AMERICAN 30 RANGE AND TESTING REPORT

[GLSHOOTER]

As many of you know BHW has been working on the American 30 for about a year. following a few months of concept discussion We decided to use 30 Herrett dies and hold them off from the shell holder cartridge allowing for a large case capacity.

Once the original reamer was ordered and a few barrels were made up the testing started. Originally it was a full length case but while we could make it run the extra length limited heavy bullet choices somewhat. A new reamer was ordered with a shorter OAL case with the shoulder moved back somewhat. It seemed to run OK but as the shoulder was so high we found fire forming was needed. Not a good deal for many reloaders and cost prohibitive. Calculated cost to get a fully formed case was somewhere in excess of $1.50 plus the wear and tear on the platfiorm. Once again the shoulder was bumped back and the case was allowed to stay as long as was practical. On the third reamer now things were looking up. Case capaicity exceeds the 7.62X39 so we knew that the performance would be there.

Following the final design change a few barrels were made up to allow for pressure testing and actual range performance. Ritch is working the pressures and doing some load work ups for velocity as there are other projects in the works for this one. So far velocity numbers are excellent. He is getting up to 2800 with the 130's, 2850 on the 125's, 2950 on the 110's and found that 2500+ on the 150's is easy but we haven't settled on that one yet.

I shot the rifle last weekend for a quick shakedown loading a load that I knew was safe but wanted to get my feet wet ASAP. I decided to try two different powder charges on the 125's using small, FC, and large, REM, primed cases for a velocity comparison. As expected the Remingtons ere a tad faster with the same powder charge.

Four groups shot and three were sub-MOA. This is the best one using the Sierra 125 Pro Hunter at 2500 FPS out of my 16" tube just coasting along. I shot some 150's for sighters but five bullets is not exactly a test.




This one would be a deer killer deluxe. I've seen this same bullet at this velocity take down several deer in Oklahoma back in the old days so I know it works. The rifle only weighs about 7.5 pounds so it is about like a light 30-30 in recoil. You know it is no 556 when you set it on the bench. Performace wise the rilfe ran 100% from the magazine. As an aside it does make MAJOR for USPSA 3 Gun easily.

I plan on shooting about two dozen 125 loads this weekend for some data on various powders. I know some will be too slow and some wil be fine but I have to find out for my own. After this I wil shoot some 150's and following that some 130's and 110's.

BHW intends to offer factory loaded ammunition this one and part of that development is finding what powders will perform in the rifle and be loadable on a commercial machine. We handloaders can trickle and long drop tube them but manufacturing quantities via commercial machines is out.

Greg

[GLSHOOTER]

Went out Sunday and took the A-30 along to stretch its legs. I wanted a baseline on several powders and also to see if the primer choice made a difference in overall velocity and grouping. 27 different combinations were tried with nine powders. Nine of these I repeated with different primers giving me a total test batch of 36 distinctive loads. Regular primer used was the Remington 7 1/2 with the CCI 450's being used as a substitute primer in the nine loads. 125 Sierra Pro Hunters and formed FC brass were used. Velocities out of the 16" BHW barrel were anywhere from mild to a bit over 2600. I'm still waiting on the Holy Grail 1680 and RL7 powders.

Here's half a dozen groups for your perusal.







And everyone has a wallet group to carry around so here's what's in my wallet!!



I found the rifle ran 100% with all loads tested. I found the CCI primers were a tad faster but the groups appeared to open up a bit. I also determined that many powders make for a full case but some good powders left plenty of room for a bit of increase as my pressures were very good. Next up will be some 150's followed by the 110's and my favorite 130's.

Greg

[GLSHOOTER]

I finally got back out to the desert yesterday. I had loaded these up late last week but timing was just not right for a trip. I decided to try the same powders and charges on these loads as I had used previously on the Hornady 150's all these were shot with the Sierra Pro Hunters. Magazine fed. Twice fired FC brass. Five powders at three charge weights were shot.

The weather was the same temperature in the low 80's. I did notice that the velocities of the Sierras tended to be the same or in a couple of cases notably higher than the Hornady. Same powders etc. so the only notable changes that were different was the shank of the bullet is 0.040 longer in the PH's and distance from the lands was 0.034 less on the Sierras so perhaps between the two some pressure variations were in play causing the variation. Speaking of weather I was dealing with extremely gusty winds that were swirling on me down between two good sized hills. My chronograph was blown over about six times and the target stand once. Not the best conditions but it wasn't snowing......LOL

I found the 1200 R produced a decent group again that was sliding along at 2331. Speeds are out of my 16" barrel so that is not to shabby as it is exceeding slightly he 30-30 even at this pedestrian rate out of 4" less barrel according to Hornady.



As mentioned I tried five powders. Leverution, AA 2015, AA 2230, IMR 4198 and 1200 R. All powders seemed to do better under the Sierra across the board so I believe mine just likes the Green Box on this weight. The Hornadys will work but if I can shave a bit off the group and not give up the speed I'll do that every time.

With that in mind the darling of the day really didn't surprise me much. Once again it showed me that Accurate knows its way around a mixing tank. I had the AA 2015 that has been super in some of my uber-accurate 223 loadings over the years and on this combination it showed up bright and shiny. The BHW barrel seem to do better when you start stepping up the speeds and this one showed it for me. Velocities were smoking on this one with a best accuracy/best speed for the day at 2441. If I get this one barreled up in a 20" tube that would give me a calculated velocity right on 2575 or so. A good solid 250 FPS over the deer killer supreme 30-30. This one may well make a trip to Minnesota next year if I get a chance.

This is what I managed. I think a better condition day would have helped but these are keepers.



I just looked over the numbers and between three of us we have well over 100 documented loads shot down range on bullets from 110 to 150. We are just about there and with Carl going for an elk this next week we might have some more proof in the pudding. I'll probably shoot some 110's next week and see what they do wide open.

Greg

PS: Just to show what this would do out of a 20" gun.

150 @2600 ME 2251. ZERO 200

100. 2375. 1879. +2.34
200. 2163. 1558. 0.00
300. 1960. 1280. -9.81

[GLSHOOTER]

I managed a trip to the desert earlier in the week with the A 30. A two-fold activity. I wanted to try some 110's and a few 150's with a new powder and also wanted to try the gray TAC polymer lower out.

The weather was great this trip at 70 degrees. A light breeze under five miles per hour. Some scattered clouds and other than seeing a rattle snake while driving in it held great promise.

I shot some 150 Sierra Pro Hunters trying out some IMR 3031 and Lil'Gun. As I expected the 3031 wqas too slow and as nasty as the inside of a coal mine. The groups were OK but just not a viable choice. The Lil'Gun was interesting. With no good data to exptrapolate from I suspected it was not for the faint of heart. Speeds were pehenominal but with speed comes a price. The pressures were....excessive and I'll have to revist this one later. The rounds fed well from my magzines with no issues.

I really wanted to see how the 110's would do. I've shot a few in my 308 XP's and thought this would be a nice little light varmint bullet for warm targets along with having some application in another project I have cooking. Ritch had shot some before but I had to see how some other powders would perform.. I shot seven powders and ended up with nineteen groups as I had to back out of the Lil'Gun on this one too. The recoil impulse was nice and sharp with virtually no muzzle rise. I was very pleased with the velocites and overall accurcay. 2600+ is a piece of cake with this one and I found that hitting 2700 was not hard and still I had some room to go on some of the faster loads. I think this 16" Black Hole barrel ikes to run fast in our new chambering. Functioning was 100% from the magazine fed rounds.

The groups below were some of the better ones but others were only marginally worse. NIneteen groups shot yielded only four that were over one MOA. Brass life is good and primer pockets are doing well for me. Case growth is very minimal and after three firings I still don't need to trim.

RL 10 has always been a good powder for me with excellent results in my 20 calibers and 223's. The A 30 seemed to like the mix too. This one has room to go up. and I was realy pleased.



I was pretty happy with that batch so I moved on to the next suspect. RL 7 has been storied powder on these bigger than little cartridges but has been very hard to find. Thanks to Carl and Rob I got a small amount to try and Boy Howdy, as they use to say in Oklahoma, does this stuff cook!! It loads like water and was very consistent in my measure. Nicce and dense and very mild mannered when I torched it off. This will certainly be my go to light bullet powder. It still had a little left as the primers in both of the better ones were nice and rounded and showed nothing to be cocncerned about. The A30 is shooting like a dream for me.



As I mentioned I wanted to try the gray TAC polymer lower. As I mentioned in another thread both my lowers have the BTE trigger in place with the special housing for polymer lowers. Three and a half pounds of nice crisp goodness for sure. Lots of guys think you need an eight ounce trigger for super groups and I do shoot one of those most of the time but I am here to say these work. All my shots were called well and there were no surprises today. The TAC lower is in perfect shape other than some oil from the BCG down in the lower. No cracks, no dents and no probelms. I am one happy camper.

So until next week I'll leave this to you.

Greg

[Wyo7200]

I like seeing these groups, but what's the distance to the target?  Sorry If I read over it.

[GLSHOOTER]

Aug 11, 2015 11:49:45 GMT -8 Wyo7200 said:

I like seeing these groups, but what's the distance to the target?  Sorry If I read over it.

All targets are shot at 100 yards here unless posted otherwise.

Greg

[Wyo7200]

Thanks!

I need to do some more reading through these threads.  I'm leaning towards swapping my .300 blkout barrel for another caliber since I have a 9.5" .300 blkout already.  I'm kind of interested in seeing how the ballistics do at the 300-600 range for the 110's and 125's.  The prairie dog towns out here are extremely skiddish so we average 300-400 yard shots.   If it can double as a coyote gun, even better.

Thanks again Greg.