High Velocity (2400 fps), Fast Twists (1/7)?

[pka45]

Hi all,

I've been researching a lot lately and I'm interested in casting for my 300 BLK, which has a 1/7 twist. I've noticed many of you all prefer slower twists for the high velocity loads - but I'm looking at casting something soft enough to expand (maybe 49/49/2 COWW/pure/tin) on deer, powder coated, and driven at ~2400 fps, to make my son a deer hunting load with something around 120 grains. Sort of duplicating the jacketed high velocity loads.

Is it worth my time or doomed to fail? Thanks!

Pete

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Load some up, see if you get accuracy.
Why not a longer heavier boolit?

[pka45]

I will if it seems like it might work - just don’t have a mold yet. I’d like to keep the bullet light so recoil isn’t an issue, since he’s just 6 now. Thanks!

[Finster101]

Is this a bolt gun?

[pka45]

It’s in a TC Contender.

[Larry Gibson]

Let me save you some time, money and a lot of frustration. With that alloy soft enough to expand with that twist the odds of success at 2400 fps are....well, you'll win a billion dollar lottery first....... You'll be much better off with as heavy a cast bullet as you can use in the 330 BK that can be pushed to 1400 to maybe 1600 fps while maintaining acceptable accuracy for hunting to 100 yards. The 100 yards is about the max range for expansion out to 100 yards and a decent, proper HP is also advised.

I have a 10" twist Contender Carbine (21") in 30-30 that with a similar alloy can hole hunting accuracy at 1930 fps out to 150 yards. That is with 150 to 180 grain cast bullets.

If you want 2400 fps with your 7" twist barrel then get jacketed SPs.

[pka45]

Thanks Larry, that’s not what I was hoping to hear but it’s the info I was looking for!

[dverna]

I am confused. You want light recoil but want to duplicate factory loads @ 2400 fps?

[pka45]

Light recoil while still maintaining a lethal/expanding deer round, yes. My other option is expanding subsonic rounds, but they’re $1/bullet and I wanted to use cast.

[Tracy]

That would be a good application for the .300 Fireball: older, wildcat version of the same cartridge with a 1:12" twist. Or maybe even a slower twist; 1:16" or so.

[jsizemore]

He's 6. You may want to load some ammo starting with some lighter weight bullets and work your way heavier. See how well he tolerates the recoil. Make sure he's on target and watch his reaction to breaking the trigger. I pay attention to how they act and not what they say since at that age they try to make you happy. Kids will learn a bunch of bad habits that are hard to undo later in life.

[sigep1764]

For the last two years I have taken deer with a Win270, a cast 150gr boolit, and 10 grains of Red Dot at 1500fps or so. I would think a soft hp in 30cal at the same speed would be more than enough medicine. Recoil is similar to 22WMR. Keeping things around 2000fps with 1-7 twist barrels has worked for me in 223 with my ARs and Savage Axis. That 223 round with W748 at around 2000fps was used by a 9-10year old to take his first deer this last year. He must have shot 200 rounds practicing over the course of a weekend. Its a soft round as well.

What Im saying here is, speed is not all that necessary.

[popper]

I had a couple 6-7 yr olds shooting my 10" BO pistol. They had fun with 170gr PB @ 1400 fps and did pretty well. Gets iffy @ 1600 fps, I prefer a 145gr PB or GC @ 1800 fps. For lite weight I use jacketed.

[Kraschenbirn]

Op said gun is a 'TC Contender'...what barrel length? I shot Contenders in IHMSA competition for a lot of years and even the hot JDJ 7mm wildcats, shooting jacketed bullets, wouldn't make 2400 fps out of a Super 14 barrel, regardless of twist rate. My 7JDJ #2 (formed from .307 Win), with a 120 JHP, was most accurate at around 2150 fps...and that load was very hard on brass! Even the .309 JDJ (based on a necked-down .444 Marlin) will barely make 2400 from a 14"".

Bill

[megasupermagnum]

Light recoil while still maintaining a lethal/expanding deer round, yes. My other option is expanding subsonic rounds, but they’re $1/bullet and I wanted to use cast.

A cast bullet is a perfect choice for this job. Larry is going to know more about this subject than most people. You know better than anyone, your sons ability, but I have yet to see a young kid in their first year be able to make over a 100 yard shot. It can be done with practice, but it really isn't needed for the first deer. Even 1200 fps shoots flat enough. You can zero at 100 yards, be about 2.5" high at 50, and 4" low at 125. It's still over 1000 fps at 100 yards, and I would think you could get away with a really soft alloy like 30:1, which should expand if you have a good sized hollow point. Performance would be just like a 357 magnum handgun. I'd try a NOE 311-179-FN with large hollow point.

[pka45]

Thanks all. This is a Contender carbine - and I’m not stuck on nor really needing 2400 fps, just used it for this example. My experience with shooting a handful of deer with expanding bullets, or cast .45’s, at handgun velocities (900-1200 FPS) has been fairly unimpressive (running pretty far with little blood), so I was hoping for a load with a little more velocity. He can handle the recoil (with the gun clamped in a tripod).