high country
Member
I recently picked up a .30-30 NEF single shot, and am working on some loads. I have a little stash of 150 grain Berry's plated bullets and some Unique, so I will definitely load a pile of those over 7 grains for plinking.
I would also like to work up a nice 170 grain load running in the 1900 fps range for general purpose. Any suggestions on bullets and powders that I should look at for that? It would be a 100-150 yard cartridge (perfect for the intended use of this little rifle), so I don't know that spire point gains anything over traditional .30-30 bullets. I want something that is designed for those lower velocities, where most of the spire points are intended for much higher speeds and so don't have good terminal performance going slow.
Another question - I went to start working up a seating depth for the berry's bullets, and realized that the lands are right off the end of the chamber, there is no lead section basically. I tried cambering a commercial Hornady 150 grain, and it chambered fine, but you could see where the bullet was forced slightly into the lands. Is that normal? Seems questionable. Doubt that it would be an issue with light loads, but it seems like the pressures would potentially be high with a 2400fps commercial load. The OAL I came up with for the Berry's right at the lands was 2.420".
I don't remember that from when I had a Marlin 336, but that was a while ago, and I didn't ever end up loading much for it. I bought the berry's and unique for that rifle, but the microgoove didn't like the .308 bullets much. The NEF is not microgroove (some are, but not this one).
One final question - I will probably order some new brass to work with. Is there a brand that anyone would recommend? I know brass life is an issue with .30-30, but I will be running lighter loads, and will probably just neck size, so it should help especially if I start with a good set of new cases.
I would also like to work up a nice 170 grain load running in the 1900 fps range for general purpose. Any suggestions on bullets and powders that I should look at for that? It would be a 100-150 yard cartridge (perfect for the intended use of this little rifle), so I don't know that spire point gains anything over traditional .30-30 bullets. I want something that is designed for those lower velocities, where most of the spire points are intended for much higher speeds and so don't have good terminal performance going slow.
Another question - I went to start working up a seating depth for the berry's bullets, and realized that the lands are right off the end of the chamber, there is no lead section basically. I tried cambering a commercial Hornady 150 grain, and it chambered fine, but you could see where the bullet was forced slightly into the lands. Is that normal? Seems questionable. Doubt that it would be an issue with light loads, but it seems like the pressures would potentially be high with a 2400fps commercial load. The OAL I came up with for the Berry's right at the lands was 2.420".
I don't remember that from when I had a Marlin 336, but that was a while ago, and I didn't ever end up loading much for it. I bought the berry's and unique for that rifle, but the microgoove didn't like the .308 bullets much. The NEF is not microgroove (some are, but not this one).
One final question - I will probably order some new brass to work with. Is there a brand that anyone would recommend? I know brass life is an issue with .30-30, but I will be running lighter loads, and will probably just neck size, so it should help especially if I start with a good set of new cases.