.30-30 load for commercial cast boolits

[technojock]

I have a box of 500 commercial cast .309" boolits and about half as many copper washed cast boolits. Both are 170g flat nose. I'd like to shoot them out of my .30-30 Handirifle. Can any one suggest a load. I have a good selection of powders to choose from including Unique, 3031, 4895 and others...

Tony

[Winger Ed.]

I'd grab a Lyman cast manual and go by their data for both listings they have for Unique and 3031.

4895 might put you in uncharted waters, but the other two are sort of favorites.

[tigweldit]

I've had success with IMR 3031 and 170 grain cast for game loads. Good accuracy and plenty of power to put venison on the table. Have also used Unique for some fun plinking loads. Have not tried 4895, but have read that some shooters like it.

[georgerkahn]

I have a box of 500 commercial cast .309" boolits and about half as many copper washed cast boolits. Both are 170g flat nose. I'd like to shoot them out of my .30-30 Handirifle. Can any one suggest a load. I have a good selection of powders to choose from including Unique, 3031, 4895 and others...

Tony

I have had a bevy of .30WCF arms through the years, and the one and only powder which became my choice was/is IMR3031. As a previous poster wrote, check loads in Lyman or similar printed manuals. Other than Wolfe's LoadData and AmmoGuide -- I have ZERO faith/believability in pretty much any "Internet-provided" charges.
geo

[charlie b]

4895 is one of those that Hodgdon actually recommends for reduced loads. I used it when I bought my Win94 using commercial cast bullets. Accurate enough that a buddy bugged me until I sold him the rifle

[popper]

H4895 will work for reduced loads, IMR 4895 is a different powder and don't try below book loads. Hornady has plenty of load data. 3031 is good also, normal 30/30 powder. The 309 dia might be a problem, my Marlin needs 311. Don't know about the handi. Might want to relube them with LLA or BLL, that commercial lube is junk. 9-10 gr Unique is fun, accurate at close range. I assume they are GC cast bullets?

[HWooldridge]

Rel-7 works well but usually won’t produce max velocities. Still a good, stable powder.

[technojock]

Off the top of my head I can't remember the name of the company that made the cast boolits but they are flat base with no GC and some blue looking lube in the grooves. I think they are .309 but it's been awhile since I measured any of them and I don't recall ever loading any. I have plenty of alox on hand so giving them a tumble lube wouldn't be a problem. My gun room is a mess at the moment or I'd go have a look.

I bought them a long time ago for a .30-30 I no longer have. Anyway I do have RL7 but since getting more is hard to do right now, I'm saving it for my .45-70... I also have a few pounds of Red Dot and that's pretty good for plinking loads, but I'm hoping to hunt deer with it. I may have to resort to jacketed boolits for that.

Tony

[Larry Gibson]

In the 30-30 with 170 gr flat based [no GC] bullets try 10 - 12 gr of Unique in 1/2 gr increments. If leading should become a problem a light coat of LLA [let dry thoroughly before loading] should solve the problem.

[technojock]

Thanx guys. I'll post back after I get a chance to load some up and go shooting. It might be awhile and since I have time, I've take the precaution coating them with Alox.

Tony

[scattershot]

Marlin 336, 5.5 grains of Red Dot.

[charlie b]

H4895 will work for reduced loads, IMR 4895 is a different powder and don't try below book loads....

All of my shooting with the Win 94 was with IMR4895 at the same level of reduced loads. Have since used it successfully at even lower loads with cast in my .308 (~25gn of powder).

[badwolf]

I like 6.5 grs of red dot for a plinking load.

[MostlyLeverGuns]

Commercial PLAIN base bullets usually lose accuracy when pushed faster than 1100-1200 fps for me, have not had positive experiences with .309 Plain base beyond that. Not sure what you mean by copper-washed, copper plated like Berry's usually work as well as gas-checked boolits, SOME copper colored PC bullets do better than others. Staying under 1200 fps works for most everything bullet wise in the 30-30 (maybe not jacketed-could stick, maybe). Lyman cast bullet loads with 'pistol/shotshell' powders should work (Red dot, HP38/231, TiteGroup, Universal, Unique...). GOOD GAS-CHECKED commercial cast bullets usually work as well as jacketed in the 30-30 (Matt's, Rim Rock, Oregon Trail, GT ...).