30/30 Cast questio

[shootnlead]

Please disregard the error in the title...30/30 cast questions.

I was conversing with fiver by pm and told him that I like to come over here read about all the rifle casting loading that y'all do. I have been casting bullets for years...still don't know what I am doing...but I can get by with the stuff that I do. I have never cast or loaded a cast bullet for rifle...not a single one. But, I would like to broaden my horizons a little and just get my feet wet by loading a few light loads to try in this mess of 30/30's that I have around here. I don't own a single rifle mold of any caliber...and was thinking that I may just start with the levers by loading some of these "squirrel rounds", for lack of a better term...kind of just to get my feet wet with loading and shooting a few cast loads.

I have seen the Hornady 90gr swaged mentioned numerous times, for 30/30...I think that all that is needed is to run them through the appropriated sizing die and load them. I was just wondering if any of you have tried them and, if so, what kind of loads you used.

 

[quicksylver]

Well...welcome and don't worry about the "error" in the title...wait till you see the typos around here...

Don't know a dang thing about the Hornady 90 gr sages bullet...so I can't help there..

But some additional information would help ..like what gun are you proposing to use cast bullets in (Marlin,Winchester, TC) and what powders do you have...

Dan

 

[shootnlead]

I have 30/30 in Contender, Marlin, Winchester and Mossberg. I would probably lean toward the 14" Contender and the 16" Winchester Trapper for starters...but I will try them in all.

Got most any handgun powder and a pretty good selection of appropriate rifle powder that I have used in the 30/30 and 7/30 Waters Contender's.

I am supposing the handgun powder would certainly be the best for this bullet as I am thinking around 1000fps would be tops for it.

 

[Intheshop]

I never had any luck with the micro-groove Marlin 336.But realize lots of casters have.The one pre 64 Winchester I tried was easy peasy.Iron sighted,coke cans @75 yds were,"gonna get hit".Lyman 311041,around 1600fps.Too lazy to look up powder.

Typos....heck man,the auto correct fixes everthing...doh.

 

[300BLK]

I've shot a variety of cast bullets through a couple of 30-30s from .312" round balls through 180gr at minimum. Round balls and lightweight bullets will work best with light charges of very fast pistol or shotshell powders. Bullseye is most often recommended, and charges up to about 3.0-3.5 is where you should find accuracy with that particular bullet, and a light coating of a liquid lube and sizing to .311" would be a suggestion. For bullets around 120gr I like 6gr Hodgdon Universal. 9gr Unique and 15gr 2400 seemed to be good charges with 160-175gr bullets. These are all light to moderate loads.

 

[Cherokee]

Welcome to the fun. For 120 cast PB bullets I've used 6.0 gr Red Dot for easy plinking, soda cans will pop.

 

[RBHarter]

I recently acquired a 313226 (I hope that's right) , it's a little bitty .313 97 gr RN bullet . I loaded it over Unique from 5.5-8.0 and once the hold was figured out it just troops along hitting what ever it's aimed at .
That is in an old Savage 325 circa 1949 .

 

[fiver]

the rcbs 32-098 rnfp is a nice easy to deal with plain base that I use in most of my lighter 30 cal applications.
it even has a crimp groove.
for more speed I switch to the 311359 it has a gas check and comes in at about 120grs. [it is a little pointy for a tube full in a lever gun though]

 

[Ben]

I bought this Lee Six Cavity mould to feed my 32 H&R Mag. , T/C Contender .
However, the more I look at it, the more I think it might have short range applications in some of my other .30 cal. cartridges.

There is one thing for certain, if you're looking for .30 cal. plinker bullets, this mould will crank them out in a hurry !

Ben

My mould blocks say 93, but my scales say LESS...........

 

[9.3X62AL]

The 30/30 WCF was the first centerfire rifle caliber I loaded cast bullets for. Once you have the barrel's and throat's dimensions figured out, life is good with cast in the trienta-trienta. Given its long neck, its modest case capacity, its affordable components, and its lead-friendly twist rate--it might be among the best 30 caliber cast bullet rifles you can run.

My usual 30/30 castings are either the Lee Soup Can (C-309-113-FN) or the Lyman #311041 (170 grain FN/GC). Both shoot as well or better than jacketed bullets, from 1300 to 2100 FPS.

Marlin Micro-Groove barrels often require fatter bullets than these two moulds can produce--both max out about .311". Most of my 30/30s past & present dote upon castings at .310", while the two MG Marlins I had preferred sizing at .312"-.313". BIG throats on both. Fat bullets = fat neck expander spuds, keep that in mind if fat bullets are on the menu. A .313" bullet will not enjoy being seated into a case neck expanded with the usual run of nominal 30 caliber expander spuds (.305"-.306"). I wonder sometimes if the rep assigned to MG rifling for poor cast bullet performance is more the fault of bullets being inadvertantly sized down in over-tight case necks than cast bullet/Micro-Groove dissonance. Size matters--A LOT.

 

[Ben]

I wonder sometimes if the rep assigned to MG rifling for poor cast bullet performance is more the fault of bullets being inadvertantly sized down in over-tight case necks than cast bullet/Micro-Groove dissonance. Size matters--A LOT.

You have it nailed with that statement ! !

Ben

 

[Ian]

Per Allen's comments about the Marlins, I find mine really like this bullet shot as-cast, it's for the small .32s or big .30s and the large-throated rifles digest them very well without lead reflux disease. http://leeprecision.com/mold-dc-311-100-2r.html

One thing that helps reduce or eliminate the throat leading my plain-based lightweight loads tend to produce in the first half-inch of rifling is using an adequately soft bullet, something like air-cooled 50/50 wheel weights and soft scrap or just plain mixed range scrap, and seat them out far enough to lightly "engrave" the rifling so they seal the bore quickly before powder gas leaks around them and whisks lead dust into the bore.

 

[JWFilips]

My JM 1970's Micro groove Marlin shoots most cast bullets well as long as I can get them around .311-.312" Smaller sizes shoot poorly.
The most accurate that I have found is the NOE Ranch Dog 311-165 plain base and gas checked and the Lyman 311467 at .3115"
The NOE ranch dog 165 plain base is actually very accurate in a light load of 3 grains Bullseye & quiet! No recoil

 

[Reloader762]

I used some of the Hornday 90 gr. SWC a few years back that a friend had who loaded 32 S & W Long in my SKS an Mosin rifles,they were the perfect size at .314" for those rifles. So I started looking around for a similar bullet to shoot in my 30-30 an 300 Sav. as well as the SKS an Mosin,I found the Lee tumble lube .314" 90 gr. SWC to be the bullet of choice for all my light sub loads. The bullet drops from the mold at .315" and can easily be sized to .314 or .311" through a Lee sizer with a light coat of thinned Alox once before and once after sizing or you can PC them as well. I use 3.5 grs. of Bullseye in the 30-30 case and get an average of around 1100 fps. and it's a very accurate load in my old Sav. 170B 30-30 pump gun at around 50 yds.

 

[KHornet]

The real beauty of the 30-30 is the long neck and the ability to digest just about
any bullet weight that will chamber, from the little less than 100 grainers to at least
190-200's if they will chamber and stabilize. They are economical for short range
loads with fast powders, and in the right hands are deer capable out to 200 (so I
am told). A fun cartridge that like the 30-06 will be around and thriving after a lot
of the whiz bang promoted ctgs have gone the way of the Model T Ford and buggy
whips.

Paul

 

[9.3X62AL]

The 30/30 WCF is just a pure pleasure to load cast bullets into. No weirdness, no crankiness--just size to fit the throat and use the right expander, and let the fun (and accuracy) begin. It was a LONG time after starting with the 30/30 before I began casting for other centerfire rifle chamberings.

 

[JWFilips]

My thoughts are: If you have to have a "Cast Bullet" rifle the best you can ask for is the 30WCF! Just think of all the options with that long neck! Just think about all the moulds available There is a lifetimes worth of fun just in this one Caliber!

 

[freebullet]

Ain't tried that bullet specific but, 30/30 with PB 90-150 is my 22.

4-6gr of tg is really tough to beat in that application.

 

[Ben]

My thoughts are: If you have to have a "Cast Bullet" rifle the best you can ask for is the 30WCF! Just think of all the options with that long neck! Just think about all the moulds available There is a lifetimes worth of fun just in this one Caliber!

I'm in 101% agreement with you on that one Jim ! !

Ben

 

[popper]

Used to shoot the Speer half jacket plinkers in the Marlin. Fun at 50 but not too accurate, using unique and seating very long. Been working with 170PB & 185GC RD like moulds now. Found a trick to increase accuracy. Nose size to lands. Loaded a 170 so the base is in the neck, jammed the lands to find the marks of rifling, then nose size (using a washer). Cuts the group size (for me) by 1/2. This way I do't jam the lands but get the nose in so results are the same and no double jacking the lever. Very reliable. Ran the 185 @ 1950 off bags at 50 and get the same size group as 1600 with 2400 @ 25 yds standing with the fore end resting on a plastic range box. I can handle the 2400 load, 30 gr. LeverE is hard to handle. That 0.10" or so into the rifling makes a big difference & I don't have to get another mould.
edit: shot the 30/30 185gr that I had left from the 25 yd shoot, group was ~ 1 1/2 MOA @ 50. Nose size reduced group by 3x. Alloy is pretty soft so the PB 170s didn't do very well, 16gr of 2400. Tried the BO pistol with the 170 PB, SeeAll sight was loose so went to the pistol side and did pretty good @ 10 yds. Same alloy as the 30/30, ~ same fps, not sure what is happening. So the 1/10" 'bore-rider' sure does make a difference.