Looking for experiences with this bullet in the 30-30 (Winchester or Ackley Improved) if anyone has info to share. Since this bullet was designed for Blackout/Whisper velocities, I'd think the operational range for this bullet should be right in line for loading into a 30-30 case in single shot pistols/carbines. Just looking to hear of any drawbacks to trying it (other than potential use in tube fed magazines, but I think the OAL could prevent that anyway).

Seems folks who have used it in the BO/Whisper seem to be happy with performance, so it got my wheels turning to use this bullet to create a dedicated load for a Contender that's en-route.

Intended occasional use - Antelope, Deer, Hogs, Javelina, Aoudad, lion, Black Bear, etc...

I included Black Bear in the event of a chance opportunity when hunting deer. I'd normally grab one of my other rifles and a slightly heavier bullet if bear was the intended quarry, but I think the construction of this bullet would perform fine with good placement and if it was what I had available at the time.


Thanks,

Stump

I can't speak from personal experience with the 110 gr., however, I gifted one of the grandkids a pre-64 M94 a few years back and he has gotten a buck and two does with it. Since he was only 10 and a 'light-weight' when he started I loaded 110 grainers for him. He got two with Hornady PSP 110 Flat Base and one
with a 'red tip'. Two from 65 yds. which didn't go more than 20 yds. and one at 35 yds. DRT. I used 22.0 gr. of 2400. All one shot kills.

Good to hear Contender... Thank You!

That's exactly what I was thinking. The lighter bullets could maybe be the ticket for getting my wife a little more interested in hunting larger game. Her favorite gun is her 357mag Marlin 1894SSLTD, but I wanted to put something together she and I could both use on primarily Blacktail and Pronghorn. The body sizes for both are similar enough that I think this could be a really good 200-250yd bullet. The trick is finding the TAC-TX bullets since the BO/Whisper guys seem to LOVE it.

Thanks for the reply and tell your Grandson CONGRATS on the deer and for having a Grandad willing to gift him such a special first deer carbine!!! It's not every grandchild that is gifted a pre-64 94 for deer season.

All the Best,

Mike

I started working on the same idea, but it got moved to the back burner. I got 2457 fps out of a 24" contender carbine with 32 grains of IMR 3031. Accuracy was okay. I didn't do much more than work up to that load and chronograph ten rounds to see what kind of speed I was getting.

Really flat shooting compared to the 180 gr ballistic tips I usually shoot. I had to come down about a foot.

Good info Circles...Thanks! I'll probably be using H4895 and my barrel will be an inch shorter. Was that velocity from the 30-30Win or the AI?

My barrel is a plain old 30-30. I day dream about hot rodding it but it works just fine and I have a few other 30-30s so I can share the brass.

H4895 should get you going a little faster. Good luck. I'd be interested in how it goes for you. Especially if you shoot any critters.

I've been using them in a 30 Herrett MOA at a little over 2400 fps. Accuracy is excellent and it will hammer a deer for sure.

Thanks Guys... That's the info I wanted to hear... now if I could only locate some of those bullets.

Put a notification in on your account at Midway. They come in all the time and you will get an email.

Funny, I just did that with a bunch of 22WMR ammo and didn't even think to run over to the bullet section.... heading there right now... Thanks for the tip Glenn!

There's vast info with that bullet in the 300blk. Not enough difference to matter.

Stump Buster, Good Luck with your quest. I like reading about the 30-30 in the single shot platform. I have put together many old 30-30 topper slim profile barrels with modern day H&R receiver frames and have had a blast watching the grandangels shoot them with 160 grain Hornady Gummies and the Sierra 170 grain FN.
I'll be watching with interest for your results. Good Shootin' to You.

Tagged.

Well, since this was tagged, I'll post a quick update...

Went to the range on Thursday and fireformed some brass and then got a notice from Midway that the TAC-TX's were in stock on Friday night, so I ordered a box of 50 to try out.

All of the cases have a bulge near the case head that makes extraction sticky. For those of you who have had the re-chamber done, is this normal? I really had to pry each case out. I was hoping the extraction would be a little better. I was too busy to call MGM on Friday to get their take on it and may not be able to call them until Tuesday. I hope there's a fix, because extracting cases with tools is not what I hoped for with this re-chamber. I will say accuracy with factory 170gr 30-30 loads was excellent!!! I hope the reloads perform even better.

I didn't take target pics, but I'll snap a few shots of the cases and post them this week so you can see where the cases are bulging.


All the Best,

Mike

Bulged factory ammo? You may have to load up new brass with the bullet crammed into the lands so there is no room for the non fireformed brass to wiggle around when fired.

Hey Guys,

Got a chance to take a few pics today. You can see in the picture that the cases are bulging just in front of the case head in one spot (I think it's the 12 0'clock position in the barrel, but I'll have to confirm that on the next trip to the range). The five cases circled in the picture show the bulge on the right side if the case and the other five cases have the bulge facing the rear to show it's just on one part of the case. The bulge is causing the case to stick in the chamber and I have to pry the cases out (so far, my fingernails have been tough enough, but I had to use both index fingers on either side of the case rim to generate enough leverage to pull them out). Is there a simple fix for this or do I need a new barrel? How much potential for case head separation is there with this much stretching? I don't imagine it's possible to add material to the chamber to fill the bulged area. Is there a way to make the chamber more uniform in this area without creating a higher potential for case head separation due to fatigue of that part of the case? I know it's a single shot and not a repeater, but I was hoping extraction would be easy and the cases would be more uniform.

Again, I'm very happy with HOW the barrel is shooting, I'm just concerned about case life and the difficult case removal.

Any help/advice is appreciated,

Mike


PS - 10gaugemag, are you saying that I should still try and bush the bullets into the lands even though this AI chamber headspaces on the rim? I can do that, but I'm not sure how it will help with this particular issue. I can also try a different brand of 30-30 ammo to see if it's consistent with different case manufacturers. I was using PMC ammo(so the cases would be different from the factory Remington brass I use for loading in my other 30-30's). I think I might have a box of Federal ammo I could try too. If I can, I'll head back out next week and try to ID exactly where the bulge is in relation to the chamber and see if firing different brands of brass results in the same situation. THANKS AGAIN for the replies!

I would still try bullets in the lands when fireforming so the case cannot wiggle around in the chamber then headspace on rim after initial fireform.

UPDATE:

Spoke to Dillon from MGM today and he said if the bulge is at the 12 o'clock position, it could be gravity holding the brass at the bottom of the chamber during the firing of the rifle. Made sense so I told him I'd hit the range next week and index some cartridges so I knew for sure where the bulge was occurring. He seemed genuinely concerned on the phone (another reason I like MGM's services) and told me his reamer is super tight and he doesn't even usually come close to the head of the cases on the factory cut 30-30 chambers, so he was baffled. I also told him the PMC ammo was the only ammo I took out with me last week and I'd take some other brands with me on my next trip.

Well, I decided to run out to the range real quick tonight just to find out what was going on. I had the same PMC ammo, Factory Remington loads, and some remanufactured ammo that had WW, Winchester and Federal cases mixed in the lot. I shot the 4 Remington cartridges first (two normal & two with the rifle held upside down) and it is definately gravity causing the bulge. The good news is these cases came out easy as pie and the case deformation was minimal. I then shot the WW, Winchester and Federal reloads and all of those cases came out slicker-n-snot too with the Federal case showing almost ZERO deformation. I then fired a couple more PMC cartridges and confirmed the PMC cases are smaller in diameter than the other brands, the cases bulged significantly at 12 o'clock and extraction was sticky again.

I think the Federal cases are going to work fine (which is great since I have half of a 1 gallon ziplock bag filled with 'em). They seem a little thicker/stronger than the other brands and if I can develope a load as accurate (or better) than what the cheap PMC ammo was shooting, then I'll be stoked!

I'll try to take some pics tomorrow of the different cases.

If you're gonna use PMC ammo for fire-firming, make sure you have a TIGHT chamber!!!


Thanks Again for the replies and I hope this helps,

Mike

Hey Mike
I was just checking it to see if you had made any more progress on using the black tip TAC-TX bullets in a 30-30? I'm trying to work up some 30-30 deer loads for use in a contender pistol with a 14" barrel (1 in 10 twist rate). I've had decent results with the TSX-FN (150 grain flat nose) and getting speeds of ~2100-2200 fps with 3 shot groups just under an inch at 100 yards, but that combination doesn't give me much comfort at 200 yards. I loaded some 110gn black tip TAC-TX loads on top of RL7 and have speeds around 2500 fps with groups slightly better then 1 inch. Based on the 1300-1500 fps terminal velocity needed for expansion, the max range is well over 250 yards (still 1848 fps)and right around 200 yards based on the ~1000 ft-lbs of energy school of thought. I haven't shot any more then paper with this load yet, but it shows promise. My only concern is point blank shots. From what I understand, they test the black tip TAC-TX 110gn bullet up to 2200 fps and require that it retains all it's mass and petals but don't test them at faster speeds.

I've used the 130 grain TTSX in the 30-30 at around 2400 fps using RL7 and the 150 TSX FN at 2150 fps using WW 748. Both performed well although I can tell that the 130 TTSX is at the lower end of its velocity window out at 100 yards or so. I have used the 150 TSX FN out of a Contender 30-30 pistol and it opens up well at the lower velocities. So it may perform better than you think out to 200. I have also toyed with the idea of using the 110 TAC-TX in the 30-30. Having used a lot of the TSX bullets in higher velocity cartridges, I have seen where petals can fall off but they tend to do so well after expansion begins and often aid in the killing of the animal. The remaining slightly expanded shank does a lot of damage on its own.

To follow up, The 11-gn black tipped TAC-TX work very well in a 30-30 contender pistol. Ive taken 3 deer with them to date. two DRTs and one ~30 yard run. Very fast but controlled expansion. Nice wound channel but no excess loss of meat. I've seen results of people shooting the 120gn version into media at ~2700fps with full weight retention but stretched areas on some pedals.

What COL are you guys getting with these. I'd like to load these up to use my lever action as a 2 shot rifle (1 in the chamber and 1 in the tube mag). Also I'm guessing that you aren't crimping since you're using single shots, but could someone measure tip to cannelure and base to cannelure. I'm curious if I would be able to crimp these and retain functionality of the lever action.

I may have to use them as single shot for accuracy's sake anyway. My understanding is that copper bullets usually like 0.050-0.100" of jump. Which I think contributes to the poor accuracy of factory 30-30 lead free ammo in my gun. My sears lever gun engages lands with a 150gr hot core at about 2.705" COL and I am not going to attempt to load something that long in the mag tube. The barnes factory ammo did not perform well in my gun but the Hornady 140s were ok. I have to use lead free, but I'd also like a little more range at which they would reliably expand than the Hornadys provide. I think the 110's could help but may only be accurate if loaded long for single shot.

One thing to remember, is that most pointy 110 grainers are rifle and/or single shot rifle/pistol bullets. If you crimp them in the normal way, they will feed into a lever action magazine, but; will not be able to clear the magazine tube to go into battery. If loaded singly into the chamber and not shot, they will not be able to be ejected as they will be to long.

I would recommend you Just stick with a normal 30-30 load. Sooner or later a 30-30 load not meant to be fired in a lever gun is going to be a problem.

FWIW

35 grains of LeverEvolution powder, with a 150 grain Barnes 30-30 TXS at 2.496 OAL is giving me 2400 FPS across my chrony and excellent accuracy. I have tested these for Expansion down to 1100 FPS if I remember right and they were still giving me ad copy expansion down that far. I wouldn't bet on the penetration at 1100 FPS, but I would be OK with then out at 150-200 yards if I had to on a deer/pig.

These loads are crimped. Winchester brass. CCI primers

Yeah, I was going to say the problem is with the PMC brass. My favorite is Rem because it has more room in it, and is as thick as it needs to be. Win and Fed are about the same brass thickness and capacity, and are frankly far sturdier than they need to be. You won't see much case expansion near the head until you are well into the danger zone with Win and Fed brass.

I use Win to form Herrett cases.