machinist1 Posted December 24, 2006 Report Share Posted December 24, 2006 Hi all. Gun nutty, you mentioned that you had a rfile in a Gibbs cartridge in another post ( didn't want to steal someone elses post). Can you tell us more about it? I'm in the process of building a .30 Gibbs on a VZ24 action. I will be using a 26" hammer forged barrel. The stock is nice piece of English walnut with a buffalo tip and a skeleton grip cap. I am using a Timney trigger w/ side saefty and a streamlined shroud. The trigger guard is an 1909 Argentine unit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flaco Posted December 24, 2006 Report Share Posted December 24, 2006 Don't mean to butt in, machinist, but this sounds like a nice component list. May the gods be with you on this project. flaco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gun nutty Posted December 24, 2006 Report Share Posted December 24, 2006 Sure. I've posted before on this, but will gladly do it again. My .30 Gibbs is an Interarms Mark X originally chambered in 30/06 and re-chambered to the Gibbs. I have the 24" barreled action sitting in an old Ramline stock, Control low mounts, and a Leupold 3x9 Compact scope. I added a 1" Pachmayer Deccelerator recoil pad. Recoil is very mild, at least the perception, and I "blame" that pad and the synthetic stock. The barrel is fully floated and the recoil lug is fully bedded. I "floated" the action in that only the lug area and tang contact the stock; I can run a sheet of paper along the sides of the action; it was something to try at the time, and I fully intended to fully bed the action as well - but hey, my groups were too damn good and I left it alone. I can cover 3 rounds with a quarter if I do my part at the bench. I haven't altered the action or magazine; I can load and feed three from the magazine reliably. 5 won't fit (due to the wide shoulder), and the fouth is "iffy". I settled on one load 64.5 grains of IMR 4831 win the old Barnes X-Bullet. Velocity was just under 3000 fps at 10' from the muzzle (It averaged around 2950, so muzzle velocity is probably right close to 3000). Historically, the older long X-Bullets (without the three groves) generated higher pressures early, and I suspect that I could do a little better on the velocity with a boat-tail. A bit about dies... I initially ordered a set blindly... very bad idea. I had to send-in 3 fire-formed cases to 4D Die Company to get things going. My chamber was to spec, but the original set from RCBS was minimal, and I had to run the cases through 2X to get them to chamber. I'm certain if I would have sent fire-formed cases to RCBS, all would have been good as well. About data and results... My data matches an article from Wolfe Publishing (I think by Roger Stowers). Loads were very close in maximum read pressures and final velocities. I also have an earlier article ("The .30 Gibbs - A Magnum Cartridge It Ain't") with loading data that is very similar, but with final velocities much lower. No two rifles will perform exactly the same, and I've seen rifles chambered for the same cartridge with the same length barrel that perform very differently, especially in terms of velocity. I watched the primers, and in terms of rounding or flatness, they are no different than the 30/06 loads I use that match the maximuns listed in most reloading manuals. Fire-forming the cases involved necking them up to .35 and back down to .30 in the .30 Gibbs die to create a shoulder to headspace on. I believe I worked up to 20 grains of W231, filled the remainder of the case with cream of wheat, and pushed a block of parrafin wax onto the case mouth to form a plug. Shoot downwind or you'll get showered with cream of wheat. The following data is from the Wolfe article: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gun nutty Posted December 24, 2006 Report Share Posted December 24, 2006 Here links to the article I've referenced: http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c168/gun...0Gibbspage1.jpg http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c168/gun...0Gibbspage2.jpg http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c168/gun...0Gibbspage3.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
machinist1 Posted December 24, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 24, 2006 Gun nutty, thanks for the information. I will try to do some pics while I'm off for the holidays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
machinist1 Posted December 30, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2006 I finnaly got around to taking some pics of my .30Gibbs VZ24. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skeeter2859 Posted December 31, 2006 Report Share Posted December 31, 2006 Thats going to make a fine looking rifle. The slim bolt shroud really streamlines the looks. Good luck and post more pics as work moves along. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric123 Posted December 31, 2006 Report Share Posted December 31, 2006 Very Nice... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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