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.30 ackley
- Thread starter rusty21
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Trickymissfit
Well-Known Member
I recently inherited a beautiful rifle chambered in the .30 ackley cartridge from my grandfather. I am wanting to know if anybody has any experience with this round and maybe some data on reloading for hunting. Thanks and happy thanksgiving!
which one? There are at least three different ones, and maybe a couple more.
gary
Did you get any empty brass or loaded rounds? What does the head stamp say? This should give somewhere to start. I had one years ago that I got with the 300 H&H brass blow out to a '30' Ackley chamber (fire-formed). Actually the 8 Mag brass worked perfectly, just had to neck it up with the dies that came with the rifle. Did you get dies with the rifle (I hope).? If your grandfather didn't handload ... who did his loading...they probably have the dies.
As trickmissfit stated "there are a few cartridges called the '30 Ackley' " depending on which case was used to develop the chambering. Some even used the 300 Weatherby case put an Ackley shoulder angle on 1 of the radius.
We need a little more data from you to help you.
As trickmissfit stated "there are a few cartridges called the '30 Ackley' " depending on which case was used to develop the chambering. Some even used the 300 Weatherby case put an Ackley shoulder angle on 1 of the radius.
We need a little more data from you to help you.
I did get some loaded and empty brass and my uncle has the dies. The brass is 338 Winchester Magnum, Winchester Western brand. My grandpa had reloaded some and from what I can find out thru my uncle, the rounds were reloaded about 30 years ago, think I will keep for keepsake (not sure how safe they would be), and printed on the box itself is grandpa's reloading data... 61 gr. 4064 powder, 150 gr. nosler bullet. I figured you guys may have some more updated reloading data, sure things have changed a bit in 30 years, haha. Thanks
Russell
Russell
Last edited:
You can probably use this data available here;
308_3
It sounds like your cartridge is just a necked down 338 Win Mag case to 30 caliber with maybe some shoulder angle changes. You'll have to compare a 'factory' 338 Win to one of your empty cases to see the differences but I'll bet it's just a necked down .338 case to take .308 bullet.
Should be, performance wise very similar to the 308 Norma although the 308 Norma Magnum brass is .060 longer. I'd bet you could get the 308 Norma Magnum brass and a little bit of case prep end up with a really good brass. Just have to find some 308 Norma Mag brass..made by Norma.
Or... stick with simple and just get some 338 WW brass run them thru the die. If there is a shoulder angle change it will fire-form out first firing....just like any other Ackley chambering. WW brass is pretty good in itself.
I'm sure the cartridges your grandfather had loaded would shoot just fine as long as they were kept in a controlled environment (outside shed vs. a dry cool basement). I mean you may have a very accurate load at least for the 150. Try 3 of them. Clean the rifle first...making sure the chamber is clean also.
I would if I had that chamber try the 190 SMK to shoot cross canyon.
One more thing if it's a Springfield action..alot of guys after WWII came back from the war and re-chambered the old 30-06's into the 308 Norma Mag. You should have someone like a competent gunsmith just look it over and confirm my suspitions of just what you do have.
308_3
It sounds like your cartridge is just a necked down 338 Win Mag case to 30 caliber with maybe some shoulder angle changes. You'll have to compare a 'factory' 338 Win to one of your empty cases to see the differences but I'll bet it's just a necked down .338 case to take .308 bullet.
Should be, performance wise very similar to the 308 Norma although the 308 Norma Magnum brass is .060 longer. I'd bet you could get the 308 Norma Magnum brass and a little bit of case prep end up with a really good brass. Just have to find some 308 Norma Mag brass..made by Norma.
Or... stick with simple and just get some 338 WW brass run them thru the die. If there is a shoulder angle change it will fire-form out first firing....just like any other Ackley chambering. WW brass is pretty good in itself.
I'm sure the cartridges your grandfather had loaded would shoot just fine as long as they were kept in a controlled environment (outside shed vs. a dry cool basement). I mean you may have a very accurate load at least for the 150. Try 3 of them. Clean the rifle first...making sure the chamber is clean also.
I would if I had that chamber try the 190 SMK to shoot cross canyon.
One more thing if it's a Springfield action..alot of guys after WWII came back from the war and re-chambered the old 30-06's into the 308 Norma Mag. You should have someone like a competent gunsmith just look it over and confirm my suspitions of just what you do have.
Trickymissfit
Well-Known Member
I did get some loaded and empty brass and my uncle has the dies. The brass is 338 Winchester Magnum, Winchester Western brand. My grandpa had reloaded some and from what I can find out thru my uncle, the rounds were reloaded about 30 years ago, think I will keep for keepsake (not sure how safe they would be), and printed on the box itself is grandpa's reloading data... 61 gr. 4064 powder, 150 gr. nosler bullet. I figured you guys may have some more updated reloading data, sure things have changed a bit in 30 years, haha. Thanks
Russell
OK, now we've narrowed it down to two of them! There is a number one short and a number two short magnum (I think he even called them #1 & #2 if memory is right). They are really good rounds by the way.
gary
Trickymissfit
Well-Known Member
You can run .308 Norma brass thru the die to form cases as said prior. But you'll really need to know the exact case, and I don't have the actual case deminsions. I'd almost bet it's the long version, and I'll look in my old Ackley manual to see if he supplies any data tonight.
gary
gary
Trickymissfit
Well-Known Member
Thanks Gary, the 338 Win Mag cases that I have are 2 1/2 inches long, if that helps any.
I had to dig out my old Ackley manuals for a look see, and I found four .300 mags in there if anybody is interested. The biggest is nothing but a sharp shouldered .300 Weatherby. There is one that comes off a .348 Winchester case, and looks similar to a .300 WSM.
The number one short magnum (that's what he calls it) is somewhere close to a 2.5" case length, and made off a .300 H&H case (or anyother similar one). But a standard 30-06 barrel cannot be rechamberd to this caliber as the case is a little shorter than the 30-06. With a 150 grain bullet a max load appears to be 64 grains of 4064, and 58 grains of powder for the 180 grain bullet (keep in mind these are for older lots of powder which often is hotter). Max loads with 4350 for either bullet is 67 grains.
The number two mag is longer, and designed to clean up in a 30-06 barrel. He says you can use loading data for the .300 Apex Mag. You now need to get an accurate measurment of the chamber length to see if it actually is longer than 2.494" long. A once fired case would solve all these issues. Ackley does not give the shoulder angle, and it looks like it's about 30 degrees instead of the usual 40.
Being as you have a sizing die, I'd find a half dozen .300 mag cases, and anneal the case necks and shoulders dead soft (your gonna toss them when we're done). Run them thru the die till you are just a little longer than the .308 Norma at the shoulder. Now cut the neck to where they are about 2.50" long. Now I'd start cranking the die down about 1/8th of a turn at a time till the bolt has just a little resistence when fully closed. Now you will know the shoulder gauge line (actually you'll be within a few thousandths, but still plenty close enough). Now make another case that's about 2.56" long (remember we are guessing). Try to close the bolt. If it dose, then you know the case is longer still. But if it dosn't freely close you can trim it .01" at a time till it closes. I figure you will see something like 2.53" long.
The methods discribed are not perfect by any means, but just something to give you a rough idea what you have. Of course you could also have somebody do a chamber cast, and know exactly what you have. Do not reuse the formed brass for loadings as the cases will be way too soft and dangerous (throw them away!)
gary
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Trickymissfit
Well-Known Member
I did get some loaded and empty brass and my uncle has the dies. The brass is 338 Winchester Magnum, Winchester Western brand. My grandpa had reloaded some and from what I can find out thru my uncle, the rounds were reloaded about 30 years ago, think I will keep for keepsake (not sure how safe they would be), and printed on the box itself is grandpa's reloading data... 61 gr. 4064 powder, 150 gr. nosler bullet. I figured you guys may have some more updated reloading data, sure things have changed a bit in 30 years, haha. Thanks
Russell
reread your post, and all you really need is a good dial caliper, and a bushing of sorts that will sorta (.400 I.D. x .50+ long) split the shoulder diameter and the neck O.D. This will give you the gauge line deminsion to work from. I then would pull one loaded round apart and measure the over all length of the case. Now compair the datum line with a similar datum line you measure off a generic 30-06 case. If it's longer than the 30-06, you probably have the number two mag. If it's a few thousandths shorter it's a number one
gary
gary
fj40mojo
Well-Known Member
How 'bout a Cerrosafe chamber cast? No guessing then, you'll know exactly whatcha got.
Trickymissfit
Well-Known Member
How 'bout a Cerrosafe chamber cast? No guessing then, you'll know exactly whatcha got.
a chamber cast is the correct way to do this, but not everybody has a few bars of the stuff laying around (by the way they are supposed to quit making it sometime in the near future as the most common use for it is no longer in the picture these days [ the correct name for the metal is Cerrobend by the way]). Yet even doing this will not give you an accurate headspace figure. Sinclair used to sell a gadgit that would give you the exact headspace, but don't know if the still have them.
gary
boomtube
Well-Known Member
Just a note on turning FL size dies 1/8th of a turn; that is a change of almost 9 thou. Normal headspace tolerance for bottle neck cases runs about 6-7 thou, max, so you could easily go from not quite enough shoulder set back to a good bit too much in a single step.
