30br

[ric]

ready to start first loading for 30 br. using some hornaday 110 spire points i had left over from a 300 whisper project. do i jump, touch, or jam? new lapua brass, .330 neck with bullet seated.new kreiger 1 in 17, with .332 neck. thanks for the help ric

 

[rayjay]

You need to do all 3 to see what that bullet/bbl combo wants. I usually do .010 back, .001 back, .005 in and .010 in to see what the bbl wants.

 

[Shelley]

Ric

I have about a dozen 30BR barrels chambered and fit to three guns including a rail gun. My Shilen barrels all enjoy a medium jam and most will shoot well at about 2980 fps with a 125gr Speer TNT or a custom Cheek 118gr. Depending on jacket length, those 110gr bullets may be a tad short for much jam into the lands unless you have a zero free bore chamber. Even then they won't have a lot of bullet in the neck. But, try them, they may shoot great.

With everything right and with great wind conditions the round has a potential to shoot .1" or even some .0 groups. What with the recoil and conditions, agging at that level is less likely.

34.5 grains of H4198 will get that velocity in my barrels without any over pressure. Be sure to start a couple of grains low and work up to make sure your combination will accept that load.

I love my 30s.

Shelley

 

[AlNyhus]

Ric, dittos on Shelley's comments. I always use a decent amount of 'jam' as a starting point for seating depth. Make sure and remove the firing pin assy. from the bolt as this gives a better feel for what's going on.

Neck size a case,no primer or powder, obviously) with a bushing that will give a lot of tension,around .004 under what a loaded round measures works fine), seat the bullet with just a small amount of the shank in the neck, polish the bullet with some 0000 steel wool so the rifling marks show up well, and chamber it. When you extract the round, look at the rifling marks on the bullet and note their width/length, then polish them off with the steel wool, adjust the seating stem to seat the bullet .010 deeper into the neck and repeat.

When the rifling marks just disappear, I then adjust the seating stem .020 shorter for a decent amount of 'jam'. It takes longer to write how to do it than it does to actually do this. If the bullet wants to stay in the barrel when you extract the
case, use a smaller bushing if you have one or just use a wooden dowel to tap the bullet from the front and it'll fall right out.

Starting with a decent amount of 'jam' simplifies seating depth tuning as there is only one way to go...less jam.

Good shootin' and have fun..let us know how it works. -Al

 

[rayjay]

What are you guys using for sizing and seating dies? Or maybe I should be asking what are the various options for dies ?

I have a 30BR bbl coming and maybe in the 14 week delivery time I can have everything on hand to start loading for it.

I already have a K&M neck turner with a 30 cal carbide fluted mandrel. I know I need a 30 expander and a 6mm to 30 expander to neck up the Lapua brass.

TIA !!

 

[ric]

thanks guy's.the 110 hornadays are some i had sitting on the shelf, thought i would use them for the first loading. i did buy some speer tnt's, for the tuning.kelbly's said the barrel will be done after super shoot, maybe before. thanks again for your help, ric ps rayjay: got my barrel from bruno's, they had it in stock, took 4 days.

 

[rayjay]

Shilen recently started offering Savage Pre-Fits and I am going to reward them for this service. I am also waiting for a stock and some other goodies so Shilen being backed up really isn't delaying me greatly.

I also just discovered the 'Humble Henry 30BR' article that gave me some of the info I need on reloading dies, etc.

 

[george]

if your fire forming new brass make sure to jam !

 

[rayjay]

George, thanks for pointing that out. This is all new to me and I need to make some notes. I also have a few boxes of ancient Hornady 110's that I will use for fireforming and foulers.

 

[AlNyhus]

rayjay: Dies for the 30BR are simple. I use a Wilson #30BRS seating die....this is the standard style seating die, not the stainless micrometer adjustable one. Unless they've recently changed, the Wilson 30BR stainless seating die with the micrometer adjustment comes with a seating stem that is way too short...the shank area of the seating stem ends up out of the cap assy and the locking screw bears against the threads on the seating stem. I really prefer the adjusting method on the standard Wilson seating dies..the threads are 40 tpi, so one full revolution of the seating stem moves the seating depth .040, so it's easy to simply go .010 by turning the stem 1/4 turn, fr example. These are arbor press dies.

For a neck/shoulder bump/decapping die you can send a couple of fired cases to Harrels and they will send you a die that fits for around $75 or so. What I use is a Redding 6BR Body Die modified to neck size and decap by Jim Carstensen at JLC Precision. JIm gets $35 for this modification. A Body Die runs less than $30. You can also go with a Redding cataloged 30BR dies...I like how my JLC unit works, as it sizes for the 30BR 'Robinett' reamer perfectly.

Just one way to do it. -Al