Sunday, July 02, 2017

Reduced .30-30 Loads.

 waepnedmann asked in comments:
I am interested in your reduced loads for the .30-30 WCF.
Would post them or email me with standard disclaimers accepted.
Thanks.
The standard disclaimer always applies, if you do something stupid, you're liable to hurt yourself.

But, reduced loadings for most calibers are easily researched by a simple Google search.  I've talked about it a lot over the past decade, and let me give you some links.

But, my standard cast bullet load in that caliber is 27.0 grains of H4895 under a Lymna 311041 bullet.  That yields about 1750 fps depending on your rifle and barrel.  It's an accurate load in my rifles, but you're running up against the rotational velocity with some alloys and barrel twist rates.  I have had cast bullets come completely apart when pushed too hard.  With high RPM and bad alloy, you won't get the results you're looking for.

Hodgdon's introduction to low-recoil loads is here.  Lots of good information.

Ed Harris's work on cast bullet loads in military rifles is seminal.    He's done a lot of work with reduced loadings for cast bullet shooting, and he is the originator of The Load, his recipe for many .30 caliber cartridges.  Ed is also the inventor of Ed's Red, a gun cleaning product that he originated.  Whatever Ed Harris says about cast bullet shooting, you can take to the bank.

This blog post from 2016 also has lots of good links.  One very reduced cast bullet load I found for the .30-30 features a 115 grain hard-cast bullet (for the .32-20).  I'll excerpt the pertinent part here.
The other load I like in the .30-30 is something I stumbled on when looking at very light loads for plinking, training youngsters and general fun.  I happened to show it to a buddy who used it quite successfully to quell a possum problem he was having.  Hence, we call it the possum load.  It features a hard-cast 115 grain bullet and Blue Dot powder.  It runs out the bore at about 600 fps, very low recoil and low noise.  More of a !pop! than a bang.  No, I'm not going to tell you how many grains of Blue Dot.  You'll have to do your own research.
When you get into very reduced loads in rifle calibers, you're walking on un-tread ground.  Be careful.   Oh, and my research is based on lots of trail and error.   Sometimes, it's like going down a rabbit-hole, not knowing where you'll come out.  Trust the data and learn from the guys who have already gone down that hole.

Reduced loads in the .30-30 are a lot of fun, and some of them are quite practical (my possum load, for example).  Be careful, have fun, and don't do anything that will hurt yourself.

7 comments:

Old NFO said...

Good grief, I haven't thought about loads like that in 30 years... Glad they are still around.

waepnedmann said...

Thank you.
I was being lazy.

waepnedmann said...

Back in another century I traded my Lyman bullet casting equipment for flying lessons.
I had made the decision to use only jacketed bullets due to time constraints, barrel leading, living situation, etc.
I am now retired and have more time, but I find the cost of replacing that equipment to be painful.

Your "possum load" got me thinking and with a little Google-fu I discovered:
1) Lee now makes a sizing die you can use on a standard press so you do not need a dedicated luber/sizer (about $20 at Midway).
2) Lee now makes a liquid aloe lube that seems to work very well (less than $10 at Midway).
3) Oregon Trailer puts out a .32-20, 115 gr bullet sized to .313 (about $55 for 500).

I think I could size the .313 bullets down to work.
These would go in a care package to my brother in Alaska for plinking.
He got indoor plumbing a couple of years ago so he no longer has to hang the toilet seat behind the wood stove to keep it warm and check to make sure his 12ga is stuffed with slugs before heading for the outhouse. :-)

Thanks again.

waepnedmann said...

Alox not aloe
Trails not Trailer

I hate auto-correct.

I guess I had better learn to proof-read before hitting send.

Pawpaw said...

I've never owned a lubrisizer. Liquid Alox is my go-to bullet lube. Once for handgun, dip 'em twice for rifle. Once before sizing, once after. A Lee push-through sizing die is the way I do it.

Anonymous said...

" lots of trail and error"

You mean "trial and error".

Jerry The Geek said...

Reference the reloading pages of M.D. Smith, specifically warnings that light powder loads in large capacity cases may cause ... problems.

http://www.reloadammo.com/liteload.htm