Heavy subsonic 30-30 loads.

[Tackleberry41]

30-30 load data seems a bit sparse at times. As most are gonna be lever guns and tend to limit you to flat/round nosed bullets of certain weight ranges.

I ended up with a short (10") 1-8 twist 308 barrel. And I have a donor rossi single shot pistol. Was trying to stick with what I already have on the shelf vs going out and buying more stuff. I have 30-30 brass, dies, a 170 gr mold. I was also trying to avoid the 300AAC pressure levels.

So was contemplating chambering the barrel in 30-30 and shooting the heavy cast 220gr bullets being produced for the 300 AAC out of it. Theres 30-30 load data for the short barreled TC out there, but nothing that heavy. Not gonna be able to just use 300aac data. Gonna say something a bit faster burning would work better in the short barrel.

Already using unique in my 45-70 for slow and heavy.

[Wayne S]

Since you want to stay with a 30-30 case, I used a the 31141 [177 gn.] and the 311367 [183 gn] in my 10 " 30-30 T/C for silhouettes for many years using 10.0 Unique going about 1150 fps. I was always concerned about powder position so I always raised the barrel before every shot. I've thought about digging that bbl. out and trying the NOE 311-247 in it just to see if the 1-10 twist will stabilize that bullet
Also, there is Trail Boss, I doubt there is heavy bullet data available, but the general theory is to fill a case up to the base of a seated bullet, then reduce that amount by 15 or 20 % and use that as your starting point. TB is like macaroni and does not meter very well

[felix]

Subsonic is a misnomer for all practical purposes because it does NOT take into account the gas speed which jettisons just as the boolit leaves the barrel. For truly subsonic, the round should be made to shoot 700-750 fps with a LONG barrel to cover all bases. Otherwise a muffler IS required. ... felix

[supersniper]

I'm using Titegroup for my SS loads. Currently in my 308 with 225RN loads im using 7.3gr. giving around 1050fps

For lighter bullets, decrease charge weights to keep subsonic velocities.

[atr]

I have used 8.5 gr of unique with a 170 gr cast

[Tackleberry41]

I wouldn't really mess with subsonic in this case unless I was planning a muffler. Trail boss seems to be the answer to alot of things, as does unique. I ended up with 8 lbs of solo 1000 not long ago, been trying to find uses for it. Take me 20 yrs in pistols.

Not sure about less powder for lighter weights being a rule. I had to reduce the charge of unique i was using in my 45-70 when I went from 405gr to 500gr bullets, to keep things subsonic.

Read some threads saying 300 savage is very close to 30-30, and there is heavy bullet data for those?

[Wayne S]

Not sure about case capacity being close to a 30-30, most old cast data will take into account that the 300 Savage goes along with the Savage 99. The heaviest load my 1950's Lyman manual lists it a 175 gn. and the usual cast bullet powders of the day; 2400,4227,4759,4198.

[geargnasher]

The .300 Savage has virtually no neck, which is why I think there is little data on heavy boolits out there. You might just have to 'spearment some, which is perfectly safe to do if you use some common sense and a chronograph. When it's tough to be safe is when working up to the limits of a wildcat without the benefit of a strain gauge and pressure-calculating software. If you're looking for subsonic, use a very fast powder like Red Dot or faster (for reduced muzzle pressure), and a Dacron filler. The Dacron, if poked into the case in such a way that it lightly fills all the space between boolit base and powder, will locate the powder positively for good, safe ignition, and also act as a buffer for the muzzle jet referred to by Felix. You'd be surprised how much a little Dacron or even a granular buffer can dampen the crack. Another trick is to use a large pistol primer instead of a rifle primer, and get one of the lowest brisance you can find. Use your head and play around with it some until you find something that works. Wiljen posted up a bunch of cabin-fever loads he made with a .30-30 and light boolits once, just to see how low he could go without sticking them in the barrel. Article might be on the Castpics site or maybe even here somewhere. His data could assist you with a start point.

Gear

[45 2.1]

Have a look here:

http://www.leverguns.com/articles/paco/small_charges.htm

[nanuk]

there is an article in an old NRA handloading book on going VERY light with boolits, working down to less than one grain in (I THINK) a revolver

I should read that again

[leadman]

11grs of Unique in a 30-30 single shot behind the Lyman 200gr 314299 made a nice rabbit load. I did start out at 9grs IIRC but increased the charge for accuracy.
The powders faster than Unique would probably work best, like the Red Dot mentioned. I would start at 10grs and work down until you stuck one in the barrel, then go up another grain or so. Make sure the boolit comes out of the barrel with each shot.
My 300 Whisper will stabilize this 200gr boolit down to around 800 fps to 100 yards. Drop is tremendous!

[Tackleberry41]

I expect the drop to be about the same as subsonic 45-70 loads. Had to break down and get a faster twist barrel to put in my H&R as the 1-20 wouldn't really stabilize that long pointed 500gr bullet at that sort of speed.

I will have to turn down the blank and get it mounted to mess with it. Just trying to decide if it was worth the effort or not.

[Dark Helmet]

How about chambering for 32 H&R or 327 Fed., throated for your boolits?

[mongoosesnipe]

30-30 has a lot more case capacity than you need for a load which produces subsonic bullet flight which is the whole point of the 300 whisper/blackout since you are starting from scratch and using a single shot format I would go with something along the lines of a 300/221 rimmed which is a 357 case necked down so you could use blackout data or you could do a 32/327 case and shoot 308 bullets all the tc 32 barrels were 308 bore, the only powder I would try to run 30-30 subsonic with would be trail boss as it is super fluffy and would not require a filler