.30 Carbine Primers

[AJ]

Sorry, that I did not state before that this is for a M1 Carbine. Not a pistol or revolver.

 

[DWalt]

For M1 Carbines, maybe not.

If you own a .30 Carbine Blackhawk, you will learn for darn sure how much case length matters! If you try to trim it short, your firing pin will not reach the primer and you'll build a round that you cannot discharge.

Case length too long and you will NOT be able to advance your cylinder.

And the nasty: if your case is only slightly too long, it will rotate past the easier part of the recoil shield and then it will dead-lock when it gets to the right side of the frame. Now you are stopped dead and will need to pull the cylinder pin, yank the cylinder and extricate this loaded round that you cannot fire.

Yes, .30 Carbine in the Ruger Blackhawk has a learning curve.

Indeed it does. I used a .30 Blackhawk for CAS (way back when) and it is very sensitive to case length as there is very little daylight between the rear face of the cylinder and the recoil shield. A slight overlength case will tie up the cylinder. I always trimmed cases so that the case head was flush or slightly below the rear cylinder face. Before reloading fired cases, I first FL resized them, then measured the length of each and every case with a dial caliper before proceeding further. Any that were slightly too long were set aside to be trimmed. And there always some of those. I do not know how .30 Carbine cases stretch on firing in the Blackhawk, even with light lead bullet loads, but they do.

 

[LostintheOzone]

Case trimming is advised. The cartridge head spaces on the mouth of the case like a pistol cartridge except most pistols won't fire out of battery. The M1 carbine will because there is no disconnect for the firing pin, it floats.

If the case is too long it will prevent the cartridge from going into battery and the bolt from locking closed. All this depends on the individual carbine but it has been known to happen.

That's one of the reasons people use the harder #41 primers. Also the reason people trim their brass as manuals advise.

A 1.30 case could ruin your entire day.

I just trim my brass and use regular SR primers and 2400. It's not that hard.