Reloading for 30/30 Single shot

[Joel Chavez]

I want to reload some light 30/30cal for my 9yrs old boy out of a single shot rifle (22" barrel). I have extensive reloading experience with 38cal, 357mag and 45acp, but never reloaded rifle. I've resized and trimmed all the cases and are ready for reloading. The issue is I only have BullsEye to work with. I bought some 110gr Rem JSP slugs at Cabela's. Before you hang me, I do cast for all my pistols and I intend to do the same for my boy's 30/30. I just haven't found a mould yet. Have any of you guys reloaded with BullsEye for 30/30 or similar? I have a guestimate of the amount to powder to use, but more info would be great. I would start with about 5.8-6.0gr of BE and Fed primers. I'm looking for a light round since my little one is little indeed(52lbs). Any comments are welcome.:drinks: Later

[Scrounger]

Joel, I have no experience at all in using Bullseye in rifle cases. Unique would work well as would anything with a slower burning rate. I see you are in New Braunfels; there is every liklihood that I will be moving there but it would be 6 months to a year before that happens. I have several hundred pounds of all different kinds of powders and I would be happy to give you a pound of suitable powder if there were any reasonable way to send it. I'm sure my nephew will be driving back and forth between here and there in coming months for his company which is moving there. When that opportunity comes up, I will contact you about it. Watch your PMs.

[Joel Chavez]

You will be most welcome in God's Country sir. New Braunfels has much to offer besides the water park(rip off!). I work for the Utility Co. in town as an Environmental Analyst. Let me know when you move into town. Dietz gun range and Bexar County range are just minutes from downtown NB.:drinks: Keep in touch. Thanks for the insight. Later.

[onceabull]

Joel C. : Ed Harris did a post @ the CBA site not long ago titled "Bullseye always works" Among other data, he said that 6 gr Bullseye with either saeco # 322 or # 315 works well in the 30/30. #322 is nominal 118 gr,so not far off from your inventory. Might back off to the 5.8 gr you mentioned to offset your use of the condom bullets.. Standard warning: Triple check for 2-3 x intended charge wgt. with any use of BUllseye.. Enjoy...:) Onceabull

[Joel Chavez]

Calculating it in my melon yielded about 5.8-6.0grs of BE would be a safe zone. I'm glad I wasn't off by much. I'll be casting for the 30/30 soon. Any recommendations on moulds? I'm looking for light loads only at this time for my little boy. I guess 100-125gr would fit the bill. Thanks for the info. :-D

[Scrounger]

Calculating it in my melon yielded about 5.8-6.0grs of BE would be a safe zone. I'm glad I wasn't off by much. I'll be casting for the 30/30 soon. Any recommendations on moulds? I'm looking for light loads only at this time for my little boy. I guess 100-125gr would fit the bill. Thanks for the info. :-D

The Lyman 311359 is a sharp-pointed gas-checked bullet of about 115 grains. You could use it without a gas check at the velocity you intend. A better choice would be the Lyman 311410, plain based bullet of about 130 grains. I think I have 2 or 3 of these.

[grumpy one]

I use 311255, a 115 grain plain base round-nose that can be used through a tube magazine. I haven't tried Bullseye, but 7 grains of W231 works in a fashion (1.5" groups at 55 yards if you are lucky) and 8 grains of Universal (you can substitute Unique) does slightly better than that. Technically you can feel the rifle move backward when it fires, just as you can with a 22 rimfire, but it isn't likely to startle anyone. The noise is a bit more than a 22 rimfire, but it's less than any factory centerfire I can think of. This round is nevertheless no toy - it shoots holes in things like computer cases for example.

Lyman has one or two other 115 grain plain base moulds barely distinguishable from 311255.

[45 2.1]

WORD OF WARNING...!!!!!
DO NOT use light charges of fast powder with jacketed bullets. Get reputable data for useing them, not cast boolit data. They have to go at a minimum velocity to leave the barrel due to a higher friction factor.

[Lucky Joe]

Joel Chavez,

I have copied an article from the Bullet Making Annual 1990 called Special Loads For The .30-30. I wish it were clearer but it's a pretty good article. If you will supply me with your email address I'll get it out to you. Let me know if you get it please.

[Scrounger]

Here's one .30-30 load with Bullseye that was posted on the web:
30 WCF, all bullet weightsBulletPowder WeightPowderVelocityOALPrimerSource110gr SP 7.0 grAlliant Bullseye 1,350 fps2.20" Win LP guestGood non-destructive small game load. Minimum starting charge of Bullseye for 110-gr. jacketed bullet in .30-30 is 5.0 grains of Bullseye for 1000 f.p.s. in 20" barrel. Pistol primers give a visible pressure indication and should not show perceptible flattening with these charges. Do NOT reduce below 5 grs. of Bullseye with any jacketed bullet or you may stick a bullet in the bore! I use the Remington 110-gr. SP intended for the .30 M1 carbine. Do NOT use FMJ bullets in tubular magazines. Use of non-cannelured bullets requires use of Lee Factory Crimp die for use in tubular magazine rifles. Do NOT exceed 7.0 grs. maximum of Bullseye with 110-gr. jacketed bullet. Do NOT use any case fillers. Shoots to sights at 50 yards with step elevator on Winchester 94 set at maximum height, if rifle is zeroed for factory 150-gr. softpoints with step elevator removed.
Email author: ke4sky (http://www.handloads.org/loaddata/loaddata.mail.asp?id=5323)
See all of ke4sky's loads (http://www.handloads.org/loaddata/myloaddata.asp?email=ke4sky)

[versifier]

You can't go wrong with the Lee soupcan (117grFNGC). The mould is inexpensive and most .30-30's love it. I see no sense at all in buying jacketed bullets for one of the most cast friendly cases there is. At the charges necessary for even light jacketed bullets, recoil will still be noticably heavier than with light cast loads.

I, too, would be more apt to start with Unique as I have a lot of it on hand that I use in .380ACP, .38spec, .357mag, and .45ACP. Accuracy at short ranges (25-50yds) is acceptable, but not stellar. I use BEYE often in very light target loads for the .38spec, but have found UNQ to be more accurate for plinking loads in .30cal rifle cases (.30-30, .308, & .30-06), as well as a more versatile pistol powder.

3031, RE7, and surp4895 are my favorite powders for the .30-30 and hunting boolits from soupcans to 180gr's, but it'll be a while before he is up to the recoil of the heavier loads.

[KCSO]

I have used 5.0 of Bulseye for the 30-30 with the Lee soupcan and it worked fine, but I have gotten better accuracy from Unique. Unique when shot with large pistol primers also seems to be less positional. My grandkids like shooting the 30-40 krag with a 150 gr. cast slug and 6.0 of Unique. Mild, quiet and shoots uner 1" at 50 yards from my rifle.

[Joel Chavez]

Thank you guys so much. I'm still learning and researching all possible avenues. Your help is much appreciated.:-D

[garandsrus]

Joel.

The .30 Carbine molds should be here "any day now" and there are still a couple extra if you are interested. It is a plain base round nose boolit. Check the group buy site for details.

John

[NVcurmudgeon]

Joel, pardon me if you already know this. As this will be your first venture into rifle reloading and Bullseye takes up so little space in a .30/30 case, please take precautions against multiple charges. The old-time cast shooter idea still works; start with cases upside down in a loading block, charge, and put the charged case in a second block. Then flashlight check all the charged cases. One error that nearly caught me once was putting a check-weighed CB load of 2400 into an already charged case, but the flashlight check caught it. Now my check-weighed charges go right back to the measure so I don't interrupt the rhythm of charging.
I also started loading pistol ammo, and had to learn about less than full case loads when I began rifle loading.

[Joel Chavez]

NVcurmudgeon, thanks for your advise. It will much heeded. I reload on a Lee Turret and I must say, I absolutely love this thing. I charge one case, rotate the turret and seat the bullet(sp?). Bam! one bullet(sp?) done. On to number two and so on. I've been using it for about a year now and this process takes all the guess work of whether I double charged a case or not. I won't be using the Turret for rifle reloading since I don't have a charge die. So with that in mind, I'll weigh out every charge per bullet(sp?) and then seat each one at a time. One charge, one finished bullet(sp?). The process will be time consuming, but I can assure myself of not double charging a case.

[KCSO]

I have a set of brass rods with markings on them and i drop one in each rifle case loaded with pistol powder. This not only insures there are no double charges but it also shows if the measure dropped the right charge.

[MT Gianni]

Lee makes a rifle charging die just for that press that allows you to keep on turning em out. Gianni

[Antietamgw]

Joel,
I don't recall using Bullseye but have used Unique and Red Dot with excellant results. 9 gr. Red Dot and with either Lyman 3118 or Ohaus 110 FP was excellant with some groups in the 5/8" - 3/4" area at 50 yds. I used this load in a Marlin 336and a Contender carbine for my boys when they were 9 or so. I couldn't cast or load fast enough to keep them in ammo and would have given a bit for a progressive press and a 6 cavity mold. We still like this load for plinking.

[JSH]

Powders of such have been discussed on other sites, I won't go there though.
I have about 20 pounds of BE, I have never been tempted to try and make it work because of the abundance.
I too would push you towards a pound of unique, a very versatile powder, with proven published data. Be cautious on the side of possible double charges with this one as well.
Jeff