30cal 30BR bullet styles

S

skeetlee

Active member
I just got home from work, and i had a package with some 30cal 118gr bullets i had purchased from a fella, and they are not the bullet i though i was buying. I though i was buying some Brady knight 118gr 7.3/4 ogive, but these are Brady knight 10 ogive 118gr. First of all the 7 3/4 Brady Knight is my favorite bullet, and i didnt even know he made a 10 ogive. anyway this got me to thinking a little. You know i have never had much luck with a 10 ogive bullet no matter who made it. The more blunt ogive bullet always shoot better for me. Maybe this is simply because they are easier to tune and my lack of tuning experience causes me the issues i have with a 10 ogive 30cal bullet, or maybe, just maybe, the 10 ogive 30cal bullets are actually a little harder to find that sweat spot with? You know me, i am always interested in how other people think, so i though i would bring this topic up, for nothing more than a general though topic. I know we have to listen to the barrel, and i do try my very best to do this, but it sure seems my barrels keep telling me 7 3/4 ogive bullets please!! Anyone else have this same experience?
I will also add that with the help of my dear friend boyd allen, and a few outings at the range, i have found that my 18 twist krieger doesn't like any bullet made on a jacket longer than 1.000 . Most will say that the 18 twist should still shoot a 125gr bullet but mine wont! Even my 17 twist Brux like the shorter more blunt bullets. I dont know!!! My experience is limited to only 3 barrels. My first bartlein barrel would shoot anything i fed it, and shoot it well. Lee
 
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Skeet, several bullet makers will make 118 with a 10 ogive or a 7-7 1/2. I have a 1-17 twist barrel that does like Randy's 118's on the 10 ogive, likes the 112's on .925 a little less.

The 1-18 twist Krieger that I have shot my best agg's and scores with likes the 112 on a 7 ogive better than anything I can feed it. I have shot both Randy's and Ronnie Cheeks 112's quite well in matches, the cheeks simply likes a little more powder because it is overall a smaller diameter bullet.

As far as shooting anything heavier than a 118 in Varmint for Score, I think it is counterproductive. I have pretty well retired the 1-17 as well, since I can not make a 30BR shoot as well with anything as well as a 112 in a 1-18 twist.........jackie
 
I think some of the issue is related to the center of gravity of the bullet. A shorter ogive means two things. A shorter OAL of bullet all else being equal and a center of gravity moved further forward in the bullets structure.
This equates to less barrel twist being required to give max stability.
The bullet weight is not the whole governing factor. It's the length and center of gravity position that dictates twist rate.
 
Steve makes a very good point.

With the abundance of excellent .30 cal. barrels and bullets available, many are under the impression that any combo of these will pound 'em into one hole. Not so.

Most everyone has a 'baseline' setup that works, but don't make the mistake of thinking that since 'Bill and Ted's Most Excellent Bullets' 118 gr. was a killer in brand 'A' barrel that brand 'B' barrel will like the same bullet, even though the twist is identical between the two.

Even though I make my own bullets, there's always some BIB 118's, 125's and several other custom bullets on my loading bench in case a new barrel wants to give me gas. Having these available also helped to quickly identify a pooch .30 cal. barrel a while back....saving lots of time and components.
 
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how about this. I have been shooting two different 30br's over the winter with so so results. i was shooting these licking darn things free recoil but with only so so results. I started pinning my rifles and things started to happen in a good way. Maybe all the testing i did with all these different bullets was a waste of time simply because of my ex shooting technique? The Knight 118 7 ogive seem to really do the trick though either way. I just get a bit smaller groups while pinning that rifle. i wish i had discovered this about 200 rounds ago. LOL So how many folks do you think have written off great shooting bullets because of poor shooting technique? I may have myself!! Lee
 
These things can really do some strange things, I've set several barrels back to get a fresh throat and they would totally change bullet prefrences, I recently did one that shot lights out with 10 ogive bullets before the set back and now it wants the 7's. Who'd thunk it! :)
 
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