets sans gas checks but you may or may not get decent accuracy. I would stick with fast burning pistol powders for such things, Unique and faster - it provides a sharp smack on the butt to bump the bullet base to seal the bore from the get-go. Slower powders work, but may well get squirrely at the velocity level you're seeking.

Another approach, and one that I did as an experiment, is to take a Lyman 311291 gas check mould and mill the top flats of the mould blocks off, far enough down to remove the gas check shank off the cavities. Re-install the sprue plate and voila, a plain base bullet that is a near twin to the old 311241.

Another thought, for backyard plinking-type loads, would be a .32 pistol bullet. Plenty of moulds out there for 85-100 grain bullets. Only caveat: they pop out at .313-.315 typically so you would have to size them them down a bit in a Lee push-through die to use them in your .30-06. (But maybe not, depending on chamber neck and throat dimensions- there might be enough wiggle room to allow their use at full diameter. And shooting a really light soft lead bullet a bit too big is no big deal pressure-wise.) Makes for very economical shooting, two bullets for every one of the other heavier ones. Push them with a pinch of Bullseye or Red Dot and the biggest expense will be the primer. Empty beer cans at 50 yards will hate you!

The same deplorable Lee 170, minus the check (yeah, I know, ain't sposed to work) and around 8 gr Unique, puts me subsonic (1120fps at this elevation) and decent accuracy for plinking at 75 yds. In that load I went to WLR primers and seated the bullet to give a mild jam into the throat...otherwise I got some leading. If you can ever find a Lyman 311410 grab it...and then sell it to me.

I have bored out a 30cal mould to get rid of the gas check .

Only have one .30 cal mould, a Lyman 311041. Use it with gas checks for the model 94, tumble lubed.

BHN 12 - Wheelweight equivalent






Use it without the gaschecks in the .30 Sneezer, little softer alloy, BHN9, also tumble lubed.

Thank you all for the replies.

As I am looking really for beer can accuracy at 50 yards and I am looking to use up the large amount of Unique I currently have, would a gas check bullet minus the gas check be likely OK in this scenario? Having the ability to gas check them in the future is attractive on the off chance I would want to push them faster and use them hunting.

Also, any input on Arsenal molds? http://arsenalmolds.com/bullet-molds?product_id=107

When I load cast bullets in my .30-06 I use a 150gr. bullet and 10gr. of Unique. This load should work fine for the purpose you have in mind.

You don't need a gas check for mouse fart loads.

Another simple approach is a pinch of pistol powder, say 5 or 6 grains Bullseye or Red Dot, under a buckshot thumbed into the unsized case mouth, with a dab of bullet lube wiped on around the mouth afterward. Surprising how well they shoot at "backyard" distances.

Whatever you do, don't try substituting jacketed bullets for lead ones with mouse fart powder charges. I'm here to tell ya....

My low recoil plinking load is a 180 gr RCBS or 170 gr Lee bullet over 12.4 gr of Unique. Why that weight.....that's what drops from my old Pacific Pistol Powder Measure with no bushing in place. IIRC, it gets about 1400 fps in my 03A3 Springfield. The only target I could find with that combination shows 6 shots in about 3.5" with 4 of them inside an inch:





The two flyers were maybe my fault because the same bullet/powder combo in my 308 did this:








I think either of these qualifies for your 'beer can accuracy at 50 yds' requirement. My bullets are gas checked and powder coated because I use them in all loads, even full power loads. They should do just as well tumble lubed w/o checks at 1400 fps.

311041 but i've got the best results with 4198.

Hard to find a powder that doesn't work in the .30-06 for cast bullet work, or I should say not hard to tailor loads for any given velocity range. It's a very forgiving cartridge.

I do most of my .30 work with .30-06's in the grandaddy .30-06 of them all- 1903 Springfields, of every type they made, from Service rifles to bull barreled Style-T and everything in between. Probably 80% of what I shoot in them is stuff at around 1600-1800 fps with 165-200 grain cast bullets, gas checked, and mostly driven with SR-4759 powder. (I'll cry, literally, when my stash of that powder dries up but luckily I have enough for a few years yet.) Still, every now and then I like to load a sack full of cast lead plinkers and go to a buddy's place near here and dance empty beer cans around his backyard. Kind of a hoot to do that with a National Match rifle intended for long range precision work.

I'll certainly never wear out any of those barrels by shooting mild cast bullet loads in them.

Thank you all for the replies and advice.

Does anyone have experience with Arsenal Molds?

And if purchasing a mold that can be had either as plain base or gas checked is it much more likely that the plain base bullet will shoot better at reduced loads vs. a design made for gas checks that is used without the checks? I have had good luck with my 45/70 shooting those bullets unchecked and like the fact that I can , if desired, put checks on them and load them hotter. But, if it is generally the wisdom that plain base designs shoot better with light loads I will buy a plain base mold as the likelihood of me using my 30'06 with cast bullets for hunting is low.

Thank you all.

TCP, in theory you might be correct, but in real life the do or don’t with gaschecks is governed by pressure mostly. I have shot groups in the sub 1/4” size for 5 shots at 50 yards with the 311041 without gaschecks. This is with a soft alloy, around BHN9. If I want to up the ante I put a gas check on them and bump the BHN up about 3 notches.

I agree with Dan in the main, but it requires a bit more attention to quality control (and isn't a universal given for every design/weight .30 mould out there)- a gas check can cover up some deficiencies in bullet base perfection which left uncovered may well effect accuracy. Remember, the ass-end of the bullet is the steering end. Given a choice for strictly low vel loads I would go straight to the plain base design, and again inspect carefully for complete sharp mould fill out around the circumference of the base.

Even at today's prices, moulds are relatively cheap in the whole scheme of things, so it's no big deal to get a gas checked mould later if you decide you want to go that direction. Or, when you have the mould cut, why not make it a 4 cavity with two of the cavities for plain base and two for gas checks? (Why two cavities per bullet design? If you ever slaved for hours over a single cavity mould only to end up with a piddling pile of bullets you would know why!!)

Early on, I had some difficulties getting good accuracy with unchecked bullets from a mold cut for checks, even whey did well with gas checks added. Rather than try to make the unchecked bullets work well, I just defaulted to adding checks on all the bullets despite the velocity I was aiming for. Given the success many have had with shooting them unchecked, I now suspect the inaccuracy was caused by other variables, but I am still content to just check'em all!

First thought: probably way too hard.