30-30 reloads with fire out of Barrel?? Help!

Cammy7s

Cammy7s

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OK so I did some reloads for my WINCHESTER MODEL 94 30-30 with 110 grain FMJ .30 carbine .308 RN bullets. Powder manual said to start with 35 grains of powder for the brand we had(Hodgdon H335) with maximum loads at 38 grains of powder. I stuck with 35 grains.

I started the evening with some factory Remington 150 grain rounds and then switched to the reloads after a few shots.

Here is the problem. Re-loads fed into the chamber perfect and recoil felt very similar to the factory rounds but there was a fireball that shot out the end of the barrel like 12-18 inches! :ar15:
I am not sure if that is bad/wrong or what I am doing wrong because the factory loads did not do this. After 2 shots I thought I better check into it before I wreck my Model 94.

Any advice on why this could be or if it is normal?

Thanks
 
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Fireball is just hot gasses escaping the barrel.
The light bullet does not keep the pressure up well enough to have those gasses consumed before they leave the barrel.
It's not hurting anything, and you did nothing wrong.
 
So the fireball is because of the light weight bullet not building enough pressure? OK thanks, that makes sense( I am relatively new to reloading so it seems I am learning new things everyday!!).

Would it help if I tried to seat the bullet deeper in the cartridges to get the pressures up?
 
Look at your fired primers for deformation as you load and fire them.They will flatten as preasure rises and if too warm will either back out of the primer pocket or form a ring/donut around the firing pin indent ...............ball powders make lrg muzzleflashes.............Harold............4-5grs of Unique and that same bullet make nice grouse loads?
 
Try a little faster burning powder. Every manual has a powder burn rate chart. Sounds like H335 is a little slow for that bullet/rifle combination.What you are seeing is unburnt powder finishing its combustion out of the barrel. Not a big deal but not efficient. you would probably get better velocity with a faster powder. Good luck.
 
H335 is too slow for that bullet. Also, H335 doesn't work well with less than a full case. If all you have is H335 and you increase the load, the problem may go away.
 
what you are seeing is not actually powder burning but rather the compressed gasses that escape the barrel igniting when it contacts oxygen. this makes for a louder report and can be downright scary to shooters next to you. Also from what i've read it is because H335 contains no flash retardant.

try reloder 7, H4198 or H322 for bullets that small because as someone else mentioned H335 is far too slow for that weight bullet.

Better yet try 33g reloder15 with a 170g bullet, or 34g R15 with a 150! you'll never look back.
 
I have a pile of these 110 Grain Bullets so I would like to finish them off before changing Bullet weights but thanks for the suggestions. Not sure I mentioned before , but these bullets are just for target shooting and not for hunting so that is why I am using the lighter weight 110 Grain round.

Would it hurt to reduce the powder load?
 
Cammy7s said:
I have a pile of these 110 Grain Bullets so I would like to finish them off before changing Bullet weights but thanks for the suggestions. Not sure I mentioned before , but these bullets are just for target shooting and not for hunting so that is why I am using the lighter weight 110 Grain round.

Would it hurt to reduce the powder load?
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It would probably not help to reduce the charge weight with your H335. You would be better off to use another powder that works better with your light bullets.
 
Another suggestion would be to try and increase the starting pressure a little by putting a heavy crimp on it and making the neck tension as tight as you can. And i would not reduce the load as that would only cause a pressure decrease and increase the chance of incomplete combustion. If anything i would load close to, or at max powder weight with a tight neck and heavy crimp.
 
Hah! Brings back memories of "ammomart 44" in a 10" 30-30 Contender barrel! One of the most awesome fireballs imaginable!:p

But harmless......;)
 
Cammy7s said:
OK so I did some reloads for my WINCHESTER MODEL 94 30-30 with 110 grain FMJ .30 carbine .308 RN bullets. Powder manual said to start with 35 grains of powder for the brand we had(Hodgdon H335) with maximum loads at 38 grains of powder. I stuck with 35 grains.

I started the evening with some factory Remington 150 grain rounds and then switched to the reloads after a few shots.

Here is the problem. Re-loads fed into the chamber perfect and recoil felt very similar to the factory rounds but there was a fireball that shot out the end of the barrel like 12-18 inches! :ar15:
I am not sure if that is bad/wrong or what I am doing wrong because the factory loads did not do this. After 2 shots I thought I better check into it before I wreck my Model 94.

Any advice on why this could be or if it is normal?

Thanks
Click to expand...

What you're seeing is normal.

I ran your load through the QUICKLOAD program, which estimates 86% of the 35 gr H335 load will burn inside the barrel. Interestingly, Quickload estimates 90% of the powder will burn if you increase the to 38 gr H335.

QUICKLOAD agrees the 35 gr H335 is a starting load. Increasing the charge will actually cause it to burn more efficiently due to increased pressure during combustion. Lighter loads can burn really dirty for the same reason.
 
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