I got a great deal on 250 count Badman Bullets yesterday for my 30-30 however I have never dealt with cast bullets and I am not sure where to start as far as load data for the things. They are only 100 gr bullets (plinkers for my daughter and her friend for practice) and I was curious if I could even consider using load data for them from the speer plinkers. I am not experienced enough in loading to start from scratch and really know what I am doing.

Anyone have any tips or suggestions?

The idea of plinking is different from shooter to shooter.
These last few years, I ONLY shoot cast boolits and my HUNTING load are usually considered as "plinking" load by most.

You would usually start with the weight , whether or not it has gas checks and recommended velocity of the boolits.

Usually you would:
- try to keep below 1600fps if no gas checks.
- not exceed 2400fps if with gas checks

Cast lead boolits are "slippy-er" than the J bullets so they generally would go out faster with the same boolit weight and powder charge than the J bullets.

Usually you would go for a faster powder so the base of the boolit would obturate and fill the barrel grooves nicely.

Give me the weight of the boolits and a list of powder you have.
I'll give you the starting loads.

Good stuff Gelan.

Cheers, Vince

You will want to see about a die to slightly flare the case mouths to prevent shaving lead when seating the bullets. Your normal sizing die will size the neck slightly under-sized since it is designed for a tight fit on jacketed bullets. This will really become a problem with cast bullets since most recommend a cast bullet to be .001 - .002" larger than bore dimensions. Lee and several other makers offer dies specifically for that purpose.

Thanks for the tips. I will get back to you with the info you mentioned, I am going order the lee universal flaring die.

Try 1lb of Trail Boss from Hodgdon's for the reduced loads.

Omi, better say 1 cannister... I think 1 lb = 2 cans and this makes this powder rather expensive.

Cast bullets in rifles often work OK with powder that's used for a pistol magnum load: think N110, H110, ...
the Lyman Reloading Manual offers lots of loads and valuable info when you want to use cast bullets.

Aloysius wrote:

Omi, better say 1 cannister... I think 1 lb = 2 cans and this makes this powder rather expensive.

Doh!!, I've got 2 cans here and they are 9 ozs, not lb can. and I paid $14.00 per can here.

Give this article a read. It may give you some ideas.

www.reloadingroom.com/...l%2030.htm

I am going to pick up some unique powder and give it a try as soon as possible with my 30-30 and my wifes 30-06 too. It sounds and looks like a lot of fun.

Depending on just how slow you want the bullets to go one of the best powders I have found for reduced rifle loads (cast or jacketed) is H4895.
You can load down to 60% of maximum loads and still get good accuracy and never have to use wadding of any kind.
I have heard that Trail Boss is good but twice the cost of H4895.

Ominivision1 wrote:

Aloysius wrote: Omi, better say 1 cannister... I think 1 lb = 2 cans and this makes this powder rather expensive. Doh!!, I've got 2 cans here and they are 9 ozs, not lb can. and I paid $14.00 per can here.

Be happy. A few months ago I paid 35 euro for such a 9 oz can...

Trailboss is so bulky that a 1lb container is the same as 4lb container for other powder.

You also use a lot less of it, so the price should averaged out the same.

As comparison, on my 4570 cartridges, 50 grains of AS2206H (H4895) would fill 100% of powder space.
In contrast, the same fill can be achieve with merely 13gn of Trailboss.

It is imperative to have a good condition rifle if you wish to use trailboss, since it burns so sharply, the pressure indeed spikes really high.

gelandangan, the badman bullets I got are 100 gr (for my daughter to shoot for practice), I have no gas checks but I will get some if I have to. I also need an expander die so I am not in a huge hurry at this point. For powder I have IMR 4350, h870(obviously not going to use this), h4831sc, IMR 3031, SR7625 (I do not have much of this), Imr 4320 (I am pretty much out of this one), h4895, H380, and 748.

tlo7mm

I would suggest you get a copy of Lyman's Cast Bullet Manual before you go any further. Gas checks are another whole different ballgame with lead casting and require more equipment to do this properly.