Did this work? If so why?

[beezapilot]

9201092011I've been casting and loading for some time, but in cleaning out my dad's stuff found this old Winchester mould- it is marked .30W.C.F.S.R. I don't know much about bullet design, but want to learn- this seems like it would be pretty unstable, there seems to me that there is very little that would engage the rifling, and the center of gravity far ahead of any case / rifling contact. My thoughts are that it must have been for a single shot rifle.

Any input from those who know would be appreciated.

[Larry Gibson]

If those bullets drop out at .320 or so and weigh 150 - 165 gr +/- then it might be for the 32 Winchester Center Fire Self-loading Rifle? That cartridge was what the 30 Carbine was developed from. There was a sister cartridge; the 35 WCF SR which was upgraded to the 351 WCF SR cartridge.

Hard to say how accurate with that very long totally unsupported nose and short bearing surface.

Larry Gibson

[JSnover]

That was my question; how much do they weigh?

[beezapilot]

120gr at .311

[JSnover]

Can't say what it is, but it's in the ballpark for .30 carbine.

[mikeym1a]

Well, he said the mold was marked .30WCFSR. Wouldn't that be .30 Winchester Center Fire? 30-30? What would the 'SR' designate? Well, I went net-surfing. What I found was that this is for the 30-30, and the SR stood for 'short range', or at least that's what the contributor to another site suggested. Perhaps it was intended as a varmint or small game load. Whatever the case, It makes pretty boolits.! :-D

[JSnover]

Maybe. It would be just long enough to seat in a 30-30 for small game. I tried some 110 grain bullets in a 30-06 years ago. In order to get decent neck tension they had to be quite a ways back from the rifling. Someone knows. But it isn't me.

[bhn22]

It is indeed the short range bullet, intended for small game, and practice.

[Larry Gibson]

120gr at .311

That definitely makes it puzzling.......

Larry Gibson

[catskinner]

30WCFSR is 30 Winchester Center Fire Short Range. I've got the same mold and load them in my 30-30 using a Winchester 1894 loading tool. Light loads of moderate burning pistol powder at 1100-1200 fps and accurate enough for small game hunting.

[runfiverun]

30-30 short range.
meaning keep the velocity's down..

[dbosman]

catskinner - my grandfather tried to talk me in to cat fur farming.
We'd raise rats to feed the cats. After we killed (humanely of course) the cats we'd feed the carcases to the rats. To feed to the cats to feed to the rats.
The cats kept getting smaller though and the whole shebang swallowed itself into a black hole.

[waksupi]

catskinner - my grandfather tried to talk me in to cat fur farming.
We'd raise rats to feed the cats. After we killed (humanely of course) the cats we'd feed the carcases to the rats. To feed to the cats to feed to the rats.
The cats kept getting smaller though and the whole shebang swallowed itself into a black hole.

I worked off of that business model some years ago. It was okay, but I found I ended up with a huge surplus of rat hides that I couldn't move.

[geargnasher]

Saw this one a while back, it appears you have one of the originals.

http://accuratemolds.com/bullet_detail.php?bullet=31-115K-D.png

Gear

[w30wcf]

beezapilot,

I have the same mold and had some concerns about accuracy since the forward portion of the bullet is way undersized of the bore. As the others have indicated it was for the .30 W.C.F. Short Range Cartridge. Having done some previous research, I found that factory velocity was in the 1,100 -1,200 f.p.s. range. So......I loaded some up with 6 / 4756, and shot them at 50 yards. Surprisingly, they shot pretty well giving a 1 1/4" group.

The original s.r. was loaded with a 100 gr r.n. pure lead bullet from 1896-1903. In 1904, the weight was changed to 117 grs. They were obsoleted in the early 1920's. Since the bullets were soft, Winchester, UMC and Rem-Umc used a case neck cannelure at the base of the bullet to help hold it in place.

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o25/w30wcf/Collector%20Cartridges/30-30ShortRangeCartridges1.jpg

Regarding the Accurate Mold referenced.......I took the bullet measurements from an original cartridge and sent them to Tom and he made the mold. Your mold makes the round nosed version just like the earlier mold I have.

w30wcf

[Bloodman14]

WOW! Knowledge is, umm, well, just knowledge, in this case!

[Horace]

The Winchester M. 1894 .30 Gov S.R. Tool used this mould as well.
Horace

[catskinner]

W30WCF furnished me with the ballistic data so I could duplicate the factory velocity. Thanks John

[bones37]

92375 On the right side of pic, You can see some of the moulds available for just this sort of thing. This is a pic I copied from another source, not my own. I wish I could read the description for each... maybe someone with a better copy can assist you.
bones.