.30 Carbine w/ a progressive press?

[zxcvbob]

Does anyone reload .30 Carbine with a progressive press? How do you do it -- do you run them twice?

1) Size, decap, bell the case mouths.
2) Tumble to remove lube (if you used lube.)
3) Measure the lengths and trim any that are too long.
4) Run them thru the press again to prime, drop the powder, and seat/crimp the bullets.

Maybe I'll stick to loading these on the single-stage press rather than buy another shell plate.

 

[ReloaderFred]

I process the brass on my Rockchucker, sizing and decapping. Then I tumble to remove the lube, clean primer pockets, trim and then reprime. After it's prepped, then I run it through my progressive. Some will say it's not necessary to do it that way, but it's the way I prefer to do it.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[strat81]

Some will say it's not necessary to do it that way, but it's the way I prefer to do it.

I'm still a relative n00b, but that's the way I do it too. At least I'm in good company!

 

[EddieCoyle]

I load it just like a pistol cartridge. I lube the cases in a ziplock bag with One_shot, then run them through my progressive press as if I was loading pistol rounds. I haven't found trimming to be necessary.

 

[Grandpa Shooter]

The M1 Carbine was developed as an officer's sidearm from the .38 long of the day. Reloading it is essentially the same as reloading .38 special or .357 mag. Doesn't take anything special or any special procedure. I personally use carbide dies so i don't worry about a lot of lube since it just makes things messy. Relax and enjoy. Good shooting my friend.

 

[zxcvbob]

Reloading it is essentially the same as reloading .38 special or .357 mag. Doesn't take anything special or any special procedure.

Respectfully disagree. .38 and .357 are straight walled cases. .30 Carbine is a long tapered cartridge, and the metal flows forward during resizing. If you don't trim them, they can jam up a Ruger Blackhawk (annoying but not dangerous) or can fire out-of-battery in a carbine when the the too-long case keep the bolt from locking (can ruin your whole day.)

They don't all lengthen at once; there doesn't seem to be any pattern to it. I use the cylinder from my RBH as a case gauge, and I always end up trimming about 10% of the cases -- and a few of them need to be trimmed significantly.

 

[ReloaderFred]

They do tend to "grow" more than pistol or revolver rounds. I find the need to trim them quite regularly myself, and just make it part of my routine for this caliber.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[Grandpa Shooter]

I respectfully acknowledge your disageement with my statement about reloading .30 carbine. I own an original WW II M1 which I handle carefully and shoot occasionally. I am deliberate and cautious with reloading everything and therefore do not build loads anything close to max pressure and so do not get the usual amount of creep. Under the conditions and methods I use, I have yet to have a round jam or action lock up. The only time that has happened is when I purchased some Israeli .308 that was so hot it locked up my Navy Arms .308 Enfield but was perfect for my buddies FN.

We all load for different reasons and with different methods. Since it is not a bottle necked case I do not treat it as one in my approach. I shoot handguns for fun and self defense and rifles for long range accuracy. Historical pieces I own just for the beauty of them.

 

[silverlance]

how many times do you go before you dsicard a case? five?

 

[EddieCoyle]

They don't all lengthen at once; there doesn't seem to be any pattern to it. I use the cylinder from my RBH as a case gauge, and I always end up trimming about 10% of the cases -- and a few of them need to be trimmed significantly.

Wow. Thanks for the tip. I bought a couple thousand "pulled" Lake City cases that are now on their first or second loading and I didn't even think to check case length after measuring some of the initial batch.

How many times are you able to load the cases?

 

[41 Mag]

I was brought into shooting and hunting using a M1 Carbine and taylored handloads. My dad had a ton of ball ammo that we practiced with, and he matched up the load prety well using Sierra 110gr RNSP's and 14grs of 2400.

He loaded them one at a time on an old Herters press. When I get ready to do a bunch, I will generally tumble several hundred at a time to get them nice and shiney. Then I will run them through my progressive using on the size/decap die. After this they hit the trimmer for a quick face off. After which they are run through the rest of the loading operation. I set the expander to only touch the lip of the case enough so that I can just barely feel the difference using my fingernail on the lip. Most of the cases I have had to discard were from a split neck and were loaded no telling how many times. I use carbide dies but still shoot them with a quick shot of spray lube, depending on if they were shot in the rifle or in my revolver. The rifle chamber is larger so they get a little more worked when sizeing them. The pistol cases I simply run them throug and trim. If lubed they get the tumbler once more.

My press is an older RCBS 4x4 and makes quick work of several hundered rounds. My trimmer is a RCBS Trim PRo power trimmer, using their three way cutter which trims and deburs in the same operation. Very nice for bulk trimming. Generlly I use the same old load of 2400 but recently I have worked up some using 296 as well. THe bullets I have found to shoot the best were Speer in my rifles and I use the Speer #1835 in my Ruger.

As of late, the grandson gets most of the trigger time behind the rifles, and I have enough loaded to hold him over for quite a while. I drag out the revolver from time to time just to carry around for snakes when doing work in the country. Hate to have to use it but it works great even on bigger critters.

Good luck and have fun.

 

[zxcvbob]

How many times are you able to load the cases?

Just one with a load I was working up and I started out too hot. Nothing bad happened, but the primers literally fell out afterwards.

I generally reuse them until the primer pockets get loose or the case mouth splits (usually it's the primer pocket.) I have a couple of hundred cases from new commercial ammo that I bought, and I keep it seperate, but mostly I'm shooting mixed "once fired" (yeah, right) brass that I bought a bucketful of a years ago and I have no idea how many times it's been fired.

I would probably be more careful about counting my loads if I was shooting a Carbine. I doubt that even a case head seperation would be all that dangerous in a revolver (but I don't really wanna find out.) And the revolver has *very* tight chambers, so the brass doesn't get worked as much.

 

[dogrunner]

I have loaded .30 carbine for years on my 550 Dillon.....SSRP & 12.5 of 2400, pushing a hard cast Lyman gc, nominally 120 gr's.

Its as simple a loading as any straight walled pistol case, but due the springiness of some of the old military brass I have I opted for Lee's factory crimp die for the final pass. I really ought to anneal some of that stuff, but I've so much of it that I just toss the crap that doesn't resize properly.

Note that I shoot mine in an M2, selective fire model and have good success with both accuracy and cycling.