A whipper snapper and his new 30-30!

[Joshua]

Fun Fact: If It is Saturday and your RCBS #2 shell holder hasn't arrived in the mail yet, you can still deprime on press without it. A 30-30 fits just perfectly into the top of a standard ram.

Today my shell holder arrived and I got started. In the last two weeks I have been trading and dealing, I now have everything I need to start loading.

I did a quick slug of the barrel with a .451" round ball(yes, I will be doing a proper pound cast later). It came out at .3086". My whole 30cal sizing and expanding set up is based on my M1917 30-06. The 30-06 has a much larger bore. I only have the one 30cal expander, it is a NOE .313" x .309", and one Lee .311" push through sizer. For this reason I am going to start off with lubed bullets. This way I will still have sufficient neck tention. When I load PC'd bullets I'm gonna want to size them smaller somewhere around .309" to 3095". So I have some tools to buy before I start with powder coating for this gun.

I already have about a hundred 45/45/10 lubed and GC'd Lyman 311291 bullets that are sized at .311". I put together a dummy, and seated it at the crimp groove. I ran it through the action and it cycled just fine.

The more I read about the 30-30 the more I realize that it is a real dumpster of a cartridge when it comes to powder. It seems that you can throw just about anything in it and you can get it to run. Slow ball powders like 760 and H-414 that I wouldn't use in cast loads in my 30-06 are right at home in a 30-30. It pays nice with 748. It also likes slow stick powders like 4831. It seems to do fine with all the medium and fast rifle powders. Most all of the pistol and shotgun powders play nice with it. Hell, I even found published data from Winchester in 2001, they had a load using 296(not gonna touch this one with twenty foot pole). What a dumpster!

I've got lots of go fast, slow powder, PC'd ideas! But to start off I’ll be boring and run with 15 grains of 2400, over a lubed and gas checked 311291, that is sized .0024" over. It will probably work just fine.

Josh

P.s. What is your favorite 30-30 load? Fast or Slow?

 

[CWLONGSHOT]

Two powders are all I "need" here.

2400 for cast

748 for Jacketed.

CW

 

[Petrol & Powder]

I hope that was a typo and you weren't trying to drive a .451" ball down a roughly 30 caliber bore.

 

[RBHarter]

312-155 Lee and IMR 4350 ran jacket max velocities 1 gr under start .
An SST 165 did well on hogs 1 gr over start IMR 4350 .
313226 (?) 97 gr RN over Unique for a quiet can killer .
The Savage 325 is actually kind of irritating . I've not found anything except the NOE 230 it won't shoot and that was just a single attempt to see if it would shoot something that far out the window .

 

[Charles Graff]

Any good 160-180 cast gas check bullet over 17/4759. Yes, I know the powder is no longer produced, but people with pure hearts have a goodly stash.

 

[Rick]

I'm down to 20 pounds of 4759.

I'm quite fond of the RCBS SP 180 gr over 18.0 gr 4759.

 

[L Ross]

Any good 160-180 cast gas check bullet over 17/4759. Yes, I know the powder is no longer produced, but people with pure hearts have a goodly stash.

Goodly stash. I wish I had three jugs instead of one darnit.

 

[Ian]

I like Reloder 7 for 150-160 grain bullets. Maximum performance comes from stiff loads of WW748 and WLR primers but it may not play nice in cold weather. My other liad is 4 grains of Titegroup and a LPP.

 

[Bill]

15/16 grains of 4759/5744 and 27 grains of 4895 with about any bullet

Bill

 

[abj]

I have had sucess with most of the fast rifle powders but my goto powder is 5744, hands down. Then 4759 and then 2400. I will admit I have not tried anything slower than 4895, no need for the 1800ish velocity.
For sub loads and plain base is 700X, but not a lot of difference between it and other pistol/shotgun powders in the same burn range. The funny thing is I love Unique but never had any accuracy with it in 30-30.
Have fun,
Tony

 

[Joshua]

I hope that was a typo and you weren't trying to drive a .451" ball down a roughly 30 caliber bore.

No, typo here. I’ve slugged seven barrels this way. It works great!

Start the ball with light taps and keep tapping until the ball has riveted over the muzzle. Note: when hammering the stock sits on the toe of my boot, I use light taps. Stop when the lead “rivet” is about 1/16” thick. Then punch it through with a hard wood stick that’s about two inches long.

Now drive it through. I have used a 22lr on the end of an aluminum cleaning rod, but now I use a 1/4” steel rod wrapped in electrical tape and a 30 cal gas check.

There's more than one way to skin a cat.


Josh

 

[Petrol & Powder]

Well OK ! That's one way to do it.

 

[Joshua]

Thank you for all the great loads. Keep’m coming.

I called the 30-30 a powder dumpster. I am really excited by its versatility.

A few months ago I came across a great deal on a bunch of old powder that the LGS was selling. It was from a deceased man’s estate. It was cheap. Here is a picture showing just some of what I bought.

I had bought what I thought I could use and posted about it here. Fiver, recommended that I never pass up cheap powder. I had to agree. So I went back and bought a bunch of stuff even though I wasn’t sure how I would ever use it in the guns I owned, at that time. I shoot almost all cast bullets. Many of these powders don’t do well when reduced and used in full size cartridges.

Now, I have this new gun that is chambered in a much more “efficient” cartridge. I can use up most of these old powders in cast loads.

I will hold onto the Norma MRP. Maybe those two cans of powder will be my excuse to buy a “long range” rifle.

 

[Ben]

Don't count out IMR 4198.

 

[Joshua]

Don't count out IMR 4198.

Yes, everything that I have read would indicate that it is a great powder for cast, in many different cartridges.

Josh

 

[Bill]

If that Norma is r-121 it was very good stuff

Bill

 

[Creeker]

I've burnt plenty of 3031 in mine especially with the RCBS 30-180-FN.

 

[Joshua]

Tonight I assembled some dummies to check for function. And loaded a few rounds.

Top to bottom
Lyman 308241 PB
RanchDog TLC311-165-RF
Lyman 311291
Lyman 311041


The 311041 is PC’d and is a tight fit, requires a bit of a nudge to close the lever.
The RanchDog is just kissing the throat.
The Two round nose designs cycled fine.

Loaded twenty-five of the 311291 over 15gr of 2400.

Josh

 

[CZ93X62]

That front drive band on "041" is likely longer than the throat depth. 30/30s tend toward short throats and abrupt leades IME. Not a bad thing per se, as long as it doesn't de-bullet a loaded round during extraction and spill powder into the action. And OF COURSE, I've never had that experience personally. I'm just sharing some of Buckshot's intel on the subject.

 

[Joshua]

If the RanchDog shoots well I will most likely stick with it over the 311041. For no other reason than one is a six cavity and the other is a two cavity. The weights are almost the same.
Josh