Cheap varmint loads for 30-06

[Anvil_X]

I'm thinking of developing a light, inexpensive varmint load for my M1903A3 for nabbing small game up to and including coyotes and Wolves. My buddy gave me the idea when he developed a load for his Win 70 using the below bullets:

Speer Bullets 30 Cal (308 Diameter) 100 Grain Plinker Round Nose Soft

I'd personally want a bullet with a cannelure, so it looks like I'll be developing my own version. The aim is to keep these fools as inexpensive as possible and has to hit a 100+ pound dog at 150 meters with good effects. I was thinking of two avenues of accomplishing this task:

Low and slow with a 7.62 Tokarev bullet moving at low velocity

Hornady Bullets 30 Cal (308 Diameter) 86 Grain Round Nose Soft Point

OR

a tad heavier and moving a lot faster with something like this:

Speer Bullets 30 Cal (308 Diameter) 110 Grain Jacketed Hollow Point


The reason I'm thinking of taking it slow with the tokarevs is that there appear to be problems with jacket separation at high velocities.


Things I have on hand:

2,000 150gr softpoints that I was planning on pushing through my M1A, so those are on the table as well for a "Gallery load"

6 pounds of Varget

8 pounds of Unique


Currently I'm running 220 gr Hornadys based off of the old federal factory loads, and they're pretty fantastic at killing ANYTHING. I just want to do it a little cheaper, and shooting marmots with bear loads is..... just a little bit of overkill.

 

[GhostFace]

Interested in this thread...I was thinking of developing a load for totes later in the month.

 

[ChrisGarrett]

I've collected some .308" plinking bullets over the years and would think that any savings will be in bullets, since you're still using a LR primer and even more powder, than say a .308 Win.. You might be able to source some .mil surplus powder, if you have a source and that would save you some cash, in addition.

Really, unless you're going to be P-Dogging with that 1903 all day long, you're not talking a whole heck of a lot of cash difference between the plinking bullets and the better stuff and frankly, the 30'06 isn't really a cheap cartridge to shoot, relative to say a .223, or even a .22-250.

According to Speer's #13 manual, with their 110gr .308" plinking bullets and with the common powders, you're at a max of between 55gr and 62gr, so you'd be going through powder at a good clip.

Chris

 

[Anvil_X]

I can see that being the case, but there are still a few advantages to having a plinker for my 1903A3 that I forgot to mention. One being that if I'm out in some place in the bush I can simply switch to my heavy stuff if I see a bigger critter, like a caribou or Moose. I already do something similar with some 180 Nosler trophy bonds. If I'm heading out for Caribou, I'll grab them instead of the 220s (same POI at 100 as my 220s) and I've got them pretty well dialed in for the longer shots I may have to make with caribou in the open.

That, and I've got a kiddo who will eventually need a light load to get her into shooting large rifles, and 220 Grain bullets moving at the clip I've got them cranked to with a metal buttplate and straight stock will turn her into a Hippie in about a half second.

Plus I like my 1903A3. It's just a really nice old gun, I bring it everywhere, and since I carry 6 bear tags, a moose tag, five caribou tags, and my trapping license wherever I go, it simplifies the number of guns I grab out of the safe every morning.

 

[ChrisGarrett]

I can see that being the case, but there are still a few advantages to having a plinker for my 1903A3 that I forgot to mention. One being that if I'm out in some place in the bush I can simply switch to my heavy stuff if I see a bigger critter, like a caribou or Moose. I already do something similar with some 180 Nosler trophy bonds. If I'm heading out for Caribou, I'll grab them instead of the 220s (same POI at 100 as my 220s) and I've got them pretty well dialed in for the longer shots I may have to make with caribou in the open.

That, and I've got a kiddo who will eventually need a light load to get her into shooting large rifles, and 220 Grain bullets moving at the clip I've got them cranked to with a metal buttplate and straight stock will turn her into a Hippie in about a half second.

Plus I like my 1903A3. It's just a really nice old gun, I bring it everywhere, and since I carry 6 bear tags, a moose tag, five caribou tags, and my trapping license wherever I go, it simplifies the number of guns I grab out of the safe every morning.

I'm not arguing with you about wanting a plinking round, I'm just telling you that there's not a whole lot of difference in the price of a box of 100 bullets, in that 110gr plinking range, made by the big bullet makers.

I'm not a hunter, so I can't tell you what bullet kills a coyote better, be it the Speer 110gr RN, or the Speer 110gr HP, but whatever the answer might be, we're probably not talking about a whole lot of money and certainly not enough to choose the cheaper one over the better one at killing, right?

Now, if you go out and shoot 1000 of these loads per session, than maybe going the cheaper route is prudent, but I don't think that that's the case?

The big savings for plinking rounds IMO, would be in buying the second tier primers and sourcing out 'pull down' powder and not in the various choices in 'plinking' bullets.

Chris

 

[Anvil_X]

I really don't have either of those options. And what I'm trying to do, while not making any sense for you in the Lower 48, makes a ton of sense here. Because of the HAZMAT restrictions to ship stuff from the lower 48, we're boned twice as hard, so we're stuck with a super small selection of primers, very little powder of any kind, and when I order bullets through MidwayUSA they slap on a 15 dollar charge for "Out of Lower 48", and that's before they even charge S&H.

So the 34 dollars per box of 100 220gr RN vs. the 18 dollars per box of 100 110gr plinker is about the only way I can make a cost savings. Especially since I have been reloading off of a bulk order of primers and powder I made in early 2012 before this nonsense started.

right now, 12 gauge birdshot is less expensive than rimfire. Welcome to Alaska.

 

[81Z4ME]

I know you said you wanted a bullet with a cannelure, are you crimping rounds in a bolt action rifle?

My brother used those 100 grain short jackets (I thought they were Hornady bullets, but I could be wrong) in his M1917 and he used Unique powder, but I have no idea how much powder or what primer he used. He used them for ground hogs and crows out to a 100 yds. or so. They aren't moving very fast but its a big bullet for varmints.

 

[Anvil_X]

I know you said you wanted a bullet with a cannelure, are you crimping rounds in a bolt action rifle?

My brother used those 100 grain short jackets (I thought they were Hornady bullets, but I could be wrong) in his M1917 and he used Unique powder, but I have no idea how much powder or what primer he used. He used them for ground hogs and crows out to a 100 yds. or so. They aren't moving very fast but its a big bullet for varmints.

yeah, I'm planning on giving them a crimp. I know it's not a concern really with boltguns, but I still like having the bullets crimped in position. Sort of a belt-and-suspenders kinda guy. Additionally, if I go with the tokarevs, I might use them in a 30-30 load later on, so then it'd be handy.

My buddy is using the Hornady short jackets to deveop his M70 varmint loads. Certainly neat lookin rounds.

Do you know what he used for filler on top of the powder?