Some time ago, an acquaintance of mine gifted me with about 500 Norma 30 cal [.308 dia] RNSP bullets.
He told me they were for reloading the 30-30, and initially, that looked possible.
On closer examination, however, I noted that the crimping groove was way closer to the base of the
bullet than in any other 150 grain bullets specifically designed for the 30-30.
I thought of just using them up as "plinkers", but I decided to try a few seated deep enough to cycle through
my 3 Marlin 336 Rifles. To my amazement, with a load of Leverevolution, they shot close to moa at 100 yards.
Testing them in media, they expanded beautifully without breaking up.
Now I know that most often you can get away without a crimp even in these tube magazine rifles, so I could
have just seated them deeper past the crimping groove, and skipped the crimp.
But, since a couple of decades ago, I had one loaded 30-30 cartridge that was not crimped, "slip" the bullet into
the case till the powder stopped it, I like to crimp my 30-30 loads, just for peace of mind.
I contemplated selling them off, but being the reluctant seller of bullets that appear to work well, and shoot well,
I decided to try something else.
I took a regular 30-30 case [ 2.040" long] and lopped it off to 1.880" This allows me to seat and crimp this Norma
bullet in the crimping groove, while giving a COL identical to a regular loaded 30-30 round. It cycles through the
action perfectly, and feeds normally.
Subsequent range testing resulted in the same results as the original full length cases without the crimp.
I think a steady diet of these shortened rounds might be detrimental to the neck area of the chamber, causing some
erosion in time, but I doubt that 4-500 rounds between 3 rifles will cause any issues. Pic is below. Dave
![20200413_192213[10675].jpg](https://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/data/attachments/316/316221-d0383d0ff568d782959397a3a8084c52.jpg "20200413_192213[10675].jpg")
He told me they were for reloading the 30-30, and initially, that looked possible.
On closer examination, however, I noted that the crimping groove was way closer to the base of the
bullet than in any other 150 grain bullets specifically designed for the 30-30.
I thought of just using them up as "plinkers", but I decided to try a few seated deep enough to cycle through
my 3 Marlin 336 Rifles. To my amazement, with a load of Leverevolution, they shot close to moa at 100 yards.
Testing them in media, they expanded beautifully without breaking up.
Now I know that most often you can get away without a crimp even in these tube magazine rifles, so I could
have just seated them deeper past the crimping groove, and skipped the crimp.
But, since a couple of decades ago, I had one loaded 30-30 cartridge that was not crimped, "slip" the bullet into
the case till the powder stopped it, I like to crimp my 30-30 loads, just for peace of mind.
I contemplated selling them off, but being the reluctant seller of bullets that appear to work well, and shoot well,
I decided to try something else.
I took a regular 30-30 case [ 2.040" long] and lopped it off to 1.880" This allows me to seat and crimp this Norma
bullet in the crimping groove, while giving a COL identical to a regular loaded 30-30 round. It cycles through the
action perfectly, and feeds normally.
Subsequent range testing resulted in the same results as the original full length cases without the crimp.
I think a steady diet of these shortened rounds might be detrimental to the neck area of the chamber, causing some
erosion in time, but I doubt that 4-500 rounds between 3 rifles will cause any issues. Pic is below. Dave
![20200413_192213[10675].jpg](/forum/data/attachments/316/316221-d0383d0ff568d782959397a3a8084c52.jpg)
