Home Forums Reloading Handgun Reloading Reloading for the .30 Herrett

I am about to try reloading for a .30 Herrett for a friend. He has not brought me the Contender pistol, dies or the two rounds he got from the previous person who owned the gun, yet. I'm hoping someone may have some insight into what I'm up against. I did find two articles written buy Bob Milek in Handloader Magazines from 1973 and 1975, but am needing to know more. Thanks in advance. Lee

I've loaded it - 35 years ago Let me check my notes when I get home.

I loaded for one back in the late 70s. Pretty simple to form brass from .30-30; run the brass thru the 30 Herrett die, then trim off the excess to spec. Before loading I would try the brass in the gun to ensure the action closes. Good luck.

Steve sends his regards:
http://stevespages.com/jpg/cd30herrett.jpg

http://www.reloadersnest.com/frontpage_handgun.asp?CaliberID=30

You'll need dies....enjoy!

IIRC, it's important in initial forming and subsequently resizing the cases to locate the shoulder so that there is some pressure required ('crush fit') to close the Contender barrel fully. It ensures correct headspace.

My brother left me 30 & 357 Herret Contender barrels and more 30 Herrett brass than I will ever be able to shoot my way through. Haven't loaded for this round in years, though.

I wore out a Contender frame back in the 70's loading for both the 30 and 35 Herrett, but I just can't remember the powder I used at the time.

I played with one eons ago, and sold it the second I found a .30-30 barrel...and then sold that when I found a 7x30 Watters barrel. IIRC the powder I used was IMR 4227 with 125-130 grain loads and I got my loads out of old issues of Guns & Ammo articles from Bob Milek. There were all sorts of great claims of the .30 Herrett but IMO it doesn't match the .30-30 and the .30-30 is bested by the 7x30 Watters in a 14" Contender.

The premise of both Herretts, according to Milek's articles, was that the .30-30 and .35 Remington had too much capacity to give good accuracy in a pistol barrel, hence the shorter wildcats.

About 10-15 years later, Milek wrote some other articles praising the accuracy of the .30-30 in a pistol barrel

H4227 was what I recall as the powder of choice in both guns. As others suggested, watch your headspace. Also, if you find some of Milek's old original load data, back well off on it and work up, as his loads were pretty ambitious.

Last, I'd look in the barrels carefully, see if there are reamer marks and such in the chambers. TC made some pretty awful Contender barrels in that era, and some of them won't shoot worth a darn.

I remember a 30 Herret article written by Rocky Robb in a Shooters annual of some sort 30 years ago.
PM me if you need me to dig it out or PM a note to Rocky.

My notes are decades old and 6500 miles away. But yep, I tried and tried to get a .30 Herrett to shoot well, but had very little luck. Yards of freebore and a "roomy" chamber didn't help much. I wound up modifying a Wilson .30-30 straight line seater in order to get rounds that didn't have horrible runout. IIRC, using this die, I was finally able to get to 2" groups at 100 yards.

The fact that there were reamer marks on the top of the lands meant plenty of fouling, and the 5 groove left hand twist barrel, from what I researched, was originally sourced from a 1917 Enfield.

I still have the barrel, but use the frame to shoot other calibers now.

Thanks to all who replied and I'll try and do my best with all your help.

Whoa! Blast from the past. I believe I traded for my 14", or was it 10", 30 Herrett Contender barrel back in Sept of 1979 at a Tacoma, WA gun shop. Topped it with a 4x Leupold in 3 ring T-SOB mount/rings. Pretty sure I shot the Hornady 130 SP the most with IMR 3031 (I think). Took several deer, antelope, a coyote and even a badger with it. Found some of the loaded ammo in my stash last month. Sold the gun back in the late '80's.

Alan

When Milek and Herrett first started shooting the Contender in 30 Herrett the barrels were 10" long, they made the 357 herrett to get more Elk killing power from the Contender.
When the 14" barrel came along then some of the standard cartridges permed up to spec and the Herrett's really picked up performance.
Just a guess on my part of course.

Several loads for the 30 Herrett here. http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/data/pistol
Just make sure that you but the bullets made for the lower Herrett velocities to insure that they open up.

You might want to look at the Wilson Combat web site. They have bullets (130gr & 135 gr bonded) that have been developed especially for the 300 Ham'r cartridge. The 300 Ham'r round is a necked up 223, which means velocities are in the 2100-2400 fps. The bullets do a great job of killing deer & hogs. They also have other bullets that will work at the lower velocities, up to 150's.