Heavy bullet in the 30-30?

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  • Last Post 22 February 2016
max503 posted this 25 January 2016

I want to shoot some 210 grain bullets out of my TC 30-30.  I'm using a rifle-length barrel.  My mold is the Lyman 311284.  I've got a bunch of bullets ready to go.  They're cast from lino, gas checked, and lubed and they worked fine out of my 30-06.  Is there any load data for a recipe like this?  Anyone shoot a 200+ grain bullet out of a 30-30?  I would be interested in the full spectrum of loads.  All the way from a squib to a full-power hunting load, but mainly I want to shoot 100 and 200 yard benchrest.  Thanks in advance.

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OU812 posted this 25 January 2016

What is the twist rate of barrel? The standard 30/30 throat would probably do best with a good concentric bore riding bullet. Accurate molds makes some verygood concentric molds. Bore riding section that is .001 larger than bore diameter works good. Match your bullet to twist rate of barrel. http://www.geoffrey-kolbe.com/barrel_twist.htm>http://www.geoffrey-kolbe.com/barreltwist.htm

Try to get most of the bullet chambered in throat for best accuracy.  I think fewer bands on bore riders work better. Gripping only about 1/8"- 1/4” of bullet by case mouth before chambering.

Varget for higher power loads and Titegroup for squib loads.

...

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Ken Campbell Iowa posted this 25 January 2016

give that 311284 bullet a good try before you ” need ” something else .... i have used it since 1960 and it is user-friendly ... never under 2 inches but never over about 3.5 inches ... in deer rifles . oh, with gas checks ..

i have sworn off gas checks because these days my plinking is almost all off-hand at 50 yards ... off-hand makes the bean cans last longer .. heh .

but please let us know the twist in your 30-30 ...and if the 284 works out for you ....

if it doesn't work for you let us know ... i might have a shorter mold for trade ... i am into bigger and smaller than 30 cal lately ... although 30 carbine and 32-20 still call to me .... speaking of which the little 31108 bullets make a good plinker in 30-30 ...at 50 yards ...

as usual, most important is fit close to your throat ... get the bullet off to a good start .

ken

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max503 posted this 25 January 2016

I'll check the twist rate. In addition to the 311284 I have a lighter/shorter Lee mold, and a “soup can” wadcutter mold meant for the 32 S&W. I want to use the 311284's because I have a bunch of them all cast and ready to go. I always seat my rifle bullets so they are a crush fit into the lands. Any other powder recommendations? I have Unique, IMR 4759, Bluedot, Red dot, IMR 4227. Maybe some others that would be suitable.

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tturner53 posted this 25 January 2016

Do a search on the 'B.O.W.M.', “Bench or woods Marshall.” IIRC he liked 4831 in that combination. Used the 311284 in a 30-30 for hunting.

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Newt posted this 25 January 2016

I am shooting the RCBS C-180-FN out of my M94. Dressed out it weighs right around 195 grains. I never have actually done bench rest type tests with it, primarily because I just use it for hunting only. With the peep sight I have on my gun I can keep it inside of 3” all day long, but never have tried to see just how tight I could keep it.

I worked up a load for velocity only. I wanted to shoot that bullet at 1900+fps. So I worked up a load using H414.

Sorry I cannot be of more help, but I can tell you this combination does well out of my gun. Before that I used to run the Lee 170grain(which comes out to 180+ grain dressed) with H4350.

Cant tell you the number of guys who told me I was crazy thinking these slower powders would work good in the 30-30, but I think that using the heavier bullets makes these powders perform well.

Of course, I only know they are accurate enough for deer(have proven that a couple times so far) so I cannot say how they would do on paper.

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Ken Campbell Iowa posted this 25 January 2016

it would probably be worth the 45 minutes to do a slug upset to see what your throat looks like ... a lot of them have a abrupt leade ... but the 30-30 has several variants, and my friends with contenders in other calibers find that there is further variance from ” saami ” ....

for cast accuracy i like old school 4227 ... but the cheapskate in me uses unique ... red dot ... 700x .... heh . i see there is a big growing fanbase here that has found titegroup but i still have a keg of shotgun powder to plink with .

ken

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OU812 posted this 25 January 2016

max503 wrote: Any other powder recommendations? I have Unique, IMR 4759, Bluedot, Red dot, IMR 4227. Maybe some others that would be suitable. Any of those powders will work, but which one will give best accuracy. Lyman manual 3rd edition will give you cast loads for all those powder except Blue Dot and 4227. Starting loads using Lyman 311291: Unique 7.0 grs 1211 fps, 4759 14.8 grs 1530 fps, Red Dot 6.5 grs 1145 fps.

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RicinYakima posted this 25 January 2016

Since the '284 is one of my favorite all time 30 caliber bullets, I use it in everything. The only 30/30 I have owned in 40 years is a Savage 99. It shoots it fine, as a single shot. I just use the OAL that lets me freely close the lever. Two loads I use now are 12.5 grains of SR4759, for everything, and a full power load of 24.0 grains of H4895. FWIW, Ric

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Rossi.45 posted this 26 January 2016

uneque ( subsonic ) & 4759 ( 1600fps ) are great powders in my Marlin ( 1-10 ) .30/30 for the RCBS Newt is using, cast 197grns for me . . should be equally good with the 311284 . . . which was good for 2MOA thru my .308 with unique

good luck . . . R

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max503 posted this 26 January 2016

Thank you everyone for the replies. I really appreciate the help. I just got done mounting a 36 x 44 Tasco scope on the 20-some inch 30-30 Contender barrel. I even got the xhairs straight without too much trouble! I'm going to start with the IMR 4759 and go from there. If it works out I will enter some postal matches. Too bad there aren't any CBA matches where I live now. I used to shoot at Wind Hill.

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Scearcy posted this 26 January 2016

There are two 30-30 heavy bullet articles in TFS Journals No 166 and No 170.  Among other powders he talks about using WW760, IMR 4350 and IMR 4831.  These were hunting loads.  I suppose target loads might well differ.  I like 2400 in my Remington 788.

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Scearcy posted this 26 January 2016

I am sorry - he being Frank Marshall is this case.

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max503 posted this 15 February 2016

Pretty sure my TC barrel has a 1:10 twist rate. I shot some 180g gas check bullets from a Lee mold. Once things settled down I had some nice little clusters at 200 yards using IMR 3031. Still haven't tried the 311284. edit.  I just found one source that said standard twist for 30-30 is 1:12.

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grouch posted this 15 February 2016

I've had some good results with 311284 in my 30 30 on a P14 enfield using 14gr. of H110. Grouch

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gnoahhh posted this 15 February 2016

Give Frank Marshall's 4831 loads a try. They work.

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max503 posted this 21 February 2016

RicinYakima wrote: Since the '284 is one of my favorite all time 30 caliber bullets, I use it in everything. The only 30/30 I have owned in 40 years is a Savage 99. It shoots it fine, as a single shot. I just use the OAL that lets me freely close the lever. Two loads I use now are 12.5 grains of SR4759, for everything, and a full power load of 24.0 grains of H4895. FWIW, Ric
I finally got to try out the heavy bullet loads. I made a pressure series with SR 4759, starting at 10 grains then working up to 12.5 grains. That went well. I only had 3 rounds loaded with 12.5 grains to use for a group but they went into less than 1 inch at 50 yards from an improvised rest. I was quite pleased! The gun is a TC old style Contender with a rifle length barrel with a 36x Tasco scope. I know the 205 grain bullet stabilizes and shoots well out of the 30-30. (I lubed them with LLA and a .309 Lee push through die instead of the lubrisizer. When seated, the nose was fully riding on the rifling). It was a good day at the range.

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RicinYakima posted this 21 February 2016

max503, I'm glad it worked out for you. Ric

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max503 posted this 22 February 2016

Now I'm wondering how much higher I can go in an attempt to flatten trajectory.
Even with a 180 grain-bullet load I can have the spent case out of the gun before the sound of the bullet strike gets back to me from 200 yards.:coffee

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