Thursday, August 04, 2016

Range report, .30-30 light loads

using the 100-grain SWC bullet, sized .311, and 5.0 grains of Green Dot powder.  I loaded five each in Federal and Winchester cases, just to see if any difference.

Winchester cases
 There's only four because it turned out one bullet enlarged the case neck enough that it didn't want to chamber.  For fifty yards and iron sights, not bad.

Federal cases
I can't blame the high and low on uneven charges(I don't think) since I weighed them, so probably my fault.

The Green Dot gave a nice 'crack' when fired, recoil was almost not there.  No velocity readings, didn't set up the Chrony because A: it was already getting hot, B: it was windy, C: I was lazy.  I am curious about it, though; these gave a higher point of impact than the Bullseye loads, so obviously higher velocity.  Going to have to load some more and run them over the Chrony next chance I get.

I think I'm going to take the .308" Lee sizer I've got and polish it out to .309 or .310.  If turns out I still need a .308" for some things, these aren't expensive, and I think sizing these bullets to a bit smaller than .311 might work better.


3 comments:

taminator013 said...

You stated that the higher point of impact is from higher velocity. I always thought that this was the case, too, but I read an article years ago in Handloader Magazine about that very subject. The writer stated that higher velocity causes a lower impact point. This is due to the higher velocity bullet exiting the barrel sooner during time where the barrel is rising from recoil. A lower velocity bullet would exit later when the barrel is at a higher causing a higher impact point. Yeah, I don't know if I buy it either. Maybe sometimes. A lot would have to due with distance from the target. A lower velocity bullet would drop quicker than one with higher velocity. Even if it started out higher it would still probably end up impacting lower at some point. I also found a lot of things wrong with his methodology. He made this blanket statement after only using one firearm at one distance to come to his conclusion. So much for gun writers being experts in their field. The old saying is true. Don't believe everything you read........................

Firehand said...

Withe regular, full-power loads, at least in handguns, that's exactly what happens. For instance, take a .38 revolver(example that comes to mind) whose sights are regulated for 158-grain bullets, and load it with faster 125-grain; those 125-grain will hit lower.

With this, recoil is so low that I wouldn't count it as a factor, so this hitting higher than the Unique loads would indeed indicate higher velocity. Of course, I could be wrong, strange as it may seem I have been before.

taminator013 said...

I believe that this does happen, especially in handguns, but the author left the impression that this is always the case.