Reloading 30 Carbine

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lulam

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Hello Folks,

Can someone provide a complete "retail" ammo shopper with some idea on what would be involved in reloading 30 carbine? Note, I've got no equipment or practice for this at all yet.

What kind of upfront costs would I be looking at?
Any suggested "recipes" for an M1 Carbine?

Thanks and happy holidays!
 
By no equipment, do you mean no press or anything else?

If so, in addition to what mbogo3 lists you'll need a press of some sort, and a scale (or powder dippers, but I'd get a scale). You'll also need primers and brass (I hope you've been saving your brass!).

Probably need something to trim as well, Lee case guages are cheap. (30 carbine headpieces on the case mouth so consistent length is important isn't it?)
 
First get a manual and read the entire first half that covers all the steps of reloading and why they are important. There's online stuff but it tends to focus on specifics and assumes people know the basics. If you are new to it you don't yet know what you don't know.

Look at a cheap Lee single stage starter kit for a perfectly functional lower cost start and great for medium volumes of smaller cartridges. One of the others if you are going to get into reloading in a bigger way as they are more durable for expanding to bottle neck cases or a turret press if you want to get into doing hundreds at a time.

In addition to above suggestions you need a powder thrower or a trickler to go with the dippers. Some 30 carbine dies. Lee are nice as they come with shell holder and some load data.
 
I second RCBS Carbide dies with a taper crimp. My go to powder is IMR 4227 though. Bought one in September having a ball with it. Cam Pro bullets in that caliber a bit hard to find at the moment, but I found a place in Alberta and bought 1,500 cast lead 100 grain .309" bullets. Rusty Woods Trading Company has brand new bulk brass if you don't care about the price. Personally I prefer to seat my bullet , THEN crimp in a separate action. I've put over 600+ bullets through mine in the last 4 months with flawless performance.
 
Well, if you're only going to be reloading for one cartridge, go onto the Higginson's Powder site and have a look at the Lee Breech Block hand press.

Cost for the press alone is under $100. Then you need a set of Lee dies for the 30 M1 Carbine and a shell head holder and some powder scoops(usually included)

They may even offer a kit with everything needed. This unit is about the cheapest option to get into reloading that I know of, and the cartridges it loads are actually quite good.

You will need a supply of brass cases, a pound of 2400 or H110 and some small rifle primers.

Now, all you need is a mentor, that is knowledgeable and adaptable. Some folks can't see beyond the equipment they're personally used to. So pick wisely.

Now, do you have a PAL???? Very few posts over a 10 year period????
 
BattleRife said:
An absolute bare bones single-stage setup that will load ~50 rounds /hour can be done for about $300. This is equipment, not components.
Click to expand...

It can be had for cheaper than that. My RCBS Partner press cost $99 on sale from Cabelas, and came with a cheap digital scale, lube pad and lube, and a powder funnel. Add dies and a few small things (for trimming/debuff/chamfer) and you're good to go, total cost should be well under $200. You could go even cheaper than that if you went with the Lee Reloader Press or the Lee Hand Press, those are both well under $100. They don't come with a scale and lube and whatnot, but those things can be had for cheap enough on their own.

If you go used it can be even cheaper - my Lee Hand Press came off the EE, was less than $50 shipped to my door.
 
havent read through previous replies but having a way to disassemble ammo is always useful.

You can get the hammer tool on sale pretty often for less then $16.
 
OkayShooter said:
Hmm, I might grab a factory crimp die.
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I originally bought a set of RCBS .30 Carbine carbide taper crimp dies. Currently I'm just adding and removing the seater plug as required as Lee does NOT make a taper crimp die. A week ago I got a cheap set of .30 carbine dies off the EE and will use the cheaper seating die so in the future I don't have to keep playing with the crimp die.
 
Garand said:
I originally bought a set of RCBS .30 Carbine carbide taper crimp dies. Currently I'm just adding and removing the seater plug as required as Lee does NOT make a taper crimp die. A week ago I got a cheap set of .30 carbine dies off the EE and will use the cheaper seating die so in the future I don't have to keep playing with the crimp die.
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Well I just checked my tool box. Totally forgot pops he gave me 30 carbine dies.. I found a Lyman 3 die set for 30 carbine ( missing one die ) I know a buddy of mine has the lyman seating die, because I didn't have a press at the time, to crimp the loose bullets. And also a 3 die RCBS set but think missing the decapping rod ** actually broken**

What is the center die on the RCBS kit? Says Size 1 77 ?

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Call RCBS and they will send you a free part usually.They have done this several times for me in the past.You may find the Lyman dies and RCBS parts are interchangeable as I put a .430 bullet seater RCBS in my Lyman dies as the came with a .427 seater in my 44-40 dies.
 
lulam said:
Hello Folks,

Can someone provide a complete "retail" ammo shopper with some idea on what would be involved in reloading 30 carbine? Note, I've got no equipment or practice for this at all yet.

What kind of upfront costs would I be looking at?
Any suggested "recipes" for an M1 Carbine?

Thanks and happy holidays!
Click to expand...

To get started with the most basic/starter reloading set up, you will need this:

1. Press (single stage) O frame
2. Scale (beam scale) for weighing powder charges and bullets.
3. Priming tool (some presses come with a priming tool, LEE for example)
4. reloading die set AND shell holder for your chosen cartridge (LEE dies come with shell holder)
5. trimmer (not needed for most handgun or straight wall cartridges) use the LEE handheld trimmers for about $15
6. powder funnel
7. loading block (easy to make it yourself with a piece of 2x4 and a drill)
8. case preparation tools: fine steel wool will work to start, eventually you will want these: inside/outside neck chamfer, large and small primer pocket cleaners
9. caliper (digital or dial)
10. bullet puller, because you will need one eventually

This is a basic setup that will make excellent quality ammunition and is all that many shooters will ever need. At some point you may want to add a powder measure and some kind of brass cleaning machine but you don't need it right away. An experienced reloader can make 50-100 cartridges per hour with that setup.
 
lulam said:
Hello Folks,

Can someone provide a complete "retail" ammo shopper with some idea on what would be involved in reloading 30 carbine? Note, I've got no equipment or practice for this at all yet.

What kind of upfront costs would I be looking at?
Any suggested "recipes" for an M1 Carbine?

Thanks and happy holidays!
Click to expand...

To get started with the most basic/starter reloading set up, you will need this:

1. Press (single stage) O frame
2. Scale (beam scale) for weighing powder charges and bullets.
3. Priming tool (some presses come with a priming tool, LEE for example)
4. reloading die set AND shell holder for your chosen cartridge (LEE dies come with shell holder)
5. trimmer (not needed for most handgun or straight wall cartridges) use the LEE handheld trimmers for about $15
6. powder funnel
7. loading block (easy to make it yourself with a piece of 2x4 and a drill)
8. case preparation tools: fine steel wool will work to start, eventually you will want these: inside/outside neck chamfer, large and small primer pocket cleaners
9. caliper (digital or dial)
10. bullet puller, because you will need one eventually

This is a basic setup that will make excellent quality ammunition and is all that many shooters will ever need. At some point you may want to add a powder measure and some kind of brass cleaning machine but you don't need it right away. An experienced reloader can make 50-100 cartridges per hour with that setup.

Gun Digest made some online videos that are worth seeing.

episode-01-basics-reloading
episode-2-tools
episode-3-case-resizing
episode-4-primers
episode 5 Powders
episode-6-bullets
episode 7 specialty brass
episode-8-troubleshooting
episode 9 Primer Assembly
hepisode 10 cartridge assembly


hHickok45 Reloading Basics
 
Thank you all for the detailed information.

I have been hoarding the spent 30 carbine brass as I've never really come across unfired brass in retail - assumed it was a shoot it to get it type of scenario!

Now to throw a wrench - all of those same components can be used for 9mm and .308 as well assuming the correct dies are purchased?
 
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