Light loads

[L Nowicki]

My dad got a Remington bolt action 30 06, maybe 50 years ago. He hunted in a shotgun-only county. He never fired the gun. He is 92 now and told me he wants to shoot it at least once before he dies. I think most loads will be to much for him. I thought I should reload some for him. He doesn't care if he hits anything; he just wants to shoot.
I reloaded a little a long time ago and know a little. What can/should I load to fire a light load with little powder safely?

 

[NHSHOOTER]

most reloading manuals will have a reduced recoil (light) load, lightest bullet with the lightest powder charge. Just go by that.

 

[Recycled bullet]

Try using trail boss gun powder. Hodgdon has data for this. I have used ten grains in 308 Winchester and was very accurate and low recoil low noise.

 

[mehavey]

https://forum.castbulletassoc.org/thread/1387-the-load-is-13-grains-of-red-dot/
Ed Harris' Red Dot mid-power/plinker

 

[bobn]

5744 is what i use for light loads in my 270, 3006. it actually has less muzzle flip than most traditional varmint cartridges. accuracy is outstanding.

 

[Marco Califo]

The Lyman manual (mine is #50) has reduced loads, light powders, and cast bullet loads that max out at 2000 fps (I was just looking at 308). Red Dot, Unique, H335 can all be loaded down. Really the best manual for reduced loads.
Title looks misspelled. 30-Loght Six

 

[Unclenick]

(I fixed the typo in the title, hoping it will draw more comments in.)

The above advice is good. Trail Boss loads for a very light load (the 150-grain bullet Trail Boss maximum load is under 1500 fps). The Red Dot load is good. Rocky Raab had a load he called his universal 30-caliber load for grandkids, and that was 9 grains of Unique in any 30-caliber with any bullet. However, I prefer 12 grains, as it will run closer to that top Trail Boss load's velocity, and you can run it with anything from 110-grain 30 Carbine bullets to 250-grain monsters.

For more serious loads, the Accurate 5744 loadings in the Speer manual will work well to get a bit closer to useful hunting velocities. They list between 26 and 28 grains of 5744 for 150-grain bullets, with the higher end reaching 2052 fps.

Note that for a rifle that has been unused as long as your granddad's has, you want to clean it to get thickened oil and grease out. In your shoes, I would disassemble the bolt and be sure no thickened oil was around the firing pin and mainspring. I would use gun cleaning solvent in the chamber and bore, let it sit for an hour, then dry patch it out.

 

[totaldla]

H4895 is the better powder to use. Nosler 125gr Ballistic Tips are a great deer bullet, but for plinking I suggest whatever is on sale. 38gr of H4895 behind a 125gr will yield about 2600fps. A 125gr @2600fps is a serious deer zapper out to 250yds.

 

[Unclenick]

L Nowiki,

If you provide the weight of the rifle and its barrel length, we could give you some estimated recoil energy numbers for all the above suggestions and for a couple of standard loads to compare.

 

[MarkCO]

I'd not suggest Trail Boss for a relatively new reloader to load some lighter loads for a Senior.

The easy button is to just buy a box of the Hornady Custom Lite:

https://www.hornady.com/ammunition/rifle/30-06-springfield-125-gr-sst-custom-lite#!/

If you really want to load some up, here is a good source of info:

https://www.shootingtimes.com/editorial/light-handloads-for-the-30-06/372034

 

[Unclenick]

I don't see the Remington Youth Loads anywhere, so I suppose they may have vanished in the bankruptcy and buy-out events.

For additional reduced load data, per Totalda's suggestion, are Hodgdon's H4895 light loads.

 

[L Nowicki]

Thanks for fixing the typo. I'll clean it up before we shoot it. I'll get the weight and barrel length over the weekend.

 

[Mike / Tx]

If you can lay hands on it H4895 is excellent for what you are looking for. I used it for reduced loads for my grandsons as they were getting into shooting and hunting.

The first used my Ruger Compact in 308 with the Nosler 125gr BT. The rifle weighs 6.5lbs hunt ready with rounds in the mag. First GS w a s two weeks shy of his 4th BD when he got his first hog...see attached

Even with the lightweight rifle the recoil was light enough for him to practice with it every weekend for several months prior to hunting with them. We shot between 10 to 40 rounds as he gained confidence and determination.

With just about any 125 gr or so bullet, for that matter you could probably even drop down or move up as recoil in a full sized rifle isn't going to amount to much.

 

[L Nowicki]

Sorry I took so long .
It's a remington700. Weight 7.2 lbs.

 

[RC20]

You might consider a Lead Sled.

Per above, 125 gr bullets and put weight on the sled and you should have a pretty mild load.

One other idea is a slip on muzzle break. Not workable with a front sight but its out of t he box thinking.

 

[Unclenick]

It looks like a standard military M2 Ball load with 150.5-grain bullet at just over 2800 fps would produce about 17.5 ft-lbs of recoil energy (the energy is a good measure of how hard recoil feels) in a 7.2 lb rifle, whereas the 38-grain load of H4895 behind a 125-grain bullet suggested by Totaldla would produce about 9.8 ft-lbs of recoil energy, though my three calculators all show about 2450-2520 fps, depending on assumptions like a 24" barrel. My 12-grain load of Unique only produces about 1750 fps with a 125-grain bullet and about 3.3 ft-lbs of recoil energy, so it's a real plinker. A 150-grain bullet with 12 grains of Unique would go about 1640 fps and recoil about 3.9 ft-lbs. A load of 27 grains of Accurate 5744 should run a 125-grain bullet at about 2000 fps and recoil with about 5.9 ft-lbs of energy.

So, that gives you a sort of range to choose from.

 

[L Nowicki]

Thanks guys. I'll be putting some led downrange soon.

 

[gwpercle]

For light loads in the 30-06 use a cast lead , plated or even jacketed 30 cal. bullet , ( cast and plated are more economical ) from 110 grs . (lighter bullets will have less felt recoil) up to 180 grs.
over 13 grains of Red Dot ... or 14 grs. Unique . Both are accurate and mild shooters , even when using cast 150 and 170 grain bullets .

You Tell Your Daddy to ... Keep On Keeping On , for me !
Take him shooting and let him wring that 06 out ... he deserves it !
Gary