110 grain bullet in .30 Luger

[Death from Afar]

Hi all,

I am having real problem in finding a load for this old girl. I have acquired a pile of 110 M1 carbine bullets which are cheap compared to other projectiles. Pretty much everywhere says that you can go up to 110 grains, but I cant seem to find a load that will function? Anyone had any luck?

[mwells72774]

Look for the Hornady 85gr that's made for the 30. I got some from graf's for $16/100. You can sell the carbine projectiles for more than that.

I had to deal with the same issue for 7.62 tok.

[Death from Afar]

Hey thanks for that- but the problem is where I live. We are at the end of a very long supply chain and more "oddball" projectiles here are rare and expensive.

[mwells72774]

Heck let me send you a PM.

[jag2]

What do you mean by I cant seem to find a load that will function? It won't cycle or you just don't like it? I've used those bullets in 30 Mauser loads that I shoot in a Broomhandle and a Yugo M57, no problems, and you're right they are a lot cheaper.

[Death from Afar]

Hey Jag2, no what i mean is no loading manuals or online reloading forums have a 110 grain .30 luger load listed. I did however email a blogger who had experimented and he has emailed me back a load to start developing from. Regards.

[kilimanjaro]

You are going to be a lot better off sticking with published loads and 86 grain bullets than you will be if you overpressure your antique Mauser by cheaping out trying to save $16 and using blogger-certified reloading data.

Rule No. 1 of Reloading : Don't Screw Around.
Rule No. 2 : Nothing is hard to find or unavailable.

[jag2]

As always, you make your on decisions. The Lee manual does not list the 110 for 30 Mauser but does for the 7.62 Tokarev which is 99% the same except it is for newer stronger guns. You can shoot 30 Mauser in 7.62 guns because it is a lower pressure round but you shouldn't run 7.62 thru a 30 Mauser gun, but it is done. Accurate #5 is listed for 100 grn for the Mauser and 110 grn for the 7.62. I don't remember all the steps I went thru but found a nice load for the 30 Mauser using the 110 bullet. When it was all said and done, 30 Mauser is one of the most difficult rounds I have found to reload because of the short neck. It is very hard to get the neck tension just right to hold the bullet in place. I'm guessing the 30 Luger is very similar. Have fun.

[tangolima]

.30 Luger or .30 Mauser? They are not the same.

Can't help with .30 Luger, but I did .30 Mauser with 110gr m1 carbine bullets. It shoots fine, better than the lighter bullets actually.

-TL

[T. O'Heir]

The Lee manual uses Hodgdon data anyway.
Suspect the issues is about OAL. The 110 is likely just too long. That tends to be why there's no data for a weight.

[Death from Afar]

.30 Luger. I have done a lot of digging and there is a load for unique i found in an old manual. And to keep Kilimanjaro happy, yes this will be approached with care.

[jag2]

I think I'm a reasonably conservative reloader but if every answer was "read a manual" then there wouldn't be much purpose for this forum. If someone wants to know how "hot" they can load such and such you won't hear a peep from me. I don't think doing a little extrapolating is so bad if you keep safety in mind. How many people say you shouldn't use SRP in 9mm because the manual doesn't say you can? How many of you did it during the primer shortages? I know I did, thousands of them. Just keep it safe.

[Kosh75287]

+1 what Jag2 said. A lot of innovation (and sometimes disaster) has come from trying the slightly different. If pursued in a prudent, methodical and cautious manner, the results can often be gratifying.

Always "coloring within the lines" IS safer, but sometimes important things get missed.

[rodfac]

I did some experimenting with a number of 85 to 110 gr bullets in my 1920's vintage Luger 15-20 years ago. As well as several cast bullets of my own construction. With Remington 110 gr FMJ carbine bullets, 4.2 gr of Win 231, WSP caps, in W-W brass with the bullet seated to 1.190" gave me 1.25" gps at 25 yds from a rest. It functions my 4" Luger well and I worked up to it slowly, weighing all charges. It doesn't SEEM to be hot, tho without sophisticated measuring equipment, who's to know. That's a heavy bullet for the .30 Luger, and impacts 3" high at 25 from my gun. Getting a decent crimp was tough and I wanted to try a more case filling combination that would help prevent setback as the round chambered but never got around to it. That 4.2 gr load of Win 231 was fine in my gun, but you should work up your own with due regard to pressure signs and after consulting a GOOD current loading manual.

Hornady .32 caliber 85 gr old style JHP's also worked extremely well with nearly equal accuracy. Newer XTP's would not feed in my gun no matter what charge I tried.

Sierra .32 caliber JHP's fed well and chrono'd 1175 fps with 4.5 grains of 231 pushing them. Again, my load in my gun, work up for yours.

Since you've got the 110 gr Carbine bullets, I guess you're committed to that route, but I had more success with the lighter weights in .32 caliber. I'd slug my bore if I were you, and try the .32's. Cast bullets offer another, cheaper solution with a cpl good designs. A CLEAN bore, free of jacketed fouling is essential to good grouping with them. Bore condition is secondary to cleanliness in my experience in this caliber. I used 50-50 alox/beeswax at the time, but now I'd probably also swirl lube them with Lee Liquid Alox or White Label's 45-45-10 to prevent leading.

Another good option is Hornady's .32 calibler 90 gr Swaged SWC's if they're still made. The soft alloy Hornady uses allows you to turn a good crimp into the bullet and still maintain accuracy. I don't have notes regarding functioning, but did use Bullseye, and Unique with them. Accuracy was in the 2" at 25 yds area. The Bullsyeye load took 3.0 gr to get ejection and feeding right...same cautions with this load as with the others. Didn't note the Unique load however.

It's a fun gun to shoot, surprisingly accurate for its terrible trigger, but chasing those vertically ejected casings all over hellshalfacre is a RPITA. Too, those casings are getting tough to find for me here in Louisville. Shooting a Luger on today's ranges gets some long looks from the tupperware crowd of blasters...especially those tight 25 yd groups. Gun Pic below.

Hope you made out ok during the quake some years back. Our friend in Hastings, N. Island was unaffected but another down near the cathedral in Christchurch had significant damage.

HTH's Rod

[gunsmith_tony]

I recently acquired a 1910 Erfurt commercial in 30-Luger with an 8" bbl. Not an artillery...just a plain 8" bbl.
Having the same problem...lack of bullets currently available. I did however find some published data for a 110-gr FMJ/RN (30-carbine) bullet...which I can get.
So far, I have worked up loads with Accurate #5, #7, and Winchester 231, and Viht 3N38.
Bullets aren't too long. The suggested C.O.L. was 1.180" and that works just fine.
Favorite load:

• Starline brass
• CCI #500 Primer
• 4.4 gr Winchester 231
• C.O.L: 1.180"

As always though...every gun is different, so you should start a bit lower and work up to it.
This load gives me an average velocity of 1192-fps. Remember though...that's out of an 8" bbl. A 4" bbl will yeald quite a bit less.

[44 AMP]

The last post in this thread was Aug 8 2015, nearly 7years ago.

Welcome to TFL, and please feel free to start a new thread on this topic if you wish. You'll get more replies and current information that reviving a long dormant thread.

[Unclenick]

Welcome to the forum.

I have put up a sticky thread about how to start a new thread. Please read if you are unclear about how to do it.