30-30 powder = one size fits all?

[J Miller]

OK, I got some 30-30 bullets coming from another member and will have to buy at least one pound of boom kernels to load them.
I have both 150 and 170 gr bullets coming and want to just buy one kind of powder to load them all.

Years back there used to a pair loads for the 150 and 170 gr 30-30 bullets with 3031. It was one of those established loads that everybody knew and used.
But I never paid much attention to it because I was using 748.

Does anybody here know these old standard loads?

Joe

[victor]

i've read 30grs.for the 170's and 31 grs.for the 150's.hence the name"3031"

[J Miller]

i've read 30grs.for the 170's and 31 grs.for the 150's.hence the name"3031"

Victor,
That does sound familiar. Before I get to loading these I'm gonna "try" to look it up. But my stuff is boxed and in a mess.

Joe

[Don McDowell]

I don't think the numbers had a thing to do with the 30-30 cartridge, back then it was mostly known as the 30 wcf, and 3031 was the replacement for 17 1/2 powder.


Anyway that all aside, just because its' you Joe.... Lyman's 48 manual lists 28.5 as maximum with either weight bullet , jacketed or cast..

[Griff]

That 30...31 sounds familar, but I've stuck w/RE-7 because I get excellent results whether I'm shooting 125, 150 or 170 pills.

[pdawg.shooter]

3031 or Re7 will handle anything in a 3030, cast or jacketed.

[Rusty]

3031 has always been great for me.

[Sixgun]

I'm on the bandwagon Joe, 28 gr. of 3031---I used it for years before I started using cast exclusively---now its 5744 for all of my cast needs.--------Sixgun

[J Miller]

I've got to dig out some of my loading manuals. That 28 grain charge sounds awfully anemic to me. I've used 3031 of and on over the years and I doubt I ever loaded that little. But like I said, I use 748 95% of the time so I can't remember.

Joe

[Charles]

Joe----- I have used 3031 in various 30-30s for years. That "30 and 31" formula will work just fine although it is right near top end. Backing down a grain will never be noticed by hunter or game.

Jack O'Connor wrote years ago that 31.5/3031/170 was the max 30-30 load. I have used it, but not I am older and a little wiser.

[BigSky56]

Like Sixgun said 5744 works for cast and jacketed plus you can load it in your pistols to. danny

[Griff]

I've got to dig out some of my loading manuals. That 28 grain charge sounds awfully anemic to me. I've used 3031 of and on over the years and I doubt I ever loaded that little. But like I said, I use 748 95% of the time so I can't remember.
Joe

Currently, the Hodgdon website shows the max loads as:
150gr = 30.5grs. 3031
170gr = 29.2grs. 3031

[Lefty Dude]

I have used Hercules/Alliant RL-7 for years in the 30-30. Always preforms very well.

Does the job with both Jacketed & Lead.

[2X22]

I'm a big fan of any powder that will give me groups an inch or below. Because of that in the 30-30 my powder of choice has been 3031 since 1973. I see no reason to change. Cast or jacketed, heavy or light. 3031 has been a great performer for me.

2x22

[J Miller]

Like Sixgun said 5744 works for cast and jacketed plus you can load it in your pistols to. danny

Well, 5744 wasn't the topic of this thread so I ignored Sixguns comment. Buuuuutttt, I just shot up the last box of ammo loaded with that filthy stuff and I will never, ever, load another round of ammo with it. Not even if someone gives me a pound of it. If they did I'd fertilize my wife's garden with it. Or light it off next 4th of July.
Sorry for the attitude BigSky56, but I had the worst luck 5744 of any powder I've ever used.

OK, the topic of this thread was the old time everybody knows it load for the 30-30 using 3031 powder.

I think Victor and Charles have hit it. I know it won't read out like that in the modern or recent manuals or the Hodgdon's internet load data site, but neither does a lot of well known loads.

Gonna dig out my books and see what I find in the older ones.
Like the late 60s and early to mid 70s. We'll go from there.

Thanks guys.

Joe

[Don McDowell]

According to some old IMR data it should have been called 3235

[J Miller]

According to some old IMR data it should have been called 3235

Don,
Yep, I do believe you are right. I've got some old 30-30 ammo loaded with 33 grs of 3031 so that just might be where it came from. Or the old Speer book.
I just gotta dig 'em out and look.

Joe

[piller]

3031 is what I started with and is all that I have ever used in the .30-30. In my short 15 years of reloading for it I have never wanted for anything more. I call the 15 years short because when you compare it to the time many members here have spent on the .30-30, it is very short. Griff posted the results from the Hodgdon website, and as their site is so easy to use, I cross reference all loads between there + Speer Manual 13 + Lyman 47th edition + the Lee book which came with my press. They don't all show every load I want, but there is enough overlap that I can verify a load with 2 sources for whatever I shoot. I plan on updating a couple of manuals sometime, but I don't throw away the old ones as sometimes the new manuals don't list older cartridges. Maybe someday I will get some Alliant powder for the .30-30 and try it to see whether my wife's rifle and mine like it. I can't lose by trying it as I get to have the fun of range time and testing, and if I find a load which is more accurate, then I win. If the load is not more accurate then I still win as I will have validated my original results. The only downside is the difficulty in getting time off to do this. I really have got to get an air conditioner in my garage so that I can reload no matter what the outside temperature.

[Charles]

I started off reloading in 1958 with the 30-30 (30 WCF). Over the years, I have settled on the following powders.

1. Jacketed bullets of any weight...either 3031 or 4895. I can't see enough difference between the two to make change on.
2. Cast bullets at full throttle speeds.... again either 3031 or 4895
3. Cast bullets at mid-range speeds (1.4 to 1.7 K fps), 14 to 17 grains of either 2400, 4227, or 4759. I don't really think any one of the above is better than another. I just use 2400 as I keep it around the shop for other uses.

I have stopped messing with so many powder and just by a few in bulk. They are

3031 or 4895 for Garand loads, 45-70 and all medium rounds like .308, 30-40, 8mm, 30-30, 32 WS and others similiar rounds. If you can't get decent perfomance with either of these powder, then a change of powders won't make much of a difference.

4350 - for full charge, non Garand loads in the 30-06, 270 and the like.

2400 - For mid-range cast bullets in rifles, and magnum pistol rounds.

WC872 - For top end cast bullets in rifles. Best leave this slow ball machine gun powder alone if you are not an experience loader. There is little or no data and sometimes it will require a "kicker" charge of a few grains of faster powder to get a full burn.

Unique - Mid-range pistol rounds and low end cast bullets in rifles.

Bulleye - Target loads in sixguns and factory level 45 ACP loads either jacketed or cast.

There it is 6 maybe 7 powders. I have bits and pieces of other around, but they won't be replaced when gone. After 52 years of reloading, I no longer try and find the exact powder for each bullet in each rifles. I can assembly loads as good or better than factory, that will deliver accuracy greater than I can utilize with these old powders.

[J Miller]

Well this thread is sure straying off course.

My handgun powders = 231, Unique, 2400
My rifle powders = 748, 760

Occasionally I'll try other powders but I've been using these five (5) powders consistently since the mid 70s. Anything I want done I can do with them.

In this thread I was just trying to trace down the old stand by 3031 loads I'd heard a lot way back when and have forgotten. I think the 30 for 170s and 31 for 150s is it. I just wish I could remember better.

Joe

[Terry Murbach]

IMR RIFLE POWDER NUMBERS ARE DEVELOPEMENT NUMBERS. THEY ARE NOT INTRODUCTION NUMBERS NOR ANYTHING ELSE. OF COURSE I DID HEAR A RUMOR THAT IN '30 OLD MAN DuPONT GOT LAID 31 TIMES.....YES THAT MUST BE IT. IT MAKES SENSE TO ME NOW......

[piller]

We now have proof that Terry has a sense of humor!!!