7-30 waters

[slaymaker3]

Anyone shooting a 7-30 waters? I just put a carbine together for my girlfriend. Anyway just lookin for reloading info, performance on game, bullet choice.

[HoofsandWings]

You have a reloading die for that?

129-140 gr bullets
No load data

[slaymaker3]

Yes I have dies and some extra 120 nosler bt . I'm hoping I can use reloader 15.

[BigGoonTuna]

that's a caliber i've always been interested by.  what kind of rifle did you build?

[RadSav]

I'd think the 120BT should be a good bullet for that as should the RL-15.  The Speer manual has reloading data for both rifle and pistol.  Looks like pistol data is about 1 grain more min/max with the RL-15 over the same powder for the rifle.  Hornady lists loads for the 14" pistol only.  No Nosler or Norma listing that I can find.

If the barrel is long and the shots are reasonably short I might even take a look at the 140 Partition.

Here is a link to Nathan Foster's short evaluation of the round you might find interesting  http://www.ballisticstudies.com/Knowledgebase/7-30+Waters.html

[headshot5]

I run a 7-30 waters in a contender pistol.  It is one of my favorite calibers.  I use a lot of 120gr bullets with IMR 4895.  That being said RL 15 should work splendid for what you are planning on doing, and with the extra velocity in a carbine you can use 140's no problem.

     

[slaymaker3]

Thanks for the help guys. I'm going to have to get a Speer manual I guess. I thought about partitions ( one of my all-time favorite bullets) I just wanted to make sure I would get good performance at lower speeds. Radsav what should a guy expect out of a 21 inch 2300 fps or so?

[headshot5]

You should be able to get 2350-2450 fps with 140's.  2500-2600 fps or so with 120's.  Plenty fast enough for partitions to work, however you would be just as well served with Nosler ballistic tips or sierra prohunter/gamekings.  Really regular cup and core bullets work extremely well at these speeds and bonded bullets are not needed.     

[RadSav]

Radsav what should a guy expect out of a 21 inch 2300 fps or so?

That's about the ball park I was calculating for a 20" barrel.  For the 120's I was figuring less than headshot was.

however you would be just as well served with Nosler ballistic tips or sierra prohunter/gamekings.  Really regular cup and core bullets work extremely well at these speeds and bonded bullets are not needed.     

I agree.  Wouldn't even think about using a bonded bullet or a Barnes at these velocities.

Back in the early 80's I spent a lot of time with the Contender 14" 30-30 using 130 grain bullets.  Killed a deer and a number of bear with the Hornady Spire Point.  Unfortunately the light weight .284 bullet choices seem much more limited than those offered for the .30. So matching that 130 spire point performance looks difficult.  While I'm not normally a fan of the Ballistic Tip, the more I look into what is out there it is sounding like a great option to me! 

Good luck to you.  Sounds like a lot of fun getting it figured out!