30 BR with 125 Nosler BTs for hunting

[Mike Casselton]

I've got a 22" 30 BR barrel that I finally installed after owning it for almost 12 years.
The freebore on it is very, very short, but I don't have any idea what reamer was used. I bought the barrel used. It's a Krieger 17tw.

Ogive touch point on 125 TNT and 110 V-Max is very close to the case mouth, so I'd reckon it could be a 0 freebore.





Anyway, my question revolves around the 125 NBT because I'd like to use them for some hog hunting.

So far, I've used Benchmark and LT-30. Both shoot very well, but the velocity with the LT-30 is considerably higher.

The issue is, even using an 8" drop tube, the load is severly compressed and it causes seating depth to vary by quite a bit.

What other powder would get me back over 2800fps and have enough room for this longer projectile?

Will an extruded powder do it, or should I be looking at ball powders like AA-1680, 2200, 2230 or CFE 223?

Or, since it's a hunting load, should I just suck it up and live with the occasional bullet not touching the group the others are in?


Lastly, Barnes makes a 110gr TTSX.
Would that possibly stabilize in the 17tw? If it does, then I could forget about the Nosler and just use it.


Thoughts?

 

[anschuter2013]

Since H4198 went away, quite a few have switched to N130.

 

[Mike Casselton]

Isn't the load density of VV-130 pretty much identical to LT-30 and H-4198?

 

[dk17hmr]

I wonder if the Barnes 110gr tac-tx 300 blk bullet would work for you. My boy shot a whitetail doe at about 200 yards last year with my 16" 300blk pushing that bullet to 2450Fps it was pretty devastating actually.

 

[Bill Norris]

VV-N133 works really well and better than VV-N130 with the heavier bullets in both of my 30BRs. My bench rifle is 1 - 17 Tw and my hunter is 1 -15 Tw. Both rifles were chambered with the same reamer. This load below is a winner in both my rifles. Work up your load as rifles differ.

The Barnes 110 gr. TTSX was nowhere near the 1/4 MOA or less accuracy with the Nosler B T in either of my rifles.

125 GR. NOSLER B T 1.597 O M 2.289 COL T/L B S .290 B C .366
POWDER 34.0 GR. VV-N133 PRIMER FED 205M
SEATED @ 1.587 O M 2.279 COL .010 OTL .324 BUSHING

 

[Mike Casselton]

VV-N133 works really well and better than VV-N130 with the heavier bullets in both of my 30BRs. My bench rifle is 1 - 17 Tw and my hunter is 1 -15 Tw. Both rifles were chambered with the same reamer. This load below is a winner in both my rifles. Work up your load as rifles differ.

125 GR. NOSLER B T 1.597 O M 2.289 COL T/L B S .290 B C .366
POWDER 34.0 GR. VV-N133 PRIMER FED 205M
SEATED @ 1.587 O M 2.279 COL .010 OTL .324 BUSHING

My seating depth is almost identical to yours. My notes say to test at 2.285 because shorter went horizontal and longer was vertical.
Powder charge was 34.0 of LT-30.
Interesting.

 

[Bill Norris]

My seating depth is almost identical to yours. My notes say to test at 2.285 because shorter went horizontal and longer was vertical.
Powder charge was 34.0 of LT-30.
Interesting.

I briefly tried the AA LT-30 but my rifles seem to like H-4198 & VV-N130 N133 better.

 

[Mike Casselton]

Bill, what velocity are you getting from your load?

I had to pull my chrono down because of a rain storm and didn't get any numbers for the Noslers.

I did get well over 2900 for the 125 TNT, but close case inspection revealed ejector marks, so that's a no-go.

 

[Mike Casselton]

I wonder if the Barnes 110gr tac-tx 300 blk bullet would work for you. My boy shot a whitetail doe at about 200 yards last year with my 16" 300blk pushing that bullet to 2450Fps it was pretty devastating actually.

I'll see what I can do with them if I can find any locally. Thanks

 

[AlNyhus]

For that useage, IMR 4227 or IMR4198 is where I'd go next. Another one to consider is H322 and start with the powder at the base of the neck and go up from there. Any of these three will give you a nice 2800 fps set up. -Al

 

[Bill Norris]

Bill, what velocity are you getting from your load?

I had to pull my chrono down because of a rain storm and didn't get any numbers for the Noslers.

I did get well over 2900 for the 125 TNT, but close case inspection revealed ejector marks, so that's a no-go.

I believe mine was @ 2879 fps with the N-133. I actually got 3006 fps with 34.2 gr. H-4198 and it was accurate but I decided it may get a little warm so I didn't load it back. My barrel is 24 inches on my 700 Bench rifle and 23 inches on my Model 7 Hunter.

 

[X-Caveman]

125SST has been bad medicine for several pigs and two whitetails so far. I push it to 2,875 with 34.2gr H4198 in my short barreled 30BR (16” or 18”, can’t remember). 3 groove 17tw Lilja. I loaded some N130 at 34gr and it printed 1/2 min lower at both 100 and 310 yards. Don’t know the velocity, don’t really care. Figured I would use it for hunting and save my H4198 for my bench gun.

 

[Mike Casselton]

@AlNyhus
I have the 4227 and the 322. As most everyone knows, H4198 is unobtanium right now, so that's off the table. Options are good though.

@Bill Norris
Thanks for the info. I shot the 125s and LT-30 in mid 90° weather last week, so I've got a good idea what is hot and where I probably need to be. I'll be perfectly happy with 2800fps and the 125 Nosler.
It's too bad that they have gotten so expensive. It's just as cheap to shoot match bullets as it is to use the Noslers.

@X-Caveman
Thanks for the info on the SST. I would think they are a much better choice than the 110 V-Max and the 125 TNT for hogs and deer. Probably half the price of the Nosler too.



BTW, I shot the NBTs to 600 last week. They hit steel swingers pretty hard from 400-600.
The property I hunt has a maximum shot distance of 628, even though I won't take the shot, it's nice to know it's doable.

 

[Bill Norris]

Fantastic. Good luck with hunting.

 

[Mike Casselton]

Thanks.
Now if we can get a bit of cooler weather. Saturday's forecast is 99°.
I doubt I'll get the call this weekend, but you never know.

 

[Bill Norris]

WOW Oh yea it is hot here in S E N C as well. Need to get some brass blown out for my 6PPC but it's gonna be slow due to the heat.

 

[RippinSVT]

H4198 is what mine liked, and what produced the most impressive velocities. I started with IMR4198, but ran out of room and had to use a drop tube to get any performance rivaling H4198.

 

[Mike Casselton]

Wife wanted to do a bike ride this morning. 7:30 and it was 84°/75% RH.

As long as we were moving it was fine. Stopping for any reason was miserable.

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

Try some n120. Disregard burn rate charts. It's about 2gr faster than h4198 in that case. I'd start at 31.0 and work up from there.

 

[Mike Casselton]

That would put it "on the scale" just before AA-1680, wouldn't it?

I'll check with a couple of local places and see which VV powders are in stock. We literally have three places that carry VV and they are in Clearwater, the north end of St. Pete and Sarasota. Since I live south east of Tampa it would make a nice day out driving to see if they are in stock.

Or I could save $100 in fuel and make 3 phone calls. Naaaaah. Where would the fun be in that?