I was wondering if some of you guy's could school me on the 7-30 waters ?
Thanks,
jr1968.
Sorry, I'm just in one of those weird moods. I do know a few things. Not sure what kind of info you are after. It is a 7mm from the 30-30 as a base case. The body is longer and shoulder is steeper, case less tapered. Was chambered in guns designed for the 30-30, so tube fed lever guns. Same pressure, or within a few thousand psi/cup. Loaded with flat point bullets for lever guns. Usual bullet weight 120gr.
In a lever gun or a single shot? I have a Contender carbine in 7-30 that I have been working up a deer load for. So far I have not killed anything with it, but I intend it to be a youth gun. The loads are shooting great at about 3/4 inch for three shots with a 120 Sierra soft point. Consider it to be a flatter shooting .30-30.
I had a TC Contender Carbine 21" barrel in 7-30 Waters back in the early 90's . It shoot well, with 139 gr Hornady's, little recoil, about 2500 fps using IMR 3031 if I recall correctly. Fireformed 30-30 brass with cast bullets.
I have only seen 1 lever, a Winchester chambered in the caliber.
Flyer
I have both a contender handgun and a Win 94. I have not shot the Win yet. I will be heading to hunt West River in SD next week. I will be using a gun with a longer reach for out there.
Nice, mild round, hampered commercially by a general lack of interest in nice, mild, rounds. If I were looking for something like this, I'd probably go for one of the 6.5s, like the JDJ or the EABCO 6.5 in a single shot.
A few years back, I had a LN M94 carbine on layaway, but even then the lack of brass and FN bullets was an issue, so I let it go. Probably a lot worse now.
Good round for a Contender, if that's your thing, since you can use pointy bullets.
It found new life on the Contender platform. Out of a 14 inch pistol barrel it has the oomph to cleanly kill deer and antelope past 200 yards using 120 gr. Noslers. To really get a good idea about go over to the Specialty Pistols forum and do a search on it. It is one of the most poular chamberings.
My Super 14 would easily shoot as well as my rifles and was so easy to load for. Case life was exceptional and it was a real fun gun.
Paco Kelly wrote a piece on his 30-30 IMP, which is basically the 7-30 necked back out to 30 cal. The case capacity is greater than the std 30-30 because of the shoulder move. He had a bbl put on a 94 Big Bore, which can handle higher pressures than the std 94 or the 336. He got 308 ballistics out of that lever gun with cases full of 760.
Wandering a bit off topic here, but the .30-30 AI is indeed another stellar performer in a Contender. With the velocity it is getting it would probably kill your elk, too.
I have both 14" and 24" barrels for my G2 Contender.I use the 120 grain ballistic tip and have shot animals out to 250 yards with it.Super accurate and fun to shoot.748 is your friend!!!
H4895 was the only powder I tried. It did so well I didn't feel the need to look elsewhere.