How much black powder in a 30/30 load?
#1
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Ok, I cast up some 170gr lead bullets and am wondering what would be a good starting load with black powder? I have Goex FF and FFF and some Pyrodex FFF.
#2
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Obviously, the original load for this caliber was 30 grains (by volume) of black powder. I'm not sure if I would load black powder here, unless for some nostalgic reason, over smokeless. Create yourself a cleanup issue. There is abundant loading data for a wide variety of smokeless powders - including somereduced loads made for cast bullets.
#3
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Thanks for the reply. I have several load data books here. I am just wanting to see how it does on black powder. I will just have to clean her up real good when done.
#4
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Well with 22gr light loads with FF bp the 30/30 was pretty accurate at 35 yards. With 20gr of 4831 it shot great out to 50 yards. I am pretty impressed with my first attempts at making my own cast bullets. I dont have much tin in the lead yet, just a couple of wheel weights in 5 or 6 pounds of lead is all. lol, with only 18 gr of 4831 the 30/30 is a pretty fun plinking rifle. It kicks very little and is still pretty accurate to 35 and 50 yards.
#5
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Rivesville, WV
Posts: 3,192
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You do not need alot of tin. Just drop them in cold water directly out of the mold(while hot). This will add three or points of hardness(on the Brinell scale). That should be plenty hard enough for up to 2200 fps.
If you are going to use BP(Great Idea). Start out with 25 grains of 2F, and use a drop tube. Tom.
If you are going to use BP(Great Idea). Start out with 25 grains of 2F, and use a drop tube. Tom.
#7
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It is a tube that extends from the powder funnel to the mouth of the case. An old arrow sometimes works great - cut a piece about 12" long and epoxy it to the bottom of the powder funnel. Allows the powder to stack in the case very efficiently. I have seen instances where, without it, a given charge will overfill the case - and with it, the same charge winds up at the bottom of the neck.
#8
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Thank you, I had a hunch that it was something like that, but rather than make assumptions I would rather just ask. You guys have been very helpful in getting me started into reloading.
#9
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You don't need much tin- the tin is for filling out the gooves in the mould, not for hardness. I typically cut an 18" piece of 50/50 solder wire and drop it into a pot of 10 lbs of cleaned up w/w metal to get desired results.
As for shooting BP in the 30/30, why? The 30/30 contrary to popular belief was never a BP cartridge, and you can expect your rifle to foul like crazy and have poor accuracy using BP.
As for shooting BP in the 30/30, why? The 30/30 contrary to popular belief was never a BP cartridge, and you can expect your rifle to foul like crazy and have poor accuracy using BP.
#10
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The bp was just for fun. Nothing more, just wanted to see how my cast bullets shot with bp. I loaded up 5 of them with bp and tried it. The rest I loaded with 4198. It was just a question, I am not planning on shooting bp only in the poor gun.