Simple 30-30 question

riden

riden

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I have a ton of round nose bullets I used to load in my son's 300 Savage. He has moved on to bigger and better now and they are not being used.

My neighbor's son has started reloading and is looking for my help. He is loading 30-30 only.

Is there any reason he can't use round nose in his 30-30?
 
I am not a 30-30 fan, really not a lever fan. But I thought round nose was sufficent for the tube. Anyone else want to say I am wrong?
 
There are round nosed .30-30 bullets.
You may find that the crimping groove is in the wrong place.
 
Shouldn't be a problem. The only thing to watch is where the cannalure is located on the bullets. (30-30 rounds in a tube magazine must be crimped) Most lever action rifles in 30-30 are very particular about the over-all length of the cartridge. If it is too long, and sometimes if too short, they will not feed properly from the magazine.
 
Hornady manual: "Hornady supplies three bullets that are designed expressly for the .30-30 and its velocities: the 170 grain Flat Point, the 150 grain Round Nose, and the 110 grain Round Nose. All bullets designed for the .30-30 have blunt, soft noses." Goes on to warn about Spire and FMJ bullets.
Maybe Speer only makes flat nosed .30-30 bullets.
 
well, it's kind of funny that when you go to the reloading data in the same manual, you'll see ROUND NOSE as well as flat- the , excuse the pun , point is that you don't present a point to the primer of the next carrtridge in the tube- therefore , if the nose of your bullet is larger than the primer , it's not going to detonate anyway
 
If you're REALLY worried about it, after the bullets are seated, take a file and just file the end slightly flat. You can do this by dismantling your seater die and running the case up through it until the tip of the bullet just protrudes through the top.
 
'Boo said:
Shouldn't be a problem. The only thing to watch is where the cannalure is located on the bullets. (30-30 rounds in a tube magazine must be crimped) Most lever action rifles in 30-30 are very particular about the over-all length of the cartridge. If it is too long, and sometimes if too short, they will not feed properly from the magazine.
Click to expand...

Now I never thought about crimping!!!!!!! I am glad I asked.

What do I crimp it with?
 
Remington
corelokt.jpg
has been loading round noses in factory ammo for many years.
In the days when I used :puke: factory loads I never had an issue.
I'd have no hesitation in using for example the Hornady 150 grain RN

3035_rif_bul_30-150_RN_IL.jpg


For comparison, here's the 170 FP 30-30 they offer

3060_rif_bul_30-170_FP_IL.jpg
 
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riden said:
What do I crimp it with?
Click to expand...

Most bullet seating dies have built-in crimpers.


To crimp start with all your cases trimmed to the same length.

Place a case in the shell-holder and raise the press ram as high as it will go.

Screw down the seating die on the empty case until you feel the crimping ring in the die make contact with the case mouth.

Back the die out one full tun.

Drop the ram and place a bullet on the case mouth and raise the ram.

Set the bullet seating stem to seat the bullet to the proper depth.

With the over-all length now correct back out the seating stem a few turns.

Raise the ram to the top again and turn down the die until it contacts the case mouth.

Drop the ram a bit and screw the die down 1/4 of a turn or so and raise the ram. Examine the crimp and adjust the die until a perfect crimp is formed.

Now set the lock ring on your die and raise the ram to the top and reset the bullet seating stem until it is touching the bullet.

From now on all you have to do is place your bullet on the charged case and pull the press handle. The bullet will be seated and crimped in one operation.
 
dizzy dan 1 said:
Buy the Lee factory crimp,you can crimp on the bullet any place you want,No cannular required.DAN>>>
Click to expand...

Ya the young fella came over last night, his Lee dies had the crimping die.

He has a brand spanking new Lee hand press, and had near everything he needed, he got a few donations at the end of the night. He is all excited and ready to go though.

We loaded a dozen or so with his setup so he understood what he was doing, and I loaded the rest of his brass with mine (a tiny bit faster). Sure brought back memories of when I first started reloading and he wasn't much faster than I was.
 
30-30 reloading

....Round nose bullets are just fine in a 30-30 ! What the particular rifle "likes" may be another story, but realistically from a lever action rifle, and given that the 30-30 was never intended for bench rest accuracy, that may irrelevant . I've always found the 30-30 to be fun round to re-load, brass is plentiful, not that many people re-load it, a fair variety of bullets and the case is a nice easy size, to work with ! ...... Just stress safety with your "student" and NO DISTRACTIONS ! I like to take my time, almost a Zen experience, when reloading .... savor the moment type of thing ! .....David K. .....:popCorn:
 
tiriaq said:
There are round nosed .30-30 bullets.
You may find that the crimping groove is in the wrong place.
Click to expand...

The LEE Factory Crimp die is the answer. No crimp groove needed at all. Just seat to the required depth to function properly and the crimp them.

I have even seated 300 gr Nosler Partition 375s way out for use my BRNO ZKK602 magazine and crimped them! :)

Ted
 
What do your bullets weigh? Alot of times the .300 Savage was loaded with 180 gr bullets vs. the 170 maximum for the .30-30. The .30-30 is a bottle neck case the rounds by nature cant off in the mag causing little or no primer contact with the bullet. The real danger of a primer detonation in the tubes was with the big straightwall cases like the .45-70 and .45-90.
cheers Darryl
 
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