Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats 30-30 wildcats

Well then, I like the sounds more and more of the .25 version. I will have to speak to my local gunsmith to find out some things dealing with it first. One thing that does intrigue me is tho it will not be a magnum round, the ballistics of the .25 caliber version seems to offer pretty good velocity figures from a shorter length barrel. It looks like you were pretty close in saying in compares to the .250 savage, at least with the smaller weight bullets. I think that would be more than enough to do what I want it to. On your .25 version, what is your length you are loading to?

Seems like I heard about an old wildcat for the M94 called the .30 Leverpower...not even sure what case it's based on but it may be worth a look.

.30 Leverpower Googled it.

I want to say it was based on a .30-40 krag case with the rim turned down to fit a 30-30 bolt. It is a case I have wanted to get to down the road, the 30-40 case that is. My end goals with this rifle are a simple rifle with a peep sight, 22-24" barrel and decent ballistics that will take a deer cleanly out to around 200 yards. I will have to check in to that leverpower tho. Thanks for the new idea

If you can get it to feed, should be pretty stellar in the 325.

Why not 7-30 Waters?

The 7-30 waters is one I have never tried or even been around. How hard is it to form brass from 30-30 cases? On a side note, I have also had the thought put into my ear about sending the rifle to JES and having it re-bored to either 38-55 or .375 winchester.

I put together a 7-30 Waters for my wife - she likes it. One pass thru the 7-30 die makes brass from 30-30. I then fireform with a cast bullet.
Another option is a 6.5 Bower - 307 Win necked down (and improved - I think). Mine likes slooow powder (surplus BMG powder) and heavy bullets.
If you go the rebore route - the 35-30 is popular.

I don't know about the .444, but a buddy of mine used .38-55 brass to neck to 7-30 Waters. It worked pretty well, although he did crush a couple of cases. The .38-55 cases were ready to shoot without much fire forming needed. Pretty much load up and shoot and the first firing took the case to finished form without the need for a lesser case forming load.

Cowboybart, pm me. I am very interested in the 6.5 bower. I have never heard of this round at all. Could you tell me a bit about it please

Years ago I had a 7x30 waters in a TC contender carbine. Used ordinary 120 gr and 139 gr cup and core bullets and 156 gr cast
The 139 hornady fb will work in the 340 mag.

Never chronographed the loads but the deer and coyotes died just the same.

30-30 brass and one pass through the dies and the loads were good to go

Flyer

I never really thought of the .30-30 as a very good case to wildcat (even in my looney days of cartridge conversion). The .30-30, .25-35 and .22 Zipper pretty much cover all the bases that I consider useful.

A second problem was the rifles typically chambered for the .30-30 also limit what can be done due to basically weak actions or tubular magazines (or both).

However, there was one conversion I did try and find extremely useful......the .35-30. This is sort of in the opposite direction you are talking about (necked up....not down), but is very easy to do and filled a perceived need I saw at the time.

I always liked the Winchester 94 rifles for woods use, but didn't like the .30-30 as well as other lever action rounds I'd used. The .32 Special came pretty close, but wasn't in the same class as a .35 Remington for close range work.....but the .35 Remington wasn't available in the Model 94.

With a .35-30 I could duplicate .35 Remington ballistics in a Model 94 rifle by simply necking up the .30-30 case to .35 caliber. This was great in the early 1970's (when I was experimenting).

Since that time the .375 Winchester was introduced which accomplished the same objective with a factory round (and even more bore size....a good thing) and makes the .35-30 a bit less attractive. However a rifle looney doesn't NEED a really good reason to experiment, so the .35-30 might be just what you are looking for.

I have not over looked going up instead of down TexasRick. Actually I have given it much thought. Since I do not see this rifle as a long range rig anyway and being as I am not going to scope it but rather put a peep on. The 35 version has appealed to me as I have thought of sending the rifle to JES to get it rebored to the .35

Here is some Don Bower info:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_UsW5Ms1pP0dlNrSkJycmtPTk0/view

http://specialtypistols.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/4766056864/m/4350046676

Since you are interested in a 25 or 6.5 on a 30/30 case, perhaps consider a rimmed version of the 25 Remington (which is a rimless 30/30 design). Unlike the 25/35, it has a reasonable case design and should feed much better than more extreme AI type designs. Dies are available which would leave you to find someone with a reamer.

I'd be concerned with the availability of brass using any of the rimless remington cartridges as a base. The Savage 340 is already set for the 30-30 rimmed case.

Fun project I did a switch barrel for a guy in 219 zipper..there are som thing you can do to improve the action....we made a single shot and welded in a piece to thread for a second screw...it shot unde 1/2 inch with both barrels...trigger is going to be tough....

In case I wasn't all that clear, the chamber is cut with a 25 Remington reamer (and a separate operation to cut the rim). The dies are 25 Rem but the shellholder is for a 30/30. The cases are formed from regular, rimmed 30/30 brass. The formed cases will look ike a 25 Remington with a 30/30 rim.