I need some help loading for my .30-30. I plan to shoot it in the Cowboy Silhouette class. I plan to use a cast 165 grain flat nose. I only need about 1600 fps or so. I noticed that most of my manuals want to steer me toward one of the pistol powders. Most of the silhouette guys I know do this. Usually I try to stay away from powders that I can easily double charge but with as much as I hope to shoot this year it would make economic sense to do this.

Any ideas or favorite loads you'd like to share. One that I was interested in listed H110 which I buy anyway.

thanks,

Mike

z1r
I use a 30-30 load for cowboy at 200 meters consisting of a Lyman #31141 over 19gr. RL7 sparked with a CCI200 it will take down the rams ifin' I do my part.

Z1R, I would advise against using H-110 or Win. 296 in reduced loads. These are very good powders in maximum or near max revolver loads, but not so good in reduced loads. 16-18 grs of Alliant 2400 or IMR or Hodgdons 4227 will give you the velocity that you want and will be safe and consistent. Reduced loads in rifle cartridges with cast bullets usually result in an almost empty case, so extra care should be used when charging them with powder. I usually inspect powder levels with a flash light as a final step before seating bullets in a bottle neck case. The 30-30 is an excellent and fun cartridge to shoot with cast bullet loads, I have loaded everything from round balls at 1200 fps. to the Lyman 311041, 170 gr FN at 2000 fps, and obtained good accuracy. I really like the little Lee 115 gr FNGC at 1600 fps using 16 grs of 4227 for a light plinking, small game, training load for the kids. In fact I loaded some of those last night, using 7 grs of Green Dot. Green Dot is working out to be a very good powder for ultra light loads in almost empty cases, up to a velocity of around 1400 fps. Upwards of that, a slower powder like 4227 becomes useful.

I am rambling a bit here, but I hope this helps.

Regards, duke.

Red Dot

It bulks up so well that a double charge would be obvious, if possible. (It's too cold here for me to feel like going out to the shop and see exactly how much you can get in a .30-30 case.)

Somewhere in the 10-13 grain range ought to give you what you need.

Mike in regards to double chgs, the 'in hand rule' makes good sense. Prime all your cases, then drop the chg into the case and then go right to bullet seating. In essence-- the primed case is only 'open' for the time it takes to visually look at the level and then seat the slug. I've never [knock on wood] had a double chg using this routine.

Lots of powders do fine in the 30/30-- Unique and Blue Dot have worked for me. If your using PB's [plain base] bullets 1600 might be the upper range/limit for your bore.

I'm with aladin on charging. That's the only way I do it since I don't have a progressive press and it helps avoid double charges.

I'd also suggest IMR SR4759 in the .30-30 using 10-14 grains. It is bulky and provides the velocities you're looking for. Bulky is good because you don't have problems with powder position that you might have with less bulky powders.

H110 is inappropriate for this application.

Thanks everyone.

I'll give the "In Hand" method a shot. A buddy of mine that uses Unique almost exclusively in cast rifle loads turned me on to this technique.

Hodgdon lists H110 for cast bullet use in the .32-40 and my Speer manuals suggest 14-16 grains with a 165 grainer in the .30-30. I have lots on hand that's why I was interested.

I also have Blue Dot which I use in my .44Mag rifle cast loads. Aladin, how much Blue Dot are you using?

I'm really trying to avoid having to keep yet another powder on hand.

Thanks,

Mike

Mike I used 10-12 grs for 170 gr slugs. That 12 gr is a max to be worked up to-- this with checked bullets.

10 grs or so for PB's.

Aladin,

Thx.

I just got off the Alliant website and they list 13.0 grains behind a 152 cast for 1525 fps and 29,000 cup.

I think I'll try Bluedot. Now to settle on a starting charge weight.

By the way, is Blue dot position sensitive? Do you have to tip the case first or is the .30-30 case small enough that it doesn't matter?

Thanks again,

Mike

Thanks again Aladin.

I feel much better now.

Wish me luck!

-Mike

I'll second the Unique recommender. I used "U" almost exclusively for low speed loads for several yrs. It's referred to as one of the most versatile fuels there is. And that's as close to the truth as you'll find today.

I started with BD to make higher speeds shooten long range. From the low 1800's to mid 1900's in the 06. It does fine, but I will revisit the U sometime giving it a chance at LR too.

FWIW-- I rate 4759 as the best fuel for 19-2000 in the 06... 2400 is close but as stated burns dirty. Does that matter? I dunno...

Ok then, lets complicate this more. How much Unique are you using in the .30-30 with a 165?

I love U in all my handgun loads except for the .32 H&R mag. It likes H110 the best. For full steam .44 mag loads my Rugers have always liked 2400.

Thanks,

M

I would like to cast my vote for Green Dot.The acceptable charges occupy very little space in the case,and it would be easy to double charge
without noticeing it.Remember,carelessness is
one of the things that God keeps trying to weed from the gene pool.Anything that is potentially
dangerous should be double checked at minimum.
I have found Green Dot to be very insensitive
to position in the case and to be verv uniform in velocity.
I have used it with large pistol,large rifle,and magnum large rifle primers ,it works well with all of them.
It is very clean burning.
There is not much data published for Green Dot
in light loads for rifles ,but I believe that will change as more reloaders try it.

WC