T/C .30 Herrett

[danjet500]

Hello all, first post. I have been spending quite a bit of time here reading and learning all over again about Contenders. I have owned one since the mid 70s but haven't shot it in years. I have recently joined a local hunt club and plan on shooting my Contender again. I have 2 barrels for it, a 14" .44 mag and a 14" .30 Herrett. The Herrett barrel also has a 4x Leupold scope on it. I used to use it to hunt woodchuck on my cousin's farm. I remember the .44 smacking my hand pretty good and after 20-25 shots I had had enough. The .30 Herrett was really quite pleasant to shoot.

My question is about reloading. I need to know some loads to start out with shooting the .30 again. If I recall correctly, I used to use 110 grain bullets and H110 powder. I plan on getting an up to date reloading manual but was wondering what some of you may be using for loads.

Thanks in advance for your help, Dan.

[Ken ONeill]

You really need to study a couple of loading manuals with 30 Herrett data and work loads up for your barrel.

 With all due respect to members of this or any other forum, Internet forums and unknown sources are a wonderful place to get incomplete and bad advice on "favorite loads" that "don't show any pressure signs", especially on wildcats, and the T/C 30 Herrett has at least 2 different sets of chamber / neck / leade specs.

A wise loader will do the work....

[Lone Star]

Ken is right, use caution when asking for "pet loads" on-line.  I've been loading the .30 Herrett since 1976 in three different barrels and the cartridge just keeps getting better.  This is mostly due to much better bullets than those availble back then.  The 125-grain BallisticTip is probably the best for deer, and I really like the 110 V-Max for varmints.  I like a near-max listed load of H110 and the 110 Hornady - that bullet is about as soft as you can get and in a 14" barrel opens well on varmints.  In my 10" barrel it even works well on small deer due to the reduced velocity of ~200 fps.  I have had better accuracy with Lil'Gun but since there is no published data for it in the Herrett I won't list my loads.



.

[Rog]

Hornady's latest manual has the 30 Herrett listed in the handgun section.

[danjet500]

Thanks for the advice guys. I wiill pick up a new manual this week.

[ted]

You can call the powder and bullet factories and get loads from them directly. I have a 14" factory t/c 30 herrett and have done this. They do not have any new/recent data taht is different from the loading manuls. I have a 2003 Hornady and use the data from this. Just as a reference I am using 25.5 grains of IMR 4198 with a Sierra 135 gr. ssp. I am averaging 2279 fps with this. The manual lists 26 grains of IMR 4198 as the max load. I see no pressure signs with 25.5 grains and am happy with the velocity so I don't have a need to play any more with maxing out a powder charge.

[hunterspistol]

 Loadbooks USA make a set of load manuals for Contenders, there are two volumes. You can get them about anywhere, mine came from Midway USA(they are online, too.)

The Complete Reloading Manual for the Thompson Center Contender Vol. 2 starts at 30 calibre loads. The info is a little dated but, so is a .30 Herrett.

Start a minimum and work up- I bring mine up in 1/10th grain increments but, I live near the range.