30-30 reload question

[Edmon]

Working on the best load for marlin 30-30. I checked the OAL with my case gauge. When I made a cartridge with the OAL a couple hundredths off of the lands of the barrel the cartridge was below the cannulure of the bullet. I understand about crimping the bullets for a lever gun but not sure about crimping on the cannulure?

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[tedium27]

ALWAYS! Crimp into the cannulure when reloading bullets so mfgd. The slight crimp not only secures the bullet from case travel while in the tube, it also serves as that initial restriction required in the process of firing. In addition it serves to maintain alignment of the bullet until it engages the rifling. Best of wishes, the 30-30 is a great round for the reloader!

 

[tedium27]

P.S. Most reloading manuals list a max case length and suggest a trimmed case length, or suggest a max amount of trim. Stick to those guidelines and you will stay safe. For instance the Hornady #1 Manual lists a COL (cartridge overall length) of 2.550", a Max. Case Length of 2.039, and a Case Trim Length of 2.019.
All of those are based off from the bullets Hornady manufactures and reccomends for loading in the 30-30. They are ALL calculated so that they will NOT exceed OAL requirements from FIREARMS manufacturers.

 

[Throckmorton]

I have crimped on the smoothe part of the bullet and it has always worked fine.The hard part is 'how much is enough/not to much.' I just give the bullet a little squeeze,then try to move the bullet with hard thumb pressure.If it don't move you're good to go.Then go load it up,fire a round or two,then jack out the rest of the ammo and check the oal with a micrometer to see if they've moved.Mine never did.
Also,if you are loading 'long' make sure they will feed from the magazine freely.

 

[SAR1846]

Here's what I've found with reloading .30-30...

-Make sure all your brass is trimmed to the same length
-If you are loading cartridges into the magazine tube, CRIMP!!
-Separate your seating & crimping operations into two separate runs...
-I feel a Lyman M die helps with seating/crimping operations.

Personally... if i crimp any cartridge, I seat & crimp to the groove. I have fired some rounds which were not crimped in .30-30... but I SINGLE LOADED them. Its also a good QC check to see how your crimp is affecting your accuracy.

 

[Mecanik]

I like the .30-30 myself. I reload it often and I've found that all the suggestions above are valid. Trim the case even, crimp them tight, and watch out for excess lube when you size the case. I've found that they will dent just behind the neck very quickly if too much lube is applied. They shoot fine but the dents are ugly. I like imr30-31 powder and 170 grain flat nose bullets. That powder pretty much fills the case and prevents the bullet from going down into the case very far if for some reason your crimp doesn't hold. I've tried not crimping a few years ago and had a few slide into the case when it was loaded into the magazine. I thought I could extend the life of the case that way but it just didn't hold well enough. I hope your not buying brass as it's the most common brass calibers to find out in the woods at those "remote" shooting ranges. And don't think the .30-30 wont shoot 1 1/2 groups either. The best shooting .30-30 I had was a Winchester trapper with a 16 inch barrel. It shot 1 1/2 groups with factory ammo at 100 yards. Maybe not every time but on a good day with me at my best it would. I think the short barrel was stiffer then the others and for some odd reason it was a shooter. Most of my .30-30's shoot 3 to 4 inch groups. When I get a 4 incher I usually get rid of it and keep the others. In my opinion though if you've got a .30-30 that's consistently plopping it's bullets into a rough 3 inch circle at 100 yards you can hold your head high with no apologies.

 

[RVTECH]

I like the .30-30 myself.

Same here but it can be tricky to reload for to get a particular rifle to group well. My latest is an acquisition is from a forum member last year and I finally got around to some serious loading and bench work with it this summer. I now get ragged 50 yard groups and 125 yard clays are easy. Careful case prep, weighing each charge and a separate crimping process are the keys to great 30-30 loads and accuracy. For some reason the 30-30 is a finicky, odd round to reload and takes a little more finesse than most others to gain maximum accuracy but it can be had.