7-30 Waters

[Texas by God]

I’ve been necking down 30-30 brass and fireforming them to come up with 7-30 Waters brass.
I don’t recall seeing any factory ammunition or brass for the 7-30 Waters cartridge since….Ever…. Though I did shoot a friend’s Contender way back when so I guess I have…
Anyway- I neck them down just far enough to leave a slight shoulder so I’ll have some resistance to close the action on my rifle.
10 grs of Unique and 150 gr FMJ bullets is my forming load. I did load some at first with Ginex primers but they proved too hard for the Toppers firing mechanism- FTF on every one. Switching to Winchester LR primers fixed that problem.




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[Shawlerbrook]

One of my favorite cartridges. I have a G2 carbine but always wanted to rebarrel a Marlin.

[M-Tecs]

I've been lucky. I found a lifetime supply of factory 7-30 Waters brass. Federal is the most common for me but current times are any low volume cartridge can be difficult to find.

[cwtebay]

Looks like you're doing well TBG!
Embarrassingly enough - I found hundreds of 7-30 cases for next to nothing in the 90's and formed them into 30 WCF and 35-30.

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[Barry54]

It’s a great looking cartridge isn’t it?

If I was a gambler, I would have lost that bet on the Ginex primers. I assume bolt actions will fire them. Fortunately I was able to buy 300 of them at a brick and mortar reloading shop. My plan is to see what they work in, before ordering 5000 online. My Encore doesn’t like Russian steel case 7.62x39 so it probably won’t like the Ginex large rifle primers. Have you had trouble with them in anything else?

[Texas by God]

It’s a great looking cartridge isn’t it?

If I was a gambler, I would have lost that bet on the Ginex primers. I assume bolt actions will fire them. Fortunately I was able to buy 300 of them at a brick and mortar reloading shop. My plan is to see what they work in, before ordering 5000 online. My Encore doesn’t like Russian steel case 7.62x39 so it probably won’t like the Ginex large rifle primers. Have you had trouble with them in anything else?

Barry54,
They (Ginex)have worked just fine in my bolt action rifles.
The first three Ginex primed 7-30 rounds that didn’t fire in the Topper;
I fired them in my 30-30 Mauser 93 and they turned back into 30-30 brass….
The rest got pulled down and reprimed with W-W primers.
Did any other company besides Federal load this round?
It seems like Winchester would have since they made the 94 in 7-30 ?
I’m liking the 7-30 so far!


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[Barry54]

I saw some loaded single shot pistol ammunition at a shop in the dfw area about 20 years ago. It was nickel plated brass but I don’t remember the headstamp. It came in blister packs of ten rounds, and it was out of my price range.

[Loudenboomer]

I've always used 30-30 brass in my T/C Contender. Most hunting has been at close range but I did harvest a big white tail buck at a shade over 200 yds with a Nosler 120 BT over AA2230.

[cwtebay]

Barry54,
They (Ginex)have worked just fine in my bolt action rifles.
The first three Ginex primed 7-30 rounds that didn’t fire in the Topper;
I fired them in my 30-30 Mauser 93 and they turned back into 30-30 brass….
The rest got pulled down and reprimed with W-W primers.
Did any other company besides Federal load this round?
It seems like Winchester would have since they made the 94 in 7-30 ?
I’m liking the 7-30 so far!


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I believe that Hornady also makes it. Yes, I think that the brass I bought was all Winchester.

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[cwlongshot]

Great caliber!!

I have a few videos on forming and shooting in a Contender

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL...3XKpIHq-B97x0T

[TurnipEaterDown]

I put a 7-30 Contender together years ago so my son could use it when he first went deer hunting - ended up putting a R700 7x57 together too before he went and it got a spongy limbsaver pad and reduced loads.
He liked it so much he won't shoot the TC. At 7-30 velocity the 139 Hornady SP put the WT Doe down decently - ran about 40 yd.

I will say: the neck thickness of the 30-30 brass I scrounged over decades differed A LOT.
So, sizing in a std die make for Hugely variable bullet tension and mixed brass group testing will give me 4" vertical strings of 10 shots at 100 yd.

Got serious about sorting (not just HS), and now going to try using a 7-08 LEE collet NS die to see if that will fix my problems and keep me from sorting by measured neck thickness. (Really close for distance from head to neck on 7-08 and 7-30. The first neck sizing w/ the LEE die went just fine.)

Turning isn't a solution: the chamber I have already has lots of clearance, and so turning just for uniforming will introduce another issue.

[jsizemore]

Used to do some variations on the 30-30 case. Most had a tight neck chamber and necks would need to be turned and some were Ackley Improved. Size the neck down just enough to make a false shoulder and chamber correctly. With a Contender that meant the inter-lock safety had to clear. Most of us would start with 8grs of Bullseye and stick some toilet paper in the neck so the powder wouldn't fall out. Load it and shoot it. If the shoulder didn't form completely, add a little more powder till it does right. Best to anneal before you start the whole process and at each reforming stage. When sizing down the brass has to go somewhere.

[725]

I anneal when I can and that helps. Further, I've started using the RCBS bushing die to obtain a uniform neck tension. I load dummies of each head stamp to get my initial measurements and the get bushings of .001 or .002 or so off to end up getting uniform neck tensions. I'm kinda new at it but it seems to be helping.

[cwlongshot]

ANYTIME you reform and neck down, you should be checking for neck thickness and probably turning or reaming. Bras must go somewhere and NEVER is moved evenly.
Its a simple task. Also as mentioned, annealing is mandatory, if you expect extended, use from your efforts re forming!!

CW

[cwtebay]

ANYTIME you reform and neck down, you should be checking for neck thickness and probably turning or reaming. Bras must go somewhere and NEVER is moved evenly.
Its a simple task. Also as mentioned, annealing is mandatory, if you expect extended, use from your efforts re forming!!

CW

Ha! You said bras must go somewhere.....

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[ammohead]

January 1985 I saw a winchester ad for the model 94 xtr ae and had to have one. So I had a lgs order one up, and I still have it. With the 24" bbl it performs just like Mr Waters said it would. And the "new" angle eject made it easy to mount a K3 Weaver that actually looks like it belongs there. In the early 90's I had Veral make up a 130 gr lfn from a chamber stamp as per his instructions and still have the short typed letter that he sent with the mould.
Making 7-30 from 30-30 is easily done and fireforming with cast works great. I also have been using the 7-30 full length die as a first step for forming 30-30 down to 25-35 for another danged angle eject 94 that I just had to have.

[MT Gianni]

I use 130 gr cast and 5-7 gr Unique. Yes I still have some.

[725]

MT Gianni ~ Is the above load suitable for hunting?

[Texas by God]

The 10.4 gr Unique load worked well for fireforming and shot well at 40 yards. This time I used 155 gr cast bullets.
44-40 on the left, 7-30 W on the right.
I would hunt with either one at close range.


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[cwlongshot]

Very nice brace of H&R as you have there!! I always said H&R missed the boat by not chambering the 730 waters in their rifles. I assume that's a stub barrel as H&R only did the 280 and 7 mm and that's much too long to reach chamber to 730. The 4440 is an easier reach chamber but equally nice caliber. Thanks for sharing.

CW