Followup to M1 carbine off the paper

[Patrick L]

Well, I was right. My carbine, which sprayed .308 commercial cast 115 gr RN bullets all over the paper, shot the same bullets sized .311 into typical groups for that gun; namely about 2-3 inches at 50 yds.

I found a company called Magnus bullets, which sizes that pill to that diameter and markets it as a 7.62X39 bullet. It is clearly the same bullet that Meister and Oregon Trail sell sized at .308. It looks like a Magma design, which I'm sure all of the commercial outfits use.

More to the point, that means I can just buy lead bullets for the old War Baby. I know that may seem like heresy, but for a fun gun I like the idea of buying them, loading them, and shooting them. I can save my casting, sizing, & gaschecking efforts for my match grade .30-06 bullets.

[Buckshot]

................Yup, the 30M1 is a fun plinker. Back in 1984 I had a M1A1 folder. It'd shoot about 2" with factory jacketed.

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

[Newtire]

Hi Patrick,
I had exactly the same experience with M-1 carbine and spraying rather than grouping with some storebought OregonTrail .308" bullets I got years ago. I had loaded a run of loads with different charges and the lighter charges of H-4227 just wouldnt even hit the paper. The 13.5 gr. loads put them all inside 2" @50yds.
This was with a 115 gr. bullet. Now as for "boolits", I have found the 120 gr. Lee RN and the Lyman 311359 to be the best. I just don't have the patience to cast up the amount of boolits I would want in 130 gr. but the Lee 130 gr. and 11.5gr. H-4227 really shot well in my carbine. Can't blame you for trying the store bought. I'd be willing to bet St. Peter wouldn't pull the handle on the trap-door on you for doing that. Just for fun, try going up to max with those other storebought bullets you bought. I guess the extra pressure (within safe limits, I am talking here) did the trick for me. The loads with Unique or anything faster than BlueDot that are listed in RCBS cast bullet book wouldn't cycle the action and anything with a blunt point wouldn't feed but the ones that do make that gun one fun plinker.

[mooman76]

Rainier makes a 30 cal. plated bullet now for slow moving 30's like the 30 carbine. It is basicly like the original jacketed one and they look real good. I have some but have not tried them yet but I would think being plated and softer than jacked they wouldn't wear the barrel as fast and you shouldn't have a problem with leading!

[NickSS]

I have shot thousands of cast bullets in a 30 carbine including the 120 lee, 115 gr. Lyman, the 130 gr lyman PB and the Lyman 31198 32-20 bullet all sized to 311 and they all shot into somewhere between two and four inches at a 100 yards. I used at one time or another 2400, H110, 4227, W680 and AA1680 and always loaded for 1700 to 1900 fps. I never got leading with any of them. The only bullet that gave me trouble was the flatpoint 31108 it would accationally hang up by missing the chamber and hitting the rear of the barrel. I almost never used jacketed loads in any of the numerous carbines I owned at one time or another.

[Newtire]

I have shot thousands of cast bullets in a 30 carbine including the 120 lee, 115 gr. Lyman, the 130 gr lyman PB and the Lyman 31198 32-20 bullet all sized to 311 and they all shot into somewhere between two and four inches at a 100 yards. I used at one time or another 2400, H110, 4227, W680 and AA1680 and always loaded for 1700 to 1900 fps. I never got leading with any of them. The only bullet that gave me trouble was the flatpoint 31108 it would accationally hang up by missing the chamber and hitting the rear of the barrel. I almost never used jacketed loads in any of the numerous carbines I owned at one time or another.

Yup Nick..once you've got a whiff of alox, it's hard turning back. A guy was having fits with some LC 72 (great ammo I understand) and offered to let me try some to see if I would have better luck. I actually turned down some ammo just because I didn't want to get copper in my bbl. Anyhow, I just have way way too many boolitsd loaded up to want any more.

[azrednek]

I'm digging way back into the grey matter. When I was in the uniform business and had an FFL I had a customer order 10,000 of what was then called 100 gr Plinkers, I think they were made by Speer. I don't recall the numbers but price wise they were consideably less than the 110 FMJ's. They were used in a legal NFA M-2 carbine. Customer and friend claimed lube from lead slugs in a full auto mode quickly plugged the gas system. The half-jacketed 100 gr Plinker slugs he claimed kept barrels as cool as lead, shot as accuratly and reliably as mil-surp ammo and followed US GI tracers into the target. I used the slugs in an old Universal brand M-1 Carbine and a mild load in a Marlin 30/30 and recall being surprised how well they shot. I believe I used H-110 powder in the 30 Carbine using a published load from a 1970's manual.

[9.3X62AL]

The Speer Plinkers are still listed, they sometimes shoot surprisingly well from 30 caliber centerfires--and sometimes very poorly, too. Their best work for me has been in 30-30 WCF, where the REALLY short throat in 30-30's seems to get along with the bullet design. 2700 FPS is do-able in the 30-30 with these j-words, and they really expand the mind (and body) of jackrabbits who receive them. I dunno if I'd stack these loads in a mag tube......I don't anyway, one in the chamber and one in the mag is all I load in the '94. There's no crimp groove, and besides the bullet nose-on-primer question, the shunting of the rounds down the tube might "telescope" uncrimped bullets.

My 30 U.S. Carbine is a levergun--a Marlin 62 with MG rifling. I haven't fired the critter in a while, I should do so soon.