30 Carbine or 30-30 bullet in 30-06

[kayak-man]

This may sound like a no brainer, but I wanted to double check before doing anything too crazy.

I've been shooting my 30-06, and want to get into handloading ammo for it to save money and shrink the groups. I understand that the 30-30 and 30Carbine bullets fired from an '06 may not give the same performance or be acceptable for hunting, and thats fine. I'm not planning on using these for taking a deer or elk, just to give more range time with the rifle.

Since both 30-06, 30-30, and 30 carbine use a .308 calliber bullet, it sounds like I should be able to use either 30-30 or 30 carbine bullets.

I figure the way to determine the overall lenght would be to match the internal case capacity for a '06 loading of the same bullet weight.

As far as I can tell, its just basic math, but I wanted to get all y'alls input before I did anything that could end in a kaboom or senselessly waste brass.

Thanks,

Chris "the Kayak-Man" Johnson

 

[rcmodel]

Yes you can.
But forget the Chinese Algebra and internal case capacity.

Most load manuals have 30-06 data for 110 grain RN bullets and will tell you the OAL they used.

All 30-30 bullets have a crimp cannulure on them, and that would work perfectly for setting OAL in the 30-06.

But why?
.30 Carbine and 30-30 bullets cost just about the same as similar weight bullets intended for the 30-06 and other bolt-action .30 calibers.

rc

 

[kayak-man]

But why?
.30 Carbine and 30-30 bullets cost just about the same as similar weight bullets intended for the 30-06 and other bolt-action .30 calibers.

Really? I may not have been looking at the right 30-06 bullets, but the 30Carbine bullets I found were roughly $15 per hundred while the 30-06 ones were about $25 per hundred.

Yes, I really am that cheap


Chris "the Kayak-Man" Johnson

 

[rcmodel]

Well you can get Speer Plinker 110 half-jackets for about $15.

But real jacketed 110 grain carbine bullets will run you about $18, and 150 gr 30-30 bullets about $22.

Same as .308" spitzers for the 30-06 in the same weight range.

In fact you can buy .30 cal 150 FMJ-BT for a dollar or so less then 30-30 bullets.

If you really want to save some serious money, buy a bullet mold and shoot cast lead bullets you make yourself.

rc

 

[grubbylabs]

My Hornady book lists several loads for the 30/06 that use a round nose bullets. usually your bullets get cheaper the lighter you go. The 150 grain soft points should work great and fit your budget.

if you are really cheap then look into casting

Jake at RMR is also a good source for quality bullets in bulk. http://www.shop.rmrbullets.com/ He seems to be stocking more and more premium bullets but he does tend to have pulled surplus bullets from time to time that are fairly cheap.

 

[rsrocket1]

You could buy the frangible 110g 308's that cost about $0.05 each in qty 1000 through High Tech Ammo or the Xtreme plated 110g 30 carbine round nose bullets at about $0.08 each. I haven't gotten around to buying the pressed lead frangible's, but I have a blast shooting with the plated Xtreme bullets. I load them into .308 cases and shoot them from my bolt action gun. The report and recoil is similar to a 22 magnum (no earmuffs needed unless you are at a range). I found the best load to be about 10 grains of Unique with no fillers needed and I get about 1800 fps. Very accurate to 50 yards and lots of fun for the kids to shoot without worrying about recoil. I could probably load down to subsonic, but I haven't found the need to yet.

The cases then only need to be neck sized and seem to last forever. This is the only time I reload the .308's on my progressive press because I can easily go through a couple hundred in an afternoon's shooting.

I've experimented with Hornady #3005 short jacket 100g round nose and found the same load works the same way. I slowly worked the loads up to 17g Unique and got up to 2400 fps, but accuracy went away. I worked up to 38g of Reloader 7 hoping for a 3000 fps varmint load. Recoil was almost as much as a standard .308 round and accuracy was simply not there. However, those bullets punched the cleanest holes I've ever seen with a rifle round.

 

[billyjoe]

110gr in .30-06 is fun for plinking. Fast too!

 

[GooseGestapo]

With the 110's and plated bullets, you're looking at a "false economy" from the '06.

I've played with most everything from 55gr .22 bullets and sabots to 240gr BTHP bullets in the '06.

The best, most economical bullets (aside from cast bullets and reduced charges) is some of the FMJ bullets or something like the PrviPartisan bullets that Graf's sells.

By the time you work up a decent load, and re-sight the rifle to shoot them, and then, at sometime later "resight" the rifle, you've destroyed the "economy" of the "cheap" bullets.

Wait till either MidwayUSA or MidsouthShootersSupply runs a sale on "Blem" bullets, and buy up a bunch of 150, 165, or 180gr bullets for your '06. Then, also buy some of the "surplus" powders offered by GIBrass.com or Widener's, or Pats.... A much better alternative.......

re: The .30/30 bullets actually perform better than you'd think from the '06. Depending on which bullet, they will either expand more and penetrate less than from the .30/30 (but I've never seen one "blow up" like a varmint bullet. But I have seen Nosler Bal.Tips do this.....), or They'll just perform much like they do from the .30/30, only a little better...... (ie: Sierra 170gr FN is a tad "hard" for the .30/30, but they do just fine in other "bigger" .30's such as Krag, .300 Savage, .308, and .30/06.)

But, they still will shoot differently enough from a 150-180gr Pointed bullet, that you'll still have to re-zero which again, eliminates the "economy" of the cheaper bullets......IMO

 

[popper]

half j plinker is fun. The light bullets with unique are cheaper and use a lot less powder. Problem with 308 or 08, I think is the short bullets take a long jump to the rifling. Try some 150 lead commercial cast with unique, be sure to slug the throat and get the right size. Only other alternative is pulled, blems or surplus bullets. I don't re-zero the scope, just know the drop and aim higher.