.35 X 30-30 information request

[Baron von Trollwhack]

Does anyone know the "work-around" for reloading the .35 X 30-30. The regular version, not the improved. I can fireform new brass to fit the chamber as a starting point. I did not find anything in a search here or via google. A M-94 rebore is in my future. CH4D is out of stock, others are very expensive. Thanks.

BvT

[felix]

No problem, BvT. Use 30-30 data for starters using the same boolit weight. After getting a feel, remember that larger the bore, faster powder can be used, especially with same case and boolit. I would use 3031 for starters. ... felix

[Baron von Trollwhack]

OOOPS ! I was not very clear. It's the mechanical reloading process after blowing out the brass I need information on. I was hoping someone who has been down the path could maybe help on that part.

I do appreciate the advice on the burn rate though. It will help for sure. BvT

[Mk42gunner]

If you have a .35 Whelen Die set, you could expand the necks with that; I have made dummies that way.

You can probably neck size and seat boolits with a .38 Special/ .357 Mag die set.

Robert

[pls1911]

With the slight change required from the 30-30 to the 35-30, I'd think you couild simply run the brass through a full length 35/30 die and go shoot, no less than forming the 7mmTCU from a .223 case,
Fire formed cases will give the final degree of accuracy, but "hunting accuracy" is likely to be attainable PDQ.
ANYBODY WITH ACTUAL EXPERIENCE TO THE CONTRARY PLEASE SPEAK UP!
I have a 93 which is likely to get a rebore soon as well.

[badgeredd]

BvT,

It's getting near my sleepy time so I'll get you some more info tomorrow, but until then do a search of my threads and posts from about 18 months ago. Some great suggestions were made and I think there may be some helpful info from my getting mine around. GREAT cartridge BTW and I've wondered why more favor hasn't been bestowed upon it. It REALLY lends itself to cast boolits with its long neck and moderate case capacity.

And yes....like Felix suggested 3031 is a good powder for it. Also 32 special loads can be used out of the books with some additional work ups required for full power loads.

Welcome to my world and the 35-30...yeehah!!!!!!

Edd :wink:

PS.....I believe my posts were mainly in the Leverguns Forum.

[crabo]

Why would you go 35X30 instead of 35 Remington? What is the advantage?

[geargnasher]

Why would you go 35X30 instead of 35 Remington? What is the advantage?

My first thought as well. Logic would dictate that it is an easy way to make a .35 out of any current .30-30 without modifying any part of the gun besides the chamber and barrel.

Gear

[Baron von Trollwhack]

I have a very nice M-94 with a tight chamber and HS. I'll have an Occumpaugh rebore and a neck recut along with throating. He does excellent work. That makes for an excellent shooting rifle. It is what I want. I appreciate the idea of a rimmed case in the M-94 as against the rimless 35 R.

"De gustibus non est disputandum".........................There is no disputing taste.

BvT

[JFE]

You could use 358 Win dies to neck size and seat bullets - the case is the same length as a 30/30. My RCBS 358 dies also have a neck expander designed to open 30cal necks to 358 and it works well too.

I also have set of Lyman dies in 35 Rem. The neck expander in those dies isnt designed for neck expansion. I'd look for a set of RCBS 358 dies to get you going.

[Trailblazer]

The 30-30 case is thin in the neck area. A 35 Whelen or 358 die may not size the neck enough to hold a bullet. The 357 die would be more likely to work since 357 brass is also thinner than 358 or 35 W.

[Baron von Trollwhack]

Fortunately I have 356W, 358W, 35R, 357 and will start making to make a few cases as some have suggested. Then I can figure out whether to blow out all brass needed or to form them. I can go to 32 then 35 and check concentricity too. Dies are great, eh? Thanks to all.

BvT

[felix]

Because of the rim and because the brass is fairly thin, there is no reason not to fireform directly within a reasonable neck clearance-d chamber with a full load no matter the runout. If I were going to make this round, I would specify a 18 twist barrel mainly for pistol boolits (180 grainers or less) and leave the longer ones for the 35 Rem or Win 358. ... felix

[badgeredd]

Because of the rim and because the brass is fairly thin, there is no reason not to fireform directly within a reasonable neck clearance-d chamber with a full load no matter the runout. If I were going to make this round, I would specify a 18 twist barrel mainly for pistol boolits (180 grainers or less) and leave the longer ones for the 35 Rem or Win 358. ... felix

I disagree Felix. Having a Marlin 35/30-30 myself with an Ocumpaugh re-bore and chamber job with a 15 twist, I can tell you that a 200 grain boolit is the berries in the cartridge. I also shoot a custom 235 at 1900 fps with no problems.

Edd

[badgeredd]

Why would you go 35X30 instead of 35 Remington? What is the advantage?

Where's your sense of adventure Man?

Advantage? Long neck, readily available brass, easily converted....and guessed to be the oldest wildcat. Some think that if Winchester would have come out with a factory load of this old wildcat before Remington came out with the 35 Remmy, the 35 Remmy may well have disappeared into obsolete cartridge history. Who knows though.

Anyway...why not 35-30?

Edd

[felix]

Your are correct, Edd. There would be no 35 Remmie. In reverse as well. There is no 35/30-30. That would be the MAIN reason to separate them. This assumes, of course, you have a 35 Remmie or Winnie in the closet. The Whelen is entirely in a different class and therefore cannot be in contention here. If you did have the Whelen, then the Max would be a great associate to have, leaving both middle wares behind. ... felix

[crabo]

I disagree Felix. Having a Marlin 35/30-30 myself with an Ocumpaugh re-bore and chamber job with a 15 twist, I can tell you that a 200 grain boolit is the berries in the cartridge. I also shoot a custom 235 at 1900 fps with no problems.

Edd

What did that cost?

[gnoahhh]

Interesting discussion. There were questions answered that I was on the verge of asking myself. The wildcat I've got cooking is a .35/.303 Savage, pretty much the same thing. My donor barrel is an original .303 takedown with a nice chamber and a sewer pipe bore. It's to be a companion barrel for a Savage 1899 takedown in .303 Savage.

Anybody ever have Lee make a custom collet die for a wildcat? I'm told they'll do it at a fraction of the cost of a custom Redding or RCBS die. Seating will be done with a Vickerman straight line seater by the way.

[Baron von Trollwhack]

To update: I took 5 fired cases used in the 30-30 rifle, put a Lee tapered nominal 358 expander into a 356W F/L die, lubed everything well, and neck expanded the 30-30 cases with out touching the shoulder formed by firing the cases earlier.

Using an old Lyman M die(.357), I ran the lubed expander in each case a few times, while turning the case in the shellholder.

Three of the cases showed 5 thousandths of neck runout, two cases had 2. The RCBS 200s sized .3595 went in nicely and firmly. Not bad for a kluge.

I set the seating depth to use three as throat dummies to send with the rifle. Just right OAL for the RCBS, not too long for the R158 JSP. The dummies also functioned through the mag and into the chamber.

Got the box today to pack and ship first of the week. Yes, Will have the Lyman tang sight fitted too! Soon to start match prep on the cases. I think at about 1900-2000 fps the cases ought to last a long time when I get to the right powder to fit snug under the boolits.

Still looking on the dies. I think the best shot now will be a Redding or Forster 30-30 neck sizing die either with inserts, or a custom reamed neck and use the 356W die for seating. I got a steenkin' decap die.

BvT

[Baron von Trollwhack]

For gnooahhh.

I had one of those wonderful Savage 99s in the featherweight takedown model in 303 with the barrel just like yours. Made in 1923. It still shot 2 1/2" @ 100 with the irons and Remington 30 caliber 180 RN corelokts. I sold it about 15 years ago when I lived in eastern, NC and about 3 years ago it was stolen from the fellow I had sold it to. Still not recovered.

When I used it I could still get Knyoch 10 packs of loaded ammo and of course Remington ammo and brass. I see someone is making making brass now.

I wish I still had it. Good shooting. BvT

[rockrat]

For sizing your cases, you might have to do an extra step. When you send your gun to Jesse, you might buy a cheap Lee RGB die set and send him the size die. Have him cut the top off the die, to where the opening where the shoulder of the size die is, would be the correct diameter for a 35 cal neck to pass thru.
that way you could at least size the body of the case and the shoulder, but not touch the neck. Do the neck in you other dies (the extra loading step) then finish your loading sequence.

I did the same with another caliber. Loaded a BUNCH of ammo for one rifle, then found that the barrel was bad. Put another barrel on and the ammo wouldn't fit because of a tighter chamber. Cut off an extra sizing die and re-sized the ammo, worked fine. Didn't pull bullets because they were some $$ match grade J-word stuff and didn't want to damage them.

[stubshaft]

Why would you go 35X30 instead of 35 Remington? What is the advantage?

Rimmed vs. Rimless.

Used to shoot a Contender in the 80's in .357 Herret. You may be able to find an old set of dies for that and use it to form you cases. IIRC it was a tad shorter than the parent 30/30 case but .375 Win brass was readily available and it was a cinch to neck and trim.

[fireball168]

Put this in the other thread going on this as well - .369" is the largest bushing Redding sells.

Probably going to need a .380" +/- based on the measurements I've made.

CH4D has made some off sized ones from time to time, or find somebody with a chucking reamer close to what you need.

I'd bet you could get a 357 Herrett seating stem/insert for a 30-30 Hornady seating die and you'd be in business on the seating end of things. I probably have both parts around here - will swap some parts around and see if it works.

[Baron von Trollwhack]

Is it possible to simply cut off the depriming top part of the F/L die and to bore out the neck as a cylinder? Or to just cut off the die neck at the point where it transitions from neck to shoulder? BvT

[badgeredd]

What did that cost?

Crabo,

Sorry I haven't gotten back before now. Family stuff has kept me busy.

OK...to give you a full answer, here goes. I removed my barrel and all appendages. Sent the stripped barrel to Jesse. I had the barrel back in my possession within 2 weeks. Jesse bored rifled the barrel with a 1-15 3 groove cut rifling, and cut the 35 caliber neck and throat to a dummy cartridge I sent with the barrel. Smooth as a baby's butt I might add. Total cost including shipping was $255. I personally felt the price fair and the workmanship excellent.

Edd

[evandailey]

Crabo,

Sorry I haven't gotten back before now. Family stuff has kept me busy.

OK...to give you a full answer, here goes. I removed my barrel and all appendages. Sent the stripped barrel to Jesse. I had the barrel back in my possession within 2 weeks. Jesse bored rifled the barrel with a 1-15 3 groove cut rifling, and cut the 35 caliber neck and throat to a dummy cartridge I sent with the barrel. Smooth as a baby's butt I might add. Total cost including shipping was $255. I personally felt the price fair and the workmanship excellent.

Edd

Jesse did the same work for me, though I sent him a complete assembled model 94. It went out on a Thursday and I had it back the next Friday. I had mine cut with a 1 in 14. It was still the same $255 which included the shipping. Unbelieveably good deal if you ask me.

[Baron von Trollwhack]

The barrel is out there now with 3 dummies for set up. 15", 3-groove. Plus a Lyman Tang sight hole. Got a line on some dies, maybe ? I think I'll form the brass up in loading.

BvT

[Nobade]

I have a 35X30-30 that I built on a Pedersoli rolling block. Factory 30-30 bore was junk so had it rebored. I found the Lee 358 win. die set has a tapered expander and works well to form cases. The seater works well as is. Then after the first firing I use a 357 mag carbide die to neck size, and a universal decap die to knock the primer out. It makes a great case, and I do like it better than the 35 rem due to the longer neck and rim for single shots.

[Jon K]

BvT,

Will 357 Herrett dies work? Slight difference in neck & shoulder, but might work in a pinch....just neck size and seater might work.

I have seen used 357 Herrett dies for around $10 locally.

Jon

[fireball168]

Yesterday I played around with a set of used Hornady 30-30 dies I've had here for awhile.

Used a .375" chucking reamer, thinking that would be just about right for neck tension.

After I reamed it and polished it, the die cartridge neck will take a .376" pin gauge.

Put a .358 expander ball in it, and formed up several pieces of .35-30/30.

A .354" pin gauge will just slip into the sized neck of Remington 30-30 brass after being sized.

This morning I ordered a 357 Herrett alignment sleeve for the seating die, a 358 expander ball assembly and a .358 seating stem from Hornady to complete this, the parts come to $21.58.

I'm suspicious that there may be inadequate neck tension after sizing fired brass for exclusive jacketed bullet use. I don't think there will be any problem with cast at .360 or more.

Send me your address and we'll see if they work.

[helice]

Have any of you gentlemen used the Lee Universal Case Expanding die to put a bit of a bell on your case prior to increasing the neck diameter? They are cheap and I'd think they might help ease the process.
Just a thought. Of coarse it might just add an unnecessary extra step...??? Keep writing cause I'm learning. Helice

[Baron von Trollwhack]

I don't care for that universal die except in a few, rare usages. Its the slight bell and the neck expansion of the M die that is usually desired.

BvT