30-30 Winchester loading data????
- Thread starter JamieLonge
- Start date
TargetAcquired
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- S. Ontario
You have a manual, correct?
Generally, if I am loading a projectile that is not specifically described in a manual, I find the closest one I can (pref. lighter) and then start with a lighter load and work my way up.
Have fun - I love reloading for 30-30. I have several projectiles and recipes for the same gun. You can make very economical ammunition for a 30-30 using cast bullets and a can of Unique.
Generally, if I am loading a projectile that is not specifically described in a manual, I find the closest one I can (pref. lighter) and then start with a lighter load and work my way up.
Have fun - I love reloading for 30-30. I have several projectiles and recipes for the same gun. You can make very economical ammunition for a 30-30 using cast bullets and a can of Unique.
By far your best powder for a 30-30 is LVR.
On Hodgdon's on line it shows a max of load of hodgdon LVR will give a 150 grain bullet over 2500fps.
They show a maximum load of 4064 as giving a 150 grain bullet only a bit over 2200 fps.
All of the velocity figures given in modern loading charts for the 30-30 are optimistic, but by comparison, and I have chronographed the 30-30 with various types of powder, LVR is by far the best, at loads shown as maximum in Hodgdon's on line, for both 150 and 170 grain bullets.
On Hodgdon's on line it shows a max of load of hodgdon LVR will give a 150 grain bullet over 2500fps.
They show a maximum load of 4064 as giving a 150 grain bullet only a bit over 2200 fps.
All of the velocity figures given in modern loading charts for the 30-30 are optimistic, but by comparison, and I have chronographed the 30-30 with various types of powder, LVR is by far the best, at loads shown as maximum in Hodgdon's on line, for both 150 and 170 grain bullets.
- Location
- Golden Lake
The best load I found for my M94 XTR is 37/38 grs of H335 with a 150 gr Winchester round nose bullet and CCI 250 primers.
For single shot loads you can substitute 150 gr Nosler Ballistic Tips.
For single shot loads you can substitute 150 gr Nosler Ballistic Tips.
I would like to see proper pressure tests run on the peak pressure of the same load with regular bullets and also with copper, or other type "special" bullets.
If anything is repeated enough times by enough people, it soon will be treated as fact, whether indeed it is a fact, or is just another unproven theory.
Parker Ackley did considerable experimenting along similar lines, using proper lab equipment. His findings of shooting an over size bullet through a barrel was there would be a spike in the pressure, but the spike would come well before peak pressure was reached, thus peak pressure was not increased.
In a centre fire bottle neck cartridge peak pressure is reached when the bullet is several inches down the bore. By this time the over sized, (or solid copper bullet,) is engraved by the rifling and has no greater resistance going through the barrel, then a regular bullet.
Right after WW2 Fred Barnes renewed his bullet making business, which had been halted during war time. The first bullets made after WW2 for a few selected calibres were quite innovative. The jackets were made from copper tubing, the same copper tubing you can buy in a hardware store, he stated. Lead was heat soldered into the core. they were pointed with just a bit of lead exposed in the nose. A brother of mine ordered several hundred from Barnes in each of 150 grain and 200 grain, which we shot in at least two different 30-06 rifles.
The copper jackets were so much thicker and stronger than normal bullet jackets, that as far as I'm concerned, those bullets were nearly identical to the long, modern solid copper bullets. They became a very popular hunting bullet, but of course it didn't hurt that Jack O'Connor was vouching for them!
My brother got an experienced reloader to load them for us and those 200 grain bullets were loaded hot, in relation to any ordinary 200 grain bullet. The primers were even painted red, as a caution not to shoot them in rifles other than those they were designed for. But, we shot them in our ordinary 30-06 rifles and never had any problem with excessive pressure.
I shot moose, mule deer and bear with each weight of bullet and they were very effective.
I don't want to hijack this thread but I have some Unique and some plated Berry's bullets (150 grn) I am working my way up in the velocity and so far I am using 5.7 grains of Unique. This is a tame loading and was wondering how far I can go with the plated (copper) bullets????
Any recommendations on a bullet mould, all of mine so far are Lee dual cavity type.
I've never used plated but they say to treat them as cast, so upwards of 10gr of Unique should do it. As for a mold, what rifle do you have? If it's a Marlin, the Ranch Dog 311-165-RF is hard to beat. NOE Molds cuts them and sells them now. If it's a Winchester, they won't take the RD boolit without seating it excessively deep. They have a much tighter throat. I like the Lyman 311041, but I actually have a Lee 6 cavity group buy mold of that design. NOE also sells that boolit profile. The RCBS 30-180-RF is top notch as well. Both great all around .30 cal hunting boolits.
