30-30 Help

[tomf52]

Brand new to rifle reloading. Been loading pistol for many years. Have Thompson Contender Carbine 23" (I think it's 23") barrel and want to cast my own and compete in postal matches with the CBA. The bullet I have selected, in search of a light load due to Pacemaker implant near shooting shoulder, is the Lee C309-160-R. 160 gr round nose gas check. The best top punch I can come up with for this looks to me like the Lyman 465. Does this look workable to all you? Powder charges at this time are unknown to me. Open to suggestions on this. What I have on hand and would like to use is Unique, Blue Dot, 2400, and Bullseye, but will get what I need if I have to. Shooting will be mostly informal recreational with some possible postal match competition. I see another member of the CBA shooting 30-30 and like the unusual mysef. There's no doubt this is not a serious bench rest setup.This is a low budget operation if you haven't alrready detected that. Any and all input on this would be greatly appreciated. Thank yuo, Tom.

[krag35]

tomf52;

I gave up on fitting nose punches, because I never seemed to have one that fit the bullets I was using. I now have one nose punch for every caliber I cast for, and they are all flat nosed punches. I put a dab of lube on the face of the punch, and run them down slow and they center just fine. 8 grains of Unique ought to be a good place to start. I have my best luck with low velocity cast bullets using pistol primers.

krag35

[Buckshot]

...............I'm kinda like Krag. I'm not a nose punch nazi. I have a bunch of'em but they're not setup by number, but rather caliber. I reach in and pick one out that looks like a reasonable fit. If it really puts an ugly groove on the nose I might try another one, but that's as far as it goes.

It's odd as I could make as many nosepunches for myself that I wanted, and custom fit them with epoxy. To date I just haven't felt the burning need. Not that there is anything wrong with wanting the correct fit, by any means. Someone had produced a list of the most likely RCBS and Lyman nose punches that are closest to the Lee nose profiles as possible. I don't have it so can't comment on which one it might be.

................Buckshot

[robertbank]

10 gr Unique under Lyman 311041 boolit gave me avg velocity of 1,454 fps over my Chrony. Accuracy was OK out to about 50 yards. Good plinking load for sure. Should add that is out of my Win 94.

Take Care

Bob

[NVcurmudgeon]

Me too on being a member of the casual fit schoool of nose punch selection. Also, 10 gr. Unique was a good plinking load in a Winchester 94 with a Lyman 311291 170 gr.

[gbair]

Alliant 2400 has worked well for me out of my 14" Contender. I suggest starting at 16grs. and work up if needed. I found that 17.5 worked best for me. After that the groups started opening up again. My load is a Lee 170gr RF gc sized to .309 and tumble lubed using win brass and win LR primers. The Lee 113 RF soup can works pretty good when I loaded it out of the neck of the case as far as possible. My recent attempt using the 160gr Lee in my Savage 340 rifle was not impressive.
Greg

[Jon K]

tomf52,

Since you don't have a drawer full of top punches to pick from, the Lyman #644, or RCBS #541 looks like a better fit for your 309-160, the 465 is for the 311291 RN.

A 130-150 grain bullet will also shoot really accurate w/low recoil. Unique is a good powder for low pressure loads. Like others have said 8 1/2 - 10 grains, will shoot real good.

Your T/C should be 1:10 twist rate & 23", that will stabilize the 160 grain bullet real good.

I can understand your condition, also your love of shooting sports.
It doesn't have to beat you up, to do what you want to do. Just be accurate and
HAVE FUN SHOOTING.

Jon
:castmine:

[JDL]

tomf52, I use 6 grains of Hurcules Unique with a Lyman 311241 in my '94 Winchester carbine. Velocity is 1149 fps,very little noise and is as accurate as I am with iron sights. -JDL

[imashooter2]

I've had great results from 14.0 of 2400 under the Lee C309-150F in my Marlin 30AS. Very soft load, easy on the shoulder. Something in that neighborhood should work for your application as well.

[Jack Stanley]

I've used a 311466 with 6.5 grains of 700X out of my 788 and it gives good results at least up close . That same bullet was sized and the gas check seated with a LEE push through die . It was lubed twice with tumble lube , the first application was just enough to say so . Next the check was seated and pushed through the die . Then a goodly drizzle of the lube .

Jack

[drinks]

12 gr of Blue Dot, 15gr of 2400 should give velocities of 1400-1600 fps.
I would use the 2400, start at 15gr and increase 1 gr at a time until the group opens up or the primers start to flatten at the edges.
4227 and 4198 are good powders for heavier bullets and higher velocity.
I have tried Universal with a 113gr bullet, but got better accuracy with Herco, 8gr gave 1350fps and 3/4" groups at 50 yds.
Good move on joining CBA, THE place for cast shooters.

[Larry Gibson]

Tom

I have a Contender 30-30 carbine barrel also but it is an older one. It is 21" and has a 1-11" twist (measured). Like most 30-30 chambers the chamber neck is somehat long for most 30-30 cases. I have found a few .32 Special cases that have longer necks and when 30-30 sized fit the chamber better. That's jsut something to keep your eye out for as regular 30-30 cases work ok too But I do get better accuracy with the longer 32 Spec cases. My Contender barrel also has multiple rifle (8?) and likes over size cast bullets better. If your bullets drop at .310 or .311 you might just seat a GC, lube them and try them at that size. I have been working lately with the RCBS 30-150-FN which cast of linotype runs 157 gr when lubed and GC'd. Size is only .309 and accuracy falls off quickly above 1700 fps. My best load for it so far is 15 gr of 2400 (old or new - they both seem the same) in FC cases with a WLR primer. Velocity is 1640 fps and they run 1 1/2 to 2 MOA at 100 yards for 5 to 10 shot groups. With 311291 at .311 I get the same accuracy at 1850 to 1900 fps with 4895 powder.

The Contender carbine can give accuracy problems when shooting off the bench. It is light and the two piece stock will give vertical stringing if to much downward pressure is exerted in your shooting position. Conversely I've also noticed with the heavier bullets at higher velocity the rifle will "torque" or twist when held lightly. Point is your hold must be very consistant to get good accuracy or you may think your loads are inaccurate. I have an old Brown fiberglass thumbhole stock on mine with the Pachmyer forend. I've been thinking of planing a flat along the bottom of the original wood carbine forend and fixing a short section of 1"x2" to it. That should make for a nice flat 2" wide forend to rest in the sandbag evenly. I may go wider as I've seen numerous of the TC Contender benchrest guns with some pretty wide forends.

Anyways, the little Contenders are lots of fun.

Larry Gibson

[versifier]

If the recoil is an issue then try Lee Soupcans. You can seat them out pretty far if necessary and with the right powder (I like RE-7), you can push them out at pretty impressive velocities cast in lino for target shooting. The long throats in some Contenders (regardless of bbl. length, they use the same reamers) can cause problems with shorter boolits. In that case, you may need to go to something longer/heavier, but the milder loads with the heavier boolits will have a trajectory like a softball. I would start light and see what your barrel likes. I have found acceptable accuracy in several .30-30's with hard boolits sized to .308, but better with .309 and .310. You will have to slug your bore to save yourself a lot of trial and error experimenting.

[GooseGestapo]

I have used the Lee 150FN for many years. Mine casts to .311-.312", and after many years and a number of .30wcf's, have settled on .311" and 50/50 Alox-beeswax lube.

As some stated, 7.5gr of Unique is often marvelously accurate, and needs only aircooled bullets, hand lubing and no gascheck. Velocity is about 1,250fps.

You can go as high as 15.0gr but accuracy is usually best between 10.0 and 12.0gr.

I get better yet accuracy with 16.0gr of #2400, and that would be the powder I'd start with.

FWIW, this is my favorite .30wcf bullet, cast or otherwise. It doesn't extend beyond the base of the neck when seated to, and crimped into the crimp groove. However, with your Contender, neither is neccessary. But, you may want to try it anyway to see what it does for accuracy.

Don't count out the slower burning powders. If there's any wind, the higher velocities will decrease wind drift error's.

RL-15 has worked VERY well for myself and others. Start at about 27.0gr and work up. I've found that 30.0gr is just right for me, gives 2,150fps.
.30/30-w/160gr; sound familiar ????