Loads for a 30-30 single shot

I am looking for loads for a 30-30 single shot. Any advice?

Thanks

Jocko

Rate of twist? 9 gr Unique and the Lee 113 fp work as a great plinker.

Loads for what purpose?

Bullet?

What single shot?

What twist as already asked?

Larry Gibson

Hunting? Paper? Plinking? Rodent control?

You can easily do all of these with the 30-30 but all would be very different bullets/loads. Need info to be of much help.

Rick

I have a single shot Rossi Pomba, and I think the rifling twist rate is fairly close to 1 in 12". My caliber is .308, but I'm using projectiles designed for a 30-30.

So far I've had encouraging results using 150 grain flat nose cast boolits and 170 grain flat nose cast boolits. Currently my desire is to have projectiles that travel just a little slower than the speed of sound, so I don't use gas checks and I use a fairly small powder charge.

I used 7 grains of Trail Boss to drive the 150 grainers, and around 7.5 grains of Trail Boss for the 170 grain boolits. But that is what I used, and your rifle and measuring gear may differ to mine so it would pay to check another reliable source for your load data.

With these slow loads my ethical/practical maximum range for hunting is under 100 yards, but they are nice to shoot and not too loud. They are also going to be great fun for family plinking.

I've shot with sucess, 14 gr of 4227 and a 187 gr PB bullet. Shot in my 30/30, 219 Savage, break open 26" barrel.

Frank

Depending on what you want the for, a 30-30 with cast in a single shot could be quite powerful with a full case of slow powder. Heavy boolits too. Being a break action there is almost no limit to the boolit length. I don't have such a rifle (unfortunately) but I'd be looking at 180 to 200gr boolits at something like 1600 to 1800 fps. Powders like W748 or W760 perhaps?

I am currently trying a 311644 190 gr nominal gas checked over IMR 3031 in my 30/30. and also some of the old 309 160 Lee boolits. I am at about 21 gr and getting good results at 50 yd. The bore looks better all the time as I shoot them, It is actually getting shinier as I shoot. I will be trying the 312 155 Lee that My Garand likes in it soon, also with IMR 3031 for fuel. Single shot really frees you up to try things without worrying about trifles like feeding and functioning and overall length. Also don't have to worry about pointed bullets.

10.5 grns unique under a 31141 or 311413 (if kept under 1500---1600 fps).
accuracy deminishes rapidly over that with the 311413 (this boolit is kind of finniky to get it to shoot close to your intended target) .
now on the other hand the 31141 is almost failsafe in a 30-30,try using the time honoured "load " of 16 grns of 2400 under any 30 cal wght boolit and proceed from there you may not have to 16 might just be the ticket.
my win 30-30 likes 16.5 grns and so do i gosh darn it.
have a great turkey day,, and eat the dark meat,,,, :evil: :bigsmyl2: :evil:

Deleted

I have used lots of 16 gr of 2400 with the 311165 RD bullet. Shoots quite well. I get 1700 or so from my Marlin 30-30.

BEN you are correct i forgot to add the 2400 in there ,i,ts still to early for me, lol.
i have corrected my boo-boo and thanks for pointing this out, not everyone here have prior knowledge of the "load" and it was silly of me to forget that .

Lawnjocky,
if you haven't read the article refering to "the load" it is in the stickies above.
i hate giving incomplete or wrong info, i try not too but ,,well,, brain fart on my part. :twisted:[smilie=1::twisted:

adrians:

Not a problem.

Like you say, most of us would have known exactly what you were speaking of. I just didn't want Lawnjocky to be unclear on the issue.

I like 16.0 grs. of 2400 in a lot of my .30 cal. cast loads also.

Ben ,,, you beat me to it:-D

That 2400 load is really nice and easy to load. I wanted something with some more "uummph" for heavy pig hunting. I was also concerned (probably for no reason) about expansion. I have neck turned twenty rounds of brass to the point they really dont contact the boolit but by maybe a thousandth. I can still spin and pull the boolits out by hand. resize like normal and use a VERY light crimp with the boolit seated into the lands by about 2 thousandths. By the way... when you resize, be sure to realize that case fit in a single shot rifle is another factor of accuracy. Meaning the amount you resize the brass puts tension on the hiinge pin either tightening or loosening the slack between the upper and lower halves of the weapon. This can cause not only groups to open and close depending, but also vertical stringing if the tension is not consistent. My Thompson likes absolutely NO chamber tension. My buddies likes a pretty tight fit. As far as loads go, I am using a 200 grain round nose over all the 5744 I can feed it. 5 shot reference groups hover under two inches at 100 with a bore rider design. The 16 grains 2400 is far more accurate, but like I said, Im goin for all the energy and expansion I can get to 200 yards for the possibility of a large pig. I am not shooting chucks at 300 yards where accuracy may be more important.

I shoot a T/C Encore rifle 24 inch barrel in 30-30. The twist is 1-10 inch.It has a 3-12X scope and the trigger has been worked on with a Mike Bellum kit.
I shoot several different boolits in this rifle. The one that I am using at the moment is the Lee C312-185 size at .309. I use a Gator gas check and cast the boolit with 1 part type metal to 3 parts WW. I use enough IMR 4198 powder to get 1600FPS and a large pistol primer.
The boolits are marked from the mold as to cavity and indexed in the lube die and sizing die. Cases are indexed when loaded in the rifle and when reloaded in the press. By going to all this trouble to index every thing and inspect and weigh the boolits to one tenth grain I can get groups in the one inch range at 100 yards for 10 shots.
If you are looking to get a single shot in 30-30 then I think the Encore is one to look at....................Terry

I have used RE15 with the RD bullet for deer hunting. It was around 32 grains I think, not sure. I used that as I have lots of it. Gave 2150 or so if I recall correctly. Sot pretty well, deer was quite unhappy however.

30-30 is a cartridge that is quite easy to load for. Many, many powders and bullets will work. It is pretty hard to not find a good load for it.

I shoot a TC 14" with a 1 in 14 twist. It will shoot the shorter 110 gr to 160 gr cast boolits just fine, but it will not stabilize heavier boolits such as my RCBS 180 gr RFN. Unique is my powder of choice and 3031, and RX7 work great also.

Sorry for being slow getting back. The twist is 1:12. The guns are a Savage 24 and an 1885 Browning. I am looking for loads for hunting, plinking and paper targets. I also have a Win 94 but those would need to be limited to flat or round point bullets. I have always had at least one 30-30 laying around so I don't know why I never got into casting for it. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Happy Thanksgiving.

I have a Uberti Highwall that I shoot a 311291 over 25.0grns of IMR 3031. It will shoot inch and a half groups at 100yds with iron sights, better than my 58 year old eyes can see.

9grs. of Herco works well with Lee ---160 --- 170 --- 180gr. boolits --- NO gas check

I have an older H&R 158 that I am going to try Frank Marshall's load of the Lyman 308284 in front of IMR 4350.

The Lee 312-185 works well in it, but I want to try other loads before I settle on one load for the rifle. Right now I have three or four molds and about five suitable powders on hand; sounds like a lot of testing is in my future.

Robert

For hunting in both the 311041 would be excellent, especially if cast of a softer alloy and pushed over 28 gr of 4895 or, preferably, 34.5 gr of LeveRevolution powder. WW+2% tin /lead at 50/50 is an excellent alloy for this. Also if you mildly HP the 311041 with a 1/8" forster HP tool to 3/16" depth it will expand nicely and be very effective to 200 yards with those loads.

The same cast 311041 over 11 gr of Unique will make an excellent small game load in both rifles. Lyman's 311466 will make an excellent target bullet in the single shot or in the M94 if single loaded or one in the spout and just one in the mag for a 2 shooter.

Lee's TL314-90-SWC sized .311 and loaded over 2.7 gr of Bullseye will make an excellent gallery, plinking or small game load.

Larry Gibson

I basically use one 30-30 load for my single shot and levers. 311041 and 27grs 3031. 2000fps and the tiniest little groups you can imagine. On top of that, deer and bear are easy meat with this load.

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