new to me 30-30

[sfcairborne]

Well I've been looking for a 30-30 for a while now and stumbled across a JM stamped barrel and serial starting with a 26, so if my math is right it should have been manufactured in 1974. Any way picked it up for 275.00 no surface rust and no pitting, and the barrel looks nice and crisp, needs a cleaning. Now I just need to put my 311165 RD mold to use and figure out a load. Going to hunt with it this year

Just thought Id share.

Stephen

[44man]

Sounds like a winner! Play with 3031 loads, I think you will like them.

[sfcairborne]

Thank you

[runfiverun]

I'd be more surprised if you found a load that didn't work.
the Marlins seem to like 311 diameter.

[sfcairborne]

Sweet, gonna give it a workout that's for sure. Looks like I will be doing a lot of reading on here about loads

[popper]

Use a Lee FCD, don't trim the cases short and load just off the lands. LeverE works good too.

[ericp]

My best loads with the Ranch Dog bullet have been with 3031 and Reloader 7. I use the NOE regular lube groove version. Great 30-30 bullet in every way.

Eric

[sfcairborne]

Really looking forward to playing with her. I bought her to only shoot my cast thru, so I'm excited about it. What's a bummer is all the powder I have on hand won't work for her. Oh well get to by some more

[dmitch]

sfcairborne,

The 311 165 Ranch Dog is a great bullet, at least in my experience. Load information with my NEF 30-30 is listed in the following thread, specifically post #18 and #23. http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?151513-The-Last-Pig-Hunt-For That was 3 yrs ago.
Used the Ranch Dog in my 30-06 two years ago.....worked just as well. http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?222585-This-Year-s-CB-Harvest
I think you will be quite impressed with the Ranch Dog. Keep up posted with your progress and findings.
dmitch

[runfiverun]

give us a short list of the powders you have on hand and you'll get a laundry list of loads to try.
one of my favorites is with 4831 and the 311041. [34-36grs is a case full] and pushes the 170gr boolit along at 18-1900 fps.
if you want to go faster a faster powder will do that with ease.
my normal load with the rcbs 30-150 fngc is with AA-2230 it will push things along up to beyond jacketed velocity.
but I generally keep it throttled back to about 2100 fps, so I don't overwhelm the alloy when hunting.

[Motor]

Yes my 30-30 likes .311" boolits too. I keep mine in the teens velocity wise though.

I often really wonder with all that neck and subsequent neck tension if you actually"need" to crimp a 30-30 especially shooting cast loads.

Motor

[tigweldit]

Nice score, at a great price! Experiment with IMR3031, if you have it. It works good for me.

[sfcairborne]

Thanks Gents, Dmitch, I will take a look at your posts. Here are my powder"s, I think trailboss will work, and W748 which I have on hand as well, Have unique, A5744, A1680, H110, H4895 I4064, R22, 296, hp38, bullseye, and red dot for my 45 Acp. Just got my 311041 from NOE, nice three banger, gonna play with that one as well. IM going to check out my lyman books tonight and see what they say.

[runfiverun]

you got powders there that will work.
28-30 grs of the 748 would work with either boolit just fine. [I'd go with a warmer primer]
the 4895 and 4064 would be good to look at too.
red-dot and unique and bulls-eye and hp-38 also have their uses in the 30-30.

if you want to try something a bit different the rcbs book has load data for H-110 in the 30-30 and you could use it's data to start for the AA-1680.
the rl-22 is fairly close to 4831 in burn rate so the same 34 gr start load would be worth a try too if you have nothing else for it to do.

[sfcairborne]

Wow, thanks for the info. Wasn't sure on most of my powders

[A pause for the COZ]

Give 2400 a try, I shoot it almost exclusively in my 30-30's. I shoot 150 gr cast ahead of between 15 to 16 gr of 2400.
hmmmm its been a while. I think I need to dig mine out.

[sfcairborne]

Will do, I'm gonna go sight it in with some factory, then do some cast reloading, for her

[3leggedturtle]

Great carbine and year it was made, I sold mine to a friend that really needed a rifle for hunting. I shot plenty of squirrels with mine using 4-8grs of red Dot and a Lee 113gr FP. !0-15grains of 2400 with Lee 170grFP is great for shooting dirt clods and clay pigeons as far as you can see them. Unique and Blue Dot are 2 other great powders for cast boolits. Have fun Todd/3leg

[GooseGestapo]

I'm not a fan of the RD tumble lube boolits.
Ive had decades of good service from the Lee 150gr fngc (160gr), and 170 fngc (178gr).
I size to .311", use SPG and Hornady crimp on gc's. My 70's Glennfield M30 shoots sub 2moa with 30.0gr RL15. (Yeah, got some!)
Others work well; H4895, IMR3031, BLC2, H322, and others.

[sfcairborne]

Well fired the little rifle this weekend. Only had factory 173 trainers to shoot , but now I've got some reloadable brass. Was really supprised, this little rifle kept all shots within an inch, after sight in, and ran without any hick ups . Can't wait to see what she does now with lead.

[44man]

Need some crimp if loaded in the tube. do not want boolits pushed in. Does not take much.

[OnHoPr]

You have an array of powders for the 30-30. The Trail boss, HP38, Red dot, and bullseye would make great economic plinker low recoil rounds. The 1680 & 5744 would start pushin in to the upper teens, but the alloy on the 5744 might need to be more critical. The 748 & 4895 you should be getting around the 2000 mark and almost that with the 110 & 296 which I believe are the same powder IIRC, and these if I am not mistaken will need to be close to full case capacity. With the 4064 you can start getting into the factory jwords speeds and possibly a touch more with the right alloy, that's my hunting powder. The Rel 22 you could get into the 2000 speed, but with a soft alloy for hunting. Boolit fit & alloy make up would play a part in these approximates. The 5744 is a little expensive for just plinking, but can be a very accurate powder if you find the right quarter of a grain sweet spot. The unique may turn out to be the best economical accurate plinker powder.

[white eagle]

I use the 311341 in mine
rd is a very good design
lots of good powders to choose from
have fun

[sfcairborne]

Thank you, gonna load some rounds tonight for her. But I won't get a chance to shoot until next week

[HiVelocity]

Here's the link if you would like RD's original load data; its in PDF format so you can download it easily.

http://www.ranchdogoutdoors.com/bin/TLC311165RF/data/loadnotes.pdf

HV

[sfcairborne]

thank you gents

[sfcairborne]

Looks like im going to be picking up a new 30 cal mold, at least to me ( starting to see a pattern here) to try in the new rifle. picking up a MP mold the 308 hunter brass mold, comes with hollow point pins, FN pins and cup pins. I think this was a group buy mold on hear a while back. Has anybody used this in the 30-30? I did a search and found the existing thread on this bullit, but it did not mention the 30-30.