30br hunting bullet for 17 twist

[Leadfarmer]

Wondering what people who are hunting with a 30BR are using for deer? I've got a lighter contour 30br barrel in 17 twist. I was thinking about the Hornady 125 SST which are about 1.03in long, but every stability calculator I put it into says it will not stabilize? Only one I'm really seeing that will stabilize that would be a good round would be the 125 sierra pro hunter or a 125gr speer TNT which I've been told isn't a proper round for medium game.


Apologies if this has been talked about, but if I'm to use bullet stability calculators, then I'm left with what seems to be maybe 1 good option.

 

[AlNyhus]

Bullets made on the 1.00" J4 jacket will give you plenty of stability and they flatten white tails like crazy...no matter what the finished weight. Ditto for bullets on the .925" J4's.

Good shootin' -Al

 

[Leadfarmer]

Bullets made on the 1.00" J4 jacket will give you plenty of stability and they flatten white tails like crazy...no matter what the finished weight. Ditto for bullets on the .925" J4's.

Good shootin' -Al

Thanks Al, that opens my offerings up a bit. Not sure of the jacket used on the Hornady sat but I'll look into that as well.

 

[X-Caveman]

I’ve shot 3-4 smallish TX white tail deer and at least 8-10 feral hogs with a 125SST out of my 16” 17tw Lilja BBL 30BR. From about 10 yards to 150. 34.2gr H4198 is about all I can fit, gives 2,885. Terminal performance has been nothing short of spectacular. Bang flop, but only one pass thru that I can remember.

I’ve had the rifle for about 5 years, but just recently decided to see how it groups on paper at 100 yards. My 125SST load was disappointing - about 3/4” avg at 100 with 3 & 4 shot groups. I measured this lot and they are about 1.052” long. Maybe not stable?

So, I loaded several other bullets. It shows a strong preference for 112 Barts, They shoot like you would expect -in the .2’s & .3’s. They are also the shortest bullet I tried. I’m going to give them a try for a few hunts. About 2,915. Here’s what the various bullets look like at touch, and my 1st target with 4 shot groups. It repeated.

Shot using a Harris bipod, squeeze bag, gemtech suppressor, Leupold VX5 3-15x44

 

[Horsemen61]

Something to think about for sure I maybe get around to doing this!

 

[Bill Norris]

Wondering what people who are hunting with a 30BR are using for deer? I've got a lighter contour 30br barrel in 17 twist. I was thinking about the Hornady 125 SST which are about 1.03in long, but every stability calculator I put it into says it will not stabilize? Only one I'm really seeing that will stabilize that would be a good round would be the 125 sierra pro hunter or a 125gr speer TNT which I've been told isn't a proper round for medium game.


Apologies if this has been talked about, but if I'm to use bullet stability calculators, then I'm left with what seems to be maybe 1 good option.

My Hunter Model 7 is doing well with the 125 gr. Nosler Accu-bonds. M V is at 3000 FPS and it is drilling small 5 shot holes @ 100 yds. which is about max distance in the swamp here behind my house. My barrel is 1 - 15 Tw. 23 inches on this rifle. This is an ODCR build.

 

[Leadfarmer]

I’ve shot 3-4 smallish TX white tail deer and at least 8-10 feral hogs with a 125SST out of my 16” 17tw Lilja BBL 30BR. From about 10 yards to 150. 34.2gr H4198 is about all I can fit, gives 2,885. Terminal performance has been nothing short of spectacular. Bang flop, but only one pass thru that I can remember.

I’ve had the rifle for about 5 years, but just recently decided to see how it groups on paper at 100 yards. My 125SST load was disappointing - about 3/4” avg at 100 with 3 & 4 shot groups. I measured this lot and they are about 1.052” long. Maybe not stable?

So, I loaded several other bullets. It shows a strong preference for 112 Barts, They shoot like you would expect -in the .2’s & .3’s. They are also the shortest bullet I tried. I’m going to give them a try for a few hunts. About 2,915. Here’s what the various bullets look like at touch, and my 1st target with 4 shot groups. It repeated.

Shot using a Harris bipod, squeeze bag, gemtech suppressor, Leupold VX5 3-15x44

Thanks for the info! Mine is a lilja 17tw as well, finished at 22in though. My lgs has some 125 sst for $35 per 100 so maybe ill grab a box and see how they do with some N130 that I have. I know for certain people have taken truck loads of deer with Bibs and Barts, which I have, but Id like a dedicated hunting bullet. Last year I shot a large doe at about 130 yards with a 112gr hottenstien bullet, and it dropped right there, and went through both shoulders which I was very surprised to see.

 

[Capt. Oblivious]

125gr Nosler Ballistic tip is a fantastic hunting bullet for medium size game especially at 30BR velocity

 

[X-Caveman]

Thanks for the info! Mine is a lilja 17tw as well, finished at 22in though. My lgs has some 125 sst for $35 per 100 so maybe ill grab a box and see how they do with some N130 that I have. I know for certain people have taken truck loads of deer with Bibs and Barts, which I have, but Id like a dedicated hunting bullet. Last year I shot a large doe at about 130 yards with a 112gr hottenstien bullet, and it dropped right there, and went through both shoulders which I was very surprised to see.

Shooting groups with my rifle is kinda silly, really. It's not like a deer or hog will know the difference. Just when you spend the time, $ and effort building something unique like this, you want it to shoot better than the average factory gun.

I've changed 2 things with my SST load, the bullet lot# and the seating depth. In my bench guns, I'm always in the lands pretty far, so that's how I started on this one. Big mistake. I stuck a bullet in the chamber in the field. Big mess. Since then, I've moved .01" off. That's where I tested all 4 bullets in the pictures. The 125SST pretty far down in the case with my zero freebore reamer. I can't get more than about 34.2gr H4198 in there. I don't think that's where it wants to be, but I'll give up some accuracy for field condition reliability.

 

[RGRobinett]

Here's an example of how bullet length affects gyroscopic stability (Sg): note the HUGE difference in the specific gravity of bullet construction, which determines the balance point vs mass. In order to attain equal Sg, for any caliber'/weight, adding a polymer tip (here, I used .0125") almost always requires an additional 2"+ of twist rate.
This program only provides a twist rate which produces Sg1.5, where to completely damp yaw & pitch, requires Sg1.4. BTW, adding a 0.10"x9* BT will want an additional 1/2" faster twist . . . and this, isn't perfect, as the BT version would also add length! AT MVs above 2500 FPS, increasing MV will not provide a practical Sg increase.
Any FB HP bullet, or, OLD SCHOOL soft-point, bullet up to 1.060"long should be OK via 1:17" twist barrels.
RG

	S / T​	S / T​
DATA
BULLET DIAMETER	0.308​	0.308​
BULLET OVERALL LENGHT	1.06​	1.19​
MEPLAT DIAMETER	0.06​	0.05​
BOATTAIL LENGHT	0.000​	0.000​
BOATTAIL ANGLE	0.00​	0.00​
OR BOATTAIL END DIAMETER​
TYPE OF OGIVE : S (SECANT) OR T (TANGENT)	T​	S​
OGIVE RADIUS	10.00​	10.00​
SPECIFIC GRAVITY OF BULLET CONSTRUCTION	9.30​	7.70​
MUZZLE VELOCITY (FPS)	3000​	3000​
AIR DENSITY	1.020​	1.020​
RESULTS
WEIGHT (GRAINS)​	125​	125​
WEIGHT (GRAMMES)​	8​	8​
SECTIONAL DENSITY​	0.188​	0.188​
BALLISTIC COEFFICIENT C1​	0.372​	0.358​
TWIST RATE FOR STABILITY FACTOR OF 1,5​	15.7​	12.5​

 

[Bill Norris]

Here's an example of how bullet length affects gyroscopic stability (Sg): note the HUGE difference in the specific gravity of bullet construction, which determines the balance point vs mass. In order to attain equal Sg, for any caliber'/weight, adding a polymer tip (here, I used .0125") almost always requires an additional 2"+ of twist rate requirement.
This program only provides a twist rate which produces Sg1.5, where to completely damp yaw & pitch, requires Sg1.4. BTW, adding a 0.10"x9* BT will want an additional 1/2" faster twist . .. and this, isn't perfect, as the BT version would also add length! AT MVs above 2500 FPS, increasing MV is on no practical use.
Any FB HP bullet, or, OLD SCHOOL soft-point, bullet up to 1.060"long should be OK via 1:17" twist barrels.
RG

	S / T​	S / T​
DATA
BULLET DIAMETER	0.308​	0.308​
BULLET OVERALL LENGHT	1.06​	1.19​
MEPLAT DIAMETER	0.06​	0.05​
BOATTAIL LENGHT	0.000​	0.000​
BOATTAIL ANGLE	0.00​	0.00​
OR BOATTAIL END DIAMETER​
TYPE OF OGIVE : S (SECANT) OR T (TANGENT)	T​	S​
OGIVE RADIUS	10.00​	10.00​
SPECIFIC GRAVITY OF BULLET CONSTRUCTION	9.30​	7.70​
MUZZLE VELOCITY (FPS)	3000​	3000​
AIR DENSITY	1.020​	1.020​
RESULTS
WEIGHT (GRAINS)​	125​	125​
WEIGHT (GRAMMES)​	8​	8​
SECTIONAL DENSITY​	0.188​	0.188​
BALLISTIC COEFFICIENT C1​	0.372​	0.358​
TWIST RATE FOR STABILITY FACTOR OF 1,5​	15.7​	12.5​

Great info Randy.

 

[Bob in WI]

First 2 pictures from an untuned 30BR 17 twist competition rifle and Sierra 125gr Prohunters.
1st picture is 3 shot group..2nd is a single bullet to check stability..
3rd picture is from a tuned 12 twist 30BR non-competition Remington 700.
Prohunters shoot pretty well.

 

[Leadfarmer]

Thank you Randy!

 

[jackieschmidt]

My best friend built a Remington short action with a 1-17 Krieger take off barrel from his Farley Benchrest Rifle. I set it back for the recoil lug.

It shoots the 130 grn Barns TSX at 3000 feet per second with great accuracy.