Tell me something about the 30 Herrett

[DEACONLLB]

Was looking in my reloading book and it looks interesting so what is it good for in the way of hunting recoil and all that?

Deaconllb

[james]

Thirty years ago it was the cats meow in a contender frame and the first wildcat I played with.   30-30 brass and .30 cal bullets were abundant and the cases were easy to make.   It had a recoil about like a .44 but the trajectory was much better.  I did discover that rifle primers would not always detonate so I had to go to pistol primers.   I never hunted with it but it was fun to shoot and accurate.

[Curtis]

I have so many calibers and so little time to shoot that unfortunately my 30 Herrett is one that I have not fully fleshed out.  My early experience with forming brass was not good, but once I figured out what I was doing wrong all is well.  Basically from all I had read you wanted to be sure the shoulder was touching on your fireform loads to ensure proper headspacing.  Well, I overdid it and was having to slam the action shut which put stress on the frame and affected accuracy in a negative way.  I believe once you get your dies set for proper headspace from the shoulder, then accuracy should be good.

As far as it being a caliber choice here is my take: I prefer 10" barrels so it is THE 30 caliber round for me.  Stick with 115 110 to 130 grain bullets and it will out perform the 30-30 in a 10" tube with much less blast.  With 150 grain and up, the 30-30 will beat it even in a short barrel if you can put up with the blast.  If I wanted a 14" barrel (or longer) in 30 caliber though, there's no reason not to opt for more power like the 30-30 AI or 309 JDJ instead.  At this point though I'm hunting with my .357 Herrett 10".

Curtis

P.S.  Good catch Walt!!  Don't know why I put 115.  Also I was thinking pistol all the way.  Forgot which forum I was in!!

[Hopalong7]

Deac,  As far as a 10" Handgun goes it's the cat's Meow and I second what Curtis said(only drop the bullet range to include the 110gr pills), but, since we're in the rifle forum, I assume your question is directed towards a carbine.  If so, and as much as I love my 30 Herrett, when barrel length reaches 14" or more I'll go for the 30-30 everytime(actually the AI version).
Walt

[LHitchcox]

The whole idea of the Herrett was to shorten the .30-30 case enough to get an efficient powder charge with 110-130 grain bullets in a 10 inch barrel. It worked well. Ballistics are comparable to a 7.62x39 in a pistol length barrel. In a rifle barrel, it doesn't make sense. A .30-30 passes it in a 14 inch or longer barrel. My Herrett shoots really well in a 10 inch contender with 125 Ballistic Tips and AA1680.

[gregd548]

I can't speak for the 30 Herrett, but I do have a 357 Herrett. My experience has been that it's a real pain creating the cases & fire-forming them, and I ended up with several instances where all I got was a "click" when I squeezed the trigger. I tried all the "tricks" to make it go bang EVERY time, but was never able to do so. After missing a gorgeous 10 point buck because of a misfire, I put the barrel away and have not used it since.