Author Topic: Best 30 Caliber Cartridge in a 10" Barrel?? (Read 1998 times)

Scout · « **on:** July 02, 2009, 02:32:26 PM »

Hey folks,

I want to get a 30 cal barrel for my Contender and I want to keep it to 10" and 30 cal .. I handload. Which is best for accuracy and hard hitting enough for hunting deer sized game at ~100 yds? I have a 30 -30 and other 30 cal rifles and want to keep things simple.

30 Herrett OK.. Is it easy to make the brass? I read the 30-30 barrels are not that accurate..

Thanks ..Scout

Ken ONeill · « **Reply #1 on:** July 02, 2009, 03:15:39 PM »

I have a 1978 14" T/C .30-30 barrel that is a true 1/2 MOA barrel. No one would consider that inaccurate.
I've also had a 10".30-30 barrel, that was not nearly as accurate, but was satisfactory. Although I like that cartridge, it is just a bit overbore for a 10" barrel in my opinion, and either the .30 Herrett or .300 Whisper could be considered as good alternatives. Any of the 3 could be considered adequate for deer.
Personally, I wouldn't impose the arbitrary 10" limitation, and would go with a 14" in .30-30, .30-30 AI or .309 JDJ. All are excellent, and there is a noticeable step up in power to each.

OLDHandgunner · « **Reply #2 on:** July 02, 2009, 03:23:29 PM »

I would go with the 30 Herrett. It's not that hard to do the Herrett brass from 30-30 brass.
If you size them too your chamber the brass will last along time. My Herrett shoots best with 125gr BT.
I also have a 30-30 in a 12" Custom barrel that shoots very accurate.
Have also seen 30 Herrett brass for sale all made up somewhere on the internet.

Good Luck

spinafish · « **Reply #3 on:** July 02, 2009, 03:50:36 PM »

In a 10" barrel my vote would be for the .300 Whisper..very interesting cartridge to work with. I have one in a 14" barrel. Very accurate and doesn't require much powder to keep it happy.

Lone Star · « **Reply #4 on:** July 02, 2009, 08:40:57 PM »

I hunt with both a 10" .30 Herrett and a 10" .300 Whisper. Both are set up identically with 4X Leupolds and Pachmayr rubber. With the same bullets the .300 is about 200 fps slower than the Herrett. I use 110 V-Max bullets in the .300 and 125 BTips in the Herrett. Trajectories are almost identical. The V-Maxes expand a bit faster for quicker kills on smaller deer while the 124 BTips penetrate better on larger animals. Never shot anything with the 125s in the .300, some say they work great.

Just because a 14" barrel shoots well does not mean a 10" will do so. A friend had a 14" .30-40 Contender barrel that shot great for him, around moa. He wanted a shorter, handier pistol so he had it cut back to 10" and target crowned. It never grouped better than 3 moa for him after the surgery. High muzzle pressures disrupted the bullet bases on exit, at least that's what the barrelmaker JD Jones told him.

.

sweetwyominghome · « **Reply #5 on:** July 03, 2009, 04:37:13 AM »

My vote goes for the Herrett. If you don't want to mess with the chore of forming (the trimming is the worst part) brass, you can get brass at www.eabco.com. With the 125 grain BT, it will serve you well for the purpose you described.

And, that 125 grain BT will expand and penetrate very well. In fact, given broadside presentation, you'll rarely stop one inside a deer as they'll penetrate completely.

Hopalong7 · « **Reply #6 on:** July 03, 2009, 08:54:50 AM »

I have or have had .309JDJ, 30-30AI, 30-30Win, .30Herrett, 300Whisper, 32H&R(.308 bore). The .309 and 30-30AI are 14" however. The rest I had in 10" barrels. For deer hunting with 10" barrel the choice was .30Herrett hands down!

tlyne · « **Reply #7 on:** July 03, 2009, 11:49:21 AM »

Scout , You have a P.M.

Dezynco · « **Reply #8 on:** July 05, 2009, 02:16:03 PM »

I just thought I'd pipe in.....the 7.62x39 (the old AK-47 "Russian") makes and excellent short-barreled pistol cartridge. Bullberry barrels will make one for a Contender, and right now they are on sale. It's bored .308, which is great since most reloading dies come with both .308 and .310 sizing stems.

Think of it as a 30 Herret, but the brass is easier to come by. You do not, under any circumstances, shoot any factory ammo through it. It's strictly a "handloader only" cartridge in the .308 bore, but so's the 30 Herret for the most part.

I have loaded mine with everything from 90 grain JHP's all the way up to 175 grain BT's. I've used 3 or 4 different cast bullets loads also. It's very accurate with everything I've shot in it.

Ladobe · « **Reply #9 on:** July 05, 2009, 03:31:19 PM »

My pick would be the 30 Merrill based on the 225 Win case.

Dee · « **Reply #10 on:** July 05, 2009, 03:57:42 PM »

With spitzer bullets Lyman says that the 3030 is EXTREMELY ACCURATE in the Contender. Don't know if that's true, but Lyman is usually pretty reliable.

tred1956 · « **Reply #11 on:** July 05, 2009, 04:09:32 PM »

I would go with the 30 Herrett without a doubt in a 10 inch barrel. If I remember right it was developed for a 10 inch barrel. JMHO

Safe shooting
Doug

Lone Star · « **Reply #12 on:** July 05, 2009, 11:27:09 PM »

Quote

With spitzer bullets Lyman says that the 3030 is EXTREMELY ACCURATE in the Contender. Don't know if that's true...

We know it's true from the post above - in a 14" barrel.

.

Hopalong7 · « **Reply #13 on:** July 06, 2009, 02:26:49 AM »

The .30Herrett was the brainchild of the late Bob Milek and Steve Herrett. They developed the round because they were sorely dissappointed with the performance of the 30/30Win in TC's 10" Contender. At the time TC had not produced the Super 14 barrel and the 10" was the longest barrel available. Milek's writing noted that they found the muzzle blast and recoil of the 10" 30/30 excessive while they couldn't get velocity high enough to produce reliable exspansion. Hence they came up with the .30Herrett and loaded it with 110gr Speer and Sierra bullets to achieve enough muzzle velocity. The .30Herrett was my second Contender barrel (about 1975) and I used all 110gr Speer and Sierra's until 125 Balistic Tips came along in the '90's. For a lot of years it was my favorite barrel.
GOOD SHOOTIN',

Walt

jsh · « **Reply #14 on:** July 09, 2009, 01:34:14 AM »

30 Herrett. Brass is easy to find and cheaper to mess up than some of the other WC stuff. Then my #1 thing on a hunting round in a break open, it has a rim. There are times when one wants a second round in the chamber after the first has been fired. Try to pluck out the rimless little devils with cold or gloved fingers, if not both.
A friend of mine has his 30 Herrett loaded with some "early" data. It is just a hundred fps + or -, slower than his 30-30 in a 14" barrel, same bullet.
Bullet performance is somthing you may want to read up on at speeds you will be looking at. I know Milek used to use the little 30 carbine soft nose on deer with good results. But, there was a lot less to chose from back then too. There are also more powders available today than then.
jeff

Hopalong7 · « **Reply #15 on:** July 09, 2009, 08:39:15 AM »

"There are also more powders available today than then."jeff

True....but, the one that performed the best for Milek and yours truely(WW680) is not.

Doc T · « **Reply #16 on:** July 09, 2009, 12:07:04 PM »

I'll vote for the 300 Whisper. I have one in 10" and two carbine barrels. Cor-Bon makes ammo if you are not into reloading.

Doc T

45-70.gov · « **Reply #17 on:** July 09, 2009, 12:13:10 PM »

327 federal??
m1 carbine ?

30-30 if it were me

but i don't know
just threw those first 2 out to see what others thought

Lone Star · « **Reply #18 on:** July 09, 2009, 11:50:28 PM »

My .32 H&R and .30 M1 barrels do not come close to the performance of the .300 Whisper or the .30 Herrett and the .327 won't either - case capacity/psi is why. I'm certain you could kill a deer with either, but the .30 and .300 are vastly superior hunting cartridges IME/IMO. The .30-30 is not bad - it does not ballistically equal the .30 Herrett in most data but does deliver more recoil and muzzle blast.

.

skarke · « **Reply #19 on:** July 10, 2009, 04:08:13 AM »

30 Herrett. Accurate, easy to fireform, reload and shoot, very efficient with powder, and thumps.

45-70.gov · « **Reply #20 on:** July 10, 2009, 06:08:21 AM »

i am speaking about something i am not familier with so....

wasn't the 30 herett originally set out to be designed as ''the best 10 inch 30 cal'' ??

if so did the acheive that objective

Dezynco · « **Reply #21 on:** July 11, 2009, 11:34:21 AM »

Quote

Then my #1 thing on a hunting round in a break open, it has a rim. There are times when one wants a second round in the chamber after the first has been fired. Try to pluck out the rimless little devils with cold or gloved fingers, if not both.

Good point, I hadn't thought of that one, but it doesn't get too cold in Mississippi where I am. Considering that I would go with the 30 Herett rather than the 7.62x39 if I were looking for something that was "ideal". That's assuming that I were limited to a 10" barrel. Hands down as far as I'm concerned is the 14" Super 14 in 30-30. Mine is 1/2 MOA also!

wheelgun · « **Reply #22 on:** July 22, 2009, 09:57:02 AM »

30 Herrett

1howie · « **Reply #23 on:** July 22, 2009, 02:27:22 PM »

Quote from: Dezynco on July 05, 2009, 02:16:03 PM

I just thought I'd pipe in.....the 7.62x39 (the old AK-47 "Russian") makes and excellent short-barreled pistol cartridge. Bullberry barrels will make one for a Contender, and right now they are on sale. It's bored .308, which is great since most reloading dies come with both .308 and .310 sizing stems.

I have a bunch of 7.62x39 ammo left from an sks that doesn't shoot worth a darn. I thought about getting a 7.62x39 barrel for my contender since the ammo is so cheap and i don't reload. Is it safe to use the .310 Russian type ammo in the .308 American chamber ? I found that Bullberry made the barrel a few months ago but it said 7.62x39 (American).

Funny thing, the 7.62 German ammo i have doesn't say the exact caliber(?). The Winchester 7.63 ammo box doesn't say either(?). Only that it is German 7.62x39 123grain lead core bullet/Winchester 7.62x39 soft point.