"Old School Boltguns"

UPDATED 21 Sept. 2013

Dennis Carlini, Dick Nearing and I have been fooling with some old .30-'06 sporters with cast bullets and have been having great fun!

Dennis is shooting a ca.1929 NRA Sporter.

I've been shooting a Winchester Model 54 made in 1934 and a German-built Euro sporter by Ernst Appel of Wurzburg.

Dick Nearing has been shooting a National Match 03.

Our goal has been to attain 2 inches or less at 100 yards, firing hunting type rifles with loads assembled for the goal of maximum economy and fun. We are using wheelweight alloy, casting bullets in bulk from gang molds, sticking to non-gaschecked loads at suitable velocities from 1000-1300 fps or so.

Early work was mostly with my NEI #69, 160 grains when cast of wheelweights, with charges from 6 to 9 grains of Bullseye.

Two “sweet” spots were observed. The first is in the subsonic range at 6 grains of Bullseye. Groups with heavier charges from 6.5 to 7.5 are entirely acceptable, but less consistent, I believe because bullets are subjected to transonic buffeting as they go subsonic before 100 yards. The second sweet spot appears at 7.8 grains where group averages tighten again to under 2” and they remain so up to the threshold of leading, which is about 9 grains of Bullseye in a smooth barrel, without a GC, approaching 1400 fps.

We have since gone over to similar bullets cast from new Heavy Metal .312-160-5 molds from the latest group buy. These seem to perform exactly like the old Walt Melander Scapoose, OR mold from the mid-1980s.

So we have met our project objective, achieving an average of 2” or less for five consecutive 5 shot groups, in a series of 25 consecutive rounds, discarding no data, at 100 yards.

With the best loads an average of 2 inches for a series of five ten-shot groups is attainable using a hunting scope of less than 6X, with our best “tweaked” loads.

Experimentation continues, but if anybody else has stepped into this pool, please share what has worked for you and in what rifle!

"Cheating,” firing my Mauser '06 sporter with 4x32mm Zeiss Diatal C scope, using bottom post of duplex reticle as aiming point, best series to date, five consecutive 5-shot group at 100 yds. averaged 1.56” with NEI #69, as cast, unsized, tumbled in LLA with 8.4 grs. Bullseye, for 1328 fps.

I later repeated testing this same charge using bullets cast from my new Heavy Metal .312-160-5 mold, firing 10-shot groups and got an average of 2.1” so I am happy.

Our advice is NOT to work up loads over the chronograph without actually shooting groups on paper. Just “watching the numbers” is a distraction from the real goal, which is ACCURACY!

When doing initial load workup, shooting only TEN SHOT groups is a great time saver, because doing so separates the “grand” from the ordinary very quickly. There are no “lucky” ten shot groups. If you get a round group with a dense center, THAT shows promise and is worth trying again.

--------------------DEFINING THE THREAD----------------

My own thought is that classic American “Old School” boltguns ended with the demise of the pre-64 Winchester Model 70. While there were earlier plunger ejector rifles, after the mid-1960s these became the dominant type and most hunting boltguns were no longer “Controlled Round” feed, in which the cartridge is guided under the extractor hook as it is stripped from the magazine. But if somebody has a “push-feeder” made before 1964, such as a Remington 720, 721, 725, feel free to join in the discussion.

Because this is not a formal competition class, but just a discussion topic, sporterized militaries are great, as long they are based on the classic Mauser, Springfield, Krag, etc. boltguns.

This thread is strictly nonofficial so we shall be tolerant of all nationalities and denominations as long as it is a boltgun in a “deer” caliber.

What have you got? What bullets and loads do you use, and what results have you gotten. Inquiring minds want to know.