Reloading .30 Carbine...questions?

CobrayKid

Hi
My father reloads and has been on this "End of Days" rush to buy brass and bullets. I have dies for my basic cals, and recently got a lot (2000) empties for my M1 Carbine. Ive been told its a pain in the neck to reload and its not worth it, but ive been told its easy too. Theres moly coated (?) bullets here for $28 per 500 shipped. Should I try loading .30 or just buy Wolf ammo. Ive never reloaded anything in my life yet, just been stockpiling. Any ideas appreciated.

Pearyw

I noticed that Wideners has origonal pulled US military carbine bullets for $129 for 2500. I have loaded a good bit of 30 carbine over the years and have never had any problems. I use Winchester small rifle primers and H110 powder.

jonk

The only 'trouble' I see with it is that even with carbide dies, it is a slightly tapered round and might require some lubrication- but it is no harder than any other rifle case in that regard, or bottlenecked pistol case. Granted, there are a limited range of powders/bullets for it, but it isn't hard to load for either.

BHAVIN

I have heard that it is hard and almost didn't start reloading it because I thought it would be a pain. Buy a set of CARBIDE dies and yes you still need to lube the cases. I have loaded a thousand or so with no problems. H110 is regarded as about the best powder to use and it is one of the powders that you CAN NOT go below the reccomended minimum as it casues high pressure issues. I shoot both military pulled and West Coast plated bullets. If you are interested drop me a email through my profile as I have more plated bullets than I could shoot in this lifetime.

Pinhead

The first set of .30carbine dies that I bought in 1963 was a Lee Loader set that did not do well at all. The bullet was too loose and could be turned with the finger after seating. The reason being thaqt the Lee dies neck sized and did not size down enough. I later switched to a RCBS set of dies and have not had any problems since. I load my shells using LC brass, wichester small rifle primer, H110 powder and a pulled military bullet or Hornady 110 fmj bullet. This combo does quite well in the carbines in which I have used them. The average M1 carbine is no match rifle but at 100 yards and under it is fast handling and deadly.

gunnut505

The only time I had any problems at all was when I used pre-primed Rem. nickel cases; they ALL bulged when I seated the bullet, no matter how much I moved the seating die up.
Try some of the 85gr.Speers or the 100gr Hornadys, or the XTPs for a better critter gitter! I experimented with some of the 125gr. Rem bullets with good success at the silhouette range, but now & then a case would get sticky.

gravley

Berry has plated 110 gr RN bullets that work great in the 30 Cal. carbine. Cheap at less than $16 per 250 and free shipping. As for reloading the 30 cal. carbine, i have never had any problems. I just work up a load that will cycle without jams but doesn't beat up the action. Somewhere around 1700 fps works fine in my carbine. Accuracy is fine for less than 100 yards.

ddhotbot

http://www.iidbs.com/hitech.zkb
check here for powder,they have the wc-820 back in stock which is the original military powder for the 30 carbine.you cant beat the price,they have bullets also and they are great people too deal with.i have used alot of the wc-820 in my mag pistols works great.hope this helps don

Laredo Lefty

I have loaded thousands of .30 carbine. I quit reloading used brass as they stretch when resized and need to be trimmed. I called Dillon to see if they made a trim die in 30 carb for my Dillon power trimmer... they dont.

I had 8+ pounds of WC 820 military powder so I bought virgin brass and bullets and went to work. The military data sheets call for 13 grains of WC820 pushing a 110 grain ball bullet. This works great in all my carbines.

If you reload used brass and resize it without trimming you will likely have a headspace problem as the cases increase in length.

CobrayKid

Thanks for all the replies. The info has been very helpfull!