.30-30 oal question for Barnes bullets

[03RN]

I thought I was going off my old loads today. 39gr Winchester 760 with the bullet loaded to the first cannelure. Oal was 2.46 and I was getting a weird bulge below the neck. I loaded one to the second cannelure down/ 2.56 and no bulge but I could swear I loaded it deeper. I didn't record oal before.

I'm using a drop tube and it's still compressed. In the past it's given me normal speed. Nothing crazy. At least in 2 rifles.

I don't have a 30-30 currently but don't use w760 or these Barnes bullets for anything else and the brass is already primed. I was just loading them up for future use since I don't currently have anything else to load untill I get another .30-06 decapper pin.

[willie]

I thought I was going off my old loads today. 39gr Winchester 760 with the bullet loaded to the first cannelure. Oal was 2.46 and I was getting a weird bulge below the neck. I loaded one to the second cannelure down/ 2.56 and no bulge but I could swear I loaded it deeper. I didn't record oal before.

I'm using a drop tube and it's still compressed. In the past it's given me normal speed. Nothing crazy. At least in 2 rifles.

I don't have a 30-30 currently but don't use w760 or these Barnes bullets for anything else and the brass is already primed. I was just loading them up for future use since I don't currently have anything else to load untill I get another .30-06 decapper pin.

My reply addresses a similar problem that I once had loading 357 Mag ammo. Failure to expand the case mouth adequately bulged the case below the bullet base. Brass can vary in thickness, and cast bullets in my instance were .359 diameter. Another example of this same thing happened when reloading 45-70 ammo. These cases are thin to start with, and instead of bulging, they collapsed. The Lyman M Die will prevent this. Dies vary too. Your size die may be reducing the neck area a tad more than some others, or your brass may be thicker. Try twirling a Q-tip with lube inside the case neck.

Your 30-30 die is expanding the case when you raise the press handle and lower the press ram and pull the expander through the case mouth. I suggest removing this spindle and using a Lyman M-Die. Or you can look at other expander choices on Midway that also function like handgun expanders.

[Hambo]

I thought I was going off my old loads today. 39gr Winchester 760 with the bullet loaded to the first cannelure. Oal was 2.46 and I was getting a weird bulge below the neck. I loaded one to the second cannelure down/ 2.56 and no bulge but I could swear I loaded it deeper. I didn't record oal before.

I'm using a drop tube and it's still compressed. In the past it's given me normal speed. Nothing crazy. At least in 2 rifles.

I don't have a 30-30 currently but don't use w760 or these Barnes bullets for anything else and the brass is already primed. I was just loading them up for future use since I don't currently have anything else to load untill I get another .30-06 decapper pin.

How many times has the brass been loaded? Have you ever annealed it?

[Malamute]

Without a picture its hard to tell exactly what you mean by the bulge below the neck, but what first came to mind was the crimp. If the crimp isnt adjusted just right the case can bulge behind the case mouth on 30-30s. This can happen for several reasons, first, varying case lengths, a long case gets more crimp, on a jacketed bullet theres nowhere for the case material to go deeper so the case bulges back a bit from the mouth.

Changing bullet makes or any other factor can do this. The crimp has to be re-set for each individual different bullet type, as the cannelure depth can vary, and seating depth can affect it as well. I always back off the crimp on 30-30 until i get the seating depth I want then re-set the crimp.

I got to where I felt the seating and crimp stroke, if it felt more resistance than it should I stopped short so it wouldnt bulge the case, its a reminder to keep 30-30 cases trimmed to maintain length consistency.

Taper crimps and deep crimp grooves in cast bullets are pretty forgiving, the relatively thin case and shallow cannelure on 30-30 cases and bullets takes a little more care in setting up. Ive always tried for max possible crimp without bulging the case behind the mouth.

I always inside neck de-burr cases so the bullets start easily. Ive had some squarish base bullets snag and crush the case mouth. Seems to vary by makers. If cases are trimmed they need de-burred again.

Can you use the decapping pin from another set of dies like your 30-30 dies in your 30-06 dies? I keep a decapper from the Lee Loader tool around for backup, the rod and base thats used with a plastic hammer to decap.

A Winchester factory 30-30 150 gr round is measuring 2.542 OAL fwiw. I dont usually measure them, so dont know what the max length that will work is. The bullets Ive used for loading only had one crimp groove, and have always worked without issue. Ignorance is bliss I guess.

[Frank500]

Heavily compressed loads can bulge your case neck. 30/30 brass is thin and doesn’t takes a lot of abuse. Cases trimmed to 2.028? I’ve used that Barnes bullet, but none are loaded and I have a small child’s handful left of them. Doubt I’ll try and find any. Replaced them with Swift A Frame 170s.
Since the release of Lever evolution, I don’t bother with any other powder in the 30/30 and the Ackley version. Accuracy matters more to me than speed, accurate is wonderful with it. I also use lever evolution in the 308 with 200 grain bullets.

[358156hp]

I'm under the impression that your case might be a bit on the long side. 30-30 cases are really thin.

[03RN]

Wtf, I'm going to have to reset and calibrate everything. I put the loaded cases in a box and labeled them 49 760.

I very well may have way over charged them.

I'll update when I get a chance to check.

Also. It's not so much the neck that bulged. It was the body below the neck.

[Clusterfrack]

Wtf, I'm going to have to reset and calibrate everything. I put the loaded cases in a box and labeled them 49 760.

I very well may have way over charged them.

I'll update when I get a chance to check.

Also. It's not so much the neck that bulged. It was the body below the neck.

Hard to know what's going on without pictures. It's possible that you're trying a severely compressed load, but you should be able to figure that out from load data and just looking in the case.

Another possibility is that your case mouth isn't chamfered, and the hard copper bullet is catching on the sharp brass and causing the case to fold when try to seat. I've had that happen with trimmed 5.56 brass.

[03RN]

[Duelist]

I’d tear those apart, bin the brass, and start over.