Favorite brass for 30-30?

Toprudder

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Getting ready to work up some more test loads for 30-30, and in looking at the brass that I have on hand, the majority of it is RP. I have a lot of FC and Winchester as well. I was wondering if anyone the loads 30-30 has a favorite, or one that they won't use at all.
 
Curious on this my self. Threw together a load last year with Hornady brass, Hornady FTX bullet and superformance powder (can't remember charge weight). It was horrible. Had already decided to us an AR for hunting season so I left it alone.

Interested in anyone's accuracy and or hunting loads....
 
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I can relay some of my experience with 30-30.

Best powder I found was 3031. It measures for crap but grouped up really nice in both my Marlin and Savage.
I used Speer deep curl JSP, I think they were 150gr.

Headspace with the 30-30 is voodoo.
It's rimmed, but has a shoulder.
Fireformed brass still passes my wilson case guage...WTF?

Based on my testing, 30-30 chamber sizes are all over the map.

I would recommend you load jacketed bullets because removing the bell from 30-30 is an act of god.
The case mouth is so thin, it buckles just by looking it it.

I used my FL resize die to remove the bell (backed way off, just kissing the case mouth), since the seat/crimp die simply doesn't work for removing the bell without buckling the case.

All the above is based off using my case guage. The actual chamber dimensions may be loose as a goose in comparison.

I own ONE Lee FCD and it is for 30-30.

Regarding brass brand, whichever one has the thickest neck would be preferred.
I trimmed some of mine to minimum in an effort to get into the thicker material.
 
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Most often I use Winchester brass when loading 30-30. I have a lot of once-fired Winchester brass on hand from back when I didn't reload. I've reloaded Remington and Federal brass too, and also had good results.

I typically don't reload the Hornady brass, because I've noticed some of it has a crimped primer pocket.

My regular load for 30-30 is a 150gr Winchester bullet loaded in a Winchester case, with Winchester primer. IMR 30-31 powder. 28.2gr, if memory serves. I'd have to check my notes back home to be sure.

I've used Speer and Remington bullets before, and still got good results.
 
Best powder I found was 3031. It measures for crap but grouped up really nice in both my Marlin and Savage.
Good to hear about the 3031 powder, I just picked up a pound of that to try. I also have heard good things about LeverRevolution powder, so I have a pound of that as well.

Headspace with the 30-30 is voodoo.
It's rimmed, but has a shoulder.
Fireformed brass still passes my wilson case guage...WTF?
If it is the typical Wilson gauge, it is a headspace gauge. They are designed so fired brass can be inserted and the length from the shoulder to the head can be measured, to see how much they stretch with firing. This allows one to figure out how much to set the shoulder back for a given gun. Which leads to the "voodoo" aspect of 30-30 that you mention.

Using my Wilson gauge, I found that the distance from the shoulder to the head was stretching a lot when fired in my gun. I adjusted the sizing die out so that my brass won't stretch as much. So yes, 30-30 headspaces on the rim, but care with bumping the shoulder only as much as needed should lead to longer case life, just as it does with normal bottleneck cases that headspace on the shoulder.

I own ONE Lee FCD and it is for 30-30.
I have the Lee dies, so I do have the FCD.

Speaking of Lee dies, I had a problem with the Lee seating die causing a lot of run-out. The floating seating stem of the Lee design works well with long pointed bullets, but no so well with round or flat nose bullets. I ended up getting a Wilson chamber style seating die that cured the problem. I liked it so much that I picked up one for 223 and one for 308.

Most often I use Winchester brass when loading 30-30. I have a lot of once-fired Winchester brass on hand from back when I didn't reload. I've reloaded Remington and Federal brass too, and also had good results.
Good, I have plenty of those that you mention.

I played with loading 30-30 a year ago. I tried two powders and three bullets. Powders I tried were H4895 and W748. Bullets were Hornady 150 RN, Missouri coated 165 WT, and Xtreme plated 150FN. I was looking mainly for a plinking load with the Missouri and Xtreme bullets. Since I don't have a scope on the rifle (old Win 94) accuracy testing was not conclusive, but the best appeared to be the Hornady w/ 34.0gn of W748, at 2191fps.

I think I will revisit the Hornady 150RN bullets again, with both 3031 and LVR powders. I will also check the neck thickness to see if any of them stand out.
 
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So, I worked up some test loads last night, using both 3031 and Lever Revolution. Six charge levels for each. Winchester brass for the 3031, and FC brass for the LVR. Both sets are Hornady 150 RN, which are the most appropriate bullets I have right now. Hopefully I will get a chance to shoot them tomorrow at FLD.
 
So, I worked up some test loads last night, using both 3031 and Lever Revolution. Six charge levels for each. Winchester brass for the 3031, and FC brass for the LVR. Both sets are Hornady 150 RN, which are the most appropriate bullets I have right now. Hopefully I will get a chance to shoot them tomorrow at FLD.

How close to book max did you get?

I found that as case volume decreased, group size decreased.
30-30 was designed for very early smokless powder, so the case is very generous.
That can lead to some funky burn patterns that can drive a fella crazy.
 
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Don't have that data with me at the moment, and I don't remember the numbers off the top of my head. I worked the 3031 loads in increments of 0.5gn, so a total of 2.5gn range. There wasn't as much load data for LVR, especially with the Hornady 150 RN bullet, so I was a little more conservative with that. I worked up in increments of 0.7gn, starting in the mid-range of the lowest data that I had. If you can believe the published load data (LOL) I should get 200fps more velocity with the LVR powder. We will see.

After I fire these in my rifle, I will measure the case volume to compare the Winchester to the Federal.
 
Don't have that data with me at the moment, and I don't remember the numbers off the top of my head. I worked the 3031 loads in increments of 0.5gn, so a total of 2.5gn range. There wasn't as much load data for LVR, especially with the Hornady 150 RN bullet, so I was a little more conservative with that. I worked up in increments of 0.7gn, starting in the mid-range of the lowest data that I had. If you can believe the published load data (LOL) I should get 200fps more velocity with the LVR powder. We will see.

After I fire these in my rifle, I will measure the case volume to compare the Winchester to the Federal.


Sorry, I was not clear in my post.

When I say case volume, I mean how much "air" or unfilled case was left after dropping powder and seating the bullet?

My best accuracy was achieved with the load that had the least unused case volume.

Damn that's hard to explain for some reason.

With long cut extruded powders (Varget, 4064 etc) I would say your not shooting tight groups until you start hearing the crunch.
 
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I use lever revolution and it works great. For fun, lead cowboy loads with trail boss. It's my funnest gun bar none. pew pew on a piece of steel at 100yrds. Cases could be made by burger king and I wouldn't know the difference.
 
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When I say case volume, I mean how much "air" or unfilled case was left after dropping powder and seating the bullet?

My best accuracy was achieved with the load that had the least unused case volume.

Damn that's hard to explain for some reason.

With long cut extruded powders (Varget, 4064 etc) I would say your not shooting tight groups until you start hearing the crunch.

Oh, ok, "case fill". Understood. However, I did see a difference in 44mag recently, where there was a big difference in case capacity, the lower capacity case had the better numbers. I know exactly what you mean about Varget, in 223 I am always hearing the "Varget crunch".

One source of load data for LVR (Hodgdon website) showed a compressed load with 38.5gn. That was with a Sierra bullet, though, and seemed high compared to the other sources I had, so I stayed lower than that for now. Depending on the results at the range, I may work up some higher loads later.

Since I am just working with iron sights right now, I am not going to get all hung up with tiny group sizes, I just want something reasonably consistent.

I use lever revolution and it works great. For fun, lead cowboy loads with trail boss. It's my funnest gun bar none. pew pew on a piece of steel at 100yrds. Cases could be made by burger king and I wouldn't know the difference.
You know, I've got some plated Xtreme 150 FN that I need to use up, I may load some up with Trailboss that I can shoot at the indoor range, just to play with.
 
Made it out to the range today and was able to shoot my test loads. I only shot 3 rounds of each charge, and my eyes have a hard time with the standard rear buckhorn sight, so the accuracy numbers may be statistically insignificant, but I was very happy with the results of both 3031 and LeverRevolution.

3031, Winchester once-fired, WLR primers, Hornady 150RN bullets. Shot at 50 yards, 20" barrel.
28.0gn, 2010.3fps, 29.8sd, 1.5"
28.5gn, 2018.0fps, 29.1sd, 1.2"
29.0gn, 2045.3fps, 16.9sd, 2.5"
29.5gn, 2056.3fps, 17.1sd, 2.0"
30.0gn, 2079.7fps, 12.0sd, 1.1"
30.5gn, 2125.7fps, 27.1sd, 3.1"

LeverRevolution, FC once-fired, WLR primers, Hornady 150RN bullets. Shot at 50 yards, 20" barrel.
33.0gn, 2135.7fps, 28.1sd, 2.1"
33.7gn, 2212.7fps, 9.5sd 2.25"
34.4gn, 2214.3fps, 7.2sd, 1.3"
35.1gn, 2259.3fps, 8.4sd, 1.7"
35.8gn, 2324.3fps, 24.6sd, 2.1"
36.5gn, 2373.3fps, 18.8sd, 3.7"

There were no pressure signs at all, and actually there was indication of low pressure with the LVR loads. I was cautiously low with those, so I think I may work up some higher loads. I think there may be another accuracy node hiding up there.

Can't say that I prefer one headstamp over the other, they both looked fine after firing. I will take a closer look with my case headspace gauge and see how much they stretched.

The real fun started later when I shot my new Rossi 20" 44mag, but that belongs in another thread. I will say that I was getting very close to the same muzzle energy (1600 ft/lbs) with the 44 that I was getting with the 30-30. My shoulder will be sore in the morning.
 
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