30-30 and sized OO

[randyrat]

I sized up a few OO buck shot to .309 They look like little foot balls. My intention was to load them in a super light 30-30 load. Whats a good load to start with.
Bullseye? Unique? or other fast burning pistol powders. Intent is for 10 yd plinkin fun or self/property defense against squirrels.
Ringing the chamber? is there potential

[geargnasher]

Now I never thought of doing that! I'd say roll the b.s. in liquid Alox, let it dry, and fluff up about 3/4 grain of Dacron filler between the b.s. and the powder. I wouldn't even worry about sizing unless they expand the case necks too much when seating. The only danger I could see is the b.s. creating a pressure spike after launch when it jumps the throat and slams the rifling, but it's bound to be slight.

You won't get chamber ringing unless you tamp the filler down hard against the powder and leave an air gap between the filler and the boolit. You want to stuff the Dacron into the case after the powder is put in and use a piece of coathanger wire or something to "fluff" it up and make it expand inside the case, filling the air space from the bottom of the "boolit" to the powder. Even with low density, powder doesn't migrate through the fibers.

As far as powder selection, there was a good thread within the last year or so, something about "how low can you go with the .30-30" in which outlined a similar venture with gallery-type loads, I think it was Molly or Wiljen that was experimenting with it, and I think Red Dot was the powder of choice.

Gear

[Thecyberguy]

Trail Boss....I wished one could ship powder..I would send you a little.
IMO, it works great for light loads. While I haven't loaded any 30-30, I have loaded 223, 243 and 270 with it and it worked well. TCG

[geargnasher]

Ok, I found it! I was totally off. It was 357Maximum's thread, and it was Bullseye.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...30-30+bullseye

Gear

[Centaur 1]

There's a 22 page thread on loading light bullets in the 30-30 over on the Marlinowners website. They even have some buckshot loads as well.

http://www.marlinowners.com/forums/i...c,41593.0.html

[ReloaderEd]

We used to shoot pipsqueek loads on our indoor range in Vancouver, Washington.
Most guys and gals used 3 to 5 grs. of bullseye pistol powder, a tuff of dacron pillow stuff and they were quite accurate. Pistol primers can be used too. Be Safe, wear safety glasses and have fun.

[rintinglen]

I have shot a whole bunch of 311-419s that weigh in at about 88 grains over 8 grains of Herco or Unique out of several 30-30's with excellent short range accuracy. I tried some .311round balls with somewhat problematic results. 8 or nine would group pretty well, but one or two would be wildly out of the group, often by 4 inchs or more. My 1957 Cast Bullet Guide lists a load of 3.5 grains of Bullseye with a 311-245 95 grain bullet, while the 311-252 is recommended as "fine for indoors at 25 yards" with a TWO grain charge of Bullseye-- that must be getting down in the "cat's sneeze" range.

[Rocky Raab]

I have never loaded the 30-30 that way, but I used to load a single buckshot in a .308 for backyard pests. I found 3.5 Bullseye to be accurate, but a little louder than I wanted. I got down to 1.5 grains without a problem.

I found virtually no difference using several flake shotgun powders, by the way. Bullseye, RedDot, AA453 (it was long ago) and Unique all worked about the same. I used rifle primers because I didn't think to try pistol.

[HORNET]

Try a search under "cat sneeze loads". There have been a few discussions of different methods. Or you could go the Gluelits route.

[randyrat]

Trail Boss....I wished one could ship powder..I would send you a little.
IMO, it works great for light loads. While I haven't loaded any 30-30, I have loaded 223, 243 and 270 with it and it worked well. TCG

I am tempted to try some TB for the fact it fills the case up more than others so I think it would be a great for plinkin cat sneese loads. The OO buck footballs weigh out at a meesly 53.5 grains WOW won't take much powder to make them sizzle down range.

[oldhickory]

Didn't Junior do a tutorial on shooting buckshot in a .30WCF? I looked, but can't find anything.

Just going on feable memory, I think he pan lubed them, let them harden. used a minute charge of Bullseye, thumb pressed them in and that was about it. I would use a small tuft of Dacron, but since he was shooting squirrels, he didn't bother as the muzzle would be up anyway.

I haven't messed with the .30WCF yet, but I found 3.5gr. of Red Dot to be very accurate under a .32WCF boolit sized to .309 in a .30/06.

[rhead]

Didn't Junior do a tutorial on shooting buckshot in a .30WCF? I looked, but can't find anything.

Just going on feable memory, I think he pan lubed them, let them harden. used a minute charge of Bullseye, thumb pressed them in and that was about it. I would use a small tuft of Dacron, but since he was shooting squirrels, he didn't bother as the muzzle would be up anyway.

I haven't messed with the .30WCF yet, but I found 3.5gr. of Red Dot to be very accurate under a .32WCF boolit sized to .309 in a .30/06.

I think that that is an article that he has posted on his sight. Sorry I do not have a link.

Trailboss should be a fine powder for this application. I have never had a problem using Unique and never bothered to change. I work up slowly until the point of impact at 25 yards matches my hunting load. Not quite the most accurate but very adequate. Squirrel heads out to 30 yards or a bit more is by baseline.

[mroliver77]

Bulls Eye is the powder for this! It lites easy and burns well with very little pressure. I use a tuft of dacron to hold powder back. I dont worry about any air space with a 3 gr ob BE charge and 50ish gr RB.
With my cases filled with lead and a .30 cal hole drilled back to primer no dacron is needed and multiple balls can be used! With this setup I ave got down to 3/4 gr BE successfully. It helps to enlarge the flash hole for the very wimpy loads.
Jay

[XWrench3]

I wished one could ship powder..

well, you can. it will just cost 3 times as much as if he went to the local gunsmith and bought an entire bottle! i DESPISE those "HAZ-MAT" charges. all they are doing is making us pay extra because they CAN!

[Dannix]

If this hasn't been posted already:
http://www.castbullet.com/shooting/rb30.htm

[oldhickory]

If this hasn't been posted already:
http://www.castbullet.com/shooting/rb30.htm

That's it! There's Junior's article. Thanks for posting it.

[Dannix]

No problem. I've got 30-30 'squirrel' loads on my to-try list.

[randyrat]

AAAHHH Thanks for reminding me about Juniors web site. I read that a while ago. It's book marked this time. The only difference is I'm using 00 which is slightly larger diameter and heavier. I bought some felt wads from Junior at one time.

[geargnasher]

I suggested the Dacron not so much as to keep the powder against the "coals" (not necessary with BE or RD), but to help seal the bore and prevent leading. One might even roll up a "pill" of the stuff like a pea, stuff it in the neck, put a dab of Felix lube on top, and seat the b.s. on top of that. The Dacron pill would act as a lubed wad if it would stay in the neck.

Gear

[geargnasher]

Bulls Eye is the powder for this! It lites easy and burns well with very little pressure. I use a tuft of dacron to hold powder back. I dont worry about any air space with a 3 gr ob BE charge and 50ish gr RB.
With my cases filled with lead and a .30 cal hole drilled back to primer no dacron is needed and multiple balls can be used! With this setup I ave got down to 3/4 gr BE successfully. It helps to enlarge the flash hole for the very wimpy loads.
Jay

Now THAT'S pretty neat. I was wondering about reducing the case capacity of my .30-'06 for shooting 115-grain PB boolits at varmints at .32 rimfire velocities, sounds like the lead-filled-and-drilled case is the answer. At such low pressures I wouldn't be concerned about the hot lead annealing the case head much.

Gear