.30/30 with 34" barrel. Am I out to lunch?

[slug]

I"m thinking of ordering my dream rifle.
I like the looks of a skinny long barrelled single shot, and the .30/30 is an excellent C/B cartridge.
So, I'm thinking of an 1875 Sharps, with the long barrel.

Are there any logical reasons why I shouldn't go this long?

Comments, complaints and criticisms welcomed.

TIA

[Outpost75]

Sounds grand to me. With a 34" barrel you will get a useful velocity gain with most loads and the longer sight radius is a help.

I'm envious.

[John Taylor]

I picked up a couple of 32-40 barrel that Green Mountain was closing out, 36" long. Was planning on putting one on a high wall. Finding a 34" barrel is not easy, there are very few companies that can drill that length.

[Bigslug]

Sounds like a good time to me!

I understand the attraction to the .30-30 because brass is abundant and everywhere, HOWEVER, the .30-40 Krag might be better suited to a project like that. A little bigger boiler room to exploit that long barrel with, and maybe (check the chamber reamer prints) a little more throat for fiddling around with bullets in the 200+ grain range. NOE's clone of the 311299 GC would be the PERFECT target bullet for such a thing, and there are plenty of flat nosed "killin'" bullets in that weight category if you wanted to make meat with it.

I've been playing with Lee Enfields a lot lately, and the Krag is pretty much a .303 Brit copy with the groove diameter shrunk from .314 (ish) to that American .308 standard. My current accuracy load for the No.4 MKI rifle is 27.2 grains of Accurate 5744 behind the 316299GC for 2060fps with about a 215 grain payload, by the time gas check and lube are added. This pretty well duplicates the British service loads for the pre-Spitzer MKI through MKVI ammo, & I have little doubt a Krag would behave similarly. With the extra 9" over a Lee Enfield barrel you're proposing, you could generate some real long range magic with that combo.

[dverna]

What do you want to do with the rifle?

I would not want a barrel that long as I think it will negatively affect the balance of the gun. Long barrels are great for a longer sighting radius and more velocity and to take advantage of using a slower powder. If you will not hunt or carry it much, it may be fine. And if you change your mind, it can be cut back.

[TNsailorman]

If you have the itch and got the scratch, go for it. james

[GARD72977]

I would love to have a 30/30 single shot. I do worry about barrell stiffness on 34" I would consider 30" to be about perfect. The only thing the 34 will give you is sight radius.

That's my opinion but if I wanted an 34" that's what I would buy.

[earlmck]

That should be a thing of beauty as a cast boolit rifle. I looked at it in QuickLoad and QL thinks you are looking at around 100 fps more velocity with the 34" bbl vs. a 24" bbl. And the regular 30/30 case with its beautiful long neck gets you all the velocity you will ever want for cast boolit shooting. For example, you could nicely duplicate Bigslug's 2060 fps/215 grain load with a case full of slow powder such as WW780 or AA2700.

[slug]

I already have 1875's, one in .30/30 with a 26" barrel and it is a gem. I also have one in .38/56 with a 30 inch barrel that's only seen a few rounds. It was -31 this morning with wind chill of about -45, so it will be a few months before that one gets shot.
I'm just lusting over a long barrelled one with set trigger, set up with a Kelley sight . It will only see range use, or perhaps some long range plinking at my bush lot.

[shaner]

What's not to like?

Sent from my SCH-I435 using Tapatalk

[Tom W.]

Sounds good to me!

[country gent]

You might also consider a tapered octagon or even half round barrel contour. I have a couple 34" barrels one on a sharps and one on a Hepburn. One is half round and the other is tapered octagon. Both are good stiff barrels ( 45 cal so a .30 cal would be even stiffer). What your describing would be a interesting rifle and a lot of fun to work with. With cast bullets you may have lube issues with some bullets since the lube grooves are designed around 20-24" barrels and you may run low on lube in the last 8-10", just a thought. With the ladder and globe sights the extra barrel length would be a plus. For noise the extra barrel length would reduce noise a lot. Recoil will be greatly reduce with the added weight of the longer barrel. I see it as all wins here.

[30-30 guy]

I cant think of a better cartridge to get in any length barrel than a 30-30 and I would love to have one too!!

[jaysouth]

Sounds like a good time to me!

I understand the attraction to the .30-30 because brass is abundant and everywhere, HOWEVER, the .30-40 Krag might be better suited to a project like that. A little bigger boiler room to exploit that long barrel with, and maybe (check the chamber reamer prints) a little more throat for fiddling around with bullets in the 200+ grain range. NOE's clone of the 311299 GC would be the PERFECT target bullet for such a thing, and there are plenty of flat nosed "killin'" bullets in that weight category if you wanted to make meat with it.

I've been playing with Lee Enfields a lot lately, and the Krag is pretty much a .303 Brit copy with the groove diameter shrunk from .314 (ish) to that American .308 standard. My current accuracy load for the No.4 MKI rifle is 27.2 grains of Accurate 5744 behind the 316299GC for 2060fps with about a 215 grain payload, by the time gas check and lube are added. This pretty well duplicates the British service loads for the pre-Spitzer MKI through MKVI ammo, & I have little doubt a Krag would behave similarly. With the extra 9" over a Lee Enfield barrel you're proposing, you could generate some real long range magic with that combo.

It would be worth looking at re-cutting that chamber to .303 Br. or 7.62x54 Russian. Either with a .3085 bore would make a good cast bullet load with more beans than a .30-30.

30-40 is a good caliber but brass is pricey and sometimes hard to get. Not so much with PPU .303 or 7.62 Russian.

[Tom W.]

After you lube and size your boolits tumble lube them in JPW and let them dry for a few days. If the boolits fit to start with then with the JPW you shouldn't get any leading.

[barrabruce]

Apart from maybe wiping out the ceiling fan or lopping off a couple of inches in the Ute door it would be good to go.
Hope you live on the flat lands as I have found poking long barrells through thick scub can be a hassle..
Althou you could just keep feeding it through and poke ‘Em in the ear with it.

There could be complaints from bench rest shooters as you wouldn’t be shooting as far as them and the powder burns on the target could make it harder to score.

Ha

You could even put a wind flag on the muzzle.

No one will take you serious with a thuddy thuddy till they see the scores that is!

[Larry Gibson]

Good Idea.....only caveat I would suggest is to have a 14" twist and certainly not any faster twist than 12". Otherwise, with cast bullets, you lose accuracy with the 30-30 capacity that the additional gain in velocity would provide. If done just for aesthetics and the longer sight radius and not concerned about higher velocity the a faster 10" twist would be okay.

[1Hawkeye]

I like the idea but will it be a little nose heavy for offhand shooting?

[marlinman93]

And if you change your mind, it can be cut back.

And that's the perfect reason for going with a long barrel. If you ordered a shorter barrel and didn't like it, what option do you have?

I personally love long barreled single shot rifles, and a 34" barrel is perfect in my opinion. I wouldn't go too light though, as a #2 weight is probably the minimum, and a #3 weight is perfect.
The .30-30 will really shine in a long barreled single shot. Not my choice if you plan to do any long range work past 500 yds., but a great midrange or less choice. With a tighter twist rate you might be even more successful, as you could push heavier bullets too.

[richhodg66]

You'd be like half-way to the target without ever leaving the bench, LOL!

Sounds cool to me, go for it. Please do post some pictures and shooting results when you do.