7-30 Waters Fireforming

[Minnesota1]

I purchased a 7/30 waters barrel and I have a whole bunch of 30/30 brass.  I sized the 30/30 brass to the 7/30 brass.  Now I need to fire form it.  With my 7mm TCU I put 12 grains of bullseye and then I filled the rest of the case with cotton and fired each case and it blew out the shoulder.

Can I do the same to this case?  The 30/30 case is a lot bigger than the 223 case so I don't want to put too much in and have pressure problems. 

Also, if anyone has an easy/cheap way of doing this I would like to hear about it.

Thanks,

Bob

[7-30 Waters]

I used 20 grains of H4895 under a 120 grain bullet.  The load I recommend follows Hodgdon's 60% rule from their website under youth data or mild recoil loads.  Keep in mind the only powder this works with is H4895 and no other.

Youth Data-From Hodgdons website.
   
INTRODUCTION TO YOUTH HUNTING, INFORMAL TARGET AND PLINKING LOADS

Hodgdon Powder Company has developed the following reduced loads for youth and beginning shooters for use on deer and similarly sized game animals. The bullets chosen were originally designed for single shot pistols and their lower velocities. These loads have been developed to closely approximate those pistol velocities in rifles, and therefore, similar performance on game animals. This provides our young and beginning shooters with loads effective to 200 yards with minimal recoil.

For all cartridges we chose H4895 because it is the slowest burning propellant that ignites uniformly at reduced charges. For years, H4895 has been the top choice by cast bullet shooters. For this type shooting, loads are reduced even more than the hunting loads listed herein. To create loads of this type for target and plinking, we recommend our 60% rule with H4895. By taking the maximum charges listed in our Annual Manual with any given cartridge and multiplying it by 60%, the shooter can create a 1500 to 2100 fps load, depending on the bullet weight shown. This works only where H4895 is listed. Do not use H4895 in a cartridge where it has not been shown.

Call Hodgdon Powder Company if additional information is needed. Loads may be adjusted up or down to achieve best accuracy. Do not reduce by more than an additional 10%.

Hope this is what you are looking for.

7-30 Waters

[jhalcott]

  Just load the formed brass with moderate loads for the 7-30 and bulk bullets. Use this for practice.You may be surprised how accurate they are.

[Lloyd Smale]

I bought a cheap lee 7mm single cavity mold and just cast bullets out of range lead tumble lube them and shoot them with 10 grains of unique. Might as well have fun when your fireforming

[Who Me?]

When I got my 7-30 Waters, I had read about using a small amount of pistol powder, filling the case with cornmeal or cream of wheat and topped off with a piece of tissue paper and wax.  I got to thinking about what a pain in the butt it might be to clean that burnt up cornmeal, wax and tissue paper out of my brand new barrel, so I decided to use a medium load with a real bullet instead.
I went to Midway USA's website, did a search on 7mm bullets, sorted by price and found the cheapest ones they had.  That turned out to be Remington 140 gr. bullets.  Then I checked my reloading manuals for a load in the middle of the tables.  I loaded them up and shot them at the range.  Fireforming was perfect and as jhalcott said, the accuracy was amazing.  At 50 yards, I put 3 shots in one hole, at 100 yards, I had 3 shots under 1 inch.

[fast*eddie]

I had tweaked some reloads using the Federal 7-30 waters brass . I had asked the same question about fire-forming the 30-30 brass and was told to shoot a regular load through it . I took the wrong loads with me and shot my 1st pistol deer with a fire-formed load . Never found it to be a problem .

[MnMike]

Minnesota1

I agree with fast*eddie, who me?, and jhalcot. Just use starting to medium loads for whatever bullets are cheap. I burned up a box of 140s that would not expand well at 7-30 velocities. They grouped better than my final loads! I finally realized that my gun didn't like 130s, and with 120s I finally got better groups than the fire-forming loads.

What part of the state are you from? If you want, reply private.

mike

[7-30 Waters]

Minnesota1:  Once you have fireformd, resized and trimmed your brass try AA4064 with a Hornady 120 V-Max.  I am sure everyone knows this but the 120 V-Max and 120 Single shot pistol bullet from Hornady are the same bullet.  The 120 V-Max has the Interlock ring for loads shot under 2600 fps.

My favorite hunting load was 37 grains of AA4064 with either the 120 V-Max or Nosler 120 Ballistic Tip.  Both grouped very well at 200 yards.  Low extreme spreads with loads.

[Minnesota1]

Hey guys!

Thanks for all the input.  7-30 waters-I'll try that load out. I have the v-max and the ballistic tips already.  If anyone else has some pet loads let me know what they are.

After fireforming the brass do you use the sizer and completely resize the whole case like I did the first time?  Or do I just do the necks like I do with the 7mm TCU?

Thanks,

Bob

[7-30 Waters]

I full length resize cases each time for my Contenders.  7-30 Waters brass tends to grow very rapidly with full power loads.  Since 30-30 Winchester brass isn't that expensive, I usually demoted my brass after each one had been fired 5 times.

[ShootnStr8]

Minnesota,

Since I'm not sure how the search feature is working, here is my standard boilerplate reply about pet loads for my 7-30 waters 14 inches super barrel using a pre-G2 frame.  Also, I had good success fireforming using standard loads.  Actually, I get better accuracy out of my barrel with such loads. 

Blessings!

ShootnStr8

-----------------------------

  I've taken a number of deer with my Contender chambered for the 7-30 Waters using 139 SSTs.  I use fireformed RP 30-30 cases, CCI 200 primers and 35.2 grains of W748.  This is clearly a max load and I'm getting 2200 fps according the chronograph.  SD is around 18. I've also had excellent results with max loads of IMR 4064 and IMR 3031. 

I've stuck with the W748/139 SST load for 3 reasons:

1) It is a slightly more accurate load grouping 5 shoots @ 1.5 inches @ 200 yards.  3 shot groups @ 100 yards are usually around .75 inches with a long raged hole being the best. 

2) 40.3 grains of W748 and 100 Hornady HP will hit a bit higher @ 100 yards and at the same point @ 200 yards out of my barrel thus offering me a great load for groundhogs without adjusting the scope (a 2-7X Burris).  Velocity is 2550 fps and SD is also around 18. 

3) The 139 SST really does the job on deer.  I've never had a problem.  Put one the boiler room and the deer will go down.  I can't say first hand how they perform beyond 100 yards though.  All my shots at deer have been well under 100 but I can't imagine them not doing the job out to 200 yards. 

Other loads that have been effective on deer are (using the above brass and primer):

a.  35.5 grains of W748 and 130 grain Sierra SSP (Velocity 2160 fps).
b.  36 grains of AA2520 and 120 grain Hornady SP (Velocity 2214 fps)
c.  36.5 grains of W748 and 120 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip (Velocity 2382 fps; SD .

My barrel does OK but not great with the 130 Sierras accuracy wise.  Loads (b) and (c) are as accurate as the W748/139 SST load @ 100.  I've not shot them at 200 yards. 

The usual safety rules apply.  Back off 10% and work up slowly. 

Also if you are actually getting 2200 fps with the 139s, then I would be reluctant to go higher.  2200 is about as fast as those puppies are going to go out of a Contender without dangerous pressure.  My understanding is that one does not always get deformed primers, sticky extractions, etc. when pressure limits have been exceeded.  This seems to apply especially to 30-30 based rounds in a Contender. Contender frames can be stretched by hot loads. 

I appreciated a reply given to someone who was seriously hotrodding a load and saying, "But there were not any pressure signs!"  The reply was, "A bullet leaving a barrel is a pressure sign!" So please be careful.