30-30 plinking loads, I think I'm backwards

[JTknives]

This is my first attempt at loading some light plinking loads for heathers 30-30 lever. I scored 4,000 32acp bullets that weighed 70gr. I paid $55 per 1,000 with free shipping so I was determined to make them work. I tried loading them normal but quickly realized I was having problems not solved with my cornucopia of die sets. So I jumped ship and loaded them upside down. Testing will commence tomorrow to see how thy shoot. Load is 7grs of unique with this 70gr 32 acp bullet backwards. The bullets are made by Speer so thy have a cupped base. Should take small game great and it feeds in the lever gun great and allows an extra round to fit in the mag tube.What do you think?

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[Muskyhunter1]

I think they will work ok. Please keep us posted on results thanks.

[sthwestvictoria]

If short bullets like that do not seat well with a normal die set you can place a small spacer, only 5-7mm long piece of rod or bolt inbetween the die body and top adjustable part:
99433

If you had trouble seating the flat base, did you ensure you flared the case mouth a little, either with Lee Universal Expander or a Lyman M die? Or in a pinch a .311 303brit or 7.62x39 expander?

[Tatume]

Very cool project, do keep us posted. I've been thinking of loading 38 wad cutters for a 358 Winchester lever gun, so I'm especially interested.

[w30wcf]

Interesting. Hope they shoot well. You may find that 7 grs. of Unique might be a bit too much for best accuracy since you might be over 1500 f.p.s. with the light 70 gr. bullet. If so, I would suggest backing down to 5 grs. which was the recommended loading for a 100 gr. cast bullet in the early .30-30 and ..303 Short Range cartridges. That load produces around 1,100 f.p.s. with the heavier bullet.

I had the same issue trying to seat the shorter, lighter bullets straight in the .30-30. I found that if I used the Lyman "M" die to expand the entrance to the neck in a straight expansion, all was well. :-D

Oh, come to think of it, I have shot some 90 gr. wadcutters in the .30-30 and they shot pretty well using 5 grs. of Unique.

w30wcf

[gnoahhh]

Just about the time you think you've seen it all, up jumps the devil! I like this! Something refreshing from outside the box. Please keep us posted re: results.

P.S.- I'll agree with lightening the charge, based on my own limited experience with sub-100 grain pistol bullets in the .30-30. (I used 4.0gr. Red Dot with a .32S&W Long bullet.)

[JTknives]

Well I tested them all and thy shot great besides not being as tight of a group as I wanted. I think it's a few factors that has given me the group I got. First I was onley using a powder dipper and I think the dropped charger was not real consistent. Also I was using 7grs which would put that bullet at around 1700+ fps. Other then that thy shot great, made perfect round holes in the target.

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[sthwestvictoria]

Nice work. What sort of distance? Did they feed well from the tube?
The SWC do make a lovely neat hole - what they were designed for!

[Fishman]

Yes, use an m die and you will have no problems seating those bullets. I shot a lot of Lee 93 gr rn plinking loads in my 30/30 in the past and they were accurate and fun. I used Unique but I never turned the bullets backward. I did, however when using that bullet in defensive loads for my wife's .32 magnum. They shot fine but leaded badly. At the speed you are running I would be concerned about leading but as they are swaged, maybe the soft alloy is saving you. Still, thinking outside the box is a very good thing.

[Bulldogger]

The guy who runs Box O Truth did a nice thread on backwards loading in a highpower rifle, .308 I think, he found it made random differences dependingon the bullet, powder charge, and rifle, but overall they worked pretty well.
Sounds like a winner, and an extra round for plinking is gravy on top.
BDGR

[MT Gianni]

John Wooters used j words reversed as his turkey loads. These should work fine on Jackrabbits if you can still find any down there.

[Outpost75]

I used to take 7.62mm Ball M80, pull the bullets, dump the powder and recharge with 8 grains of Unique and seat the bullet backwards for use with a suppressor. Shot fine, feed fine working the M14 manually. That was alot of years ago.

[Outer Rondacker]

A owner of a local gun shop told me once he loaded some hornady 100g plinksters 30 cal in his 30-06 backwards and they worked well. I always figured he was testing me. It was nice to read your post and see them loaded up. I think they punched great wholes for the price. Good work.

[JTknives]

I loaded up 20 more, 4 loads of 5. 4, 5, 6 and 7gr charges loaded from my hornady powder electronic powder dispenser to ensure better accuracy then a scooper. Will test today for accuracy.

[TXGunNut]

I'd ask about the velocity but I suspect it's hard to use a Chrony with the display facing the target. ;-)
All kidding aside I think I have a handful of the CCI half-jacket plinkers around here somewhere.

[Scharfschuetze]

Thanks for the tip! Now I know what to do with a big box of similar 32 ACP bullets. They don't want to shoot pointed side up in my in my rifles so this might just be the ticket to get 'em downrange in an accurate manner.

[jcwit]

Just for fun I'll give my light load for 30-30, it works perfect and shoots with very good accuracy, as good as I can shoot with open sights at 50 to 100 yards off the bench.

Cast from a Lee mold their #90362-gas check 309-113 gr.-flat point, cast from range lead and wheel weights. 2 ingots range lead, 1 ingot wheel weights. They are sized at .311 and gas checked of course.

10.5 grains of Trail Boss.

Bullets seated and crimped at 2.310 inches.

Just a tip and it works well for me. And NO LEADIBG using my own concoction of paraffin, bees wax, alox, and mineral oil.

Fairly simple, light recoil, cheap to reload, deadly accurate, little more to ask for.