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After experiencing sticker shock over my recent purchase of garden-variety jacketed bullets for my .30-30, a good friend here pointed out that jacketed bullets still may turn out to be just a passing fad and at any rate I could cast my own.

That caused a light bulb to go on over my admittedly thick noggin. I have stored about five pounds of these bullets around two separate shops for over a decade now, maybe close on to two decades. The bullet in question is the Heavy Thirty, from a mold I spec'd out with Dan at Mountain Molds. It's poured of wheel weight alloy (with added tin) and water-dropped for hardness. It's a bore-rider design of .310 diameter, and it drops at 220 grains with a nice broad meplat. It was meant to be a hunting bullet design.

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I looked up some Lyman Cast Bullet manual data for .30-06 using a Lyman 200-grain bullet, found a recipe using IMR 4198, and backed it off the max by two grains. I figure it may be good for 1800 fps. I function tested it into the woodpile through my old Springfield sporter, and it left the bore nice and clean while failing to blow the gun up. I consider that a bit of a win.

It cycles fine from the magazine of the Springfield, but the tube mag in my .30-30s is more of a challenge. In any event I think this would be a good design for .30-40 Krag. Maybe this weekend we'll see how it does for accuracy.

-AaronB

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Looks good! Heavy, flat bullets at moderate velocities? Sounds like a plan!

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I wanted an optimal cast bullet for hunting in .30-30 and .30-06.

My thoughts on this bullet design were:

1) Cast bullets, even with gas checks, require some wizardry to make them work over about 2000 fps. Who wants that kind of struggle? So...

2) Accepting a 2000-fps upper limit in a .30 caliber, how much weight can you push at that speed and bore size?

The answer is linked to this next question, which is

3) Without impinging much past the bottom of the case neck in the loaded cartridge, what's the longest bullet that can be made to work?

If velocity, diameter, and alloy density are all fixed, one remaining strategy to maximize performance is to maximize bullet weight. In order to do this I spec'd a design to make the most of the available volume for the bullet, leading to the bore-rider shank and the (mostly) flat point.

I set the weight limit to 220 grains because I wasn't sure the rifling in the average .30-30 would stabilize anything much heavier than that (or even that, to be honest).

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I'm looking forward to further testing results. I've experimented some with 200+ gr JSP's in my P=17, your cast FN looks like a very competent hole puncher in a milder level. I've done little with cast in rifles, just not up north enough time at once to do much. A few years ago I picked up some commercial cast, but don't think they were near as heavy as yours. Will have to check the cache next time I'm up there. What kind of velocity do you expect out of the 30 WCF?

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Paul, I'm hoping that I can launch this bullet at 1800 fps out of the .30-30 case also, using a very carefully chosen charge weight of IMR 4198 or 4895. I'm going to do a lot of homework before I try extrapolating a suitable charge; neither my Lyman nor Lee manuals have any .30-30 data for 220- or even 200-grain bullets. In any event I will undershoot my target charge weight and work up to it slowly.

We'll see whether my Marlin 336 likes these. It's got a little faster rifling twist than my old Winchester 94.

-AaronB

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I put a lot of them downrange including the White Buffalo target at Whittington.

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Ele era velho.
Ele era corajoso.
Ele era feio.

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Jim,

Is that the one they list as a 180 grain flat nose?

I have that mold sitting here….waiting

Otony

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.

--
Ele era velho.
Ele era corajoso.
Ele era feio.

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Mine weighs 190 also.

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I have two rifles of the .30 WCF persuasion in the house, one a 1950's vintage M94 Winchester carbine in its original trim, and the other a Marlin 336 rifle that has been modified to .30-30 Ackley.

For my initial loadings of the 220-grain bullet in .30-30 I decided that 17.0 grains of IMR 4198 was unlikely to cost me any parts of my body. A remaining question was, what's the right OAL for this load?

The first time around I decided to crimp the case mouth right into the top driving band, leaving the entire bullet nose exposed. The resulting cartridge looked pretty extreme, but it kept the base of the bullet almost entirely inside the case neck.

Well, it didn't work. I could barely clamp the action shut on the cartridge in the '94. It wasn't even close to a reasonable fit for hunting. I fired that one cartridge into the end of a piece of white ash firewood and went back to the drawing board. Successive attempts involved seating the bullet deeper over the same 17.0 grains of 4198. They continued to give me trouble in the Winchester, so I got out the Marlin to see if they would cycle and chamber.

I don't know whether it's the micro-groove rifling that made the difference, but the heavy thirty seated to an OAL of 2.51" cycled and chambered quite nicely in the Marlin.

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The above is what the 2.51 OAL cartridge looked like after being cycled through the '94. Note the rifling marks on the bore-rider section of the bullet nose.

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This image (above) shows you the seating depth vs. case neck in the original .30-30 case, and where it would fall in the .30-30 AI case.

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The above image shows how this load penetrated in white ash firewood, penetrating 4.5 inches. I thought this not bad for 220 grains at an estimated 1800 fps... that ash wood is tough.

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The above image is what two of the recovered bullets look like. Yes, it appears I am now suitably equipped to go hunting trees.

-AaronB

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a tree killing load for sure! :-D

I've always heard that you don't want the gas check down below the neck, but am not clear as to WHY, unless it's due to the possibility of the gas check popping off before you fire the round. That's a nice looking load. You just need to cut a deeper throat in that 94 Winchester. :stirpot:

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I have to wonder whether I could load a reduced load of 4198, top it off with Cream of Wheat to the bottom of the case neck, then go ahead and seat that bullet deep? The filler would serve to push on that gas check, keeping it on as it passes into the neck.

I am unlikely to cut on the throat of the Model 94. My dad shot his first buck with that gun and I have high hopes to leave it to a grandchild one day. It would be a shame to monkey with it.

-AaronB

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Oh, I fully understand. A family heirloom doesn't need monkeyed with. But one can't help but wonder how a rifle would shoot that round if properly throated. Does that round cycle through the action OK?

As for filler and such - I'm clueless, but always willing to watch others' experiments!

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...a single-shot in .30-30. Preferably a Ruger No. 1 or 3, but I wouldn't turn down a Handi-Rifle. The Holy Grail would be a Browning Hi-Wall. Then a lot of my cartridge cycling considerations go right on away. I don't have to worry about the tube mag pushing the bullet in, either, although I still need to work out what will chamber and what won't.

-AaronB

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posted a link to it...

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/1152471988

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