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Haven't posted for some time now. Been dealing with a shoulder injury since early spring . I'm slooowwwlly getting back into things and pondering on loading dies for the 35/30-30. Right now for dies I have in stock are 375 Win, 35 Rem and 358/356 loading dies. I'm thinking I can use some of these dies to make the cases or is best to order custom dies for it? For custom dies it'll take a few months or so to get. I don't have a lot of 30-30 brass, no 32 Win. but have a few hundred of 375 Win. brass. Also I've been hearing guys fire forming brass but I don't know if that's mandatory or not? Any thoughts?
Calling Lee sounds good to me. My experience with their customer service department has been great. Besides, the die set will have the correct markings on it.
D. Brian Casady
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On the above link, click on "Dies", click on "Caliber List", type in "35/30-30", then click on "35/30-30 Winchester."
They list a 35/30-30 all steel die set for US$83.20.
Please keeps us posted on this project. I periodically consider buying a Marlin 336Y and having it re-bored/re-chambered to a 35/30-30. I really do not need another .35 calibre rifle, but this cartridge has always appealed to me....
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I haven't checked Lee in awhile but I do remember they weren't taking any orders. As for CH4D I have bought dies from them in the past but the last time I checked they were a year out.
Mine are Redding. MidwayUSA sells them. They form any 30-30, 32WS or 375 to the proper brass with one pass. You do need to trim brass though. 375's seem to give the best performance with the other two being a tie.
86er's suggestion is no doubt the cleanest way to go, but at $180 plus some kind of wait time I'd be thinking other strategies.
For example, I have a wildcat 25X222magnum that I never did get custom dies for: I just cut a 222 mag size die off in the shoulder area to give me a "body die" and then I use 250 Savage dies for neck size/seating. You could do similar but if you make your cases from 38/55 or 375 Win you need something closer to a 35/30-30 FL die. I'd be thinking of drilling out a 30/30 FL die using my drill press (I am no machinist and don't have lathes or milling machines). Seems like there is such a good pilot hole already you could get a pretty nice hole of the appropriate size, then polish it up using some emery cloth wrapped on a slotted rod turned by a hand drill (or the old drill press again, though I like to hand-hold these things and allot them to slip a bit in my hand as I polish---
Then your 35 Rem dies would do for neck sizing and seating.
This is what the old Scotsman would be thinking.
The greatest patriot...
is he who heals the most gullies. Patrick Henry
earlmck... That's what I've been thinking about having a FL 30-30 or 32 Win. special die reamed out in the neck area. I can do it myself but don't have the right size reamer for it. I do recall reading somewhere (not in this forum) someone purchased custom dies from CH4D and was told they just use 30-30 FL dies and have them reamed out.
I would bet that you will find that if you try to ream out a set of dies that you will ruin a reamer unless it is a carbide reamer. Finished dies are heat treated to a pretty hard state.
bgmkithaca wrote:I would bet that you will find that if you try to ream out a set of dies that you will ruin a reamer unless it is a carbide reamer. Finished dies are heat treated to a pretty hard state.
Uh Oh -- I'll bet that's right. So much for my "reaming" idea. Anyway, you can still go the "cut off the size die in the shoulder area" route to create a body die. But this will only work when you are starting with 30/30 or 32 Special cases.
Now if we could get enough of the neck area of a 38/55 case down to 35, and then go to the 30/35 body die made from a cut-off 30/30 die --we maybe could still get the job done. Might have to sacrifice a 35 Rem die and cut a bit off the bottom so you could run the 38/55 or 375 case in far enough. These are things a fellow might try if he has some dies he picked up cheap at gun shows...
Once you get one squozed down enough to chamber it and fire it you will be in business with your 35 Remington dies for neck sizing and bullet seating.
The greatest patriot...
is he who heals the most gullies. Patrick Henry
Yeah I pretty much knew about the hardness on the dies. I know someone who can take the temper out of the die so I can ream out the neck and polish it. I've done the process myself in the past but had problems hardening the dies back up. The other route I was thinking of was picking up a die blank and making a complete new die.
A few guys over here use Lee dies as they aren't that hard and are easier to rework and then re-harden. As mentioned start with a set in 30/30 and modify those. Buy all the factory parts to suit, like expander/ decapper, seating stem etc. A Lee FCD for a 358 should work without any modification.
I've been pondering your interesting question Mh, and have figured what I'd do if faced with this situation.
First, what is complicating life is the idea of making your cases out of the 375 brass. For this you really need at least an approximation of a Full-Length size die. So I'd be thinking of trading some of that 375 brass for some 30/30 or 32 Special brass.
Then I'd take my trusty Lyman "M" die in 35 cal and spin the expander in a drill while I took my little dremel tool and grind/polish that expander into a gentle cone starting at 30 cal and easing up to the 35. I'd use this to expand the necks to 35 because if you use your regular old 35 Rem expander button it jumps the neck up too quick and you end up with shortened/uneven necks and will even loose a few along the way. If this "geat idea" of mine on the Lyman die still didn't make a nice enough neck I'd then go to the "fire form" that you asked about. The only reason to "fire form" a 30/30 out to 35/30 is to make the neck nice and uniform and keep the maximum length you have to work with. I'd fire form using something like Red Dot or Bullseye (something fast) -- maybe about 5 grains held in place with a little tuft of kapok or dacron, aim at the sky and let her go (if 5 grains doesn't totally get the job done, just up the grains until it works like it should).
Once you have nice 35 necks on 30/30 cases you are good to load using your 35 Rem seating die and as JFE suggested, a 358 Win Factory Crimp die if desired (the 35 Rem seater will do a roll crimp if that's all you want, but I'd be thinking the FC die would be nice to have).
I would probably go ahead and cut off a 30/30 size die in the neck area to use as a body die if I ever needed to size those cases in the body area if they start chambering a little tight.
And I'd usually load by using a 357 magnum carbide die to size my necks down (to get away from the messy case lube you need if using the 35 Rem die for a neck size, don't you know?), followed by the Lyman "M" die, and continue with the 35 Rem seating die.
So that's how the old cheapskate would do it....
The greatest patriot...
is he who heals the most gullies. Patrick Henry
Wow - I purchased the Redding dies from Midway one year ago for $109. $71 increase? Can't see the reason for it... When I first started loading these I'd just size with a 32 WS die, fire-form with 6gr Unique and toilet paper, use a 357 Mag cut in half to touch the neck, trim and load. Most of the cases came out pretty good and worked. Occasionally one would not chamber. It was a pain to do but served the purpose to get shooting.
earlmck... I like the way your thinking! The reason I suggested using 375 Win. brass is I have plenty in stock. Also I checked around looking for 32 Win. Special but some places (Midway USA) are out of stock. Could go with 30-30 but did hear there were problems with stretched cases and such. If you think that's route I should take, I'll give it a try!
Mainehunter wrote:earlmck... I like the way your thinking! The reason I suggested using 375 Win. brass is I have plenty in stock. Also I checked around looking for 32 Win. Special but some places (Midway USA) are out of stock. Could go with 30-30 but did hear there were problems with stretched cases and such. If you think that's route I should take, I'll give it a try!
Marinehunter
+1
You could also use 357 Herrett dies to seat bullets and neck size it.
30/30 Winchester: Not accurate enough fer varmints, barely adequate for small deer; BUT In a 10" to 14" barrelled pistol; is good for moose/elk to 200 yards; ground squirrels to 300 metres
250 Savage... its what the 223 wishes it could be...!
Well, I must confess, as a gun nut since the age of 10, I've never heard of a 35/30-30 (and why not call it a 35-30?).
Sounds interesting, but then I think of a cartridge with a straighter body called the .35 Remington. Or the bigger bulleted .375 Win. or the smaller caliber .32 Special. But mostly the .35, and I wonder: why?
I am not seeing an advantage here, just more work.
Not knocking it, just curious. Clue me up!
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At one time the round was a practical solution to shot out 30-30 barrels from corrosive priming.The barrel was just simply re-bored to 35 caliber without any other change and you had a good barrel again.The practice is still used today among various calibers. The idea is more economic that replacing barrel as well. A rebore that still has good finish is in the area of $250.00 versus $500.00 & up for a new barrel.
bgmkithaca wrote:At one time the round was a practical solution to shot out 30-30 barrels from corrosive priming.The barrel was just simply re-bored to 35 caliber without any other change and you had a good barrel again.The practice is still used today among various calibers. The idea is more economic that replacing barrel as well. A rebore that still has good finish is in the area of $250.00 versus $500.00 & up for a new barrel.
I would like to add I was getting tired of the seasonal runs on 35 Rem brass and it seems in my area can't seem to find any. BUT the big plus is the longer neck area which permits the use of longer cast bullets . Also just wanted something different.
Yes, the short neck and lack of throat of the normal 35 Remington leaves it less than ideal as a cast bullet platform. The 35/30-30 should be awful close to perfect for those cast bullets. Wouldn't mind having one of those myself!
And here I am with a 32 Special with nasty bore I have been figuring on for rebore to 38/55. Hmmm....
The greatest patriot...
is he who heals the most gullies. Patrick Henry
earlmck wrote:Yes, the short neck and lack of throat of the normal 35 Remington leaves it less than ideal as a cast bullet platform. The 35/30-30 should be awful close to perfect for those cast bullets. Wouldn't mind having one of those myself!
And here I am with a 32 Special with nasty bore I have been figuring on for rebore to 38/55. Hmmm....
At a boy earlmck!! Now your talking!!! I think that 32 Special would be a wonderful candidate for the 35/30-30 conversion and help with the load development! Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't JES in the same state as you are? He can have you setup in no time!
Little bit on a serious note, couldn't find any new brass but a friend of mine had a few once fired 30-30 brass that doesn't need anymore so gave them up to me. Started fire forming using some Bullseye and cream of wheat. Coming along nicely!
Thanks for the explanation guys. I would stock up on the .35 Remington brass I think. Could you not just seat the cast bullets deeper and still be ahead on the case volume? Or does deep seating a cast pose a detriment to accuracy due to pulling out of the brass?
Profanity is a poor substitute for a proper education.
What I've noticed when reloading the 35 Rem anything bigger than 180 gr. cast the base starts to sink lower then the shoulder exposing the lube grove and/or side of the bullet. The 35 Rem supposedly has 1 gr. more of H20 (volume) compared to the 35/30-30 but velocities are practically the same.
Mainehunter wrote: I think that 32 Special would be a wonderful candidate for the 35/30-30 conversion and help with the load development! Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't JES in the same state as you are? He can have you setup in no time!
Yes, JES is here in Oregon -- nothing stopping me except just procrastination. Also I have six 35 cal rifles and no 38/55's, so it's a little hard to think I badly need another 35 instead of that 38/55. (yeah, I know "what does need have to do with our desires?")
Tactical Lever wrote:Could you not just seat the cast bullets deeper and still be ahead on the case volume? Or does deep seating a cast pose a detriment to accuracy due to pulling out of the brass?
Yes you can seat those long bullets deep enough so they work, but that does poke some grease grooves back into the powder room. I used to think that was absolutely anathema to accuracy, but now that I have played a bit with cast loads in the short-necked 300 Savage I am not as sure about that opinion as I was a few months ago. Maybe it is a function of the lube you are using, with some being more damaged/damaging than others if they have access to your gunpowder. So I am now thinking I might like to try a 250 grain or heavier cast bullet in the 35 Remington and see what it would do. I would still feel better having a neck covering the grease grooves, however.
And just for us 35 Rem shooters, both Lyman and RCBS make molds for a 200 grain bullet with a bore-ride nose so that you can seat it out long enough to have the lube grooves contained within the neck (and that is how the jacketed bullets for the 35 Rem are constructed also).
The greatest patriot...
is he who heals the most gullies. Patrick Henry
earlmck - if you want to use a heavyweight cast bullet in the 35 Rem I would suggest using Redding/Saeco design #352. It seems to be designed for a 35 Rem. It casts around 245-250 gr and is about as heavy a bullet that the twist will stabilse. The single wide grease groove is contained in the neck and the crimp is in the right location for crimping in the 35 Rem. Only trouble I had was my chamber has no throat, so I used a Lee FCD to crimp it in place to clear the rifling.
JFE wrote:earlmck - if you want to use a heavyweight cast bullet in the 35 Rem I would suggest using Redding/Saeco design #352.
Thanks for the tip, JFE. That looks like it would be a good one. I found that Midway shows it as out of stock but projected to be in by November. Might give us 35 Rem folks a really good cast hunting bullet.
The greatest patriot...
is he who heals the most gullies. Patrick Henry
. I'm slooowwwlly getting back into things and pondering on loading dies for the 35/30-30. Right now for dies I have in stock are 375 Win, 35 Rem and 358/356 loading dies. I'm thinking I can use some of these dies to make the cases or is best to order custom dies for it? For custom dies it'll take a few months or so to get. I don't have a lot of 30-30 brass, no 32 Win. but have a few hundred of 375 Win. brass. Also I've been hearing guys fire forming brass but I don't know if that's mandatory or not? Any thoughts?
The reason I suggested using 375 Win. brass is I have plenty in stock. Also I checked around looking for 32 Win. Special but some places (Midway USA) are out of stock. Could go with 30-30 but did hear there were problems with stretched cases and such. If you think that's route I should take, I'll give it a try!
. Also just wanted something different.