Springfield plinking load.

[hooligan1]

Any of you Springfield fellas have a preferred plinking load for that dude? My cousin has taken the handloading course given by a local NRA instructor, and my uncle passed him the springfield that my father gave to him way back in the fifties.... We took it to the range and shot some of my loads through it and found that the scope was off, but we quickly rezeroed and had some fun shooting that dude.

[hooligan1]

Really,,, no one has a springfield rifle they load ammo for? Well it liked the load we fed that sucker last week, probably just stick with that one..

[89blazin]

Check out this article...for an M1A, .308 caliber

http://www.m14.ca/reloading/14_loading.pdf

and some more data here:

http://www.alliantpowder.com/

http://www.hodgdon.com/

[hooligan1]

Thanks 89, I have all that data, that Alliant data looks more like Speer data with Alliant powder!
No really I was looking for some old wisdom, and knowledge of a cheaper fun route to take with this old rifle, wer'e not looking to hurt it, only shoot the heck out of it.

[Jimro]

For "plinking" I'd go with "The Load" of 13 grains of Red Dot under a 150gr FMJ ball.

Low velocity, low recoil, perfectly fine for plinking.

Jimro

[Slamfire]

Your Springfield looks to be an 03.

I shoot in my 30-06 match rifle a load of 168 gr SMK 42.0 grs IMR 4895 any case, any primer, at 200 yards standing and sitting RF. This load does not kick badly and is very accurate. You could load a 150 grain bullet and it would be mild. I suspect it is going 2400 fps.

[hooligan1]

Thanks Slamfire and Jimro, we will try them and see how it goes.

[rodfac]

I've had good luck using SR4759 in charges ranging from 15.0 to 20.0 gr's with a variety of bullets.

For cast, GC'd lead alloy bullets, try 15.0 to 17.0 gr of SR4759 with the bullet just barely touching the lands. With good quality bullets, I can get 1-1/4" gps at 50 yds with these loads. Velocity with 16.0 gr's and a 170 gr GC bullet was 1582 fps. On an '03, the open notch (battle sight) will give you just about pt of aim at 50 yds. If you're interested in cast bullet shooting, castboolits.com is a good source of info...and Missouri Bullet Co.'s 170 gr .30 cal. Flat Point at .309" dia. is a good place to start...they're every bit as good as I can cast on my best day! Use of one of Lyman's "M" dies to flare the mouth of the case will help you seat lead alloy bullets without shaving lead.

For jacketed bullets, 15.0 to 20.0 gr's of SR4759 does as well or better. 18.0 gr of SR4759 with any good 150 gr jacketed bullet should give you about 1800 fps, and the same battle sight (550 yds on the ladder sight) should put you close at 50 yds.

IMR 4227 is good as well, maybe better, using similar charge weights.

2400 is a good powder as well, but with lighter charges.

I chrono'd the above loads for use in my 03's and 03A3's. They give good accuracy, very light recoil and good killing effect on ground hogs.

As always, these loads are safe and accurate in my guns, yours may and probably will, vary so work up slowly...and consult a good loading manual for exact loading specifications. One add'l caution is this...using reduced loads such as the above will gradually reduce the headspace of the cartridge itself...you'll note this by the primer backing out slightly in fired brass. Do not use those cases again for full power loads due to the headspace variance. I mark all of my reduced load boxes with a magic marker to keep them separate from my full power brass. Likewise, I use a red "X" over the headstamp on individual cases to indicate a reduced power case. On average, I get 5-6 loadings with reduced charges before I toss the case for headspace variation.

Best Regards, Rod