30/30 black powder loads

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  • damifinowfish

    Ultimate Member
    Dec 14, 2009
    2,241
    Remulak
    Got a crazy idea

    I am thinking of using black powder to push a cast .308 bullet out of a single shot 30/30 rifle.

    Any thoughts?
     

    Blacksmith101

    Grumpy Old Man
    Jun 22, 2012
    22,156
    Since the .30-30 was one of the early smokless powder cartridges I'll bet it was loaded with BP often in its early days. They even used the BP convention of using the caliber and load data as the name but they ment 30 grains of smokless rather than 30 grains of BP. Today with so many different smokeless powders you would also have to add which powder you were talking about. Where do you find load data?

    Blacksmith101
     

    Threeband

    The M1 Does My Talking
    MDS Supporter
    Dec 30, 2006
    25,233
    Carroll County
    .30-30 is actually a sort of nickname. I don't think anyone really knows how or where is got mis-named that way. Apparently Bubba was used to that sort of double-barreled black powder style name, and decided to re-name the new .30 WCF.

    The correct name is .30 Winchester Center Fire, or .30 WCF. Bubba might have reloaded it with black powder. Bubba might have reloaded it with powder from the stub-ends of old highway flares. There's no knowing what Bubba will do.

    I can't see any harm in loading some black powder, especially in an easy-to-clean single shot rifle. It should be lots of fun, good and smokey, and a real attention-getter.
     
    Oct 27, 2008
    8,444
    Dundalk, Hon!
    30 grains of smokeless powder (nitrocellulose propellant) is not equivalent to 30 grains of black powder. The "30" refers to a charge of smokeless that produces the same pressure as 30 grains of black powder, and is much less weight and volume.
     

    Threeband

    The M1 Does My Talking
    MDS Supporter
    Dec 30, 2006
    25,233
    Carroll County
    30 grains of smokeless powder (nitrocellulose propellant) is not equivalent to 30 grains of black powder. The "30" refers to a charge of smokeless that produces the same pressure as 30 grains of black powder, and is much less weight and volume.



    I believe the "30" refers to absolutely nothing. Like I said, it's a nickname that some old Fudds started using back when the round first came out, in 1895 (Winchester had problems loading consistent powder charges at first, so the first .30 WCF ammo wasn't out until '95).

    30 grains sounds like a VERY light load in a .30 WCF.
     

    BFMIN

    Ultimate Member
    Nov 5, 2010
    2,767
    Eastern shore
    Good luck getting enough in the case.

    I tried this once with a .303 British. I wanted to mimic the old 220 Gr B/P loads used to fight off Fuzzy-Wuzzies & relieve Mafeking.:lol2::sad20: I loaded the case ram-jam full of B/P, tapped it down & added more, then I crush fitted the 215 Gr roundnose to compress the charge. IIRC the original load was a compressed solid pellet with 47 Gr of powder I think I got maybe 37.

    *Coff* Poot!:wtf::facepalm:
     

    rseymorejr

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Feb 28, 2011
    26,015
    Harford County
    I had always heard that the first # referred to caliber, the second # to the weight of the black powder charge and the third #, if there was one, referred to the weight of the bullet.
     

    Blacksmith101

    Grumpy Old Man
    Jun 22, 2012
    22,156
    I believe the "30" refers to absolutely nothing. Like I said, it's a nickname that some old Fudds started using back when the round first came out, in 1895 (Winchester had problems loading consistent powder charges at first, so the first .30 WCF ammo wasn't out until '95).

    30 grains sounds like a VERY light load in a .30 WCF.

    According to Cartridges of the World 12th edition in the .30-30 or .30 WCF the second 30 refered to 30 grains of smokless powder.

    Blacksmith101
     

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