Guys I bought a Lee C309-180R boolit mold for my 30.06 since J words are difficult to find. Upon inspection I noticed it was a true round nose. Have any of you tried to use this for 30-30? I couldn't find a flatnose 170 grain mold, so I settled for this one. Any comments regarding this mold would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance... Su amigo...mexicanjoe!
I think it might be OK loaded single shot one at a time. I believe it will be too long to load to the crimp groove and cycle through a lever action rifle. As far as I recall it is the same bullet as the 170 grain round front except they do shorten and flatten the nose of the 30-30 bullet.
Good Luck to you,
Rick
150-170 flat or RN really shines in .30-30s. 180 is a little heavy, but it'll work.
There's even threads here about guys getting 190-200s in .30-30 (accurately) up around 1900 fps
that will duplicate the original factory loads for the 1895 or 1899 .303 Savage.
Do a search for '180 grain loads for .30-30' or even '190 (or 200)grain loads for .30-30.
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Might be hard to find now but the Lee C309-113F poly coated and gas checked shoots great out of my 30-30 Winchester.
I use the RCBS 30-180 fn, works just fine.
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Ah, the "soup can"! It shoots well out of metric and standard bores.Originally Posted by slohunter
Not that one, but I have shot the Lee 312-185 from a couple of different .30-30's; a Marlin 30AW and an H&R Model 158.
IIRC I did single load the Marlin. I know I sized them to .311".
Robert
I have the lighter bullet mold... oddly mine drop st 180g. So I figure my mold is miss marked. But it works well for me 1250 fps up to 2000. Recoil starts getting rougher over 1600. I like it around 1650 fps. Its nice and light recoil I can shoot it all day long.
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I have made a meplat on the end of round nose just to increase shocking power for bullet strike.
make a length gauge by drilling a bullet sized hole in proper length of metal or wood.Then take a file and shorten the bullet .
There are other methods as well by
milling a flat into the nose in the mould which increases the length and cast weight of said bullet.
The mould can be ruined by a misstep or miscalculation - costly to you.
Also, some have milled or ground away the bullet tip to a flat using a home made jig, also recommended in the flat file job mentioned first.
Some have resorted to tapping on the round end with a hammer to make a meplat. Taking a precision cast bullet and sometimes making it crooked, hoping that a pass thru the sizing die will straighten everything.
Not forgetting that you can file a small flat and then drill a hollowpoint of your design or choosing.
Don't try this freehand.
Take time and fashion a jig to hold the roundnose bullet.
All this meplat forming helps for your lever action 30/30.
Almost forgot, you can load these upside down with only the flat bottom showing. They will feed in my Win 94, but maybe not yours.These strike pretty hard and it's easy to hollowpoint too.
Good for close range and are very accurate for me, especially with the catsneeze loads.
Last edited by Alferd Packer; 01-26-2021 at 09:22 AM.
I use this same boolit in my old 1925 octagon 25" barrel model 94 Winchester, shoots great.
For the OP, no I would not load that bullet in a tube magazine. Even if it does feed, the rounded tip might be enough to set off a primer. And maybe not. I would not take the chance. You could run it single shot. Or put one in the chamber and only have one in the tube. Or, as mentioned above, file off the tip. Best is to get a bullet mold for a design that has a flat tip.
the original load was a round nose.
I use that 180gr Lee boolit in both my 30-30 Winchester lever and Savage bolt action. Works great!
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Well guys, I think that I may try to change the length of the boolit ( as per Packer, see above) and fabricate a device whereby can hold the boolit and remove about 7 grains of weight, thereby making it a flat point. I will also attempt to change the weight by adding babbit material to change the weight of the boolit as it drops from the mold. I will keep you posted- wish me luck.
Oh and by the way, thank you for all your advice!
I am sorry guys but a round nose bullet will not not set off a primer. Why would Winchester and Remmington sell 30-30 shells with round nose bullets with the possibility of someone shoot them in a tubular magazine that could blow up a rifle.
Read post number 15.
A full round nose .30 cal bullet has a larger radius tip (almost double) than the Lee design. If you have fired the Lee's in a tubular magazine without incident then go for it. I would not, but, I don't have a lever action anymore so it is a moot point for me.
Watch the overall length of that bullet. Might have to seat it deeper than the crimp groove. The RCBS 180 FP is great and it fits in most 30-30 levers if crimped in the groove. But this Lee 180 appears to have a longer nose. If OAL is too long, sometimes you may be able to single load the round, but not eject an unfired round. That's a pain! I have no comment on the safety of the nose shape.
Everybody will do what they feel comfortable with.
Myself, I load Flat Nosed bullets in all my tube feed rifles.
I would use a Round Nosed in a Remington Tube,
as they had a spiral to keep the tip off the primer.
That's me, I'm comfortable with it. Take it for what it is.
AntiqueSledMan.
I suspect you could carry one in the chamber and one in the magazine safely. Two or more in the magazine would be iffy.
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