my first 30-30 cast bullet load

[Brewster6514]

not sure if this is the right spot for this but anyway....

this is my first 30-30 cast rifle load, cast a 150gr lee .309Ø "boolit" behind 24.0 gr. of imr4198. used a Vulcan .010" gas check and tumble lubed twice with alox. going to shoot them in my dads Winchester 94 today to see how they do. hope they make a good deer round.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c315/brewster6514/Mobile%20Uploads/20150804_174500_zpshbbhvrl0.jpg (http://s30.photobucket.com/user/brewster6514/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20150804_174500_zpshbbhvrl0.jpg.html)
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c315/brewster6514/Mobile%20Uploads/20150828_173950_zpsrrhfnb4s.jpg (http://s30.photobucket.com/user/brewster6514/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20150828_173950_zpsrrhfnb4s.jpg.html)

[hicard]

Sounds like a good deer load. Should be close to 2000 fps.

[mark2935]

Looks good. Only one way to find out. Oh and practice. practice, practice.

Mark

[Brewster6514]

that is the speed I was hoping for, will shoot them over the chrony today at our shootnic and verify. (^_<)

[sfcairborne]

Will be watching, let's us know how they shoot

[Motor]

They should shoot good. If they don't try sizing .311" I shoot .311s in my .308 barrels and they shoot great. However I do use a Lee tumble lube boolit. The non tumble lube design will probably work fine at .309"

The TL boolits may too. I honestly never tried them .309" They shoot so well at .311" I never bothered too. :)

Motor

[Cowboy_Dan]

They should shoot good. If they don't try sizing .311" I shoot .311s in my .308 barrels and they shoot great. However I do use a Lee tumble lube boolit. The non tumble lube design will probably work fine at .309"

The TL boolits may too. I honestly never tried them .309" They shoot so well at .311" I never bothered too. :)

Motor

I use .310 in my .30-30 for the same reason. Never got around to trying .311.

[Brewster6514]

didn't shoot them at paper to test for accuracy but they seamed to hit everything we shot at on our back lawn. chronoed them at about 10 feet and got an average of 2150 fps. little bit faster than I figured but if they group well i'll be happy.

[badbob454]

looks like a beauty..

[Huntsman]

Looks good. I'm casting the 170gr big brother.
What are you using for an alloy?

[runfiverun]

that's similar to my 30-30 load.
I use the rcbs 30-150 fngc, and 24.5 grs of AA-2230.
I size to 310 and have good engraving on the nose.
it smokes rabbits and ground squirrels easily, so I never worried about shooting for groups.
it just hits where I aim and I'm good with that.

[white eagle]

I know you are probably aware of this but let them age harden before you do any serious paper shooting
I have made that mistake and after they age hardened I was surprised at the results I got or what I thought I should have gotten.Nice boolit though looks like you did a good job.Better watch out though this casting can be habit forming..Have fun

[Brewster6514]

not too sure on what the alloy is anymore added some kind of door or window weight that was too hard for sinkers and now my alloy is on the hard side. did a pencil test to get a little idea on hardness and 2h just barely scratches it. (26-28+)?

water dropped them a month or two ago so aging should be good enough by now.

going to get a Lyman neck expanding die to open the neck up a little, some of the necks got crushed seating the bullet. they are very tight.


started out just doing split shot for salmon fishing and had all this "extra" lead so I got a 125gr. .358dia mold to load some .38 specials with. then I got a mold for my wife's .44 mag and now I have one for my late fathers win 94 30-30. so yea it is addicting. :)

[OnHoPr]

Those alloy compositions can really be a factor in the use of the boolit as well as the design of the boolit. The bigger the caliber and larger the metplat then from what I have seen here on CB then you can run a harder boolit. Something like the Ranch Dog designs for the Marlin. In the opposite direction the smaller the cal and smaller the nose the softer the alloy has to be to create the mushroom and deliver energy into the animal. Otherwise it just shoots through the boiler room like a full metal jacket. Plinking and target shooting with the faster powders is fine for the harder boolits.

[Brewster6514]

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c315/brewster6514/20150906_090312_zpszqupagyz.jpg (http://s30.photobucket.com/user/brewster6514/media/20150906_090312_zpszqupagyz.jpg.html)

shot it into a 50/50 mix of wax and Vaseline at about 10 feet. decent wound channel (8-10")and it exited out the back of a 16"+ long tube. got some deformation so I think it will do ok on deer.

[Gunnut 45/454]

Been using the Lee 150 an 170 gr for years in both the 30-30 and '06 now also in my 300 Blk out. Very accurate with the right powders. Mine are sized .309" for all three bores. I usually get about 1.5" groups in the 30-30 a 100 yards running around 1950 fps. About 2" groups in the '06 at 2300 fps -Rem 7400 needs to be that fast for function. In the 300 Blk out about 1950 FPS also for function and 2" groups at 100 yards.

[OnHoPr]

I am glad Gunnut posted. Ah, IMHO maybe you should aim at the shoulder, that boolit is hard. You basically had nose shearing with little eckspansion. I wish a few hard casters would chime in on this thread for you. One thing about lungs is they spring back and you won't see that impressive would channel like in the medium that you show. Though, that medium sounds pretty good. I know one thing is that you have a lot of lube for a lot of boolits. It's that myself I am still in ponderance of big metplat hard cast, soft cast, medium cast with HP, or something in between with the BruceB style boolit for the 30-30. Your hunting idiosyncrasies come into play on this one. I hope it fairs well with a brown shoulder. Actually I think the cast boolit can outperform the jword with the 30-30, 32 win, 35 rem, 30 rem, 35-30-30, etc type cartridges.

[pls1911]

MOST OF MY BOOLITS ARE HEAT TREATED TO MID 20s BHN.
Large meplats of the Ranch Dog variety, or the RCBS 150/180 or Lyman 31141, or more pointy SAECO #316 slaps large hogs DRT with ease. Broadside, any of the above with punch through grissle plate, both shoulders (and spine at the same time if your shot is placed right). In a plain old 30-30 or a 45-70 at nominal velocities will work just fine without expansion.
Enjoy lack of leading and fine accuracy.

[Ifishsum]

Glad you found success! Just last weekend I tested some of the Lee 30-170gr boolits in my own Winchester 94; cast them 2 months ago so I figured they should be cured enough (water dropped COWW). Pleasantly surprised by the accuracy; they are at least as good if not better than the factory loads I had tried plus they shoot to the same POA. 26gr of IMR3031 gave me a 2.5 to 3" group at 100 yds (iron sights) and no detectable leading after 30 total rds. This was only my second venture into cast boolits in a rifle (first try was doomed by a badly pitted barrel) and I will likely hunt deer this year with this load.

[pls1911]

Nothing will bring a grin to your face faster than dropping a critter in it tracks with your own bullet!!
Put it though the shoulders/spine junction and there will be no tracking... DRT every time with this placement.
No tracking either

[oscarflytyer]

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c315/brewster6514/20150906_090312_zpszqupagyz.jpg (http://s30.photobucket.com/user/brewster6514/media/20150906_090312_zpszqupagyz.jpg.html)

shot it into a 50/50 mix of wax and Vaseline at about 10 feet. decent wound channel (8-10")and it exited out the back of a 16"+ long tube. got some deformation so I think it will do ok on deer.

Been wondering how to make some semblance of ballastic gelatin. Looks like that works well! HECK of a lot of vaseline tho!

[GabbyM]

Way I calculate cast boolit expansion. For the last few years since our former member Bullshop posted the formula. It's always worked. First however I do have a Saeco hardness tester to tell me what I have. Formula is BHN x 100 = Velocity at which useful expansion starts with a flat nose cast boolit. or (BHN * 100 = Vs). In simple terms a BHN #12 boolit will start to expand at over 1,200 fps impact velocity. With this information you can calculate at what range your bullet will stop expanding due to velocity degradation.

From My Win 94 AE is shoot BHN #12 and BHN #9 boolits. Both at a little over 2,000 fps. BHN nine's will frag when they hit the ground so I've never seen a ricochet. Great varmint bullet but would be grossly lacking on penetration for big game. My luckily tight tolerance 94 with 12 twist barrel shoots the soft #315 Saeco 150 grain FN bullets just fine.

The harder #12 bullets are for coyote that I wish to sell the hides from. Since the BHN #9's about blow one in half. I value the safety factor of the soft bullet.

[Brewster6514]

Been wondering how to make some semblance of ballastic gelatin. Looks like that works well! HECK of a lot of vaseline tho!

4 blocks of one pound paraffin wax and 4 one pound tubs of Vaseline(Vaseline was 13 oz so adjust accordingly), melt in double boiler(don't get it too hot or it will ignite) and pour into something for a mold. I used a 4" thin wall sewer drain pipe about 16-18 inches long.

[Brewster6514]

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c315/brewster6514/2015-09-20%2014.07.19_zpsafe8qx1t.jpg (http://s30.photobucket.com/user/brewster6514/media/2015-09-20%2014.07.19_zpsafe8qx1t.jpg.html)

About a 1 1/2" group at 50 sitting and shooting off sticks, with peep sights. Should be good enought for what my vision is anymore. shooting a little bit higher than id really like (1.5" high @50) but it will work.

[Tom_in_AZ]

Looks good, go get some venison

[FergusonTO35]

Brewster, I'm looking forward to hearing how well those do on deer. I'm currently shooting these boolits out of my Marlin 336's, sized to .310, with Hodgdon 4198. 21 grains did really well today, gonna try 22 grains next.

[avogunner]

purty, purty, purty......

[lobogunleather]

not too sure on what the alloy is anymore added some kind of door or window weight that was too hard for sinkers and now my alloy is on the hard side. did a pencil test to get a little idea on hardness and 2h just barely scratches it. (26-28+)?

water dropped them a month or two ago so aging should be good enough by now.

going to get a Lyman neck expanding die to open the neck up a little, some of the necks got crushed seating the bullet. they are very tight.


started out just doing split shot for salmon fishing and had all this "extra" lead so I got a 125gr. .358dia mold to load some .38 specials with. then I got a mold for my wife's .44 mag and now I have one for my late fathers win 94 30-30. so yea it is addicting. :)

The Lyman M-die is a "must have" item for cast bullets in rifle cases. Easy to use, perfectly concentric seating every time, and no more crushed cases while seating. Case necks of the .30-30 brass are not very thick, so not very strong, and the common resizing dies will size the neck down for seating .307-.308" jacketed bullets.

Since I started casting and shooting cast bullets over 40 years ago I have changed my reloading procedures across the board. When starting with a new set of reloading dies I always remove the decapping rod and neck sizing button, decap separately, resize cases, expand necks on the Lyman M-die, prime, charge, seat bullets, crimp separately. Makes a huge difference in accuracy and much longer case life.