Subsonic 30-30 Winchester

[Applefarmer]

You can also search out 30-30 Gallery loads.

 

[Skinny 1950]

I made up 40 rounds using Berry's 150 grain copper plated bullets from Budget Shooter Supply and 6 grains of Unique. The bullets are not designed to go faster than 1700 FPS so they are ideal for slower loads. I had a chronograph with me at the range but it was raining so I didn't set it up. The recoil is mild compared to the factory rounds, I wasn't able to clock the speed last weekend but will try next Sunday.
Here is a link to the bullets:

http://www.budgetshootersupply.ca/catalog/30_Caliber_308_40.cfm

 

[Why not?]

Collin, if you want a handful of cast 30s to try, PM me your mailing address, and I will send you some. You can lube them with plain ordinary Johnson's Paste Wax for sub-sonic loads, and they will work fine.

Your part of the deal will be to post your results here.

Ted

 

[Collint2005]

Collin, if you want a handful of cast 30s to try, PM me your mailing address, and I will send you some. You can lube them with plain ordinary Johnson's Paste Wax for sub-sonic loads, and they will work fine.

Your part of the deal will be to post your results here.

Ted

Thanks for the offer but I probably won't get to this til after deer season. I'll probably just buy some. They seem to be very inexpensive. I just got some dies on the ee, I've got primers coming out of my ears. I just need some brass, bullets and powder. I'm pretty sure this is going to be fun!

 

[762shooter]

Buck shot.

You figure out the size

00 buck tapped in to the mouth of the case on top of 4 grains of Bullseye.

The advantage of Bullseye as a powder choice is that it will light up and burn consistently even if it is only a few grains lying in the bottom of a horizontal case, so case fill is a non-issue.

 

[Loki610]

The 110 grain Lee flat nose w/ gas check and 10 grains of Unique is my favorite plinker/ gopher round for the old Winchester. Also great for using for shooting coyotes while in the tractor since the blast wont deafen you!

 

[Northman999]

What Gatehouse said.

I've used Trail Boss in several cartridges to develop "subsonic", or just plain reduced loads, using both cast bullets and jacketed.

If shooting bullets slow, then cast is the best bargain, but it's not a real necessity, particularly if you have some odd weight bullets sitting around that you aren't using.

 

[Northman999]

I get around 950 fps. using the Lee 32 cal. .314 TL 90 gr. SWC sized to .311 in my Sav. pump 30-30 using 3.5 grs. Bullseye,I've shot a couple hundred of these over the summer. You can use the same load in 06 and .308 Win. 3.0 to 3.5 grs. seem to be the sweet spot,it's not a max load but accuracy seem to degrade and leading can become an issue if you go higher as well as velocity over 1K fps. I cast these bullets from pure lead.

The bullet works equally as well in the Mosin rifles using same load with the bullet shot as cast. In the 7.62 x 39 I use 2.7 to 3.0 grs. Bullseye. All velocities are sub-sonic in all the cartridge listed.

30 Yds. with the irons,shoots around 2" with a scoped 30-30 at 50 Yds.

Darn!

Looks like now I'll have to get one of those molds. I've never gone that light with subsonic (I usually go heavier actually), but that load right there would keep me eating spruce grouse forever on big game hunts without having to bring a .22 or use up 200 grains of wheel weights!

 

[Gatehouse]

Do you have a pic of those 247gr subsonic bullets? Sounds cool.

Trailboss is just about perfect for subsonic 30-30 loads. Case fill is better than with the *.dot powders or Unique. Just make sure you don't compress Trailboss, it can spike severely if it gets compressed.

I cast a 247 gr .311 bullet that was designed for subsonic shooting in the 300 Whisper cartridge.
In the 30-30, 10 gr of Trailboss is about 90% case fill and gives 1025 fps in a 20" barrel using the 247 gr bullet. That's just about perfect.
Quickload estimates that all the powder is burned within the first 10", which I can't prove but it is very quiet.

 

[jethunter]

Do you have a pic of those 247gr subsonic bullets? Sounds cool.

These pictures are from Cast Boolits website. I got the mold on a group buy there. The mould is 4 cavity, 2x gas check and 2x plain base. I loaded the gas check version up to 1950 fps in the 30-06.

 

[kjohn]

I have fired a pile of 30-30 loaded with 5 gr. of 700X under a 93 gr round nose Lee bullet. 1200 loads from a pound of powder! A little tricky to cycle in a lever, as the bullet isn't heavy enough and wants to jump ou. If you cycle the action slowly, it works okay. Great little load for plinking.

 

[Raton57]

I bought my cast lead bullets from a place in BC. I use Red Dot for powder using a load from my Lyman cast bullet manual. Worked great for shooting steel. I also cast a 110 gr round nose bullet that has a gas check groove that works great.

 

[Collint2005]

So I got a load made up finally. I tried 9 grains of trail boss and a jacketed 140 gr monoflex bullet. Chrono was 860 fps. I will try 9.2 grains which will be a max load with trail boss. That's all the powder that will fit without being a compressed load. Test fire was very quiet. Like 22lr quiet. Just like to speed it up a bit to ensure it will clear the barrel.