Ed Harris
posted this
18 August 2018
Like Joe, my youth was profoundly influenced by smallbore match shooting. I was coached by the best of that era, Col. Maurice Kaiser, and I shot with the Acorns club alongside the Timberlake kids. After I got involved in ROTC rifle teams in college, the smallbore went away and I was deep into highpower, and remained so until I got out of the Navy and went to work at NRA. There I met Mark Humphreville, Gary Anderson, Larry Moore and Pres Kendall, who were the best smallbore shooters ever.
Those guys NEVER cleaned their rifle bores unless there was some sort of problem. With good ammo they didn't need to.
I started cast bullets in .30 cal. when the supply of free or cheap DCM ammo ran out. Ivan Hicks, Sid Musselman and Frank Marshall were my mentors. We didn't shoot past 200 yards, so accurate loads didn't need to be high velocity. The goal was a load which shot well on the MR5 reduced 600-yard target at 200 yards using your normal 600-yard sight dope in .30-'06. Most common was a #311299 cast from wheelweights, without GC, using a "one third" to "half-charge" of 4895 pull-down powder, which was also free or cheap. Typically 18-25 grains with a tuft of kapok or Dacron.
In a boltgun with smooth barrel no cleaning necessary. If not stainless barrel, would run a wet patch through just to prevent rusting in semi-tropical Virginia summer. Next range trip one wet patch to remove soft crud. two dry patches, dry chamber and shoot. My Model 70 Target .30-'06 would average 3" ten-shot groups at 200 yards. My 2-groove issue Remington 03A3 about 4-5"
When the free pulldown 4895 ceased being available we fooled around with cheap pistol and shotgun powders, Bullseye, 700-X, Red Dot, 452AA, all worked, about 7-8 grains in the '06. Wanted velocity subsonic to prevent transonic buffeting. Required a bit more elevation, but accuracy equal to the 4895 loads, no filler needed. No cleaning needed. Liquid Alox out by then left a protective coating on the bore.
My recreational loads today not much different.
73 de KE4SKY In Home Mix We Trust From the Home of Ed's Red in "Almost Heaven" West Virginia