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Old November 5, 2008, 06:08 PM   #1
Sevens
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.30 Carbine at the load bench

Let's talk a bit about reloading the .30 Carbine. Most folks who go through the bother are loading for milsurp carbines, especially with the recent popularity of the DCM program and all the carbines that folks are getting a hold of.

I'm not loading for a carbine, but rather for a Ruger Blackhawk.

But that shouldn't make a big difference-- I'd like to talk about both powders and bullets for this caliber and I'd LOVE to hear anyone's/everyone's input.

The common bullets are the 100 grain Plinker and Short Jacket rounds, and then the 110 grain FMJ and SP's.

Common powders are IMR-4227, H110, 2400 and AA#9. At my bench, I have had great luck with 8.0 grains of Blue Dot pushing either 100 or 110 grain pills. I've also done quite well with IMR-4227 at 13.0-14.0 grain charges.

Here's what I'd like some input and ideas on:

1) Other powders. I get good groups with a decent blast and no trouble with sticky brass when I use Blue Dot. So, I'd like to try some AA#7 which also works well in other calibers that work well with Blue Dot. I'd also be interested in trying some light charges of Titegroup. Power Pistol? I've never seen any data ANYWHERE to support these powders. Other powders? I've seen data for H4198, but with 14-grain charges, that doesn't interest me a whole lot.

2) Sources for bullets. Where do you guys buy these pills in bulk? I'm seeing them for $13-$20 per hundred, and that's too expensive for my tastes. I'm not shooting matches with this stuff, so I'd be thrilled to find some pulldowns from old milsurp. Anyone have some sources?

3) Cast bullets-- anyone go this route in .30 Carbine? I know you can find info on casting these on the cast boolit sites, but I'm not interested in casting just yet. What I'd like is a source for cast bullets in this caliber, and they'd likely need to be good and hard to be driven at the speeds the .30 Carbine toys with, 1500+ fps. Penn Bullets list them as a product, but he's got all the non-standard stuff listed as UNAVAILABLE as he's struggling to fill overdue orders. Who else offers hard cast .30 Carb pills from 100 to 120 grains, and does anyone handload 'em?

I've run the searches on this forum, I've seen the canned data from some of the popular handload sites. That's fine, but I'd like to hear what real folks are rolling at their bench.

So let's talk some .30 Carb!
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Old November 5, 2008, 06:48 PM   #2
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Sevens,
I load for my Inland .30 Carbine.
Powders I've used:
Win 296
IMR4227
Unique
Alliant 2400
Hodgdon H110

Bullets I've tried:
Remington 110 gr. round nose
Speer 110 gr. HP Varminter
Lyman Cast spitzer 113 gr. #311359 (Cast my own ww/lino gas-checked.)

Most accurate load in my carbine has been 14.4 gr. Win 296 with Speer 110 gr. HP Varminter. Military brass I bought from Jeff Bartlett (GIBrass.com), and I just use Winchester small rifle primers.

I've got some Sierra 110 gr. HP bullets that I felt would be accurate, but they are too long for magazine fit.

I've heard that Luger .30 93 gr. pistol bullets work well in the .30 Carbine. Haven't tried that yet. Hope this helps.
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Old November 5, 2008, 09:04 PM   #3
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I ran reduced loads of 296 and never noticed the warning not to run reduced loads of 296. Oh, well. So, I will not share the loads but they made my Blackhawk much easier to shoot, and still cycled the carbine. Reduced loads mean less disturbance at the range, 'cause factory loads from the Blackhawk are a definite attention getter.

Lee
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Old November 5, 2008, 09:42 PM   #4
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AA-7, Herco, and 2400 are all good powders in .30 Carbine for a Blackhawk. (I tried Blue Dot and didn't like it.)

I shoot mostly 100 grain and 115 grain cast bullets. I stocked up on Magnus cast bullets from MidsouthShootersSupply.com a few years ago, and also tried some .312 RNFP's from mastercastbullets.com, resized down to .309". I think I like the RNFP's the best.

My Blackhawk tends to have sticky extraction even with modestly-loaded rounds, so I don't shoot it that much (that's why I can't recall any load data off the top of my head, but maybe I can look some up later.) Maybe I need to polish the chambers.
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Old November 6, 2008, 09:24 AM   #5
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I've been trying to load cast bullets, 98, 110 gr to lower velocities witout much luck in my BH. I am trying to get a load that can be used for small game hunting without all of the muzzle blast. I have been trying a lot of pistol powders but cannot get the desired accuracy. Shooting full power loads, I am able to keep the bullets all in the black, but ya better have ear protection on. I have just obtained a mold to cast 125 gr bullets and will be trying that next.
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Old November 6, 2008, 11:00 AM   #6
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http://hunting.about.com/od/guns/l/aastruger30bh.htm
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Old November 6, 2008, 05:07 PM   #7
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I can tell you that a full load of H-110 in a .30 Carbine fired from a Blackhawk can seriously damage unprotected ears. One round.
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Old November 6, 2008, 05:56 PM   #8
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I prefer 2400 for the .30 carbine, it's clean and accurate.
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Old November 6, 2008, 09:03 PM   #9
T. O'Heir
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The Lyman Pistol and Revolver Handbook has .30 Carbine handgun data. Both cast and jacketed data. Up to a 130 grain cast bullet. They used a Blackhawk to their tests. E-mail me, I'll send it to you. [email protected]
Don't have a .30 Carbine handgun. My carbine loves IMR4227 and a Speer 110 grain HP with regular small rifle primers, exclusively.
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Old November 6, 2008, 09:46 PM   #10
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Automag III. I'm loading 13.7 grs H110 under a Speer Varminter bullet. OAL is extremely critical for this pistol to get the accuracy out of it. It shoots tiny holes at 50 yds. So far, it's been an incredibly accurate shooter. For the M1's, I'm using 15.0 grs H110 under a Remington 110 SP. They will kill a coyote! I've also run some 88 gr Luger FMJRN pistol bullets thru them and accuracy was decent but in my opinion, too light for hunting.
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Old November 7, 2008, 11:22 AM   #11
Sevens
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Good stuff so far--
As for Blue Dot, works great for me. I simply use the rifle cylinder in my Hornady powder measure rather than the pistol chamber-- instead of the small tube adjusted out for a heavy charge, I use the BIG tube adjusted quite a way down for a small charge. My powder measure is pretty consistent with Blue Dot when I use it this way. I even keep a note stickied to my bottle of Blue Dot to remind me. 8.0 grains with either a 100 or 110 grain jacketed bullet performs well for me. Blue Dot is cheap and 8.0 grains is a little more than half of what many of the others call for. I won't go as far as to say it's the best powder, but it sure does work pretty well for me.

cobra81 -- you said you've used Unique. Was that in cast loads only, or with jacketed rounds? I'd like to hear a powder charge and bullet used with Unique.

zxcvbob -- sticky chambers, no doubt. Factory rounds give me trouble, but my Blue Dot loads don't give me much hassle. I've seen them go sticky as the powder charge goes up with IMR-4227. Lighter load, less sticky. I've tried to really scrub my chambers and with a very light abrasive like Flitz. I also keep a short cleaning rod and some patches in the range kit to combat the sticky chambers. I do agree that some polishing is the answer. In your post you said that AA#7 is a good powder... but WHERE do I start? I like to see at least one published somewhere rather than just wing it, but I've never seen one published or even posted with AA#7. Have you? Where would you start for 110 grain jacketed round and AA#7?

Hook686 -- thanks for the link, a good read. Does peeve me off when some gun writer somehow "finds" a gun in his safe he bought and forgot that he owns. Jealous... sure. That's obnoxious! But a good read.

wncchester -- Yup, it's a hellish loud caliber/handgun combo. No doubt. This is the prevailing opinion across the globe. The terms "Blackhawk" and ".30 Carbine" almost never appear in the same conversation without some or many people talking about the blast and noise. For me, doesn't bother me in the slightest because I don't shoot anything without my ear protection. Others may be subjected to it when hunting, but for me, it's a non-issue.

T. O'Heir -- I asked for and got your e-mail in the past, so thanks for that.

In all, good stuff in this thread. I'm still looking for more sources for bullets... seems I can get 500 FMJ or JSP from Midway for around $60 or so, that's $12 per hundred before shipping. I'd like to do better but I might be dreaming.

Still hoping someone has a better source for slugs for this caliber.

The blast, lack of recoil and accuracy of the Blackhawk in .30 is an absolute joy. The case prep at the reloading bench is a real hassle. The lack of data and discussion is a little annoying... seems to me that it's a pretty popular caliber.

As for the Blackhawk, I'd love it if it were a 5 1/2 barrel rather than this monster 7 1/2, but I think you'd give up quite a bit of performance in those two inches given that the round was developed for a carbine length rifle barrel.
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Old November 7, 2008, 11:25 AM   #12
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Forgot Loader9 -- the AutoMag III, really cool. I've been enamored with them since the day they came out. I likely wouldn't ever buy one because I'm already chasing enough flung brass, I'd rather send 'em out of a revolver. But cool-- without a doubt. I'd love to put a box of ammo through one. Really slick platform for a cool cartridge.

BTW... CDNN lists new factory mags for the AutoMag III on their site, $29.99 each. Don't know if you need any, but I don't recall a lot of folks stocking these magazines.
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Old November 8, 2008, 09:25 AM   #13
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Anyone who has Hodgdon's 2008 powder guide has seen that they list a "Relative Burn Rate" chart. It's 117 different retail powders made from all the familiar names listed in order from fastest to slowest burning.

For example, Red Dot is at #6, Clays is at #7, Bullseye is #9, Titegroup is #10, etc. Down at the bottom is Hodgdon H50BMG at #115, Hodgdon US859 #116, etc.

Number 40 is Alliant Blue Dot.
Number 41 is AA#7.
Number 42 is Longshot.
Number 44 is Alliant 2400.

There's gotta be a good load for Accurate #7 in .30 Carbine with 100 and 110 grain bullets. I guess I've gotta shoot an e-mail to Accurate!
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Old November 8, 2008, 09:50 AM   #14
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It's been years...........

It's been years since I reloaded anything for my .30 Carbine, but I seem to recall mine liked IMR4227 with Hornady 110 gr. FMJ & CCI small rifle primers.
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Old November 8, 2008, 10:29 AM   #15
zxcvbob
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Consider this to be maximum data and work up towards it:
Attached Files
File Type: txt 30Carbine#7.txt (13.0 KB, 650 views)
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Old November 11, 2008, 09:11 AM   #16
Sevens
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That's some pretty cool software. No doubt that most of the output is well over my head, but I can get an idea of what it's doing. Interesting to see how the pressure peaks. Will that software let you plug in oddball things that you would NEVER try, just to see how the numbers and pressures bear out?

Anyhow, wanted to update this thread as I got an e-mail from Johan Loubser, Ballistician at Ramshot/Accurate Powders yesterday. I gave him all the pertinent info including caliber, bullet, firearm, barrel length, COAL and the purpose of the load and he returned info suggesting I try between 9.9 and 11.0 grains of AA#7 with a 110 grain bullet in .30 Carbine.

Hope to try it soon.
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Old November 11, 2008, 10:11 AM   #17
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Quote:
Will that software let you plug in oddball things that you would NEVER try, just to see how the numbers and pressures bear out?
Yes, although I assume the simulation falls apart at ridiculously extreme loads. For example, a compressed load of a dense moderately-fast powder (AA#5 or Titegroup) in a .308 rifle case.
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