30 Super Carry with Hand Loaded Cast Boolits

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Originally Posted by Kuduking

Still waiting for pressure-tested data from Hodgdon and Alliant. Might be along wait. Factory loaded ammo is more profitable for them.

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Emailed Vista/ATK/Alliant/Federal/Speer about a month ago and they were indignant that I would suggest they publish data for it. "Takes time". Right. They developed this cartridge over a year ago.

Yet, a guy in a cowboy hat developed a few loads in his backyard:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cY6NyV-EWM

But Hodgdon just delivered, in time for Thanksgiving

https://www.hodgdonreloading.com/reloading-data-center

Looks like I finally have a use for that Longshot I bought a year ago...

COOL!
Thanks for posting Kuduking.

Holy cow Hodgdon has a lot of data. I sure would like to see a pistol that holds 20 rounds in .30SC.

Maybe KelTec will make one with a large mag. GF

Interesting!
I’d missed that Hodgdons had posted .30SC data.

What little I’d done with #5,#7, #2400, and LongShot, the surprise comes with LongShot!

All the data that SOSS posted was similar to mine and what Hodgdons posted.
However, the max charge of Hodgdons with LongShot is about a grain and a half above what I called “max”.

I’ll have to retry with some CCI SPP, and SRP.
I was getting primer cratering and heavy swiping of primers above 5.7 so called 5.4-5.5 as tops. Somewhat lower velocities from my 3.6” barrel too.

We’ll see...

Loaded 6.0 gr Longshot with Sierra 90 JHC and Hornady 100 XTP, OAL 1.090". Had CCI 400 SR primers on hand and used those. Will test and report back.

Used Lee dies on a Dillon RL550. L .32 SWL shellplate does not work. A .32 ACP shellplate has poor fit, doesn't hold case during priming. The recommended .22 Hornet shellplate is just not quite right. The extractor groove on the .30 SC is tapered and the square edge on the top of shellplate damages it. Had to modify the shellplate by beveling the top edge.

[L-R] - Once-Fired Case, Resized case before shellplate modification, Loaded round after shellplate modification
Attachment 307686

Modified Shellplate (beveled top edge):
Attachment 307690

Modification Tool:
Attachment 307688

Finishing 400 grit paper:
Attachment 307689

The Lee round nose bullet seater smashed the exposed lead nose of the Sierra 90 JHC into a helmet shaped oddball. Trimming was not ideal and doubt I will be using those again.

Range Results Part One

S&W Shield EZ, .30 Super Carry, 3.625" Barrel. Chrono @ 20 feet, 68 F.

Handloads
Hornady 100 XTP, 6.0 gr Longshot, CCI 400, OAL 1.090"
7 Yard 5-shot group 3/4"
1268 fps, SD 11

Sierra 90 JHC, 6.0 gr Longshot, CCI 400, OAL 1.090"
7 Yard 5-shot group 5/8"
1319 fps, SD 13

SNS 90 FPL-C, 4.5 gr Longshot, CCI 400, OAL 1.115"
7Y 5-shot group 1/2"
1178 fps, SD 15

Factory Load
Hornady 100 FTX Critical Defense Factory Load
7Y 5-shot group 7/8"
1149 fps, SD 13

Previous control load
Remington 100 JHP Factory Load
1176 fps SD 9

All handloads used once-fired Federal brass. Functioning was 100%. Recoil and case ejection were mild with the 100 FPL-C load. Blast was noticeable with the 100 XTP load. Unburnt powder appeared non-existent with all loads. Barrel and feed ramp fouling somewhat greater than factory ammunition, but cleaned easily. Remarkable consistency with both factory and handloads.

The Hornady factory load was underwhelming, coming in at 100 fps less than spec, with resulting low energy figures.

Primer Appearance
Attachment 307875

Hodgdon maximum of Longshot with the 100 XTP is 6.7 gr, start charge 4.5 gr. I went with 6.0 gr, which Hodgdon data would predict 1272 fps, so I think their data looks good in this pistol. Based on velocity/recoil/ejection/primer appearance, I may try 6.2 gr, not sure I want to go higher with the CCI 400 primer. Perhaps the Federal 205 primer, as used in the Hodgdon data, is stiffer. Unfortunately, don't have any.

N.B. The muzzle blast is surprising with this pistol and my usual chrono distance of 15 feet was a no-go as the screens were being set off by the escaping gases. I had to move back to 20 feet to get consistent proper readings.

Range Results Part Two

Attachment 307876

My previous tests with the Hornady 100 XTP in .32 H&R Mag and .327 Federal indicated that penetration might be enthusiastic in .30 SC, and it turned out to be correct. It is equivalent to Remington 100 JHP and Federal 100 HST in penetration, although both those factory loads expand more, close to 0.560". Don't see any advantage to the handloaded 100 XTP other than cost and availability.

The Sierra 90 JHC load bears re-testing. The inconsistency in performance was likely due to varying amounts of bullet deformation in seating and lead trimming. After shooting, I examined a few different bullet seating dies I had on hand for other .32 cartridges and replaced the Lee die with another brand (which I won't name because I think their dies are crap) which had a better shaped bullet seating punch. Loaded a dummy cartridge with the Sierra bullet and it appeared sound. This load seems promising with 350 ft lbs of muzzle energy, penetration averaging 14" and expansion greater than the factory JHP and HST.

The Hornady 100 FTX Critical Defense load with it's underperforming velocity penetrated well and expanded consistently. It would be a good for those needing an even lighter recoiling load for defensive purposes, although energy level is disappointing.

I don’t know if anyone noticed, the Hornady 100gr load with LongShot is over 100fps faster than factory ballistics.
This solidly puts it in the 9mm league. Nice to know the already hot factory loads leave a small amount of power on the table for reloaders.

I’ve picked up a NOE 100gr FNGC 5-cavity mold. I’ve started working up loads with LongShot so I’ll be reporting back. Early results in my Taurus Mod76 in .32H&R show great promise.

Great thread, let's keep it going. I picked up my 30SC Shield Plus last week and although the pistol was flawless, I was underwhelmed with the factory ammo. Was getting about 94% of rated velocity which is pretty good considering the 3.1" barrel, but I know our handloads can do better. I've got loads worked up with the 100XTP using AA7 and Longshot along with several using the Lee 311-100-2R. Hoping to see 1260+ from the XTPs and Longshot but need to wait for the range to dry up for a few days since it snowed yesterday.


https://i.postimg.cc/7Yd4CVpc/30screloads.jpgprint screen

Good to see you guys making progress reloading 30 Super Carry. Keep up the good work!

I had to sit out for awhile because I broke mine. The MIM firing pin block broke.

Attachment 309581

The broken bit jammed the firing pin. Gave me light strikes at first then no strikes.

S&W wouldn’t sell fire control parts to either me or the LGS who is a S&W Armourer. So, it went back, got a new firing pin block installed and came back working. Took about 2 months.

Now here’s the odd part….I got worried 30 SC might die out before Sig, Glock or someone else would make a better pistol. I’ve accumulated a good bit of brass and love the cartridge. So I bought a second Shield while they’re still available. Ha! I might be the first guy in history (so far) to buy a second gun in 30 Super Carry!

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Originally Posted by shooting on a shoestring

I had to sit out for awhile because I broke mine. The MIM firing pin block broke.

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Wow!, that's the first FP block I've seen broken. Have read several reports of breech blocks shattering and why I never got excited about the 9mm EZ. Hopefully they only had a bad run of blocks and corrected the problem before deciding to use it with the 50k PSI 30SC.

Anyway, hows the chamber/throat on the EZ, any room for longer OAL's to increase charges with slower powders? So far the Shield Plus looks promising as it has a generous throat. The 100XTP seats to 1.090" by the book, but can go out to 1.170" and still chamber reliably. The Lee 311-100 leaves even more case volume than the XTP at it's max OAL. Might be enough room to use AA#9 and safely achieve even higher velocities than AA#7 or Longshot.

Okay, I had a chance to hit the range a few times so here's the good, bad and the ugly. First trip I got some data as to where the Shield Plus should perform as to load data using a 3.1" barrel compared to the 4" test barrel. With this I had a pretty good idea of where my handloads would perform as far as velocity goes.

Starting with Accurate #7 with the 100gn & 85gn XTP, all velocities were very close to where my calculations said they should be. I was only firing 3 rounds per test load so I didn't worry about recording ES or SD.

Hornady 100XTP, 6.1gn AA#7, Federal 205, Fed Brass (once fired), 1.090" OAL
1109 FPS

Hornady 100XTP, 6.4gn AA#7, Federal 205, Fed Brass (once fired), 1.090" OAL
1158 FPS

Hornady 100XTP, 6.7gn AA#7 (max), Federal 205, Fed Brass (once fired), 1.090" OAL
1217 FPS

Hornady 85XTP, 7.2gn AA#7, Federal 205, Fed Brass (once fired), 1.080" OAL
1265 FPS

Hornady 85XTP, 7.5gn AA#7, Federal 205, Fed Brass (once fired), 1.080" OAL
1309 FPS

Hornady 85XTP, 7.8gn AA#7 (max), Federal 205, Fed Brass (once fired), 1.080" OAL
1351 FPS


Next up were the Longshot loads. This is where things got interesting and why I believe GooseGistapo is correct about Longshot being about max at only 6 grains(or less). After thinking about what I was going to load and running the data through my head, I thought it was odd that Longshot would have the same maximum charge as Accurate #7, especially when every cartridge I load with those two powders show AA#7 having a 20-25% higher maximum charge. With this in mind I decided to start at 15% reduced from Hodgdon's data.

Hornady 100XTP, 5.9gn Longshot, Federal 205, Fed Brass (once fired), 1.090" OAL
1313 FPS. I calculated this load to reach only 1188fps.

Hornady 100XTP, 6.2gn Longshot, Federal 205, Fed Brass (once fired), 1.090" OAL
1341 FPS. I calculated this load to reach only 1215fps.

This is when I stopped because something didn't add up. At first I had the chronograph set at 12 feet so I moved it out to 15 and finally out to 20 feet when the readings were still much higher than I had calculated they should be. After examining the brass closer, and noticing the deep creases, I decided to stop and go home to pull down the rest of those rounds to see if I had made an error on the weights. Nothing I did was wrong and all powder charges were spot-on to the load data so I loaded some up with closer to start charge weights. After testing those earlier today I believe that Hodgdon's data needs to be used with EXTREME CAUTION.

Hornady 100XTP, 5.2gn Longshot, Federal 205, Fed Brass (once fired), 1.090" OAL
1227 FPS. I calculated this load to reach only 1134fps.

Hornady 100XTP, 5.4gn Longshot, Federal 205, Fed Brass (once fired), 1.090" OAL
1240 FPS. I calculated this load to reach only 1152fps.

Maximum velocity I should expect to see from the 3.1" Shield Plus and the 100XTP is about 1270fps and will more than likely achieve at only 5.7 to 5.8 grains of Longshot which I should test next week. I can't imagine what a 6.7gn charge might do after seeing what the 6.2gn charge did.

So here's the picture of those two cases from the 1300+ fps loads. All the brass from the max AA#7 loads was perfect without even a hint of chamber creasing like these do. Oh, and just to be sure the chronograph wasn't acting up, I was using a brand new battery and also verified velocities across it from 900fps to 1500+ fps with several other guns. Thoughts?


https://i.postimg.cc/d33W2dHv/LSbrass.jpg

The brass looks to be expanding into the unsupported barrel ramp area. Potentially very good call on smelling a rat when this combined with higher than expected velocities showed up. No smilies on the case is a good thing.

Will the gun allow loading to a longer OAL? A little room could help in this instance. Assuming the cartridge still fits.

Are the marks near the head fully circumferential or just on one side of the case?

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Originally Posted by 35remington

Will the gun allow loading to a longer OAL? A little room could help in this instance. Assuming the cartridge still fits.

Are the marks near the head fully circumferential or just on one side of the case?

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The creasing is only along the less supported area at the top of the feed ramp, typically where a Glock would bulge/crease a case. As for the chamber/throat, yes it is generous and will chamber a 100XTP at 1.165" (.075" longer than book oal).

Then I would load the longer OAL the gun and magazine will accept and adjust powder charge as needed. At some point you may be able to attain decent desired velocity sans the bulges, possibly.

From a 3.1 inch Shield which I also own 1250 is nothing to sneeze at with a 100 and certainly exceeds factory load velocities. If you could only get Gold Dot as components in this weight.

I must say a little pistol that is between G19 and G17 capacity while being the size of a G43 is appealing to me but I still want an M and P Compact in say 3.6 or four inch in the caliber.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kuduking

Emailed Vista/ATK/Alliant/Federal/Speer about a month ago and they were indignant that I would suggest they publish data for it. "Takes time". Right. They developed this cartridge over a year ago.

Yet, a guy in a cowboy hat developed a few loads in his backyard:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cY6NyV-EWM

But Hodgdon just delivered, in time for Thanksgiving

https://www.hodgdonreloading.com/reloading-data-center

Looks like I finally have a use for that Longshot I bought a year ago...

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If you want an idea how long it takes Alliant to do anything. Back in 2007 they promised to republish data with bluedot for 41 magnum. Here we are, 2023, no new data. As far as I can tell, Alliant has never published loads with powders that were from when they were still called Hercules, yet they have consistently deleted loads over the years. The new powders they have developed since then have very minimal data. The reloader series of rifle powders are the only powders they have cared about at all. When Alliant does publish data for 30 super carry, I'd lay money it's with a powder like BE-86 or sport pistol, or some other nonsense that people don't want, but they just keep pushing so it can sell. Sorry for the rant. If you are counting on Alliant to publish data, you are in for the long haul. Next time a reloading manual such as the Lyman #52, or maybe even an updated #51 will surely have Alliant powder data.

Based on what I see, I would think both Herco and Bluedot would be phenomenal powders in this cartridge.

So the advantage over 9mm would be increased capacity? Not a very good trade really given scarcity of brass and load data. You provided some valuable information. Thanks for that. I'll stick with the plentiful and inexpensive 9mm for now.

Megasupermagnum, your Alliant rant resonates at my house. They have to be the most useless powder company of all time when it comes to developing and publishing load data. Just awful.