30-30 Loads

[Baja_Traveler]

No idea at all as I don't have a chrono. I've never rung a ram with it though.

I can say the chicken/pig load is dead slow. I started at 7 grains, which was great for chickens, but the way the pigs were falling so slow made me nervous, so I upped the load a bit and the pigs now fall with authority. That 7 grain load literally shot like a .22 though - amazing zero recoil and no noise - it felt like I was dry firing.

Cant wait to shoot it tomorrow - then home for football!

[Tlee]

No idea at all as I don't have a chrono. I've never rung a ram with it though.

I can say the chicken/pig load is dead slow. I started at 7 grains, which was great for chickens, but the way the pigs were falling so slow made me nervous, so I upped the load a bit and the pigs now fall with authority. That 7 grain load literally shot like a .22 though - amazing zero recoil and no noise - it felt like I was dry firing.

Cant wait to shoot it tomorrow - then home for football!

I did test some 30-30 jacketed ammo across the Chrony today. Hopefully I'll make it back to the range tomorrow to test my cast loads... Most of them based on that recipe you posted.

Looking forward to trying both 10gr of Unique and the 26gr of Varget with 3 different lead bullets tomorrow.

-Tim

[Tlee]

...(snip)I can say the chicken/pig load is dead slow. (snip)...

Based on your post with the data, I tried a half dozen plain base 115gr RN lead bullets today with both 7 and 7.5gr of Unique and they averaged 1440FPS and right at 1500FPS respectively. Unfortunately the wind was gusting 10-15mph and the POI was literally off the right side of my target about 4" so I wasn't able to get a grouping on them. You're right... they have zero recoil.

Once I corrected about 8" in AZ for the different POI from my jacketed ammo i shot yesterday, I also tried a couple 3 shot groups using 10gr of Unique under a 150gr Gas Checked Saeco bullet and got a couple groups at 2-1/2" and 3" averaging 1530FPS. A 173gr Lyman gas-checked bullet with 10g of Unique went 1450FPS into a couple 4" groups. Lastly I tried the 26gr of Varget under the 173gr bullet and got a 1830FPS average into yet another 4" group. All these were at 100m, again with a gusting 10-15mph crosswind.

my .02,

-Tim

[Baja_Traveler]

Thanks for the cross check on my loads Tim. I really like my Varget load, and will stick with it - 8 rams down Sunday, the two left were my fault. We also had huge gusting cross winds here in San Diego. We actually had to clamp the turkeys down with spring clamps to keep them on the rails.
I'm still going to play with the Unique load to see if moving up or down in charge weight a few tenths at a time will tighten the groups in my rifle a bit more. I have 500 plain base 165 gr cast I can try with that Unique load also...