RL-7 in the 30-30

[Trailblazer]

I was given a half lb. or so of RL-7 and tried a starting load of 20 grs. with the RCBS-180-FN in the 30-30. The results were ugly! I used 20 grs. because it seems to be close to 4198 and 20 grs. of 4198 works well with about anything I put on top of it in the 30-30. The RL-7 didn't seem to be burning completely as I had partially burned powder grains left in the bore.

4198 works consistently at lower charges. Does RL-7 need more pressure to burn consistently?

I am looking for a moderate load for the 200 meter silhouette game. We shoot on the pistol silhouette course with soft set rams so it doesn't take a lot of steam to knock them down. I like to keep recoil down when I can.

[Edward429451]

I don't know about RL7 in the 30/30 but I use it in 45/70 and yes, the hotter the powder charge the more consistent the load.

[hs45/70]

Re 7 has worked well for me with several cartridges includeing 30-30 Win Savage 340 using 110...125 gr. speer J's .
In cast, I tried it with 200 gr. Lee GC..22 to 25 grains and at 75 yds. the 25.0 gr. load was best and got me 1.60 inch/3 shots. No chrony that day and then loaded up 10 rounds at 25.0 gr Re 7 and returned to the range a week later to shoot at 100 yds.

Velocity was 1887..1918..1862..1930..1881..1926..1862..1830 n/r..n/r. All 10 shots went into about a 5 inch by 4.5 inch area .....decided to go back to the powders that worked best with this boolit and use the Re7 to feed my 45/70 with 350 gr Cast which it likes at 1750 fps.

Hope you get better results in your testing...

[Maineboy]

My notes show I had an outing with my scoped Marlin 30-30 (pre-microgroove) using the same RCBS 30-180-FN and 24 grains of RL-7. I had loaded 10 rounds and shot 2 5 roumd groups that were both under an inch, range was 50 yards. I have no chronograph data though.


I was given a half lb. or so of RL-7 and tried a starting load of 20 grs. with the RCBS-180-FN in the 30-30. The results were ugly! I used 20 grs. because it seems to be close to 4198 and 20 grs. of 4198 works well with about anything I put on top of it in the 30-30. The RL-7 didn't seem to be burning completely as I had partially burned powder grains left in the bore.

4198 works consistently at lower charges. Does RL-7 need more pressure to burn consistently?

I am looking for a moderate load for the 200 meter silhouette game. We shoot on the pistol silhouette course with soft set rams so it doesn't take a lot of steam to knock them down. I like to keep recoil down when I can.

[Newtire]

I was given a half lb. or so of RL-7 and tried a starting load of 20 grs. with the RCBS-180-FN in the 30-30. The results were ugly! I used 20 grs. because it seems to be close to 4198 and 20 grs. of 4198 works well with about anything I put on top of it in the 30-30. The RL-7 didn't seem to be burning completely as I had partially burned powder grains left in the bore.

4198 works consistently at lower charges. Does RL-7 need more pressure to burn consistently?

I am looking for a moderate load for the 200 meter silhouette game. We shoot on the pistol silhouette course with soft set rams so it doesn't take a lot of steam to knock them down. I like to keep recoil down when I can.


Hi Trailblazer,

I have used RX-7 (aka RL-7/Reloder 7) in the 30-30 but it would not be my powder of choice. I used 28 gr. and a 173 gr. group-buy 311041. Accuracy was alright but not as good as with H-335 & Win 748 so stuck to that.

Where RX-7 really shines for me is in the .30-06. I have a couple of loads that shoot great. One is right out of Lyman Cast bullet book at 25. 5 gr. (the size of the Lee dipper I used to use) with a 220 gr. 311290.

The other one was the RCBS 165 gr. Silhouette boolit and 30.5 gr. RX-7 in 30-06.

Great powder for cast boolits.

[jtaylor1960]

H-4895 works very well in the 30/30 and can be used in reduced loads.I have seen many people use RL-7 with good luck but maybe you need to stay closer the maximum end of the scale for best results. Good luck , Jeff Taylor.

[Trailblazer]

Thanks for the replies. I guess I will find another use for the RL-7.

My computer quit connecting to the internet Sunday. We have DSL and it won't work now. Everything else seems to be fine. Mom is visiting and brought her laptop so I hooked it up yesterday and it works so that is what I am using now. Steenking computers!

[lawboy]

don't know about 30-30, but in the 45-70 I love Re7. I use 23.0 grains under the Lyman 457125 that drops at 517 grains with my alloy. I get 885fps, and very good accuracy out to 100 yards on the steel plates. I can shoot 150 of these offhand during a range session and my shoulder hardly notices!

[Lloyd Smale]

ive had real good luck with re7 in the 3030.

[Trailblazer]

Well I got the computer fixed and read through this again. It looks like 20 grs. is to light so I will try working up and also chronograph it. Maybe I can get something that shoots good enough.