30-30 GC load question

[lksmith]

Good Sunday Morning ya'll!
I finally got to go to the range for some shooting. Among the guns I was shooting was my 1858 remmie and cast ball and I found one of my lead balls and it had expanded 2x. It got me to thinking that a dead soft GC boolit in a 30-30 would be a devastating DRT combo. Has anybody tried this before?
Seems to me that even though pure bare lead at 2000fps would be a big no-no the GC would protect the lead from hot powder and gasses as well as act as a scraper to clean the bore

[quilbilly]

I generally put a gas check on anything that goes over 1400 fps and with pure, soft over 1100. From my own terminal ballistics test with the 30/30, you don't even have to make it to 2000 for a cast projectile to be devastating out to 150 yards particularly with pure soft lead. Out to 150 yards, a muzzle velocity of 1650 will do anything you want on deer with pure lead gas checked as long as the the boolit is well aimed. In one of my tests in wet phone books plus 1/4" plywood, I got 17" plus of penetration at 40 yards with a muzzle velocity of 1550.

[lksmith]

I put out the 2k fps figure out since that is the neighborhood that my current loads run in and are extremely accurate. no problem hitting a 2"x2" swinging plate at 50 and 100 yds. Just checked my load records and they actually run just north of 1900fps (1918 avg velocity with XS of 12FPS)

[725]

When you get your mind wrapped around cast lead as a superior projectile, it's amazing how well they work. I was a slow convert, but seeing is believing.

[twotrees]

Try some at 40 (lead) to 1 (tin) That's what I shoot in my 45-70 and 30-30, 30-06... you get the Idea. Still opens up well, but is tougher that pure Pb. We have a lot of hogs down here in Ga. and they don't like any of those 40:1 boolits. Hehehehehehe

[runfiverun]

here is how I approach softer lead in my rifles.
you still need the boolit to fit as close as possible to what you have now.
so I start adding soft lead to a batch of alloy 25% at first.
make some boolits and measure them, and then try them.
add a bit more lead, and keep on working once you hit a point where you lose diameter, that's about as far as you can go and still maintain accuracy.
I will then water drop them to gain back hardness to allow for velocity.
if I really want more I then modify the mold through lapping and try again.
you might lose some velocity or begin to see some leading your call at that point.
if you can shoot 5-7 shots and hold accuracy before cleaning then you are there and have a hunting boolit you want to work with as far as softness.
it's all about how much manipulation you want to do.
you could probably get to 25% ww's and 75% soft with water dropping, a little mold clean-up and still maintain a reasonable velocity window.

[jhalcott]

Even though I shoot pure lead in muzzle loaders, I can't seem to try it in cartridge loads FOR HUNTING! Yes I know it WILL work, but I'm lazy. removing any possible leading prevents ME from trying it. HOWEVER, I have tried some paper patched pure lead a time or 2. One thing that I discovered is the longer the bullet the more chance of poor accuracy. An old friend said that the bullets MAY have been bent by the acceleration. This could be true, as slower speeds with the same bullets were more accurate.

[runfiverun]

it's just a matter of how far do you wanna go.
you could just cut the ww's in half with lead add a splash of tin and water drop and use them as your everyday type load then hunt with them too.

[lksmith]

with the boolit I have now, my Water Dropped WW run right about 19BHN and air cooled WW run about 10bhn. I have sized them to both .309 and .308 and I can't tell any accuracy difference nor do I see leading in either. I think due to the gas check acting as a scraper to clean any leading as it goes

[Idaho Mule]

here is how I approach softer lead in my rifles.
you still need the boolit to fit as close as possible to what you have now.
so I start adding soft lead to a batch of alloy 25% at first.
make some boolits and measure them, and then try them.
add a bit more lead, and keep on working once you hit a point where you lose diameter, that's about as far as you can go and still maintain accuracy.
I will then water drop them to gain back hardness to allow for velocity.
if I really want more I then modify the mold through lapping and try again.
you might lose some velocity or begin to see some leading your call at that point.
if you can shoot 5-7 shots and hold accuracy before cleaning then you are there and have a hunting boolit you want to work with as far as softness.
it's all about how much manipulation you want to do.
you could probably get to 25% ww's and 75% soft with water dropping, a little mold clean-up and still maintain a reasonable velocity window.

That is one of the most informative posts I have ever seen, thanks for sharing R5R. JW