Haven't see this asked before

[DeanoBeanCounter]

So I'll ask here. I have a 300 Winchester Magnum. Is it safe to lighten the loads down to say, 30-30? I'm talking about cast bullits or "j" word bullets.
I cannot think, why not? It would be nice to do so because it would be cheaper to plink, not as hard on the rifle, and no one needs magnum power on these Utah mule deer. :roll:
30 carbine is the smallest 30 caliber I can think of. Is there any 30 caliber lighter then that? [smilie=1:
The Reloaders Reference shows for 170 grain cast bullets that 6 to 10 grains of Unique can be used in either 30-30 or 300 Win Mag. :Fire:
I just seems alright even if a filler has to be used.
I would like to see any thoughts and info on this. :twisted:
Thanks
Deano

[waksupi]

Try a case full of WC860, or WC 872, and a heavy bullet. Will not be fast, will burn dirty, but will shoot.

[kawalekm]

Hi Deano
I have two suggestions for you based on Lyman's Reloading handbook, 47th addition. The amount of Unique you are suggesting seems too low. Lyman lists 18 grains of Unique as their starting load with 169grain 311291 bullet. This gives 1705 fps at 29400CUP. Their max load is 22 grains of Unique at 1910 fps and 38000CUP.

If you want to go the jacketed route, you could use the starting load for a lighter 150 grain bullet. In Lyman's 47 again, a 150 grain bullet in front of 58 grains of IMR4895 gives 2808 fps. Using 42.5 grains of RX7 gives 2562 fps with only 39800CUP. The RX7 load drops you down to 30-30 power levels.

One thing I'd suggest though is DO NOT try to make any light loads with a very slow burning powder like IMR4831 or R22. Very light charges of slow burning powder has been known to cause detonations and a ruptured barrel, or worse. Only use relatively fast burning powders for light loads. I'd recommend going through the reloading manuals and pick a few published starting loads and go from there.
Good luck,
Michael

[NVcurmudgeon]

Deano, I cannot stress strongly enough to never use a reduced load of a slow burning powder inany unusualy large capacity case. About twenty years ago there was a young lady at the next bench shooting a M70 in .300 Win. Mag. She was having a hangfire on almost every shot. I asked her what she was shooting, and she told me that her husband used a full case of H 4831, but she found it gave too much recoil so she laoaded the case about half fulll of the same powder. I told her about SEE, gave her my business card, and asked her to phone me the next day at my store, and I would give her a safe book load for reduced recoil. Of course she did not phone, so I've wondered for a long time.

[Larry Gibson]

With 180-210 gr cast start at 38 gr of 4895 and work up in one gr increments until accuracy goes south. A one gr dacron filler is recommended. Just poke it into the case and let the bullet push it down, don't tamp down on powder.

Load suggestion comes from old Lyman manual; 38 gr of 4895 is listed as max load for 1900(?) fps in the .300 H&H.

Larry Gibson

[eka]

Deano,

Here are some .300 Mag. loads from my RCBS Cast Bullet Manual Number 1.

All these are with RCBS bullets, but they would be OK with other bullets of comparable weight. Just go slow and pay attention as usual.

30-150-FN:
SR 4759 25.0 Gr. @ 1852 FPS - 27.0 Gr. @ 2015 FPS
IMR 4227 25.0 Gr. @1795 FPS - 27.0 Gr. @ 1953 FPS
Unique 20.0 Gr. @ 1888 FPS - 22.0 Gr. @ 2031 FPS
Red Dot 17.0 Gr. @ 1750 FPS - 19.0 Gr. @ 1896 FPS

308-165-SIL:
SR 4759 26.0 Gr. @1862 FPS - 28.0 Gr. @ 2006 FPS
Unique 20.0 Gr. @ 1810 FPS - 22.0 Gr. @ 1969 FPS
PB 17.0 Gr. @ 1583 FPS - 19.0 Gr. @1734 FPS
700X 16.0 Gr. @ 1605 FPS - 18.0 Gr. @ 1743 FPS

30-180-SP:
IMR 4198 30.0 Gr. @ 1837 FPS - 32.0 Gr. @ 1982 FPS
SR 4759 28.0 Gr. @ 1910 FPS - 30.0 Gr. @ 2056 FPS
Unique 18.0 Gr. @ 1691 FPS - 21.0 Gr. @ 1840 FPS
Red Dot 16.0 Gr. @ 1584 FPS - 18.0 Gr. @ 1718 FPS

30-180-FN:
IMR 4064 38.0 Gr. @1885 FPS - 40.0 Gr. @ 1964 FPS
Green Dot 16.5 Gr. @ 1521 FPS - 18.5 Gr. @ 1665 FPS
Red Dot 16.0 Gr. @ 1455 FPS - 18.0 Gr. @ 1642 FPS
700X 15.0 Gr. @ 1473 FPS - 17.0 Gr. @ 1626 FPS

These velocities came from a Win. Mod. 70 w/ a 24" barrel.

Good luck,

Keith

[joeb33050]

I've used this Glen Latham load in 300 WM in Rem 40X, Ruger #1 and Savage Tactical rifles, all with outstanding accuracy:
31141, 24/IMR4227, Rem 2 1/2 primer
joe b.

[Ricochet]

A case full of WC860 or WC872 won't give the highest velocities possible, but will still be a "service level" load in that cartridge. My .300 Magnum is of the Weatherby variety, and a full case of WC860 puts out 180 grain bullets at ~3050 FPS from a 24" barrel, 200 grainers just a hair under 3000. The Winchester Magnum won't be far behind that.

Only reduced loads I've put through it so far are with the 200 grain HBC boolit. A 4.0 cc dipper of 7383 under that (I think that's about 48 grains) goes a bit over 2000 FPS, and a 4.3cc dipper (about 51.5 grains IIRC) is about 2200 FPS. That's getting in the 30-40 Krag ballpark, and is very mild. I'm sure those quantities would be safe in the slightly smaller .300 Win Mag with bullets of that weight or less, they're nowhere near maximum. I started there because I was worried about underloading and wanted a case fill over 50%. (4.3 cc is about 2/3 full in the Weatherby.) Look at the loading tables for 4320 and 4064 to get an idea of where the maximums would likely be. Expect that at beginning loads it may actually burn more like 4350, and pick up its burning rate as the pressure goes up.

If I didn't have a good supply of 7383 and wanted to use current production powders, I'd do one of two things:
1) Browse Hodgdon's website for reduced loads. I'll bet they've got just what you're looking for, pressure tested and everything.
2) If not, I'd look at a maximum load for one of the medium burning rate powders like 4064, 4895, 4320, etc., take the fourth root of the ratio of my desired velocity and the published velocity for the maximum load, and multiply the listed maximum charge by that to get my reduced load. That's the recommended method from Lee's second edition loading manual.

(If I had and could run QuickLoad, it would probably do this for me really easily.)

[chuebner]

I've had very good luck with 10-12 gr. Unique in all of my 30 cal. reloading with cast from 150-200 gr.(30-06, 7.5 Swiss, 7.62 Russian). A pound of powder seems to last forever.

Charlie

[Ghugly]

This might be usefull. http://www.leverguns.com/articles/paco/small_charges.htm I'm going to try to work up a "silent load" for my Mauser.

[montana_charlie]

30 carbine is the smallest 30 caliber I can think of. Is there any 30 caliber lighter then that?
7.62mm Tokarev, .30 Mauser, and .30 Luger (descending order of intensity)...in bottleneck designs.
CM

[Ricochet]

.32 ACP. It's really a .30.