Rossi 30-30 Ackley Improved Load Work

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Re: Rossi 30-30 Ackley Improved Load Work

Post by Ranch Dog »

I returned to my 30-30 AI, working with the 32 Win Spl brass while trying to reduce the Speer 130-grain bullet's jump to the rifling. In general a bit of a disappointing day with my notes from the different changes being either; awful, ugly, and ugh!

Will get back to it this afternoon, I need to go pick up some fish this morning for my pond. The lessons I've taken from all the shooting up to this point are:
  • The brass, 30-30 Win or 32 Win Spl, doesn't matter. In fact, both being of Winchester headstamp, they are identical after several full load cycles. All the dimensions are identical; volume, lengths, and thicknesses. The best case length I can hope for is 2.020". With that said, 30-30 Win brass is plentiful so that is what I will use.
  • Quit the Trail Boss 110-grain bullet fireforming cycle. This has formed the case but not to the degree that a full load will do. Might as well use whatever load I come up with with the first cycle of any brass. My bet is that accuracy will be the same with a little loss of velocity. Some of this is coming from my experience with the 303 British. This step will also save one cycle on the brass.
  • Bullet neck tension is probably more important than concern over bullet jump. I'm keeping the seating depth at a full caliber (.308") for the next round of testing
  • I mounted a new scope on the rifle in order to see if the old scope had a hand in some of the shot to shot shifts in POI had anything to do with the old scope.
The benefit of the target cam is huge. With its cost being that of a mediocre spotting scope, I should have done bought it as soon as it was introduced.
Michael
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Re: Rossi 30-30 Ackley Improved Load Work

Post by GasGuzzler »

Ranch Dog wrote:The benefit of the target cam is huge. With its cost being that of a mediocre spotting scope, I should have done bought it as soon as it was introduced.
Sage advice that applies to many subjects in our genre.
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Re: Rossi 30-30 Ackley Improved Load Work

Post by Ranch Dog »

Yesterday's shooting convinced me that the problem wasn't the scope as the rifle shot all over the map. With three rounds of ammo left, I decided to strip the magazine tube off of the rifle shooting and shoot the remaining three. Usually, I have a couple of screwdrivers in my range box, but the only thing in there was a jeweler's slotted driver and being too lazy to walk back down to the house, used it. With the extra parts removed and the receiver sitting on a sandbag, the last three shots were within 1" of each other at 100 yards. So, now I need to figure out the combination of what it takes to keep the barrel neutral as everything goes back on.

Yes, I had it all apart when I finished up my first round of load work. The improved case was getting scratched once inside of the receiver so I pulled it all apart and did some filing and polishing which eliminated the issue, but obviously, the reassembly of the forearm components caused another.
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Re: Rossi 30-30 Ackley Improved Load Work

Post by GasGuzzler »

Good catch.

Since this can happen with any cartridge I'm interested.
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Re: Rossi 30-30 Ackley Improved Load Work

Post by Ranch Dog »

I took it apart and put it back together, not really sure if anything was binding as the disassembly was up on the range and I was more worried about losing something. It is assembled and nothing is binding. In that I didn't see anything, I recrowned the muzzle which did look a bit rough from manufacturing.

The lever is coming unlocked at the shot with the stout loads so I'm going to pull the Finger Lever Plunger and make sure there is not any old grease it the hole it resides in plus dress the surface/angle if needed.
lever.jpg
Not sure if I will get to shoot it today, depends on what the weather has in store and if I can get more loads ready.
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Re: Rossi 30-30 Ackley Improved Load Work

Post by Ranch Dog »

Tuesday was range day. Tired a number of things, but I didn't see a marked improvement in accuracy. Still cannot figure out what is going on. At least the locking bolt is not dropping out of battery from recoil. Crazy that those little bitty parts keep it tight.

The lot of brass that I've been working with ended the day with eight cycles, so it is going to be chunked. I've been digging through a large box of brass that was range picked up spent Winchester factory ammo. I'm finding brass that is over 2.030" which will help reduce the bullet jump. I did load some samples and shot them with the charge of H4895 that I've been using; they shot better than the short brass. Will continue my sorting, prep for the next range day, and see how they do.
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Re: Rossi 30-30 Ackley Improved Load Work

Post by Ranch Dog »

Shot the RG 30-30 AI with H322 interval and evaluation loads. Ugh. Don't know what has happened with the rifle. Nothing is working.
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Re: Rossi 30-30 Ackley Improved Load Work

Post by klr »

Man, I hate to hear that. I'm at that point with my Win 94 and starting to wonder just how much I enjoy all this tinkering.

I also put a lightweight .308 barrel on my Savage last month and wondering how much fun I'm having trying to find an accurate load.

Seems like things were easier when I could only afford one rifle.
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Re: Rossi 30-30 Ackley Improved Load Work

Post by Ohio3Wheels »

klr wrote:Man, I hate to hear that. I'm at that point with my Win 94 and starting to wonder just how much I enjoy all this tinkering.

I also put a lightweight .308 barrel on my Savage last month and wondering how much fun I'm having trying to find an accurate load.

Seems like things were easier when I could only afford one rifle.
I hear that!

Make smoke,
Curt.......makin' smoke and raising my carbon foot print one cartridge at a time +guns +guns
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Re: Rossi 30-30 Ackley Improved Load Work

Post by Ranch Dog »

Ohio3Wheels wrote:
klr wrote:Man, I hate to hear that. I'm at that point with my Win 94 and starting to wonder just how much I enjoy all this tinkering.

I also put a lightweight .308 barrel on my Savage last month and wondering how much fun I'm having trying to find an accurate load.

Seems like things were easier when I could only afford one rifle.
I hear that!
With my luck, I would choose the wrong one to keep!
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