Why is the .30 Herritt not so popular anymore?

[centershot]

Why has the 30 Herrett fallen out of favor? Is it just too old and not very sexy or a bit troublesome to load? From reading in the old reloading manuals it was 'the' cartridge to have 20 years ago.

[jw4570]

I suspect it's because everyone is wanting the biggest and baddest and newest and bestest, well not everyone, but you get my drift.  

I don't own a 30 Herrett for the reason of forming brass.  Don't get me wrong, I can do it, but I do it for many other things I already own, and just don't need another.  

I do have a 30-30 10" barrel but haven't been overly impressed with it compared to my other barrels I picked up with my T/C in a recent purchase.

Just looked at handguns, when the 30 Herrett was great, the 44 Mag was the staple, now you are looking at the 500 S&W.  

I've never been a latest and greatest person, my 7x57 Mauser stills kills them though it's 110 years old this year (the gun).  

I'm sure the 30 Herrett is a perfectly capable cartridge though I have never shot one.  

It's all in the hands of the holder.

JW

[Lone Star]

When the .30 Herrett was introduced handgun hunting and silhouettte were in their infancy, and the developers (Milek and Herrett) didn't have a good selection of powders and bullets which would work.  The little .30  worked better in the short barrels of the time than the .30-30 did (although today the .30-30 will give comparable performance to the Herrett).  Forming brass was time consuming, but more important it was usually done incorrectly and the result was short brass life and mediocre accuracy for many/most .30 Herrett shooters.  The word got out that the Herrett was tough to load for; combined with newer cartridges and longer barrels the old .30 fell from favor.

I still have two .30 Herrett barrels, a 10"(scoped for hunting) and a 14" (irons for silhouette), and they both still shoot very well.  The .30 Herrett is an even better cartridge today than it was 30 years ago, because we now have more/better powders and much better bullets.  In the 70s and early 80s the only bullets we could count on to expand in deer were the various 110-grain RN Carbine bullets with their poor BCs.  Heavier 125s and 130s didn't expand well at all, except for the 125 Sierra FNHP, which had the BC of a brick.  Today we can use the 110-grain Hornady V-Max, several 125/130-grain pointed handgun bullets, and the 125-grain Ballistic Tip.  All work quite well at Herrett velocities.  Today the .300 Whisper is a popular replacement for the .30 Herrett in short barrels, although the Whisper is several hundred fps slower than the oldtimer.

[fyrepowrx]

i will probably always have a .30 herrett tube, its a great caliber for 10" tubes...more efficient than the 30/30 in that length. i never minded case forming for it much, and if i had to settle on 1 single chambering for deer in 10" tubes it would be a toss-up between the .30 herrett or the .357 max
i guess. i think that case forming is the main reason it has fallen out of favor, but to be fair i have never had a herrett that was overall as accurate on average as the various TCU's seem to be as a whole. But, within its practical range it was plenty good enough for me...i can live with groups of 1.5 to 2" at a hundred since i seldom shoot over 150 yards or so.

i also shoot a SSK tube in .30x39, which has about the same performance, but better accuracy, but then again the SSK is of somewhat higher quality than the average TC stock barrel so that might not be a fair comparison.

either way the small-case .30 cal's have low recoil & are pretty efficient...

have you seen the article by Rocky Raab on the herrett? here's a link...

http://www.reloadingroom.com/page31.html

[rickyp]

the 30 (and 357) Herrett are jsut as good today as they where when they came out maybe even better with the new bullets we now have.
I think the real down fall of them is the work and time needed to form the cases. A lot of people do not have the money for fancy case forming dies or lots of extra time to make the cases expesally when you have other rounds that are in the same ball park with lots less work and expense or special dies.

[Ahab]

rickyp has the best answer to your question. My old .357 Herrett TC 14" was a tackdriver.

[kjg]

Oh guys, I was brousing through mid south shooters suply tonight and a company is making brass for both the .30 and 357 herret, I had a both .30 and 357 herret barrels and loved the accuracy both gave me , but since I have traded off both barrels and action I have been thinking about getting another for my encore, and making brass wasn't as difficult to make, just time involved, now this company is making brass oh my..... kjg

[rickyp]

http://www.qual-cart.com/index.html

[rickyp]

http://www.qual-cart.com/index.html

[soup]

Once you get set up for the Herrett & make about 100 cases or so you are set for years of shooting. I now get good brass life , but I did loose cases before I set up the dies properly. With some of the powders & Single Shot pistol bullets we have today the Herrett are actually better than ever.As far as accuracy is concerned my 10" 30 Herrett is THE pistol to carry for W T Deer out to 150 yards. Now these old eyes of mine don't shoot a handgun that far anymore, but with the quality scopes made for handguns available today you really can't go wrong with the little Herrett. The .357 in a 14" has a little more bite to its bark & recoils accordingly ,of course it is intended for Elk. But the the .30 will do the job in the right hands.
You just have to dedicate a little time & pay attention to what you are doing when you load it. Truly a " ONE GOOD SHOT " cartridge.Bob Milek & Steve Herrett really gave us an idea of what the Contender can do with these 2 cartridges.
SOUP :

[Zero]

You can buy .30 herrett brass from eabco.com at a very
reasonable price I think that it`s still 35.00 per 100 :lol:  

[sawfish]

If you are looking to get a new barrel, you might consider the .30 Merrill.  Case capacity is slightly larger than the Herrett, and it will beat the Herrett any day of the week for power and accuracy.  .30-.30 rifle ballistics are obtainable from a 10" pistol barrel.  

Best of all, you need only to expand .225 Winchester Brass to .30 Caliber to have a case ready for final fire forming.  The Herrett had its place in handgunning history, but IMHO the cutting, forming, etc. is not worth the trouble.

[nomosendero]

centershot
All of the reasons are valid, but the main reason is the barrel length.
When the Herrett was introduced, the common barrel length was 10". The
Herrett, being more efficient than the 30-30, was much better in a 10" tube
than a 30-30 for sure. But the 14" Barrel breathed new life into the 30-30,
.223 & others. It is also true that now the Herrett is better than ever.
However, I have a Super 14 with a 30-30 converted to the 30-30AI & with
it I get 2,400FPS with a 150 Nos. Bal. Tip. & you won't be doing that with
the Herrett!!