.30 Carbine Reloading

[Barr]

What has been your experience reloading .30 carbine? I reloaded my first set of .30 carbine cartridges last night and was surprised by how thin the brass is and how sensitive to alignment it was. Two cases were crushed during belling and bullet seating.

Does anyone have any suggestions for crimping 110 grain RN? I crimped to 0.331/0.332 and an OAL of 1.680. All rounds cycled through the carbine action ok.

 

[Sam1911]

Do you have/use a flaring dies? Might want to adjust it down just a hair more to give you enough flare not to have to stress the alignment so much. I don't recall ever having crushed one.

I just crimp enough to remove the flair and then a touch more. Never measured it. Never had a single failure.

My favorite loads use the Sierra 125 gr. JHP-FPs.

 

[carbine85]

I haven't had any problems and find it to be a very easy case to reload. I'm using RCBS in a Piggyback press or the same dies in a cheap Lee pistol press.
Are you crimping? Sound like the dies aren't set up correctly.

 

[cfullgraf]

I also have no problems loading 30 carbine. I expand the mouth of the case just enough for the bullet to start for seating. Sit a bullet on the mouth of the case and there should be no space between the case and the bullet around the mouth.

Chamfering the case mouth allows for less mouth expansion.

I taper crimp in a separate step from seating, crimping only enough to remove the flare.

 

[HOWARD J]

I like to spread the money around
I use an RCBS resize die
Lee expander die
Hornady seater die
A CH taper crimp die

12 gr H110 lite load to 14 gr H110 heavy load ( 110 gr bullet )

Have fun

 

[ambidextrous1]

I have had no problems, but that small diameter bullet requires more careful placement than the larger pistol calibers. I frequently reload .32 Auto, so I have developed some skill in placing small bullets correctly.

Take it slow, don't watch the clock, and make each round better than the last one. Productivity increases as skill is acquired; don't force it.

 

[jcwit]

I reload 30 carbine by the thousands. I also reload them using my own cast lead bullets, tyhereby requiring a bell to the mouth of the case. But just bell enough to accept the bullet and no more. Slight crimp.

My dies are Lee
the press I use is a Lee Press. Not sure if it a cheap one or not, as I did not buy it, inexpensive maybe.

Have you checked your case length?

 

[JohnM]

As above, except that I usually use a set of RCBS steel dies.

 

[dnmccoy]

I'm using Lee dies and 110gr plated bullets with H110

 

[greyling22]

I'm rocking a 120grn LRN hard cast bullet and don't have any issues. I push it about 1450fps. Never had any issues with reloading it. Reloads like a 9mm. I even cheat and only size down about half way. They still cycle and I don't have to bother with case lube. I am fairly generous with both flare and crimp using lee dies.

 

[Barr]

I started loading the .30 carbine for the first time last night using Hornady dies in a Lee hand press. The rounds became better as I tweaked the dies. The resizing die required case lube to smoothly size the cases.

I have had a fair bit of experience loading about 15 other calibers but this one seems to finicky relative to the others.

 

[greyling22]

you need lube because it is not really a straight walled case like a 38. it's tapered like a 9mm and has a lot more resistance, particularly in a hand press.

 

[jcwit]

Yup you gotta lubne carbine cases to resize. Best bet is Unique case lube or Mink Oil.

 

[cfullgraf]

you need lube because it is not really a straight walled case like a 38. it's tapered like a 9mm and has a lot more resistance, particularly in a hand press.

30 Carbine case walls are straight, they just are not parallel.

Even the carbide die manufacturers recommend using lubricant in their 30 Carbine carbide sizer dies.

 

[greyling22]

bah! splitting hairs. by that thinking you could even say that bottleneck cases are straight. with a couple of bends.

 

[jcwit]

bah! splitting hairs. by that thinking you could even say that bottleneck cases are straight. with a couple of bends.

Bull, using that logic railroad tracks would NEVER work. hehe

Carbine cases are straight but not parallel. Fact, not splitting anything.

 

[SilentScream]

The only issue I've ever really had was getting the cartridge OAL correct using 110gr Xtreme plated bullets. Using Hornady & Speer FMJ's or SP's never had problems.

 

[Plain Old Bill]

SilentScream hit it on the nose, OAL is the key. Measure OAL AFTER case resizing but before belling.

 

[velocette]

Make sure that you are trimming the cases to proper length. The .30 carbine headspaces on the case mouth, like a .45acp. The .30 carb has a generously sized chamber & is well known to stretch the brass.
If your cases are too long, the bolt cannot close & lock all the way & you may get an unhappy kaboom. (as if there was a happy kaboom)

When I reload my .30 carb cases, they are full length resized, trimmed to length, case mouth chamfered inside & out, belled only enough to accept the bullet & taper crimped only enough to eliminate the bell.

Roger