45/70 & 30-30 with BP

G

gasmandave

New member
My limited understanding is that a 45/70 is a 45 cal bullet in front of 70 grns Black powder and that a 30-30 is a 30 cal in front of 30 grns BP. If so can they be hand loaded in the field with BP FFg or FFFg, primmers punched out and a new one inserted and bullet seated and fired from an H&R sigle shot without special tools?
 
The system ought to work.
The old time scheutzen riflemen would shoot all day with one case.

But you are only half right. .30-30 never was a black powder caliber. I don't know how long you could go with black powder in it before it fouled out.
 
gasmandave I'm thinking you may need to clean the cases with either after firing the round.You might get by cleaning the out side of the case and using something like a Lee Hand Loader for a couple rounds but your going to haft to clean those cases. I believe you may want to go ahead and load the rounds ahead of time and then go in the field. Some of the others may feel other wize. :rolleyes:








Dell
 
As I understand the history, the .30-30 was the first commercial smokeless cartridge. While Winchester called it the .30 Winchester Center Fire, Marlin and UMC did not want the Winchester name on their products and called it the .30-30.

I wouldn't think that it would be a very good black powder cartridge, but I've never experimented with that propellant in that cartridge.

On the other hand, the .45-70 was originally a black powder cartridge, but the cartridge was made differently in those days. The old-timers used balloon head brass which held more powder than our solid web design today. I doubt that you could put 70 grains of powder in a common piece of .45-70 brass today without using a drop tube. I know that I've settled on a smaller charge for my BP cartridges, more closely approximating the old carbine load that used 55 grains of BP. It's easier to load and shoots just fine in my Sharps. If I'm going to do extended shooting with that rifle, I'll carry a milk jug, about half full of water with a squirt of dishwashing liquid. As I fire the cartridges, I drop the brass in that jug. It helps keep my brass clean and loosens the fouling until I can get home.
 
Being the 30-30 is a bottleneck you will need a drop tube to get enough powder in the cases to get compression. You can get IIRC 67 grains of bp into a modern 45-70 case.
 
The .30-30 was always a smokeless cartridge. It got its name from being loaded with 30 grains of smokeless powder in the black powder cartridge nomenclature tradition.

I'm sure you could load it with black powder and get approximately .32-40 ballistics.

An empty .30-30 case holds about 45 grains of black powder when used as a powder measure.
 
THE .30-30 WOULD NOT DO WELL WITH bp loads. That is he reason WRA came out with the .32 Win Special. It also had a 1 in 16" twist, so to not foul up the barrel so quickley.

Doug
 
I second what Doug says. I've got two 1894s, one in .30-30 and the other in .32WS. The .30-30 got messier much sooner than the .32. I think that a big part of that is because the cast bullets for the .30-30 simply didn't have deep enough lube grooves compared to the .32. There was also a little leading in the .30-30 barrel, compared to none in the .32, again, I'm sure, because of insufficient lube. The (relatively) zippy twist probably didn't help matters, either.

It only took one afternoon for me to figure out that BP in a .30-30 was a bad idea.
 
The early 1894s also could be had in .32-40, a real black powder round. With a .30 caliber bore, you would probably need to wipe the bore between shots, something that a lot of single shot rifle target shooters do anyway. You might also experiment with grease cookies or lubed felt wads between the powder and the bullet.

The bottlenecked .303 British was originally loaded with black powder.
 
30-30 did begin life as a cartridge engineered for BP. Very quickly smokeless loadings came into the picture making it among the first of the smokeless loaded sporting cartridges.

Yes, you can load the 30-30 with BP. There are some things for you to consider. You may not WANT to load your 30-30 with jacketed bullets if you are going to play with BP. You might create a serious problem with pressures if you dont know what you are doing.

You should consider using cast lead bullets of a suitable diameter for the barrel you are shooting them through. While not essential, a lubricated cast lead bullet is the way to go for BP cartridge loadings. Dry bullets of a suitable diameter will work.

There are some lead bullet loadings in certain cartridges that are paper-patched loadings. You probably wont use paper-patched bullets in the 30-30.

Air space in the case is a problem with BP loadings and you certainly dont want to "compress" a black powder load either in the modern 30-30 thin walled cases. There is a product in the grocery store called CREAM OF WHEAT that some will use as a filler in a BP loading to prevent air space in the case. Dont overfill and compress your load.

If you are serious about loading BP in cartridges, it is a great hobby. But you really need to know what you are doing. It is not something you can "casually" do. Find someone experienced at it, and spend some time with that person and learn before you leap off into it.

The 45-70 is a very easy cartridge to handload - especially with BP loadings. There is lots of information available and lots of accessories available. There is no shoulder to worry with on that straight-walled case. It sizes easily and if you are going to use the same cases over and over and over, dont crimp, unless they are going into a magazine or a double-barrelled weapon.

Good luck with your project.
 
My very first experiment with black powder in cartridges was .44 Magnum and jacketed bullets. Yes, jacketed bullets because that's what I had on hand and there was no internet around to tell me not to use them. Also, I had no idea that the powder had to be compressed.

They shot just fine, pretty accurate too. Gun didn't blow up. Kicked about like a .44 Special.

I only loaded a half dozen or so. I didn't feel like cleaning a mess like that off off my Ruger Super Blackhawk every time I shot it.

Maybe it only proves that there is a special guardian angel that looks after drunks, idiots, and black powder shooters.
 
30-30 did begin life as a cartridge engineered for BP. Very quickly smokeless loadings came into the picture making it among the first of the smokeless loaded sporting cartridges.
Click to expand...

It was designed for bp but was never sold loaded with bp. It was loaded with smokeless to complement the new 1894 Winchester as a sales gimmick.
 
The .30-40 Krag 1892 is the earliest US smokeless round that I know of.
And it took a while to get those in issue, and a while longer for Winchester to pick it up for sporting rifles, so the .30-30 may well have been the first actually in use.
 
Took three 1894 Winchesters off the wall for a look see. 25-35 & 30-30 both were engraved on their barrels: Specifically for smokeless powder. __32-40 had no engraving concerning its powder preference.
 
1895 Winchester

P6090558.jpg

P6090427.jpg

Chambered for many cartridges, including 30-40 Krag., so smokeless was in use before 1895...
 
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The 30/30 was the first smokeless rifle cartridge. The 30/40 Krag was the first smokless rifle cartridge to be used by the US military. The 32SPL was a cartridge that came out 6 years after the 30/30 and was a blown out 30/30 case. While the 32SPL was factory loaded with smokeless powder it was designed to be reloaded with black powder.
 
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