I did it again, hope this one works out

[Bullseye]

Sold my last 14" 30-30 barrel because it was a 6" grouper at 100 yards no matter what I feed it.  T/C said it would group 1/2" at 50 yards with Federals, they must be better shots than me.

Anyway, I kept the dies and brass (which was a mistake) because now another 14" 30-30 barrel found its way to my house.  The chamber on this one looks better.  I can at least seat bullets to the book OAL and the bullet is just barely off the rifling.  The last one I had required the bullet to be seated about .1" or more lower just to chamber (I was always surprised that barrel even chambered factory rounds).

Anyway I will start testing this weekend.  The 30-30 barrel always intrigued me, hopefully this one will shoot.

[Tad Houston]

Let us know how it goes Bullseye, i to have a 14" 30-30 that i havnt really shot much yet. Was thinking about a rechamber to AI, and if the throat is short i could have the forcing cone staightened out.

[casper_zip]

:grin:  :grin:  :grin:

Hey Bullseye:

I have a 14" 30-30 scoped Contender, and it's amazingly accurate. This one will shoot all day long (if you do your part), and it don't take a back seat to none of the calibers I shoot with my Contenders.

I have on many occasions put them all in one hole from 50 yards to 100 yards from a bench rest if I am up to it on that day.

Lyman Handload books always quote how accurate the 30-30 is when fired from the single shot Contenders. I get a big kick out of mine, because lots of my shooting buddies dismiss the 30-30, and my personal experience with it, I'll put mine up against all their best. Check in the Lyman manuals, they have some good loads. I'm going to look in my Spreadsheets, and targets I have saved, and can give you more info on super accurate loads if you want the info.

I'll always treasure my 30-30 in the Contender. It's also a potent load for about anything you'd want to shoot here in La. and Texas.

All the best,

Bob  :grin:  :grin:  :grin:

[Graycg]

bullseye,
  If this barrel doesn't shoot the way you want it too, take it to a gunsmith and have them use a throating reamer to open up the throat a bit.  Makes a 4-6 inch barrel into a 1-3 inch barrel.  I have done this on pistol and carbine barrels and works like a champ!  Many 30-30 barrels just have a very abrupt lead into the rifling and a throating reamer smooths things outs and really helps.


regards,
 gray-cg

[haroldclark]

Firelap the barrel with LBT compound on cast bullets.  I have had improved accuracy with every firelapped barrel.  I shoot 100 cast bullets with LBT compound impregnated in the bullet with 5 to 7 grains of pistol powder like 231 or Bullseye.  You will like the results.

I sold my 14" barrel many years ago, but I replaced it with a 10" and a 16.25" barrel.  I use cast bullets in both.  I don't hunt, so cast bullets at 1500 fps are fun to shoot and deadly accurate.  I have had a lot of fun with my barrels at the Rifle Silhouette range.  I have every new guy shoot it at at a looong distant target.  The look of their face is great.  They can't believe what they just did.

Some time last year Knight wrote about a load of 12.6 grains of Blue Dot with cast bullets.  I followed it up and loaded my 30-30s with it.  That is my long range load (my scope is elevated in the rear so high that I can't get it low enough to shoot at 200 meter chickens.).

Last week, a buddy and I loaded up some 7-30 Waters and cast bullets with 12.6 grains.  The rusults were astounding.  I'd never been happy with an cast bullet loads in 7mm, but this worked.  

The 12.6 grain load is great for practice.

Keep that 30-30 Contender and work with it.  You will be a happy shooter.

Harold Clark

[Bullseye]

Well my first test gave me some 1 & 1 1/4" groups at 50 yards with the load I tried.  I am using IMR 4198 and 150 gr. bullets.  From looking through the books tonight it appears the 4198 is probably not the powder of choice, but I had it so thought I would give it a try.

What powder and bullet weight are you folks shooting.  I am already getting groups less than half the size of my last barrel so this one shows  promise with some load development.