Roundball fun with the 30-30

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Barbaroja

Barbaroja

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Howdy,
Just thought I’d share a bit of the fun I’ve been having with cast loads in my Savage 340 in 30-30.
I was testing a round ball load I made with a piece of Hornady #00 buckshot that I pushed through my .311” sizing die. They run about 53gn.
B3D3FD64-079F-4FC7-B503-B517B5A976C9.jpeg

I’m loading these on top of a charge of 5.4gn of unique with a winchester large rifle primer. Seating them until the sized section in completely down into the neck of the brass. 0A46C168-2A11-4655-B3FD-626ADB45869F.jpeg I then rubbed a little dab of Lee liquid alox on top of the round ball.
Here are my results at 25yds, off hand, standing. 5F64DBC7-49A1-4131-AE42-8FF1F9C0980E.jpeg
Very suprised and pleased with my results. I have yet to chronograph this load as I don’t yet own one but from what I’ve seen on the net from others this should be moving 1150-1200fps from a 20” barrel. I think with a little refinement I’ll have a real winner of a small game load.

Also shot some of my plinking load of 8.0gn of trailboss under a Lee 170gn fp, powder coated, no gas check.
AA66EBE1-9763-4461-95A3-17102DC23240.jpeg 78313095-41CC-468E-A501-0E5D72E90E79.jpeg
Looks like I need to adjust my sight a little bit. Just happy to get outside between rain storms. Have a good day!
 
Ah someone else doing things with the old 30-30 besides 150 and 170 grain bullets. My plinking load is a 135 grain coated cast flat point over 11.7 grains of Alliant 2400 powder. This was my first cast rifle load and took some help from the folks here to get sorted out.

I’ve heard of these round ball loads too but haven’t tried them. My next attempt will be either 30-30 Miniature or Short Range loads with either 115 grain cast or 110 grain FMJ bullets. I want to get away from 2400 as my limited supply is dedicated to my 357 magnum. The Miniature and Short Range can use W231. This information is solely based on posts from the Marlin Owners Forum so take it with a grain of salt and the link provided by some kind soul here.

Oddly I’m downloading 30-30 and stuffing the 357 to the rafters with powder. Full power loads in a 6 lb. rifle are too much, but full power in a handgun? Bring it on.
 
Barbaroja said:
Howdy,
Just thought I’d share a bit of the fun I’ve been having with cast loads in my Savage 340 in 30-30.
I was testing a round ball load I made with a piece of Hornady #00 buckshot that I pushed through my .311” sizing die. They run about 53gn.
View attachment 1050928

I’m loading these on top of a charge of 5.4gn of unique with a winchester large rifle primer. Seating them until the sized section in completely down into the neck of the brass.View attachment 1050929I then rubbed a little dab of Lee liquid alox on top of the round ball.
Here are my results at 25yds, off hand, standing. View attachment 1050930
Very suprised and pleased with my results. I have yet to chronograph this load as I don’t yet own one but from what I’ve seen on the net from others this should be moving 1150-1200fps from a 20” barrel. I think with a little refinement I’ll have a real winner of a small game load.

Also shot some of my plinking load of 8.0gn of trailboss under a Lee 170gn fp, powder coated, no gas check.
View attachment 1050932 View attachment 1050931
Looks like I need to adjust my sight a little bit. Just happy to get outside between rain storms. Have a good day!
Click to expand...
that looks like pure fun!
 
I have loaded 30 carbine FMJ bullets in 30-30 cases. A stout charge of 3031 really made them little suckers scream. They poked through a 6” cedar.

I now have 1000 110gr JSP that I intend to split between 30-30 marlin loads, 30-30 contender loads, and 30 carbine loads.

The buckshot loads are high on my to-do list.
 
I appreciate you sharing. I've got plans to work up a round ball load for the 30-30 myself.

I was going to use bullseye to start but might try unique now that I seen some real testing.

Do you have any leading? I wouldn't think a smear of LLA on the nose would move to the rifling.

Are you giving any crimp at all or just removing the flare? You using an Mdie?

I also have a lee 311-93-1r that I'm going to work with when I get the gumption.
 
Bazoo said:
I appreciate you sharing. I've got plans to work up a round ball load for the 30-30 myself.

I was going to use bullseye to start but might try unique now that I seen some real testing.

Do you have any leading? I wouldn't think a smear of LLA on the nose would move to the rifling.

Are you giving any crimp at all or just removing the flare? You using an Mdie?

I also have a lee 311-93-1r that I'm going to work with when I get the gumption.
Click to expand...
It’s a decent layer of alox on top of the round ball. F5A9CE1C-D532-4B84-93EE-1E317F63806E.jpeg
No leading to speak of. But I only fired 6 rounds today. In a hunting situation that’s likely 5 more than one would normally shoot if using them for shots of opportunity on small game while deer hunting for example.

I have 11 rounds left so I’ll try and get out in the next few days and see if I can try them out in small game. I’m confident they will work at least as well as a .22lr
 
Barbaroja said:
It’s a decent layer of alox on top of the round ball.
No leading to speak of. But I only fired 6 rounds today. In a hunting situation that’s likely 5 more than one would normally shoot if using them for shots of opportunity on small game while deer hunting for example.

I have 11 rounds left so I’ll try and get out in the next few days and see if I can try them out in small game. I’m confident they will work at least as well as a .22lr
Click to expand...
did you chrono it?

you should try to hot rod it
 
Bazoo said:
Shame that I can't use it for small game here in Ky. Nothing centerfire.
Click to expand...
I suppose that’s one positive of Washington, from everything I can find they only specify minimums for big game. Wouldn’t be the worst idea to call and clarify with WDFW first.


Mark_Mark said:
did you chrono it?

you should try to hot rod it
Click to expand...

I do not have a chronograph but hope to remedy that soon. The 1150-1200fps I quoted in my original post is from the info I used to load these, not my own numbers. If I was wanting to push something faster I’d probably need to cast my own roundball out of something a little harder than pure. At that point I think I would do better just casting a light weight 30 cal bullet. The roundball experiment was more to see if I could get it to work for me as I already had the buckshot on the shelf. I do plan to experiment a little more with them and maybe see how far they will shoot accurately. I did the testing at 25yds today as i think it’s a pretty common shot distance on small game.
 
Now that I’m thinking more about it, seeing as I haven’t chronographed them I’ll try shooting some boards tomorrow to see if they penetrate ok before trying to shoot a rabbit with them.
 
WestKentucky said:
I have loaded 30 carbine FMJ bullets in 30-30 cases. A stout charge of 3031 really made them little suckers scream. They poked through a 6” cedar.

I now have 1000 110gr JSP that I intend to split between 30-30 marlin loads, 30-30 contender loads, and 30 carbine loads.

The buckshot loads are high on my to-do list.
Click to expand...

I loaded some with a decent load of H335 to try for the same effect. The fireball is a problem. How is the accuracy with 3031?
 
That'll be interesting too.

Here in ky, for deer, anything centerfire is legal. They do have minimums for bear and elk.
 
DMW1116 said:
I loaded some with a decent load of H335 to try for the same effect. The fireball is a problem. How is the accuracy with 3031?
Click to expand...
I only did about 30 for load ladder and all of them shot nice enough. They shot high, but they shot small 5 shot groups. I still have the info packed away in my boxes of gear and plan to do more if I can ever get a bench set up at this house. I shot from the Y in the driveway across the bed of a pickup and the range was about 40 yards. Groups were all easily under an inch. No pressure signs, no keyholing, everything looked good for further testing at the top of that load spectrum.
 
Barbaroja said:
Now that I’m thinking more about it, seeing as I haven’t chronographed them I’ll try shooting some boards tomorrow to see if they penetrate ok before trying to shoot a rabbit with them.
Click to expand...
I think you should cast some super hard cast and see how far you can push it! would probably make a great varmint round
 
Barbaroja said:
Now that I’m thinking more about it, seeing as I haven’t chronographed them I’ll try shooting some boards tomorrow to see if they penetrate ok before trying to shoot a rabbit with them.
Click to expand...
I think you’re going to be surprised how good they are for small to medium game. Round ball in a rifle is just plain fun!:)
 
Cool, looks like good grouse and rabbit loads while you're out on the deer hunt. Your gun is on my "had one once, regret getting rid of it, and will get another one if I every have a chance" list.
 
troy fairweather said:
I've done this before and it's good fun, if done today I would definitely powder coat them.
Click to expand...
I've done everything from paper-patch to hard wax and it didn't seem to make a lot of difference in either leading or accuracy - although, I do think paper-patching is something of a dark art and it never hurts to keep one's hand in practice. Short story, run them through a sizing die to get .310" flats then keep the velocity under 1100fps and they won't lead or skate; over that 1100fps threshold it becomes a little more unpredictable. Past 1500fps it's a good bet you will see either skating or leading, probably both, but it's not an absolute even then. Depends on too many variables. A supersonic roundball is a hoot to play with, fore sure, and quite a sight to see post-impact. Kind of like the old penny on the railroad tracks game: will it spatter, flatten, or take off like tiny deadly frisbee? (as kids we all secretly hoped for the frisbee thing;))
 
DMW1116 said:
30-30 is the only rifle caliber I’ve seen people tinker with like this. Does anyone do this kind of thing with 308 or 30-06?
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Not a whole lot. With that big of a case it’s really hard to keep velocity down and be reliable. 30-30 is a decent sized case but it’s still small enough that it can be used for ultralight loads without losing reliability. In a case that’s 80% air you get a lot of wierd ignitions from position sensitive loads.
 
WestKentucky said:
Not a whole lot. With that big of a case it’s really hard to keep velocity down and be reliable. 30-30 is a decent sized case but it’s still small enough that it can be used for ultralight loads without losing reliability. In a case that’s 80% air you get a lot of wierd ignitions from position sensitive loads.
Click to expand...

I shoot a gallery load in 30-06, a 118 grain cast, gas checked bullet that is likely intended for 30 carbine over 12 grains of Unique. I get 1 inch groups or so at 50 yards. Don't own a chrono, but the loading data in the lyman cast book suggests perhaps 1600 FPS. Recoil is negligible. I have only shot it at paper, but I would think the flat nose and velocity would make it a bit much for small game.
 
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