.30 caliber carbine question......

[Harry O]

I am looking to start handloading for the .30cal carbine.

I have been looking at bullets and would like to know which ones work and which ones don't.

The Hornady 100gr "short jacket" looks like the lowest price.  However, it is not entirely round at the front.  Will it feed?
The Speer 100gr "Plinker" also is a pretty good price.  How does it shoot?
Remington has a 110gr FMJ and SP for the same price (but higher than the above).  Is the extra cost necessary?
Hornady also has a 110gr FMJ and RN for even higher prices.  Is the extra cost of them necessary?

[mrbigtexan]

i recommend buying one and trying it with different powders and different loads using the same powder. you might get lucky and find a good recipe quickly or you will have my kind of luck and have to try many different combos to get the right one that shoots great. first i would just decide on what grain of bullet you want to shoot and go from there.

[securitysix]

mrbigtexan has a point.  The only way to know what will work in your gun is to try it.  Maybe those 100 grain bullets will work great in your gun.  Maybe they won't feed at all, or maybe they will, but they'll shoot all over.  Nobody can tell you what will work in your gun till you try it.  I'm sure there's guys that have tried those bullets in their guns and can tell you the luck they've had with them, but good or bad, I wouldn't take their results as being particularly conclusive.

[jmayton]

I load the Rem 110gr SP's and they work great.  They were the first I tried and they worked, so I haven't tried the others.  But the others are right.  Try some and if they don't work, try something else.

[Larry Gibson]

Harry O

The Hornady 100gr "short jacket" looks like the lowest price.  However, it is not entirely round at the front.  Will it feed?

This bullet has always been my commercial bullet 1st choice for the .30 carbine.  It has fed with 100% reliability through a great many M1/M2 Carbines in the 40 years I have been using it.  It is also the most accurate bullet i've used in most M1 Carbines. I also killed 7 deer with it (back when it was legal in Oregon) and numerous feral goats along with countless coyotes, jackrabbits and other varmints.  I laod it over 15.5 gr of H110 in LC cases with a WSR primer to an OAL of 1.68".  Velocity runs 1930 -1950 fps out of all the M1 Carbines I've chronographed it in.  The soft lead front of the bullet readily expands and the back penetrates deep.  I usually weld up the front sight so when the rear sight is on 1.5 the group just sits on top of the point of aim at 100 yards.  The sights are then amazingly close out to 300 yards.  I highly recommend this bullet/load for any M1 carbine in good condition.

The Speer 100gr "Plinker" also is a pretty good price.  How does it shoot?

These are my second choice with the same load as above. 

Remington has a 110gr FMJ and SP for the same price (but higher than the above).  Is the extra cost necessary?
Hornady also has a 110gr FMJ and RN for even higher prices.  Is the extra cost of them necessary?

Any of these will work well also but I've not seen the need for any of them for some years since using the Hornady HJ.  Sometimes you find a "deal" on them (not probable these days though) and I've always had good results with them.  For best accuracy the hornady, Speer and Sieerra 110 gr RN Carbine bullets are the best in this weight range. 

Larry Gibson

[Harry O]

Thanks Larry.  That is exactly the kind of information I was looking for.

[Happyguy]

I have been using Berry's plated 30 Carbine bullets and surplus WW520 powder for years now it they work very well together. David

[NickSS]

I have used thousands of the Hornady half jackets and speer plinkers in 30 cal carbine over the years.  I have shot even more thousands of cast bullets through them.  I killed three deer with the hornady half jacketed bullets.  I could not find any recently when looking for them so got some Berrys plaited bullets and they seam to work well too.

[woodchukhntr]

I have used the Hornady 100 gr Short Jackets since the late 60's with great success in M-1 carbines.  They have fed flawlessly and are great on woodchucks.  I am attaching Hornady's data that was in the old (60's) boxes of the bullets.  I believe that we used 16 gr. of 2400.