.30 Carbine

[Ak Steve]

The M1 Garand thread made me think of my .30 carbine. I have gobs of brass for my .30 Carbine, but I have not reloaded any of it. I have noticed a difference in performance between different types of factory ammo. I bought some cheap stuff at the Warehouse not long ago, and it didn't cycle the rifle very well.
Now that my boys are of centerfire age, I they want to shoot it to death.
How have your carbine loads worked out? Any suggestions?

 

[Darreld Walton]

.30 Carbine

It'd sure be nice if the CMP or someone would uncover a boatload of USGI ammunition for the carbine, but I'm afraid it's gone and what's left is in the hands of shooters and clubs. I'm down to about 500 rounds at the moment.
I've loaded the 110 Speer soft point and FMJ for my little Winchester, with 2400 and H110, and they cycle just fine, and don't shoot terrible. Those powders are as dirty in the rifle as they are in a handgun, though. Gotta try something else that isn't quite as nasty.
IF your cases have sat around for quite awhile, check and make sure that the primers haven't corroded. Last batch that I sized had about a five percent loss rate because the decapping rod would pierce the weakened primer cup and leave a ring of metal in the primer pocket of the case.

 

[Darreld Walton]

Oh, yeah, forgot...

Oh, yeah, forgot...

You're sure to know, but figured I'd mention to be sure and use a taper crimp on your loads, they headspace on the mouth, and a roll crimp doesn't work out. Another note is to make sure that your case length is uniform, seems to affect accuracy in my rifle a lot.

 

[BrownBear]

It's been a couple of years, but Win 296 was a lot cleaner for me. For economy I bought bulk jacketed bullets. You can save even more buying larger quantities, plated or hard cast from the same site.

Other's points about taper crimps and case length are important.

 

[Float Pilot]

I used H-110 in my 30 carbine loads and even tried some Blue-Dot which was a little cleaner. My Winchester made M-1 Carbine will not shoot the soft point stuff very reliably. Oddly enough it loves PMC korean military ball ammo.

 

[Murphy]

30 Carbine loads...

30 Carbine loads...

The powder that was used to load the 30 carbine mil spec ammo was later surplus out and named H-110. That powder was developed for this round. Olin then contracted out to make a batch of it and it was call W-296. These are the same powders with the normal lot to lot variations and work quite well with this small case. These powders are often dirty and sometimes hard to ignite and cause wide velocity variations. They are also somewhat temperature sensitive.

Norma developed a powder for the 44 mag way back in the fifties and it was also used in the Norma ammo for the 30 carbine round. This powder, called R-123, ignites easily and is less sensitive to temperture, but is no longer manufactured. VihtaVouri N-110 is very close to this very clean burning R-123 and is great in the 44 Mag and the 30 carbine. N-110 is a good alternative for the 30 carbine if you want a clean burner with consistant velocities. I use this powder for all the magnum sized revolver calibers with very good results.

Carbide dies for this one are available and make loading cleaner and quicker. I have used the Redding carbide dies in the Dillion 550 and turned out a lot of ammo in a hurry. The ball powder does meter better in the Dillion but I did find that R-123 worked very well also. It and N-110 are short kernal extruded powders and fit a powder measure very well. Sierra Bullets is less than an hours drive from my range and I would go there to buy bulk bullets by the pound. I bought lots of their 110 grain .308" round nose for the carbine. Loads of fun, this little cat gun.