Reloading 30 cals with Russian Surplus powder and tips

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Cactus

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The other day I had a few people in the gunshop where I work asking the same questions about the popular powders and .311 tips to load 303. I thought about Russian surplus and looked on youtube when I got home. Sure enough there was a guy who made a video about pulling x54r and using a reduced surplus powder charge and the tip to load 303Brit.

In the past I have used X39 tips to load 303 plinking rounds but then I got to thinking... Since the x39 round is cheaper to buy in bulk why not work up some loads for the other 30 cal rounds (3030,308,3006) using the surplus x39 powder and then save the .311 tips for 303 or use the x54r method for 303 as shown in the video?

Does anyone have the aprox burn rate of x39 surplus powder? and where does it fit in the burn rate chart compared to modern consumer powders that used to be available?

I know there were about 24 grains of surplus powder in the rounds that I have pulled in the past and reloaded 20 grains into brass x39 cases with a 160grain cast gc bullet for plinking in my bolt rifle so I was thinking of a starting point of 30 grains for 30-06 with the same cast bullet and working up based on the variances of modern powder between x39 and 30-06.

My thought here is simple Surplus x39 is cheap and available so why not use it to feed other 30 cals that we can't seem to get powder for? At the very least we could have some cheap plinking rounds to feed more than the Russian rifles. Please post if you have burn rate data or have tried this.

Thanks
Cactus
 
There is a name for those "tips". We call them "bullets".

The x39 powder and bullets can be used in 30 cal rifles.

It is quite fast, so start low (your 30 gr suggestion would be fine) and work up in 0.5 gr increments, looking for a good 50 to 100 yard plinker.

I use AA1680 to load the x39 and find it is similar to the surplus powder in speed. N-120 is also similar.
 
Ganderite said:
There is a name for those "tips". We call them "bullets".

The x39 powder and bullets can be used in 30 cal rifles.

It is quite fast, so start low (your 30 gr suggestion would be fine) and work up in 0.5 gr increments, looking for a good 50 to 100 yard plinker.

I use AA1680 to load the x39 and find it is similar to the surplus powder in speed. N-120 is also similar.
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Thanks, I know they are bullets. Tips are what a lot of people ask me for when looking for reloading bullets and I guess it stuck in my brain My bad!

I know the x39 powder is fast, thanks for letting me know where it fits into the burn rate chart. Yes, my goal is a good 100 to 200 yard plinking load
Cactus
 
I reload my .303 British with pulled 7.62x54R bullets and reuse the 7.62x54R powder as well. It all gets separated with one of the hammer devices, and the powder gets saved in an empty powder jar. My recipe is whatever one-fired brass (deprimed and steel tumbled) and large rifle primer I can find with 40gr of russian powder (chinese actually) beneath the 148gr bullet.
 
A lot of surplus 54R bullets are .308 dia boat tail so I;m not sure how well they will shoot in a LE ? Harold
 
Blastattack said:
I reload my .303 British with pulled 7.62x54R bullets and reuse the 7.62x54R powder as well. It all gets separated with one of the hammer devices, and the powder gets saved in an empty powder jar. My recipe is whatever one-fired brass (deprimed and steel tumbled) and large rifle primer I can find with 40gr of russian powder (chinese actually) beneath the 148gr bullet.
Click to expand...

You should look into a collet bullet puller, so much easier, quicker and quieter. I always had to wear muffs when using the kinetic hammer puller, but I have like basically perfect hearing (2 or 3 frequency were 2's rest were 0's on my testing last month).
 
mbogo3 said:
A lot of surplus 54R bullets are .308 dia boat tail so I;m not sure how well they will shoot in a LE ? Harold
Click to expand...

I have heard this as well, but all the stuff I've come across and mic'ed has been right around .3105 - .311. MFS 203 gr SP's, etc.

I also buy the MFS stuff at $13 per box and use it to replace $28 a box 303 brit ammunition...
 
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