Which cast boolit for my new 30 Herrett?

[awaveritt]

190489Got bit by the contender bug. Picked up a 1975 frame with a 357 mag oct bbl back in October. Then I grabbed a 10" 30 Herrett bbl for Christmas and a set of dies. Have fireformed my first 200 rounds of brass using j-words but want some suggestions for a cast round.
primarily for paper-punching and the occasional deer or hog, the bbl is scoped with a Leupold 2x and has the early 1:14 twist/short throat. Thinking of a couple of NOE's molds: the 311-115 gr FP/HP; or the 155gr 311-155 FP/HP. Have 2400 and IMR 4227. Any advice or suggestions appreciated.

[marshall623]

I've looked at the 311-155 my self for my 30 Herrett . Right now the only mold like have now is a Lee 150 FN and that shoots just about MOA. Powders I've been using IMR 4198 under 150 Sierra's, under the Lee bullet 16.0 gr. of 4759. When I get a chance I will work with the Lee boolit over IMR 4198 ,RL-7 ,Unique. Either of the 2 Powders you have on hand should work well.

[TCLouis]

RCBS 150 GC is what I have been shooting, but that is because that is what I have cast up for faster loads.
Ranch Dog 165 would be good if you can find a mold.
The Lee's should work, but have a smaller ,meplat.
I need to get some 110-120 grain boolits cast to test for plinking loads.


I do not use my 10" barrel because the chambers neck is WAY oversized, but when sent back to TC they said it was within spec.

[reed1911]

The NOE 127g does well http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/images/N.O.E._Bullet_Moulds_309-127-PT_%28GC%29_Sketch.Jpg

As does the 150g
http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/images/N.O.E._Bullet_Moulds_309_150Gr._SP_146_gr_Sketch.J pg

I like the bore rider designs that don't take up a lot of room in the case. Before you buy one though DO A CHAMBER CAST. You may be able to go with any number of molds as some chambers are VERY generous when it comes to the free bore and lead.

[P Flados]

I got my 10" 30 Herrett more than 30 years ago.

Early shooting was all 110 and 125 J words (what the developers recommended). I think I got some less than 2 MOA groups out of it.

About 6 years ago, I tried the Lee 150 and Lee 170. Was never happy.

Then I became powder coat convert. I also picked up a 14" 30H and a 14" 30-30.

With HF red ASBB PC and no checks on the 150 and the 170, I got OK but not great results. No leading, but accuracy would go from 3 - 4 moa to minute of barn door above some magic power level (say 1700 fps).

I did find that around 4 - 5 grs of Promo (Red Dot equivalent) was a neat "plinker" round for both bullet weights in all 3 barrels. The 150 & the 170 in the 14" 30 Herret at just below sonic speed suprised me at how quiet a centerfire handgun could be.

You mentioned hogs & deer. The Lee 150 & 170 have a decent meplat (the 150 does good in tube mag lever guns) and should give better terminal performance than a pointed or round nose design. I was happy that the twist on the old 10" barrel was able to handle both of these boolits.

More recently I was playing around with options for more shooting with less lead (my shooting use is way up, my COWW supply went dry, and my other lead sources are not keeping up at all). I dusted my 10" 30 Herrett barrel, made my own 60 grain RF flat side mold, lubed with BLL and loaded with around 3 grains of Promo (Red Dot equivalent). It just plain worked good without much effort at all. This turned out to be an easy and excellent choice for off hand practice with a TC. Definitely less cost than 22s.

The 60 grn mold got re-worked (trimmed some off the top) and now drops 55 gr boolits. A good percentage of my trips to the range now involve offhand practice with say 4 targets (~20 rounds) of the 55 grns boolits over around 3 grains of Promo or Titegroup. When I stay focused, I can now do around 2" groups at 30 ft. The only thing I shoot more of is a similar boolit out of my 4.2" SP101 327. I do not have a photo handy of my 30 cal, but they look just like the 32s below:

190643

[awaveritt]

P. Flados: thanks for all that info. Was your 10" bbl a 1:14 twist? I ask since I have the NOE version of the Lyman 311041 180gr RNFP (1 PB, 1GC). I used the plain based boolits to fire form 50 cases over 8gr Unique. Two baseball-sized groups of 25 shots at 25 yards. But not sure how far out those long boolits will remain stabilized! Anyone having any success stabilizing this bullet out past 100 yds?
I did order the NOE 311-155 FP/HP (gas checked) today. Designed for the 300BLK, it should not protrude past the base of the neck. Plus, the 155 wt should stabilize in my 1:14 twist. I have not done any load development yet with either cast or jacketed, but do have a good variety of 110 and 125gr spitzers and the Sierra 30-30's (125/150gr).
Thanks for all the replies. Any other advice will be greatly appreciated.

[reed1911]

In my experience with the .30H and .357H Poor groups were tied more to the chamber than from loads or lack of skill of the loader and shooter. You can get them to shoot very well you just have to get them seated where they will do so. With the shorter bullets that is a challenge since by the time you reach the lands there is very little left in the case mouth. Another issue is neck tension, the Herrett does benefit from a good crimp to allow as much powder burn as possible, with cast it is in some ways easier since you generally have a deep crimp groove, but rarely does that groove line up with the OAL needed to reach the lands. I'd have to check which bullet it is, but one of mine shoots very well but I have to roll crimp the mouth into the grease groove. Not a big issue to me, I conv. lube and the tumble lube and just keep them boxed well, you will want to clean out the die more often as well since it will get pushed out of the groove. I've yet to only TL and I bet that would work just fine with BLL, just have not tried it yet.

[P Flados]

My 10" is 1 in 14", my 14" barrel is 1 in 10".

Most of my testing was at closer ranges, but I am pretty sure I did some shooting at 100 yards with the 10". Both the 150s and 170s were stable as best I remeber. My only "unstable" was when pushed to maximum speeds.

I just noted that I was a little confused with my plinkers. The 0.309" are 60 grains & I load them over 3.6 grains of Promo for 1070 fps. My 32s are the 55 grain weight.

[rking22]

I have had several 30H barrels over the years and my memory is lacking in connecting results to a barrel. That said I used 311466 in several of those barrels and had good enough results to consider it my 30H boolit. Now I remember trying 311041 in one of them but did not make much progress, believe I had a throatless barrel and it was too deep into the powder space. At that time, this forum did not exist, I was concerned that I would reach a pressure that would upset the base in the case and cause a major pressure event. Any way , the 311041 shot OK slow, but I was not able to get it fast enough for steel critters. A friend had another barrel that would swallow the 311041 seated by the gas chek, it shot well for him. Depends on your barrel.