.30-30 powders

[Patrick L]

I plan on working up full power hunting loads for my .30-30 this summer. Previously all of my cast .30-30 loads have been gallery type plinkers. I will be using the 311041 bullet.

Does anyone have loads using IMR 4895, IMR 4320, or IMR 4064? I have these powders in quantity, since I use a lot in various J word applications. According to all of my manuals, these are not populat cast powders for the .30-30.

Anyone use these in a combination that works?

[KYCaster]

My Sears '94 clone seems to like 4064 and 311407. Load used was Hodgden's start load for a 170 gr. jacketed bullet. First attempt looks very promising.

Hodgden also lists loads with 4895. I don't see why it wouldn't work as well.

Good luck.
Jerry

[Larry Gibson]

My standard 30-30 load is 28 gr of 4895 with the 311041. For deer hunting I use 30 gr with a softer cast 311041HP. The 28 gr load pushes 2000+ fps and the 30 gr load pushes 2100 out of 20" barrels with H4895. Higher velocities can be gotten with H335 and 748 but the 30 gr load is deadly on deer out to 200 yards and suits me fine.

Larry Gibson

[Centaur 1]

I just bought a pound of IMR4895 to work up loads in my 30-30 with the RD boolit. From what I understand 4895 is the slowest powder that still ignites reliably at lowered velocities, and it's very friendly with cast boolits. The other two powders are slower so they might not work very good.

This site lists IMR-4895 From 24.5 grains to 31.7 grains.
http://stevespages.com/308_9_170.html

[475BH]

http://www.alliantpowder.com/reloaders/default.aspx

http://data.hodgdon.com/main_menu.asp:smile:

[plainsman456]

I have been playing with IMR-3031 as well as some full power loads with 2400in a 300 SAV and a 306 WIN.
I have not been able to do much testing over the last 2 1/2 weeks due to a pinched nerve in my back,I can't walk.
But you can bet when this thing gets worked out I will get back to it.

[runfiverun]

just use jacketed start loads. and go from there.
water dropped ww's + 1% tin will hold up fine.
if you got a decent fit you can push them all you want.
from 2400 through 4064 powder speeds work fine.
i keep mine in the @2250 fps range just because of the reecoil.
but have pushed the speeds right up with [and past in some cases] j words and maintained accuracy easily enough.
the 30-30 is probably the easiest speed demon i have worked with.

[plainsman456]

I also have some loaded with Win 748 and 2400 that act read good so far.

[btroj]

I used some RE15 a couple years ago with the RD bullet. Got pretty good results.

[303Guy]

I made some cast loads for my 303 Brit and to keep the velocity down I went for a very heavy 245gr boolit. I used AR2208/Varget and too light a load iether. I think I ended up with 225gr boolits which I field tested. The estimated velocity was 1800 fps. That's not to light a load of that powder. Accuracy was impressive. Forget light loads with rifle powders, go to starting loads for j-words and see what happens.

[gnoahhh]

My favorites include 3031 and 4064 for full power cast loads. I would be happy with 3031 if it were the only thing available. My favorite for mid-range loads (and accuracy) is SR-4759. For light loads Unique or Red Dot get the nod, depending upon how light I wish to go.

[geargnasher]

The thing about the .30-30 is so many powders work so well. If you want full-power stuff with the 311041, you might find 4064 a bit slow, but it will work. Try it out and see, what you're looking for is the accuracy sweet spot, carefully work up from jacketed data starting loads for the same grain weight boolit.

I prefer 748 and Reloader7 for my 311041, using water-quenched 50%ww/50%pure at about 19 bhn IIRC, but plenty of other good choices. MY guns don't like 3031 as much as some others, it's the right burn rate but accuracy has never been quite as good as I'd like, your results might differ. 748 is my favorite for barn-burners, but it gets a little erratic in really cold temps (below freezing).

Gear

[barrabruce]

Adi 2208 28-30 gns behind either a 150 or 170 lee PP seems pretty good for me.
Although I am getting a few "coals" left of burnt powder in the barrel.
Accuracy and recoil is nice.
Not sharp as other faster powders I have tried.
It could be going anywhere from 1800-2100fps.
Its only up to about the case shoulder so its not a full load.

http://www.adi-powders.com.au/handloaders-guide/

Barra

[Will]

The 30-30 will shoot about anything you can put in it. I've used 2400, 4895, 4064,4831 they all shot good. I believe you could use anything from baby powder to TNT in a 30-30.

[atr]

IMR 4895 works great....also Win 748

[Kraschenbirn]

I've had excellent results at near FL velocities using AA5744 in my .30-30 bolt gun (Savage 340) with both the 311041 and the 311466 . A shooting buddy loaded a few of my 311041s for his M94 using 3031 and reported "minute of popcan" accuracy right from the git-go.

Bill

[pls1911]

Gearnasher was spot on.
While there are many options for the 30-30, go 25-26 grains Reloader 7 and don't look back. With 160-180 grain gas checked lead bullets, this recipe will easily punch through both shoulders of a 200 pound pig, deer, or antelope.

[Marlin Junky]

I just happen to have QuickLoad running and of the 3 powders you mentioned, I would work with the two short kernel choices. IMR-4895 will probably be your best bet due to its reputation as a reduced pressure fuel. 32 grains will get you to 40K PSI with a 180 grain boolit and 2100 fps from a 20" carbine. Take it easy though... start at 28 grains just to be safe.

MJ

[Sprue]

I preferd Reloader7 for my 311041.Gear

+2 Thats my choice

[MikeS]

Ok, now I'm confused. I just loaded some 311041s with 17.5gr of H4895 which is the starting load according to Hodgdon for a 160gr lead boolit. They list from 17.5gr to 21gr which is quite a bit less than some of the loads in this thread. Is 17.5 too light a load? I started out using a Lee Perfect Powder Measure, but for some reason (and I don't know if it was me, or the measure) I couldn't get it to throw the same charge twice! First one would be 18.2, the next one was 16.5, next would be 17.5 (the charge I'm trying to get), so I finally decided to try a Lyman Accumeasure, and using the number 11 rotor I was able to get 17.4 each time. I measured out about a dozen charges that I checked with a scale before I was happy that it was dropping the same charge each time.

So back to the point, which loading data is correct, Steve's pages, or Hodgdon? I think Steve's loads are for jacketed bullets, not our nicely cast boolits. I know there can be problems with some loads that are too low, and I don't want to run into that problem. Another option I was considering was using Trail Boss, at around 8gr. Of course all my loads are for the moment just plinking rounds, not meant as full powered loads.

[swheeler]

Wc846, Wc844 and H335 all worked just fine for me and a Lee 170 gr cast @ 2000+-fps.

[sundog]

Look at surplus powder load data on Castpics - 4895 is on there.

I've run 3031 with 31141 over max published with good accuracy. Recoil was stiff.

A chrono would sure help you develop your load.