anyone ever try this in a 3030

[Lloyd Smale]

I dont have much experience in rifles so im bowing to the experts but Im putting together a tc 16 inch carbine in 3030. Ive got a ****pile of 32 bullets ive been sizing down to .310 to try in it. One of them is a cute little 120 lbt lfngc out of one of my buddys molds. Its cast out of 5050 ww/lynotype and gas checked and my thoughts were to try to push it about about 25-2600 fps out of the 3030. Kind of a souped up 3220. Anyone try this that could give me some load suggestions?

[C A Plater]

I've not done that light with cast with my carbine yet but my accuracy load for a 125 gr. Remington PSP is 29.9 grains of Reloader 7. I cannot detect any accuracy difference with different type of brass and have tested it with Winchester, Remington and Federal. No chronograph data yet. It's on my to-do list, I just need a to get a round tuit.

[felix]

Agreed. 28-30 starting grains of anything slower than 4198, and faster than 4320. Slower powders might provide better accuracy, depending on chamber slop mostly. If accuracy fails as more powder is applied, use a faster powder. ... felix

[Lloyd Smale]

Ive got 4198 4895 re7 and wc844 on the shelf in those burning rates. Id sure like to get a couple solid recomendations with velocitys from someone. ANyone have an idea what kind of speed Plater is getting with his load? I figure this little 120 at speed would be a flat shooting hard hitting little coyote gun.

[Bass Ackward]

Ive got 4198 4895 re7 and wc844 on the shelf in those burning rates. Id sure like to get a couple solid recomendations with velocitys from someone. ANyone have an idea what kind of speed Plater is getting with his load? I figure this little 120 at speed would be a flat shooting hard hitting little coyote gun.


Lloyd,

I can run some Quickload data on it if you don't get any information. Send me a PM if you so desire and I will tell you what info I need from you.

[Lloyd Smale]

Pm sent Bass

[C A Plater]

I found my source for the original data and it came from the Alliant reloading guide. It has 30.0 grains of Re7 @ 2630 fps from a 24" barrel at 34,100 CUP. I'll try to run some over the Chrony this weekend and get some real numbers for the shorter barrel.

[Larry Gibson]

Lloyd

I'm gonna go out on limb here and say you're going to need a powder on the order of 2400, 4227, 4198 or 5744 to get 24-2500 fps out of that 120gr bullet. Been my experience with my 21" Contender and M94 Winchester in 30-30 Using jacketed 110 gr bullets. With jacketed 125 gr bullets H335 and AA2230 are good powders for top end performance. I've not tried light cast bullets, other than 90 gr SWCs at 800 fps, in the Contender. I've only really worked with 311291 and 30-150-FN for cast in the Contenderand with an alloy of similar hardness to yours I'm not gettig the accuracy the barrel is capable of above 1700 fps. My Contender is the factory barrel with multiple shallow rifling. It has a 1-11" twist. I'm going to cast some 311316 (118 gr GC 32-20 bullet) of WQ'd WWs and try them one of these days. Keep us informed of your trials and tribulations with your TC 30-30.

Larry Gibson

[w30wcf]

Lloyd Smale,
Several years ago I tried some 311316 g.c. bullets made from an alloy similar to yours and they shot pretty well at a little over 2,600 f.p.s. (24" barrel). My powder of choice at the time was H335 in a 36 gr. dose.

Ironically, when I was putting together some of the c.b. experiments I want to accomplish this year, one of them was to try RL-7 with the 311316. Not too long ago, I tested RL-7 behind an Ideal 311245 bullet (linotype - 88 grs.) with a polyethylene wad and broke the 3,000 f.p.s. barrier with good accuracy (1" groups @ 50 yards), so I wanted to see what it would do with the heavier, gas checked 311316.

In looking at the Hodgdon No. 26 Manual, they show the following loads with a 125-130 gr. bullet in a 24" barrel:
H4198 / 31.0 / 2,589 / 37,600
H4895 / 37.0 / 2,618 / 36,000

IMR4198 / 29.0 / 2,421 / 35,100
IMR4895 / 36.0 / 2,474 / 35,500

RL-7 / 30.0 / 2,595 / 34,000 (pretty close to the Alliant Data that C A Plater referenced)

PLease keep us posted on your test results.
w30wcf

[Lloyd Smale]

I may be fightin a loosing battle with this deal as im giving up 6 inches of barrel life but im kind of counting on the fact that 3030 ammo is loaded pretty conservatively and i should be able to sneak up a little in the pressure dept out of the tc. Granted not alot but even a winchester will take loads heavier then book. This is kind of jumping ahead as i havent even got the barrel yet and im working up loads. I guess im just trying to avoid a long drawn out trail and error procedure with the chrono if someone else has done something simular. So far the news from everyone hasnt been to promissing. Looks like with a 16 inch barrel im going to come in at about 2200 maybe 2300 with conventional loading data. Id sure like to sneak that up to about 2500. Ive also been told that the twist rate and the shallow rifling in tcs will not work at those speeds but have gotten conflicting answers on that. Its seems some have gotten tc barrels to shoot cast at high velocitys. Hell its just a new obsession to make this shooting thing intersting. Ive never played much with rifles and cast and maybe this will inspire me to put down the handguns for a bit.

[Scrounger]

Another tack which has cressed my mind is to rechamber the .30-30 barrel to .30-40 Krag. Pressure levels are the same and you should be able to up the velocity at a safe pressure. I've seen several Contender barrels converted like that. A 21 inch barrel would be better.

[w30wcf]

Lloyd,
I would think that you could easily hit at least 2,450 f.p.s. and maybe more in your 16" barrel using 4198 or RL-7.

For example, let's take the Alliant RL-7 data which is 2,630 f.p.s. in a 24" barrel with a 125 gr jacketed bullet.

Add about 50 f.p.s. to that for a cast bullet* and that = 2,680 f.p.s. A friend has .30-30's with 16" and 24" barrels. He reports about a 250 f.p.s. difference between them. So, 2,680 - 250 = 2,430 f.p.s.(16" barrel) and that's at 34,100 cup (125 gr. jacketed bullet) or almost 4,000 cup less than SAAMI maximum for the .30-30. That means that there should be a little room for further improvement. :-D

* That's been the difference in velocity between cast and jacketed in my .30- 30's.

Have fun!
w30wcf

[leftiye]

TC used to ( they told me back then when I asked them) approve 48000 psi loads with 30/30 headsize cartridges. Lately I've seen that they now approve only 44000 psi. Still gives you some room to go up in pressures though. I've fired my 30-30 contender that hot with the 180 lewellen GC (can't remember velocity), and the 115 grainer carbine GC at 2500 fps. Linotype as I remember.

[Lloyd Smale]

I dont really want to rechamber to another round or even an improved version. I guess my idea was that i wanted to use readily availble 3030 brass and i guess the bottom line was just to do something a little differnt. Ive got a pile of 115 lbts sized and lube and even tumble lubed them to boot and they should be dry by now. I guess if it doesnt work its no sweat.

[versifier]

26gr of RE7 and soupcans (WW, sized .309 & .310) are a great combination in the .30-30. On top of an impressive list of varmints, we have even taken two deer with them. Though I prefer heavier boolits for big game, they were carefully placed shots at very short range and both were one shot kills.

[Leftoverdj]

Lloyd, hunt around for the .30 soupcan shooting reports. All that info will be useable with your bullet.

[jhalcott]

yep ,those light bullets will do wonders on small varmints like ground hogs and such. I had good luck with my 14"30-30 contender but not so good with the .308 12" barrel on the Eagle. 3 different barrels,all 14" contenders gave different results. ALL gave good accuracy with SELECTED loads. Some fast some ~2000fps. several alloys were tried,from ww/lead thru Lino to bearing metals. I got TONS of leading from some loads but zero from others. One group would be MOA, the next day Same ammo would go 4 MOA???

[hivoltfl]

Lloyd, I shoot a Lee 120 grain GC bullet in a 23 inch Contender Carbine, I use 25 grains of 4198 with great results and have run them up to 28-29 grains but found my accuracy started to fall off in my barrel, I cast water droped WW and use blue angel lube, I have got into that velocity with some of those loads, 4895 should do it too.

Rick

[C A Plater]

No tuits this weekend. Just too cold and windy for comfort. Lows in the mid 20s and it might hit 45 by late afternoon. That may seem warm for a Yooper this time of year but after a few weeks of mid 80's down here in Dixie, it takes all the fun out of being outdoors. The chronograph data will have to keep for another, much warmer, day.