7-30 Waters C.O.L.

[lrp3006]

I bought a new TC G2 Contender in 7-30 Waters and am going to form the brass from factory Remington 30-30 brass. I plan on shooting 120 gr Nosler BT's - but have some 150 gr BT's I was going to use for fireforming the cases.

I measured the C.O.L. using my Stony Point OAL gauge - I got a reading of 2.929" for both the 120 and 150 gr BT's. That's quite a bit longer than the published C.O.L.'s I see in my reloading manuals. I'm not sure there's even enough bullet in the case for the 120 gr BT's when you seat them out that far.

Is this typical for a factory TC barrel ? Any suggestions on where I should set the C.O.L. ?

Thanks.

 

[longwinters]

In my 7-30 Waters I just went with the standard OAL. I could also go alot longer but had the same issue as you are concerned about. Not much bullet left in the case. But with the standard OAL it shoots MOA at 100 so I didn't worry about it.

Long

 

[lrp3006]

Thanks !

I went ahead and loaded the heavier bullets (150 gr) out far enough to almost touch the rifling (for fireforming). I'll try the standard/book length for the 120 gr bullets and see how it goes.

 

[Larry in SD]

I just checked my load data sheet for the last 7-30 Waters Super 14 Contender Barrel I had. I was using a Cartridge Overall Length of 2.905" with 120gr. Nosler Ballistic Tips. BUT I don't remember if that was touching or how far off the lands I was. Average muzzle velocity with H-4895 was 2436 FPS.

Larry

 

[1Shot]

The COAL given in reloading manuals are a length that is standard that will work through about any rifle with a magazine. You will get your best accuracy by playing with the seating depth. I might add a little advice from the old school of been there and done that and have the T-shirt. For a hunting round DON'T LOAD THE BULLET TO TOUCH THE LANDS. A different lot number of bullets or you can be off a hair and when you load that bullet which has a different O-give length and you have to unload that round you can stick a bullet in the bore and you will dump all the powder down into your action when you extract it. If you don't have a cleaning rod with you to punch the bullet out with you are in a mess. I usually find best accuracy somewhere around 10 thousands off the lands.

 

[lrp3006]

Here is a before and after picture of the fire formed brass. It worked out well - thanks for the tips.

 

[JD338]

I fifr formed a few 30-30 cases to 7-30 Waters, pretty straight forward.
I ended up buying Federal brass and that is what I am using.

My COL is 2.870" and is .015" off the lands of my T/C Contender 14" Super.

JD338