.30 Badger/.30 Reece

[G. Blessing]

Hey, sweet!
You guys just hit on one of my forgeten pet projects!

Somewhere here I have a win94 take off barrel in 30-30 that I bought cheap 7 or 8 years ago for almost this exact wild cat; I had come up with the idea of necking 357s to .30.Then found out it wasn't a new idea, found some sizing and load data, and bought that barrel. Then it got "back burnered" and I never got an action for it..

I should really pick up a used single shot and order that 30 Badger reamer!

hmm... a buddy has a H&R handi in .410 that he almost never shoots... hmmm...

[badgeredd]

what is a big bullet load then.
150-180's load.
thinking of mainly PB shooting mostly of the breach or self seating type loads for accurate shooting with out having to size anything.any100 % loads...

thinking of a light weight target/hunting rifle.
is it throated with a 1.5deg forcing cone?

thanks in advance

Sorry> I missed your post earlier. The throat is defined as starting at .310 at the case mouth and tapering into the lands at 2* per side.

I shoot a 150 grain plain base a lot along with a 180 grain. I haven't tried any breach seating. I do have one bullet mold that drops a 200 grain bullet with a .299 diameter nose on the bore ride. It is a gas checked bullet and I've wasted gas checks to see if it will shoot. I "should" try it without a check to see what it'll do that way. I think, not totally sure, I was getting between 1400 and 1500 fps. I know it was ok for accuracy but not spectacular. Probably some tweaking is in order to find the full potential.

Edd

[Nobade]

Pretty rifle Nobabe. I'd guess you're enjoying the little cartridge then if you put it into such a nice quality firearm.

Edd

Yep, I sure do like it! And I figure if I get bored with it I can always lengthen the chamber for more power or turn it into a 30-30. So far it's great fun as it is, and shoots small groups at 200M with 150 or 170 gr. paper patched bullets. I still need to shoot it with lighter ones to see how it does with those, but it seems time is really short for all the things I want to do!

-Nobade

[Love Life]

Seems like a very neat cartridge!! I want one!!

[Mk42gunner]

Me too. The older I get, the more I like small almost recoilless cartridges.

Plus they are cheap to load.

Robert

[badgeredd]

My granddaughter loves shooting the rifles with my low speed, low noise loads of 1.7 grains of Bullseye under a Ideal 308241 plain base bullet. It is screaming along at 600-625 fps! When the sun is right a person can see them go to the 50 yard target with no problem.

Edd

[leadman]

The 30 Streaker was designed back in the late 60s or early 70s for handguns. 357 case necked down to 30 caliber. Read about it in an old American Rifleman I think.
Seems like there is very little new when it comes to playing with the older cartridges and it does not take long for an recently released cartridge to be modified.
This concept of necking down the 38 Spl. or 357 does make alot of sense money wise and has a good fun factor.

Error! The 30 Streaker was based on the 30-30/30 Herret case.

[Jupiter7]

It`s all been on single shot shotgun recievers that I am aware of. Off the top of my head for a revolver to see the light of day it would require a .30 cal. barrel then a cylinder custom timed plus custom bored for the cartridge case then bored for the .30 cal. exit face besides the shoulder angle. These are just off the top of my head with other things to consider I`m sure. In other words this is a problem for Hamilton Bowen to ponder over.

At one time there was a request made to Edd for the .357 Maximum case to be used for the parent case. I don`t think Edd really gave this request a lot of serious thought.Robert

The necked down 357Max exists already. Known as the 300MaxCat.

[rking22]

I thought the streaker was a shortened 30 Herrett , what am I thinking of? I have built my own 30 on the 38 special in a TCR83 and like it . I have considered using the 30 Herret and pushing the shoulder back to get a longer neck ,that is origin of my streaker question. The revolver round with the full length Herrett case would give more neck to work with in a SS.

[Nobade]

I think the Herrett shortened was the 30 Sabre Cat, but my memory is a bit fuzzy....

-Nobade

[bones37]

I have thought about the .30 Badger since I learned of it here on the forum. I like the idea of being able to use off-the-shelf dies and .38 special brass. I think it will make an excellent small game/varmint/pest round at the short(er) distances that I shoot.

Nobade, Badgeredd, how does the round shoot with the lighter pistol boolits intended for the 32acp or 32 S&W? I'm curious because the lighter weight boolits are what I would like to use in this cartridge.

Thanks,
bones37

[Nobade]

I haven't done much with it using lighter bullets. I tried some #3118 paper patched at around 2000 fps, but it didn't do very well. I am sure it would work fine at normal 32-20 speeds though. I need to spend more time working with it to get an accurate load at higher speed.

-Nobade

[badgeredd]

Using BABore's 30-100 and 30-120 which he designed for the cartridge, I've had very good accuracy at moderate velocities. For a quiet, fun load, I love a 135-150 grain bullet over a mini charge of Bullseye. Very accurate and simply fun! Since I use a lot of the ammo for the 30 Badger, I personally prefer quiet, slow loads and the pistol bullets will give you a very economical round. The cost of the primer is a major part of the cartridge cost after forming the brass.

[barrabruce]

how does the martini cadet handle this case.
thinking of a light walk around gun come casual bench rest .
I'm dreaming of a 3/4 moa rifle with cast.
any thoughts...
I know mounting a scope so as to load can be a bit of a pain though.
anyone ever handled one of those ea shaw rifles. they look good on the interweb.

[bones37]

I haven't done much with it using lighter bullets. I tried some #3118 paper patched at around 2000 fps, but it didn't do very well. I am sure it would work fine at normal 32-20 speeds though. I need to spend more time working with it to get an accurate load at higher speed.

-Nobade

Actually, 32-20 type loadings and speeds are what I seek. I would just get a 32-20, however I have a hard enough time finding 32-20 brass to form into 25-20 for my Win '92. The brass availability of 38 spec. and being able to use common dies to form and reload is very attractive.

Using BABore's 30-100 and 30-120 which he designed for the cartridge, I've had very good accuracy at moderate velocities. For a quiet, fun load, I love a 135-150 grain bullet over a mini charge of Bullseye. Very accurate and simply fun! Since I use a lot of the ammo for the 30 Badger, I personally prefer quiet, slow loads and the pistol bullets will give you a very economical round. The cost of the primer is a major part of the cartridge cost after forming the brass.

I also prefer quiet and slow loadings as well. I would not need nor want high velocity from this cartridge. I think it would be a very miserly with mini charges of Bullseye like You mentioned.
I will keep in touch as I may have other questions.

Thanks.
Bones37

[badgeredd]

how does the martini cadet handle this case.
thinking of a light walk around gun come casual bench rest .
I'm dreaming of a 3/4 moa rifle with cast.
any thoughts...
I know mounting a scope so as to load can be a bit of a pain though.
anyone ever handled one of those ea shaw rifles. they look good on the interweb.

I built one Cadet chambered for 30 Badger. It works very well.

Scope mounting can be a problem as you say, but the old type Uertle (sp) mounts and similar scopes work very well also. Otherwise a fellow needs to create his own mount...not impossible...just time and brain cell intensive.

Benchrest shooting takes more dedication than I have available so I'll leave that to others to answer. I do shoot my 30 Badger off the bench some, but nowhere near actual benchrest type shooting for me. Small groups are fun for a few minutes to my brain.

Edd

[G. Blessing]

Quick question here, talking about loading it to 32-20 specs got me to thinking... would a gun originally chambered to 32-20 take the pressure from this cartridge(even when"standard" loaded with the heavier bullets)?

I acquired two Remington Model 25 pump actions recently. Just finish restoring one as a 25-20, and have started on the other, getting ready to mount a 32 cal barrel to chamber for 32-20, but if I can get it to feed the 30 Badger, I have a 30 cal barrel I could mount instead and have a lot more shootin' and loadin' options for this gun... Basically, I'm wondering if the old Model 25 would stand up to the 30 badger pressures..

-Gary

[roadie]

Quick question here, talking about loading it to 32-20 specs got me to thinking... would a gun originally chambered to 32-20 take the pressure from this cartridge(even when"standard" loaded with the heavier bullets)?

I acquired two Remington Model 25 pump actions recently. Just finish restoring one as a 25-20, and have started on the other, getting ready to mount a 32 cal barrel to chamber for 32-20, but if I can get it to feed the 30 Badger, I have a 30 cal barrel I could mount instead and have a lot more shootin' and loadin' options for this gun... Basically, I'm wondering if the old Model 25 would stand up to the 30 badger pressures..

-Gary

I personally wouldn't rechamber a fine old mod. 25 to any other cartridge, but if it's to be rebarreled anyway, it might be a good choice. I think there's enough difference in cartridge diameters to cause problems though.

Another potential big problem is the breech bolt, the mod. 25 is kinda an overgrown mod. 12 and I've seen lots of those with the locking lug sheared off from hi-vel .22's. I'd stick with 32/20 myself...easier all around.

[G. Blessing]

I personally wouldn't rechamber a fine old mod. 25 to any other cartridge, but if it's to be rebarreled anyway, it might be a good choice. I think there's enough difference in cartridge diameters to cause problems though.

Another potential big problem is the breech bolt, the mod. 25 is kinda an overgrown mod. 12 and I've seen lots of those with the locking lug sheared off from hi-vel .22's. I'd stick with 32/20 myself...easier all around.

thanks for the reply!
Hmm, yes I should've seen if a 357 rim dia will even go through the mag tube/action bar...

Yes, it must be re-barreled regaurdless of cartridge/bore choices. This receiver had a 218 Bee barrel on it, which I removed as soon as I got it because it was only 15" long and technically illegal installed on the receiver.

I had figured that going back to 32-20 was best, to have a matched pair of the rifles in their original calibers would be fantastic. But a short .30 wildcat has been a dream for so long, its hard to pass up the idea without looking into it.


As to a breech bolt strength, I might end with one stronger than stock, but then again maybe not depending on what alloy steel I can get to work with... ((All I have now is a bare receiver and trigger guard. The one I just finished in 25-20 is Finally 99% complete, so I have all the parts to pattern off of; I am having to machine the entire action (short of a few small parts that numrich has) from scratch/from bar stock. )) Hmm. Safer not to risk ruining a Lot of custom work on a over powered cartridge though, I guess..

[NoAngel]

One can also run a .357 mag case into a .300 Blackout die to make rimmed .300 blackout.