Not Your Father's 30-30 Winchester!

JWFilips

Well-Known Member
Hi Guys,
Ben has given me a challenge ( Since I PC coat)...He sent me this worked over 195 grain Spitzer PB bullet mould based on a 2 cavity Lee. This mould has no lube grooves and was meant to be used as a PC only bullet ! I haven't mastered it yet, although I tried with American Select and came close but it was pushing pressures after a 9 grain powder load! I went down to about 8 grains of Unique and I started seeing possibilities! In a 30-30 Cartridge this is not your Father's 30-30 load! These babies hang out at over 3" COL ( 3.01" to be accurate) Hand fed single shot into my Savage 340! Hope to be shooting them for a real test this weekend! In the mean time here is how they look:
NotYourDads30-30!.jpg

They remind me of a 30-40 Krag mil bullet!
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
I will be watching this one.
I have a modified rcbs 30-180sp mold that I cut the lube grooves out of about 15 years back to make copper tubing bullets for a couple of 31 cal rifles.
now I got a couple K tubing bullets made up, and the mold kind of just gathers dust.
 

JWFilips

Well-Known Member
OK I'm going to post some results from this morning shoot : When we got to the range to get the only 2 seats on our 50 yd range it was 6:38 am Sunny no wind great day. Shooting starts at 8 am as the rules of the range. We spend the time busting each other and walking around finding brass and picking over the berms before then. Needless to say 8am was nice with sun on my 3.5 " black bulls and us under a shaded covered shooting area. ( I only got to shoot two good groupings as I will relate)

First five with the 340 Savage went into 3/4 inch ( top target) Then someone who just arrived called Clear? So we stopped for him to go down range to post targets on the shared 100yd part of the range.
So back to complete this string of 10 weighed bullets.....just couldn't get back into the groove I guess ( the 5 scattered in the white!)

This is where it got interesting! My next string was to be 15 rounds of +/- 1/10th weighed bullets as the 10 before.
Really got myself squared in and went through 10 shots of the 15 rather quickly ( Bottom target) Put my binocs on it and was very excited by what I saw ( 7/8" group of 10) then A flash of lightning and thunder .....a storm front started passing right over us very quickly! My Buddy Ed was packing up ( a lightening wimp I guess!)
I held fast but it got dark and heavy rain started & stupidly I shot the last 5 shots and messed up that target!

I then went on to the next weighed batch of 10 bullets..... all down hill .........rain was so hard I couldn't see the bull!
(Not posted)
When I went to pull my targets from the backer they were almost dropping off soaking wet!
So that is why my photo looks as it does...I dried it but it is really wrinkled!
I may be going back tomorrow morning since I still have 15 more rounds to try!
Jim
PS Yes there 15 shots in the bottom target ( unless 5 went off the white 30 x 40" backer board!) ;)
6-29-19 PC spitzer Lee 194gr.jpg
 

JWFilips

Well-Known Member
BTW Popper: While I never tried these in my 336 Marlin; I have shot some long pointed cast bullets in it as "single shot"....but you have to lower the barrel and drop them into the chamber manually then bring the lever in to battery. Your COL is critical in the 336. But you would be surprised at how long seated a bullet can be if you feed in manually with out putting it into the feed mechanism
Jim
 

Ben

Moderator
Staff member
Considering the conditions of the day, I'd say that is darn good shooting Jim.

Ben
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
Interesting day. A shame you have to wait until 8 am. Probably noise considerations, I would guess.
We are far out in the country can shoot 24/7 and have lights if you insist on night shooting, at least on
a few ranges.

Great shooting, esp considering the conditions.
 

Ian

Notorious member
If your cartridge is so long that it won't eject live from the 336, just pop the rim downward off the extractor claw with the bolt 90% open, let the cartridge slide a little way back into the chamber, roll the rifle so the port is down and raise the muzzle to let the cartridge slip back out the ejection port base first.
 

JWFilips

Well-Known Member
Not often happens but if I have to eject a live round in the 340 I do a similar thing....open the bolt 2/3 way drop the mag clip and push the case head down into the clip recess! Drops out the bottom.I use this method with the dummy rounds when I'm setting a long COL
 

popper

Well-Known Member
Finally a decent (fun) shooting day. BO pistol & 30/30. Got some stringing with unique but later put a rear bag and it went away. PB 170ish PCd with greater than normal neck tension still does good, ~ 1400 fps. Couple flyers could be me. BO Pistol did OK but scope is way off. Bob mag is neat, toss one in and release the bolt. Shot the sig 938 with 147gr Hornady C.D. OK but pretty hot stuff for a subC.
bo_30_30.jpg
 

Missionary

Well-Known Member
I can write with full conviction… I would not want those "torpedoes" launch at me at any range ! You are getting plenty good with them.
Looks like you have a great color there. Reminds me of the "Heat Training Rounds" we used on the M60A1 tank... Nice blue to indicate "inert projectiles".
 

Ian

Notorious member
I use a very similar if not identical blue for all "training rounds". My inspiration was the color of the chalk projectiles for the M203 and M129 grenade launchers. Didn't know about the tank rounds but it makes sense.
 

popper

Well-Known Member
Interesting, what I shot was PC with Smoke's red, squeaking when seating. So, high neck tension, 9 gr unique. Single loaded - no real care, just pick up off bench and insert. Some actually jammed the throat, not lands. No tilting up to position powder. Definite vertical stringing was ME, left hand under the stock. Changed to sand bag under the stock (only change) - vert. went away. So did higher neck tension eliminate the powder position sensitivity? Cases were first from pin tumble so no old carbon 'lube'.
 

FrankCVA42

Active Member
Just remembered a mold that I bought from Walt Melander. 180 grain DD two cavity mold. two driving bands and one large lube groove. but the difference is that Walt cut the mold with a circular band right where the bullet transitions from straight to curved bullet nose. Haven't thought about that mold in years. Only reason I mentioned it is that in one of my forays into the attached garage is that I found one lone bullet in one of the drawers of my big tool box. Don't have a set of dial calipers handy but slightly shorter than Lyman's 314299 if that is any reference. With this stay at home quarantine these trips into the garage have actually become fun. Finding stuff I didn't know I had. Frank
 

CZ93X62

Official forum enigma
Blue for all ordinance training .
Interesting. A couple years back a friend and I were running the Bradshaw Trail from North Shore (Salton Sea) to Palo Verde (CA bank of Colorado River) in Jeeps. Fun ride. Its western end forms the north boundary of the old Chocolate Mountains Gunnery Range, which at the time was being rehabbed and rendered safe by the Navy and its contractors. In several spots along this roadway edge we saw piles of recovered practice bombs that looked like the aerial gifts we dropped on Hitler's (or Tojo's) heads during that 1939-1945 misunderstanding. Most of these were pretty ragged-looking, but they also had blue color coding that remained in place among the rust and dust that covered them. Historically, both the Salton Sea and Chocolate Mountains have been used by Navy aircraft for bombing and strafing practice runs, Chocolate Mountains until very recent times. Army armor did their training a bit further east and north, and at Chiriaco Summit there is a nice museum that contains memorabilia (including tanks) of that training era. RIP, General Patton.
 
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