smokeywolf
Well-Known Member
I think my oldest cartridge is the 44-40 and my latest model cartridge is 348 Winchester.
Thinking about the age of Ctgs
- Thread starter KHornet
- Start date
Rally Hess
Well-Known Member
My first center fire rifle was a pre 64 Win mod. 70 in .264 mag. The deal included a Lee Loader and a few mixed bullets. I still have the loader set. I keep it to remind me of how sadistic loading can be without the correct tools. LOL My dad and the LGS owner both tried to talk me into something smaller but I had magnumitus! Took a whole weekend to load a box of shells, and only a few minutes to figure out you were suppose to use sizing lubricant!! SAE 30 w oil and Vaseline don't count, but actually work for a bullheaded 14 yr old. Man did I ever dent up a bunch of shoulders, and stick a bunch of cases in the sizer body. Didn't take long to figure out belted cases don't last long full of 4064 and pushing 120 gr HP at around 3600 fps. Pretty tough on neck shot deer and would literally turn a nice prime red fox into furry snow. Had a bruised shoulder from November 1 st to middle of March and developed a small flinch from that rifle. My dad just grinned from ear to ear when I traded it for a Savage 24V in .222/ 20ga..
I'm to the point where I have favorites in calibers / gauges and platforms and I'm not looking for any new calibers, just refining what comes out of them. I have working guns because I'm a trapper, and have guns I'd hate to get wet. I'm concerned with what happens on the receiving end, because I market all my fur. My oldest is the .45-70 and my newest the .32 mag. I enjoy shooting .30-30.,.32-20, .44 mag(both rifle and pistol) but shoot .38 spl. the most. In shotgun I like the 20 guage and it's LW platforms better hunting pheasant, but the 12 guage offers more options in self defense. I like casting and loading for all of them. I look at a bucket full of wheel weights as a challenge!!
I'm to the point where I have favorites in calibers / gauges and platforms and I'm not looking for any new calibers, just refining what comes out of them. I have working guns because I'm a trapper, and have guns I'd hate to get wet. I'm concerned with what happens on the receiving end, because I market all my fur. My oldest is the .45-70 and my newest the .32 mag. I enjoy shooting .30-30.,.32-20, .44 mag(both rifle and pistol) but shoot .38 spl. the most. In shotgun I like the 20 guage and it's LW platforms better hunting pheasant, but the 12 guage offers more options in self defense. I like casting and loading for all of them. I look at a bucket full of wheel weights as a challenge!!
JWFilips
Well-Known Member
When I think of my favorite cartridges to shoot I guess I can say they are from the end of the 19th Century and into the early 20th century.
8mm, 30WCF, 35 Rem 32 ACP 45 Auto! .....But I also do enjoy The 243 Win , 223 Rem and 358 Win in bolt action rifles
8mm, 30WCF, 35 Rem 32 ACP 45 Auto! .....But I also do enjoy The 243 Win , 223 Rem and 358 Win in bolt action rifles
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Sendaro
Active Member
Funny how things gone by have a way of coming back around. My first center fire rifle was a30-30 Winchester 94 made back in the 1930s. At age of 16 I had a Lee Loader and a box of Hornady 170 grain bullets to start with. My first buck fell with that rifle and it has since been passed along in the family. Now some 50 years later I find myself shooting a 30-30 again, but with a verity of cast bullets and having a ball. The critters I now shoot are no longer flesh and bone but are made of steel and ring when hit. Too old to hunt the mountains and drive out the swamps it's the range these days and more shooting in a years time than all the shots I fired hunting big game. But there it is again---> the 30-30, an old friend has returned to my loading bench and shoulder. Long live the 30-30!
Sendaro
Sendaro
smokeywolf
Well-Known Member
First experience shooting 30-30 was at about 9 or 10 years old. It was a model '94 Winchester of early 20th century manufacture AND it was a trappers model. WOW! The kick made this kid sit up and take notice. My father got a pretty good chuckle from the look on my face after the first shot.
Ian
Notorious member
I still have my first center-fire rifle, a 1966 model 336 Texan given to me by my Grandfather along with the rest of the only box of cartridges it had ever been near. Killed a few deer and other stuff with it and still shoot it. It was the first rifle I ever cast for and it hasn't seen a jacketed bullet since I was twelve. My Dad gave me his old pawn-shop special Savage 219 30-30/16-ga. combo a few years ago an I liked it so much I bought a nicer one off a guy at CB. Then I bought another nice 336 for a spare and enjoy it a lot, too. I don't know what it is about the old .30 WCF that makes it so easy to load, so amicable with cast bullets, and so danged accurate in just about any platform, but I like it.
Sendaro
Active Member
Waco, Back in the 1980s a friend was playing around with cast bullets in Savage 340 30-30. He killed a few deer with, and some woodchucks. Later on we did some accuracy work on it by adding a second bedding stud to the action and getting rid of the barrel band.The barrel was free floated and the action glass bedded. It worked so well he picked up one in 222. The same bedding system was added to that rifle, and a used Remington 700 barrel was stubbed, fitted and chambered to the 340 in 223. That went to north eastern Wyoming with us on a P-dog shoot north of Devil's Tower near a small place named Spotted Horse. It accounted for a truck load of P-dogs. Last I remember he was shooting cast gas checked bullets in that rifle cast from Linotype. I remember watching him vaporizing black birds with that rifle one afternoon as we stood watch over a clover field shooting chucks. If I remember right he had a 45 grain GC cast bullet at or near 200o fps. Also pigeons on barn roofs didn't stand a chance.
Over the years I have gained a lot of respect for Savage rifles and their accuracy. Today I believe they are one of the best for out of the box accuracy and dependability. I'm still a Remington 700 man first when it comes to factory rifles but I would not turn my nose up to a Savage center fire.
Now days my 30-30 is a CPA single shot with 1 in 10" twist barrel, and double set triggers. I have it as a cast bullet platform and shoot my CPA rifles in Schuetzen matches as well as club matches at the Wilton Rod & Gun Club of New York. Simply a pleasure to shoot.
Sendaro
Over the years I have gained a lot of respect for Savage rifles and their accuracy. Today I believe they are one of the best for out of the box accuracy and dependability. I'm still a Remington 700 man first when it comes to factory rifles but I would not turn my nose up to a Savage center fire.
Now days my 30-30 is a CPA single shot with 1 in 10" twist barrel, and double set triggers. I have it as a cast bullet platform and shoot my CPA rifles in Schuetzen matches as well as club matches at the Wilton Rod & Gun Club of New York. Simply a pleasure to shoot.
Sendaro
30-30 is about as ideal a case for cast as there is. Nice long neck to hold the bullet. Cheap, plentiful brass. Powder capacity is such that fast burning powders work well yet it also is perfect for full loads with cast bullets.
Outside of the 45-70 I can't think of another cartridge that seemed to be designed to be ideal with cast bullets. Ok, rifle cartridge as most pistol cartridges are great with cast.
Outside of the 45-70 I can't think of another cartridge that seemed to be designed to be ideal with cast bullets. Ok, rifle cartridge as most pistol cartridges are great with cast.
RicinYakima
High Steppes of Eastern Washington
When the CBA started having matches in the 1970's, the Remington 788 in 30/30 was the one to beat.
I read an article 35 yrs. ago about a cast bullet shooter with a Rem. 788 with a heavy short bull barrel chambered in 30-30. As I remember, he was shooting IMR - 4198, IMR - 3031, and IMR - 4064 with the SAECO # 301 and the Lyman 311299 and the SAECO # 315.
The groups that were being fired really opened my eyes with the accuracy potential of the 30-30 in the " right rifle ".
Up an until that revelation, I had viewed the 30-30 as a " minute of beer can " round.
NO LONGER - - I now know that in the correct rifle with the proper loads, it can compete , and most likely win against , most of the other .30 cal. cartridges at 100 yards.
The groups that were being fired really opened my eyes with the accuracy potential of the 30-30 in the " right rifle ".
Up an until that revelation, I had viewed the 30-30 as a " minute of beer can " round.
NO LONGER - - I now know that in the correct rifle with the proper loads, it can compete , and most likely win against , most of the other .30 cal. cartridges at 100 yards.
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In the very early days (20's-40's) of bench rest (jacketed bullet) shooting the .219 Zipper, and later, the .219 Donaldson Wasp were used. The Zipper was formed from .25-35 WCF cases and the Wasp was often formed (blown out) from the Zipper case which was available in factory loadings at one point. The Zipper, Wasp, .25-35 WCF, .30-30 WCF, etc. have the same rim diameter and thickness. Two or Three decades ago Federal offered .30-30 Gold Medal Match brass with very uniform dimensions and small rifle primer pockets. I wish I had bought 1,000 of them!
waco
Springfield, Oregon
Interesting. I did not know this.
JWFilips
Well-Known Member
My thoughts on the 30-30 for cast bullet shooting....especially now i have a bolt action: It is the one caliber that can utilize almost any of the godzillions of 30 caliber moulds out there! This could keep a fellow busy shooting the rest of his life with just this one caliber!