.30 Gibbs

I don't have nor have ever owned one, but I have a card of a now deceased gunsmith who used to make custom rifles chambered for the Gibbs line of cartridges. The claimed velocity for a 30 Gibbs / 180 gr. bullet is 3150 fps, which might be a little optimistic. Regardless, he claims magnum velocity with /06 brass. He offered rifles in 240, 25, 6.5, 270, 7mm and 30 Gibbs, and the claimed velocity for each seems pretty high to be realistic to me.
 
I have a 240 and a 7mm Gibbs, and have loaded for a friend's 30 as well. Faster then the 30-06 by a fair margin, faster then the Ackley versions too. Having said that, I couldn't get 3000 fps with a 180 bullet without using up a lot of brass, which doesn't speak well to pressures. Still, I don't own a 30-06 that will get better then 2850 fps with a 180 (and I have 4 or 5 of them), so yes, it's quite an improvement. - dan
 
I had a 280 gibbs that would toss the 160gr bullets @3050 with RL19 and the 140gr's @ 3250.The 30 gibbs will put the 180's out at 3000.
 
Casull; I own a 30 Gibbs, have for several years now. It is built on a mauser action and has a rather stout barrel on it about 27" long. It is a great chambering which will better the '06 by 100-125 fps without a lot of fanfare. I get 2850 with my 24" '06 and the 180 Partition, and 2970 with the gibbs and the same bullet. The brass is easy to form with the cow method. I use 35 Whelen brass because it is easy to neck down and leave a distinct second shoulder to headspace the new case against. If one wants to use '06 brass, I recommend that you expand the neck to 338 and then size it down again to establish that second shoulder for proper headspace the first time it is fireformed. I have no feeding issues, and brass seems to stand up well. Some may point to the rather short neck, but I have never had a problem with it. Regards, Eagleye.
 
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