30 br

buckeroo

Well-Known Member
i have got a 222,243 and i have just bought a 6br which shoots a 70 gr the 243 i am thinking of selling and getting a 30 br ,6.5x47 or a 6x47 as i want something to shoot a heavier bullet than a 70gr just wondering if anybody shoots a 30br and to what extent have had any joy.
 
Just about to build one for myself as it happens. I'll be using 125-130g bullets with BR primers. :)
 
the guy i bought it off of had it built so that it shoots a 70gr as it was a light target gun for comps
 
The 30BR is almost entirely used in one type of short-range (100/200yd) Benchrest competition. The norm is a very slow-twist barrel and 115-118gn flat base bullets loaded. No doubt you could have one built barrelled and throated to handle 125gn sporting bullets like the Nosler Ballistic Tip and/or 150gn BTSPs.

What you'd almost recreate is Frank Barnes' .308X1.5" 1950s' experimental assault rifle cartridge which used a shortened and reformed 308 Win case and which led to the BR series eventually. Performance with heavier bullets is close to but somewhat better than the 7.62X39mm and .30-30WCF, in other words just marginal for English deer on ME and just able to exceed the Scottish 2,450 fps MV floor with a 150gn bullet- assuming a reasonable length barrel. (Forget 16-inch moderated jobs.)

I have seen a 308X1.5 stalking rifle, a really nice trim lightweight sporter built on the earlier 'small ring' Mauser 93/95 action. It shot 125gn Noslers very well in the fox role and with 150s made an excellent roedeer and maybe bit bigger species job. The 30BR would do exactly the same job assuming that's what you want to do with the rifle. It's always a relatively short-range number though - 6mm BR Norma with a fast-twist barrel shooting 95-108gn bullets has far better long-range legs and a flatter trajectory.

Nobody manufactures 30BR rifles, so it's an entirely custom gunsmith job, and in this country few are built (I know of one currently being trialled in benchrest competition) so there aren't many gunsmiths around with a chamber reamer readily available. Brass is the readily available 6mm variety which you have to neck up yourself. Wilson makes arbour press dies for the cartridge, Harrells Precision and Redding make dies - Midway UK lists the 3-die Redding Competition set for just over £300 i/c carriage and you have to get neck bushings on top of that. (1967spud could probably sort you out and save a bit though.)

Have a look at:

http://www.6mmbr.com/30br.html

The alternatives to 6mm and .30BR are the three mid-size 6.5s - 6.5X47 Lapua, 6.5 Creedmoor and 260 Rem which have various pros and cons but at the end of the day offer pretty close real-life ballistics and are capable of superb precision allied to very good external ballistics.
 
What about the 7mmbr. Is it not more widely available?

Not really. Its use is mostly specialist long-barrel single shot 'handgun hunting', or metallic silhouette pistol competition. Even before we lost our pistols, no FLO would give a variation for a handgun for deerstalking or varmint hunting in this country, and metallic silhouettes was never our thing. It's a superb number in these 12-15" barrel single shot pistols for either purpose, very efficient in short barrels. Its suitability for handguns is why 7mm BR loading tables are nearly always in the handgun section of American handloading manuals.

I've looked at the cartridge and modeled loads in QuickLOAD for rifle competition use, but 7mm-08 is the smallest seven that makes any sense in this role, and even that cartridge struggles ballistically against 6mm BR, 6 Dasher and the mid-size 6.5s.
 
What about the 7mmbr. Is it not more widely available?

This calibre was mentioned to me today, not looked at it but sounds similar to the 30. I like the idea of the 30br with the smaller bullets for Highseat work. Was toying with the 6.8spc as well but needs a bit of boltface opening. Too many choices. Lol
 
I run a 6mmbr and I did use a few 105 in it and it was just as accurate as the 70gr, I use the 70 gr full,time now and it does everything i need it to.

when I used the br for deer I used a 87 gr and was very happy to take roe munty and fox. I was also,selling my br but it's staying now, even if I don't stalk any more,

bob.
 
Only thing I'd say puts me off the 30BR is necking up from the 6BR, did some today with a mate and it seemed like a task and a half.
 
Not really. Its use is mostly specialist long-barrel single shot 'handgun hunting', or metallic silhouette pistol competition. Even before we lost our pistols, no FLO would give a variation for a handgun for deerstalking or varmint hunting in this country, and metallic silhouettes was never our thing. It's a superb number in these 12-15" barrel single shot pistols for either purpose, very efficient in short barrels. Its suitability for handguns is why 7mm BR loading tables are nearly always in the handgun section of American handloading manuals.

I've looked at the cartridge and modeled loads in QuickLOAD for rifle competition use, but 7mm-08 is the smallest seven that makes any sense in this role, and even that cartridge struggles ballistically against 6mm BR, 6 Dasher and the mid-size 6.5s.
The reason that 7mm Remington BR is in the handgun data is that, as you mentioned , it was predominantly a handgun round for the XP-100. I built a couple of Remingtons in 7mmBR rifles and (some feeding sensetivities aside) they were quite well liked by their owners. One fellow used 120's claiming that he was getting close to 2800 fps and that it was one of his favorite deer rifles. I competed with an XP-100 in metallic silhouette competition and it was a laser on the 200 yard ram targets, having no problem toppling the 67 pound steel. I never hunted deer with it as I didn't appreciate the XP-100's ergonomics for carrying in rough terrain. I did shoot vermin up to coyote and it was wonderful in that arena. I don't currently own a 7mmBR but I have a lot of respect for it. I think that finding brass might be tough these days...~Muir
 
The reason that 7mm Remington BR is in the handgun data is that, as you mentioned , it was predominantly a handgun round for the XP-100. I built a couple of Remingtons in 7mmBR rifles and (some feeding sensetivities aside) they were quite well liked by their owners. One fellow used 120's claiming that he was getting close to 2800 fps and that it was one of his favorite deer rifles. I competed with an XP-100 in metallic silhouette competition and it was a laser on the 200 yard ram targets, having no problem toppling the 67 pound steel. I never hunted deer with it as I didn't appreciate the XP-100's ergonomics for carrying in rough terrain. I did shoot vermin up to coyote and it was wonderful in that arena. I don't currently own a 7mmBR but I have a lot of respect for it. I think that finding brass might be tough these days...~Muir

What twist barrel did you find was best Muir?
 
What twist barrel did you find was best Muir?
I don't remember! That was 30 years go. I'm guessing it was 1-10 or 1-9 because both of these guys wanted the 150 grain option. In both instances the customer supplied the blanks. These guys were friends so I'm guessing they used the same supplier.~Muir

I do remember that blanks were made by Douglas.
 
I think that finding brass might be tough these days...~Muir

I've never seen factory 7BR cases in the UK Muir, presumably because we had no handgun hunting or metallic silhouettes here even when we could own pistols. As per the 30BR, it'd have to be a neck-up job from Lapua 6mm BR brass, but that's no great obstacle of course. Most gunsmiths would have to buy the chamber reamer and gauges specially for the job as 7BRs are very rare beasts.
 
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