Do we have any brass?

Soon-to-be SIL brings over a passed-down Marlin 336 (Microgroove in .30-30).

"Do we have any .30-30 brass?" he asks. :rofl: (This used to bring up a great smilie, no longer.)
Without even beginning a "deep search" I came up with 100 once-fired FL sized and primed WW cases and a box of forty brand new nickel plated RP's.

"Would any of our cast .30's work in it?" :rofl:
All of them except the 311291 were either DESIGNED specifically for it, or at very least with it in mind. 120gr FNGC Soupcans, 150gr FNGC, 170gr Ranchdog TLFNGC, and 190gr FNGC 311041. The RD's were designed specifically for Micro Groove barrels. And I have a .310 sizer for them.

Which one do YOU think it will like best?

Looking through my loading log entries: "Wow Tom, how many .30-30's have you owned?" :rofl:
"Should I include all the levers, bolts and single shots?"
"Yeah."
"I honestly have no idea. I keep losing count around 30. That's a minimum. It doesn't count the ones owned by friends and family that I have loaded for over the years. 100 in total would surprise me, but well over 50 wouldn't. I've always been partial to the cartridge."

Field day is next weekend to get his Hunter Ed card. Guess we're going to do some shooting theses next few weeks. You think? When someone hands me a .30-30 to work up, it's like an old friend coming to visit and I save a lot of money not buying liquor. :)

Way to Vers
Bring in another to the wonderful world of firearms

[smilie=w: Good to hear.

He's no stranger to firearms - my daughter wouldn't put up with that. I just want to get him hunting legally. I don't need F&G having a party with the contents of my freezer. Since the surgery last spring went so well I will be able to hunt again this year. The kids are afraid I will fall and be unable to get up if I'm out in the woods alone. They figure our springer spaniel wouldn't be much help. I look forward to their company.

I taught him casting and handloading over the last two years. With a several-times-rebuilt spine it is very difficult for me to stand on concrete floors for more than a few minutes and here my shop is in the basement. It would take me three sessions to load twenty rounds without his help.

vers, I have a nice stool just the right height that I sit on to reload. Like it better than standing and it works very well. Ergonomically arranged reload bench also helps greatly. Scale is on a raised box/container to be at the right height etc.

I have made some changes to the setup (like priming on a portable unit with a tiny press upstairs), but the real cure of course is to get this place sold and get family and shop relocated and set up properly for grumpy old gimp. There are some things I can sit to do, but running a press, especially when FL sizing or neck expanding isn't one of them. After my PT observing me at the bench, she figured I have to be standing in front of it with both feet braced, spine parallel to the axis of the press ram, when actual force needs to be applied for those two operations, no matter what kind of floor is under it. The other operations I can do while sitting and I do, there is a stool at the bench for that. The biggest problem is that I focus on the task at hand totally and am pretty much oblivious to other things, including increasing pain levels, while so focused. "Just a few more minutes and I'll be done with this...." instead of taking the break I should and lay down for a minute when I ought. The second biggest issue is I have been too cheap to buy the good thick industrial rubber anti fatigue floor mats that I really need.

But we have some .30-30's to load up.... :mrgreen:

For the want of $100 industrial pad you will put up with the pain? There is an industrial store just down the road from you. I have one and it has saved me a LOT of pain. Cow free stall mats work the best if you can find them.

You are right. It is long past time. I have been looking and I think you're right - the cow mats are a lot better than the ones the restaurant suppliers sell. Hopefully Tractor Supply still stocks them.....

Hmmm. Cow mats are designed to be springy for something that outweighs me by quite a bit. I need to ask the local machine shop where they get their mats from.

We finally got around to loading up the first tests with the cast 150's and 3031. They're sized at .310 so I think the microgroove barrel will like them just fine. I can go .311 or .312 if I need to - with WW's they drop at a tad over .312, but I have never needed to go that big with these bullets in anything but an SKS.

Cow mats should be tried. Yep, a cow weighs more than you. But the mat is designed for a laying cow which than has more square inches to spread that weight so that it is very close to what your feet support per square inch. Try and stand on one. Walk around on it. It might surprise you.

We got it to the range. There is a cheap Bushnell on it that neither of us can see through very well and the windage won't adjust. Despite that we got a 3" group from load #2, but we stopped there figuring to come back with better sighting system, either a peep or a red dot. In the mean time he hit a 1" bullseye @ 100yds dead center first shot with my peep-sighted .308. He was looking at the old Remington the same way he looks at my daughter. I have a feeling I may be hunting with something scoped this year if I don't get the new sight on that Marlin for him. Maybe I will anyway.....