7x30 Waters

[CWLONGSHOT]

Another favorite of mine. Im not as passionate about this one but I do like it! I took my first Pig with a 14" Contender and this caliber and My wife her first deer with one in a Contender Carbine.

About 1999/2000 I had a large sell off and sadly, both of these where sold.

I had given my pop a 30/30 bbl and a set if carbine stocks. He returned them to me few tears ago. I sold the 30/30 to buy a 7/30 bbl but never found one I was willing to pay for. (They got silly expensive) Anyhow, last week I saw a friend on another forum had one to sell! We struck a deal we both found beneficial and I should have the barrel in hand this weekend.

I had brass, dies and of coarse plenty of bullets. Never tried cast in them maybe down the road. I picked up 50 pcs of brand new re formed brass and few boxes of 120 & 130 single shot pistol bullets last fall too. I found two boxes of ammo in storage this AM!! One brand new Fed Premium Gold Box and one of My hand load in Federal Red/White box with 120g Nosler Solid Base 120g FP bullets. Load said XX.Xg Win 748 @ 2700 fps.

I'm going thru Brass an sized all I had last nite. Darn if supplier of Brass did NOT ANNEAL Brass and of the fifty 9 split. Thats almost 20% loss!!!! It was made from brand new 375 Win Brass.



YES, I annealed all of these straight after sizing them!!


I have a email placed to see if he will make good on his product. I hope he is still in business. Any one know of the company?

Anyone else a fan of this one? What do you have and what have you hunted?

I have film of that Pig hunt but its on 8mm!!

CW

 

[RicinYakima]

7X30 got some play here for whitetail hunting down in the river valleys. Shots could be 50 feet or 200 yards and it is much flatter shooting than the 30/30 lever guns common here. Most I saw were with young hunters who traded them off for bigger guns (7X08's) when they got bigger. They have all disappeared from here now.

 

[Rick H]

One of my favorite Michgan deer rifles is a TC Carbine with a Bullberry 7x30 Waters 21" BBL. All of my cases are formed from 30/30 brass, they come out about .050" short of factory but the single shot rifle doesn't mind, I just seat the bullets out. I use either Nosler 120 spitzers or Speer 130gr SpBt's. I do most of my hunting with the Speers in front of Win. 748 at about 2550 fps. It is an accurate and deadly whitetail rifle. Sighted in 1.5" high at 100yds it is about 1" low at 200. I have probably killed a dozen or so Michigan whitetails with that load. None have been shot at over 120 yds.

I anneal before sizing the cases down to 7mm and again after fireforming. The Lee 135gr FP cast bullet makes a dandy (and inexpensive even with gas check) fireforming bullet. I just use starting Jkt. bullet loads and it is surprisingly accurate.

 

[oscarflytyer]

I ALWAYS wanted a 7x30. First one came in a Contender a friend was parting with (and was also my first Contender - ALWAYS wanted one of those too!). Second is the 94AE I bought. I love levers too. It is one of only two levers I have scopes on (other is the BLR 358 Win). Both shoot 1" at 100 yds consistently with the Federal factory. Got 7-8 boxes with the Contender, not had to load yet, But did get some NOS 7mm FPs. So I'm set.

 

[Jeff H]

@CWLONGSHOT , how old is that brass?

In the early to mid-nineties, I had problems with Winchester brass enough that I haven't bought any since. Neck splits on the first-firing of moderate 257 Roberts and 7x57 hand-loads and on commercially loaded Winchester ammo.

Hope the vendor does right by you.

 

[CWLONGSHOT]

@CWLONGSHOT , how old is that brass?

In the early to mid-nineties, I had problems with Winchester brass enough that I haven't bought any since. Neck splits on the first-firing of moderate 257 Roberts and 7x57 hand-loads and on commercially loaded Winchester ammo.

Hope the vendor does right by you.

I bought last year. But not from that supplier. So actual age is unknown. But it was sealed package.

 

[CWLONGSHOT]

I started pulling pieces together last night.

I loaded a ladder from 37-40g with a 120g Hornady and 2000MR powder.
Have not used before so brand new powder to me.



I pulled my old carbine stocks out and gave them a waxing.

 

[Jeff H]

Yer killing me, man!

That is one cute little cartridge. I'm a .257", 6.5 and 7mm fan. I think I'd shoot any of those on that case without shame or regret. Can't bring myself to pay what people want for jacketed bullets these days, or maybe I'd jump on another barrel.

Those stocks are wonderful. When I finally got my head out of my butt and bought a Contender, wood was just starting to get expensive. I got plastic for my first three and kept an eye out for factory walnut for whichever one I decided to fit out with it. Then, prices went nuts and once S&W did the dirty deed, they went REALLY nuts. Still waiting, watching.

OH, split necks...

It would be an even longer post if I spelled out the details, but I've seen a LOT of brass split at the neck on new and old brass on hand-loads just sitting around, getting old - and I'm only talking ten years or so. Older - even more common. I've been taking to annealing necks on brass that's been sitting around a while just as a precaution. Most of my 30/30 brass is what my dad scrounged in the early to mid seventies for my 24V. He did not take the 30/30 too seriously and didn't buy new brass for it, so most of mine is pretty old. YET, it sure seems to be less prone to needing to be babied than a lot of newer brass I've had experience with.

 

[CWLONGSHOT]

Yes sir, I annealed the lot of it!

 

[Rushcreek]

I have a hankering for a 7-30 Waters and a 25-35 rifle.
Both cartridges seem neat to me.
I’d want them in a single shot or bolt action though.
I love my bolt action 30-30.

 

[RBHarter]

I have this 7×6.8 Carcano and all of its bugs can be fixed with a 7-30 reamer . I have 100 brand new 30 Rem cases . Pointed bullets and it's hot on the 7-08 ......

 

[waco]

I always anneal brass before sizing.

 

[richhodg66]

A year or so back, i bought a neat target rifle built on a big Martini action in 7-30. Seems strange someone would build it in that caliber, but I was interested in tge rifle.

I need to figure out how to do a trigger job on it, current pull is like 35 pounds. Seems the scope base was a bit off center too, so i ha e some windage adjustable rings i need ti get on it.

I have pondered it and I'm pretty sure it'll get sent to JES eventuslly and come back a .38-55, but i kind of want to see what it'll do as a 7mm.

 

[CWLONGSHOT]

I strted a video on the caliber.

And I assembled the carbine.



I found a nice Redfield 5 star 2x7 optic in Leupold Rings. Barrel is coming with a weaver base.

I hope to have the barrel this weekend.

CW

 

[todd]

my dad (RIP) had (i now have) a 14" Contender muzzle brake barrel in 7x30 Waters. boy did it kill deer!!! he was using 115gr Speer HP and IMR4895 for 1/4 - 1/2" at 100 yards (5 shots/bench). i hated the muzzle brake. i mean i really hated it!!!! he bought around 4 - 5 boxes of Federal ammo (139gr FN i think) and then 3 - 4 months later, he and i bought each, 250 pieces of 7x30 Federal brass (500 cases) at a gun show. as a matter of fact, i got around 1 or 2 boxes of Federal ammo.

i like the cartridge and i really do. BUT i hate the muzzle brake, absolutely DESPISED it!!! i'm torn between taking it to my gunsmith and cut the blasted thing off or just buy a new MGM/Bullberry barrel. but luckily, i have three calibers on the Contender to do now (22 Hornet, 30 and 357 Herrett all in 10" barrels).

 

[CZ93X62]

I have no experience with the 7-30 Waters. I don't know anyone who has owned one that lives near me. It was originally marketed as a levergun caliber and an enhancement to the 30/30 WCF. I recall Mr. Waters' articles in Handloader magazine at the time of its introduction in the 1980s. I had a Type 01 FFL from 1981-1993, and didn't order or sell any of the rifles chambered for it. I sold more than a dozen Winchester and Marlin 30/30 carbines while licensed.

It seems to have taken on new life recently in the Contender. It is certainly deer-capable, and for casters some of the Bruce B Soft Points might be a decent hunting bullet where condors can't be decimated by evil lead alloys or climate change like they are in Kalifornistan.

 

[Tomme boy]

I find split necks Win brass all the time. All 223 Win brass goes into the scrap bucket. But their WMA brass has been great. But it is made at a separate plant than the commercial stuff is made at.

 

[CWLONGSHOT]

my dad (RIP) had (i now have) a 14" Contender muzzle brake barrel in 7x30 Waters. boy did it kill deer!!! he was using 115gr Speer HP and IMR4895 for 1/4 - 1/2" at 100 yards (5 shots/bench). i hated the muzzle brake. i mean i really hated it!!!! he bought around 4 - 5 boxes of Federal ammo (139gr FN i think) and then 3 - 4 months later, he and i bought each, 250 pieces of 7x30 Federal brass (500 cases) at a gun show. as a matter of fact, i got around 1 or 2 boxes of Federal ammo.

i like the cartridge and i really do. BUT i hate the muzzle brake, absolutely DESPISED it!!! i'm torn between taking it to my gunsmith and cut the blasted thing off or just buy a new MGM/Bullberry barrel. but luckily, i have three calibers on the Contender to do now (22 Hornet, 30 and 357 Herrett all in 10" barrels).

Ill bet its a 12.5" bbl. The 14's where not comped. (He could have had one added I suppose)

I agree I dispise the things myself. Noise makers. The absolute worse firearm I ever fired was a 12.5" 45/70 (factory ported barrel)
Shooting hot handloads. It pounded my elbows hurt my wrists and forearms and rung my earls... thst gun jumped upmoff the bench bucking and twisting trying to unscrew the barrel jambing that 400g Speer bullet down its barrel @ just under 2000 fps... I dont dislike recoil but this gun was obnoxious.

CW

 

[L Ross]

my dad (RIP) had (i now have) a 14" Contender muzzle brake barrel in 7x30 Waters. boy did it kill deer!!! he was using 115gr Speer HP and IMR4895 for 1/4 - 1/2" at 100 yards (5 shots/bench). i hated the muzzle brake. i mean i really hated it!!!! he bought around 4 - 5 boxes of Federal ammo (139gr FN i think) and then 3 - 4 months later, he and i bought each, 250 pieces of 7x30 Federal brass (500 cases) at a gun show. as a matter of fact, i got around 1 or 2 boxes of Federal ammo.

i like the cartridge and i really do. BUT i hate the muzzle brake, absolutely DESPISED it!!! i'm torn between taking it to my gunsmith and cut the blasted thing off or just buy a new MGM/Bullberry barrel. but luckily, i have three calibers on the Contender to do now (22 Hornet, 30 and 357 Herrett all in 10" barrels).

Boy I hear you, (pun intended), about those damned muzzle brakes. A buddy had a 7x30 Waters with the brake on a Contender and the thing was brutal. Two benches over you could feel the gases slap your cheek. Plugs and muffs were not enough. Dreadful devices. And to what benefit? The recoil cannot not be any worse that full boat .30-30 and less than .35 Remington or .357 Herrett.

 

[todd]

the muzzle brake is a factory one. that thing is LOUD!!! i shot it without ear protection, my ears are ringing for about 1/2 hour. use earmuffs and ear plugs, lesson learned. you could not stand near the gun when he was shooting, you could see the concussion wave (gas) when i was 10 or 12 feet directly behind my dad.

i bought a 30 Herrett (10" barrel) and i put on a 2 - 6x Swift scope and a 130gr Speer HP with Reloder 7 and right now i'm about 2" at 100 yards (5 shots/bench). i figure by the time i hunt with it, it will be 1 to 1 1/2" group at 100 yards. i have relearn everything about how to shoot a handgun one handed.