I just bought a .30 carbine and was wondering what your loading preferences were. I am thinking of using H110 just because I already use it for the 50AE. One of my friends said that he used to use unique when he reloaded for his but I haven't seen any reloading data for the unique powder. The .30 carbine is only listed in one of my reloading manuals.

Going by memory alone, here as I don't have my data in hand, I used 14.5-15grs of 296, and I think 14grs of 2400 both for the 110gr RNSP or FMJ.

I shoot it in both the Carbine and the Ruger BH, with the same loads. I have two Carbines and one is a bit more touchy about what the load is than the other, which is why I can remember just which was what.

My lyman 48 shows the following,
110gr JRN Sierra #2100 Barrel 20" Universal Receiver
2400 - 12.0 = 1765fps - 13.5+ = 1953fps
H-110 - 14.0 = 1935fps - 15.5 = 2079fps
AA-9 11.7 = 1805 - 13.0 = 1935fps
(+) = Compressed Load

Only load for Unique listed is with a cast bullet.

Hope this helps.

Have either of you(or anyone else) done any Hunting with the 30Carbine?

If so, what did you Hunt and how was the performance?

The reason I'm asking is that I have a buddy who is considering getting a 9-year old into Hunting. He is "concerned" about the 30Carbine having enough Energy when it gets to Game(me too).

quote:

Have either of you(or anyone else) done any Hunting with the 30Carbine?

The .30 carbine was one of the most fun guns I've ever owned.....I used it as a plinking gun and shot frogs, turtles, carp, and other things of roughage in the creeks.....had a ball with it. Darn reliable and for the distances I shot it (almost always less than 50 yards) it was accurate enough to make a splash in the area I was shooting.....that was 30+ years ago....I'd not do that today!

In Wisconsin it's legal for deer as any centerfire (.17 cal exempted) is legal. However only an expert hould use one as it's woefully lacking in "thwack"!

In an early attempt at gunsmithing I necked the little carbine case down to .243 caliber to improve it velocity but ruined the gun attempting to remove the barrel.....I twisted the action and trashed the gun. I never bought a new one becuse the stores of milsurp ammo was gone and it got to be too expensive to shoot the way I liked to.

Light, short, little recoil with a 20 round clip and a lot of small pests to shoot.....what's not to like.....until the price went up

Got my first deer, a button buck, with my mannlicher stocked M1 carbine, SP RN 110gr and imr4227.

Rich

HC,

When I was young we (kids in the family) used them to hunt our first deer with. However the deer in the areas we hunted then were pretty light weight, and we never shot more than 50 yds.

We used the 110gr RN's and the 110gr JHP's as well, but neither were better than the other.

Through the years most of the kids and grandkids in the family have gone through the same ritual. Light recoil plus accurate enough with a scope mounted to hit oranges or less at 50 yards easily. Not many deer have dropped from them since I was a kid but they wold still do I would imagine if the yardages were kept in check. No knock down what so ever.

I would suggest your friend look at the youth loads on the Hodgdon site and pick something with a little more teeth to be honest.

Thanks for the info, it basically reflects what we were both thinking. Where did you two hit the Deer - lung-to-lung - like an archer?

My buddy mentioned something about a Scope Mount for his 30 Carbine. But, I remember the stock on it being suitable for the Iron Sights. I can't imagine a 9-year old having a "face" large enough to get his cheek on the stock and still be able to see through the Scope. Looks like if it was low enough for the scope to be useful, it would interfer with Ejection. Is that all wrong?

And I agree with you Mike that a slightly more robust Cartridge would be a significant advantage.

Thanks Mike / Tx. I will stick with the H110 if I can find any more around here. I haven't been able to locate it around here but have located accurate and I load a few other rounds with it. I'm not sure I want to cast for it.
I found a box of ammo for it the other day and it is up to 38 buck a box for 50.

If the .30 Carbine is such a lightweight, why was it issued to troops in WWII and Korea? Seems you can barely kill a deer with it. Point to consider: Deer do not shoot back...

My Dad loved the Carbine.

He carried one from Africa to France.

He carried it until he saw a GI who had been shot in the chest by a sentry with a Carbine ride into camp on a jeep. The guy was laughing and joking about it.

That's when Dad traded the Carbine for a Springfield.

I use 14.2 gr H110 with 110 gr Rem SP. So far I've had 100% reliability and function with my Underwood Carbine -- S40

quote:

Originally posted by homebrewer:
If the .30 Carbine is such a lightweight, why was it issued to troops in WWII and Korea? Seems you can barely kill a deer with it. Point to consider: Deer do not shoot back...

It is my understanding that it was issued to officers in lieu of the .45 ACP in the colt 1911.

The military discovered that the average GI didn't shoot a handgun very well but did handle the carbine quite well...it's use was defensive and not offensive in nature.

'dog says,

quote:

It is my understanding that it was issued to officers in lieu of the .45ACP in the Colt 1911.

The military discovered that the average GI didn't shoot a handgun very well but did handle the carbine quite well...it's use was defensive and not offensive in nature.

I remember reading that it was a great penetrating round. Probably designed for wounding rather than killing. But then, would the Chi-comms bother to drag a wounded comrade back and fix him up? Or would they just let Hop Sing die where the'06 bullet hit him?

quote:

Originally posted by Hot Core:
Thanks for the info, it basically reflects what we were both thinking. Where did you two hit the Deer - lung-to-lung - like an archer?

Growing up the "kids" were all taught to aim for just behind the shoulder, and to wait for that shot. So yea just about all were lung/heart shot. There were a few that were hit here and there, and had to be tracked down, but the little bullets at the close ranges DID do a pretty good job. However 75yds was stretching it out a bit for penetration.

quote:

My buddy mentioned something about a Scope Mount for his 30 Carbine. But, I remember the stock on it being suitable for the Iron Sights. I can't imagine a 9-year old having a "face" large enough to get his cheek on the stock and still be able to see through the Scope. Looks like if it was low enough for the scope to be useful, it would interfere with Ejection. Is that all wrong?

The mount on ours sits pretty low, and has an angled tab which deflects the ejected rounds off to the right. Never had any issues with it working properly with the right loads. Now once we were playing around with it, and some different powder or bullets or something, and on the lower end it would stove pipe, and pop figured it was due to the deflector as the open sighted one shot the same loads fine. But then again, as mentioned above, we later found that one liked the loads a bit hotter than the other, probably due to the recoil spring being tighter.

quote:

And I agree with you Mike that a slightly more robust Cartridge would be a significant advantage.

Well, the "if it was good for the troops it is good enough for me" thing is great if your putting deer out of commission from fighting. The M1 was initially issued to folks like cooks and such so they had some means of defense. There were many reports of the bullets being lodged in the multiple layered uniforms of the enemy, never breaking skin until they were basically on top of the troops. Most who used them learned quick to shoot for the head. This was according to my pop.

quote:

Thanks Mike / Tx. I will stick with the H110 if I can find any more around here. I haven't been able to locate it around here but have located accurate and I load a few other rounds with it. I'm not sure I want to cast for it.
I found a box of ammo for it the other day and it is up to 38 buck a box for 50.

Well H-110 or 296 either or, they are the same nowadays, and I have used them both with the same results in the past. So if you find 296 you can check the Hodgdon site for their recommended load. Yea, they are a pricey ammo for sure. If your want some ball, for practice and cases to reload, I saw that Wiedner's had some for a halfway decent price.

Hey Mike, Thanks again. I'll send my buddy a link to this thread.

While the .30 carbine is capable of taking a WT deer, would have to agree w/previous posters that it is marginal but with a good deal of practice and holding shots to 50 yards or so the youngster should be able to get 'er done.

I mounted a red-dot on mine since I can no longer see iron sights. Great jackrabbit rifle and close range coyote stopper. The M1 carbine is a fun rifle to shoot and a couple of no-drill scope bases are available @ Brownell's.


The mount shown is a bit high but low recoil of the carbine allows placing side of chin on stock to provide very decent spot weld.


This is mount shown above:
.30 carbine scope mount

Another option:

Scout mount

Regards,
hm