30-30

[two bit okie]

I have just got my bullets ready and inventoried the powder.

boolet weight 144 gr and 142 gr plainbase flat point cast bullets

powders available 4895, 4350, 3031

cci large rifle

cases new unfired winchester.

Any suggestions before I go buy more powder. and if I have to get new, which powder is best for cast 144 and 142 gr bullets.

 

[flhr62]

I do not have a 30-30, but that seems like kind of odd bullet weights. I would have to think any of those powders would do well.

 

[Rick Courtright]

Hi,

Dunno if this is much help...

My old Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook shows nothing w/ any of your powders (most of the loads it shows are "pop gun" category w/ faster powders, including some shotgun/pistol powders, under 151 gr bullets.) I'm not sure if they've changed any of the recipes in newer editions.

An old RCBS cast bullet book shows IMR4895 w/ 150 gr bullets. It doesn't show any of the others you mentioned.

Lee's Modern Reloading (1st ed) has a section titled "150 gr bullet" where H4895 is their top recommendation, w/ H4350 a few notches down. No 3031 load appears there. I'm not sure what bullet that would be, as they go on to sections showing "150 gr jacketed" and "150 gr lead."

Lee's book has a formula for building cast bullet loads from jacketed data, and since they show IMR3031 as their top choice for the 150 gr. jacketed bullet, something satisfactory might be possible.

I've used IMR4198 and IMR3031 in other calibers using that formula, and both worked "ok" for casual plinking stuff. I haven't fine tuned anything using that formula, though.

Have you checked in w/ the Cast Boolit boys to see if they have anything interesting to report?

I don't like posting actual recipes, but if you PM me, I'll look to see what I have scanned from those books I can send you. I think I still have something from when a similar question came up a few months back.

Rick C

 

[Paul B]

I see a couple of problems here. First, if I understand your post correctly, your bullets are all plain based. Nothing wrong with plain based bullets but you top velocity will be somewhat restricted. I believe the powders you have may be a bit too slow burning for use with those bullets. Unique, #2400 and SR-4759 might be better choices. Not much data for your bullet weights but just use data for 150 gr. bullets and that should work just fine.
Here's a couple of loads from the Lyman cast bullet book.

Unique start: 7.5 gr. 1333 FPS 21,60 C.U.P. Max: 11.0 gr. 1691 FPS 37,300 C.U.P.

SR-4759 Start: 14.4 gr. 1529 FPS* 16,700 C.U.P. * load may be a bit too fast for a plain base bullet.Max: 18.0 gr. 1887 FPS 33,500 C.U.P.

I had to go way back to the first edition of the Lyman cast bullet books to find data for #2400 and even the starting load would have given too much velocity.
Assuming your bullets are store bought, measure the diameter. They should be at least .309" and preferably .310", especially if your rifle is a Marlin with Micro-groove rifling. Be sure to bell the necks a bit so that the bullets are not damaged when seated. It would pay to invest in a Lyman "M" die to do the belling, especially if you plan on shooting lots of cast bullets. FWIW, I don't shoot jacketed bullets at all in my 30-30 rifles, not even when deer hunting. But that takes bullets with a gas check and preferably 170 to 190 gr. I cast my own My bullets of choice for the 30-30 are the Lyman #311291 (175 gr.) and the RCBS #30-180-FN (190 gr.) loaded as close to full power as the gun will allow. I figure 15 deer with the Lyman bullet and two with the RCBS bullet is enough empirical data to call them good.
Paul B.