I was getting ready to ask about barrel life.......of course this gun doesnt sound like a "hey lets go to the range today and plink with it" type of gun. Shoot it in, load some bullets, and wait for hunting Season!!!! (Big game of course!!!!)

About six months later, I began to think about my other .30 caliber rifles - .308 match gun and .300 Win Mag hunting rifle. Tried this bullet in both of them. In both instances, I was able to generally use 125 grain powder charges and get 125 grain velocities. Once I heard about the barrel life issue, immediately suspended testing these OX bullets.

The customer with the .30-378 wouldn't switch for all the tea in China. As you mentioned, he only shoots a few rounds each year - a couple to confirm zero (which does not seem to change) and a couple on game. He has taken three elk so far with the gun - two of them at around 300 yards and one at 600. The 600 yard shot was made by holding on the backline of the animal . . .

The problem with such a short barrel life is that by the time that you develop a load and shoot the gun at various ranges to verify it's trajectory and get used to it,you don't have much barrel life left to practise.I personally am not about to take a 500 yard shot at game with a gun that I haven't practised with a fair amount.

The thing that I find odd about the velocity claims is that the lazzeroni advertising for the warbird claims less velocity with the 130gr robar coated tsx and a 27" barrel than this 30-378 with the 150gr bullet.I am wondering just what pressure must be developed in this 30-378 to deliver such velocity.

I agree completely. Otherwise, I would have built myself one of these already. This particular guy is a very skilled marksman and uses a Lazer rangefinder. After he had chrono'd his loads, I put the information into my Exbal program and printed him out a trajectory chart. He later confirmed the 500 yard drop figure at the range; and since, I understand, has just trusted the chart.

I really don't know about an exact pressure, other than there doesn't appear to be any overt signs and the primer pockets are still tight. The 180 grain bullets he tried intially could be stoked up to about 3450 - about normal for the caliber. And regular 150 grain bullets were getting warm at about 3750 - also about normal. It has to be this NP3 coating.

I have used this coating in the past to plate the internals of Colt 1911 match guns.
I could take a Series 70 Colt - tune the trigger to 3.5 lbs - remove the hammer, sear, and disconnector - send them off to Robar for NP3, and reassemble the gun later. The trigger pull would typically drop to about 2 lbs. And the stuff is hard enough to last for thousands of rounds. I guess that's the problem as well - its so hard and slippery that something else has to give - that being the steel of the barrel.

Just because he needs a block and tackle to help lift the bolt handle after firing doesnt mean he has a "hot" load .......does it stubble???

Lets not exagerate,a 4lb hammer is probably sufficient .As I previously stated,I am wondering why lazzeroni can't obtain the same velocity with the 130gr robar coated tsx that this guy claims with the 150gr bullet.Both case capacities are comparable and the barrel length is the same,the coating is the same, yet this gun supposedly drives a 20gr heavier bullet faster.

Guys, I don't know but that has to be the flattest hunting bolt gun in the world. Seriously.

I knew one guys who had the 30-378, said it was the loudest hardest kicking gun he ever owned.

Mossy, I have read the same things you have about going below 180... None the less I thought I would give is a shot. Loaded last night 150's with 92-94-96 grains of Rx22 seated to 3.601. I figured Retumbo might be to slow for this light of bullet. Plus I don't recall my Lyman book even putting Retumbo down for 150's.

Have any of you tried Retumbo? I see a lot of you use Rx25 or H-1000.

I use retumbo on occassion. Seems to work nicely. But has the longest muzzleflash I have ever seen. I have a 190gr matchking load 96gr of retumbo, and it puts a flame 4ft out the barrel. Flash goes down some when you move up a few grains but accuracy went down. Others have observed this and Sierra techs thinks it the coating they use.

I have had one instance of good luck with Reloader 25. Seems to vary some from lot to lot however. It is the one powder you can probably get max velocity.

please let me know how it turns out! I have a box of 150 Nosler B/T's that I might give a try......maybe I bet I could probably push those babies up around 3350-3400 man that would be a flat shooter, if they dont zing all over the place.