.30 Luger Ammo

[MarkC]

I am in the process of getting my first Luger in .30 Luger. (OK I am bit by the Luger bug and NEED to get one in the original caliber) Although I reload with a Dillon 650, I am reluctant to purchase the shellplates, dies, etc until I decide I will really shoot this gun. The local gun shop has .30 Luger ammo available at $40.00 a box !!! Yikes............

Any of you guys know of a mail order source that is cheaper? I want to put 200 rounds through the gun as a test.

Thanks !

[Rick W.]

i

[Doubs]

One word of caution if you use a progressive press to load .30 Luger. It's a bottle neck cartridge and the dies are standard steel types. The cases will need to be lightly lubed to prevent sticking.

The prices per box of 50 you guys are quoting are outrageous! Who can afford the ammo at those prices? It's not a difficult cartridge to reload and that's the way to go, IMO.

[MarkC]

Thank you very much !! If the shell plate on my Dillon 650 will work for the .30 I am in business !! The dies are easy to come by and not very costly. I should have figured the shell plates were 9mm !! However, my rule is to always put at least 200 rounds of factory through the gun first, since factory ammo always is correct for the guns they were designed around.

Us guys who make our own ammo are a special lot. I was on the Starline web site and they will be offering factory new Luger .30 brass soon.

I still need a cheap source of factory .30. I always test the factory ammo through my gun in a chronograph to replicate factory loads when I reload.

I use the CED Millennium Chronograph with the infrared screens to do my testing at the indoor range.

So, any cheap .30 Luger around??? I would hate spending $40 for a box of 50.

[unspellable]

I have recently bought Winchester 30 Luger brass on eBay at a very reasonable price. There seemed to be quite a few listings for it. I bought 2600 pieces.

I have been picking up Winchester, Fiocchi, Remington, and Peters ammo at various gunshows in the area for various prices. Sometimes as low as $10. Mostly I use this ammo for testing in the course of my 30 Luger ammo project.

For loading, first slug the barrel and find out what you have. Nominal barrel size is 0.311 inch. You will want bullets sized to match the barrel.

Second, check your recoil spring. I have been opening up Lugers and finding everything from A to Z in them for recoil springs. Thor reports the same. You must have the recoil spring matched to the load.

If you have a factory spec recoil spring you will probably find the Fiocchi ammo too wimpy to reliably cycle the action. Winchester is a bit better. (Still not up to par though.) I haven't run any Remington/Peters over the chronograph yet but I suspect it is closest to the proper load. Too bad Remington stopped making the stuff.

There are a lot of non-standard recoil springs in circulation. Most of them cut down or otherwise below par. These will require reduced loads like the Fiocchi.

Bottom line: If you really want proper ammo you'll have to roll your own, the factory stuff is crap. Under sized bullets, below par ballistics, often not hot enough to properly cycle the action.

I will have a good deal more to say about the proper diet for the 30 Luger in the future. I have an ongoing research project on this. So far it has been a real eye opener.

[Rick W.]

i

[unspellable]

Unfortunatey Wolff does not offer a recoil spring for the 30 Luger. I suspect the potential market for the 30 Luger spring might be greater than for the 9 mm spring if everybody decided to replace their old chopped up spring. A 9 mm spring might work in a 30 Luger with hot loads, but it will only aggrevate the reliability problem with factory ammo.

I doubt that very many springs are out of spec for simply being tired. The majority of the springs I've seem coming out of 30 Lugers were not factory issue. Somebody cut them or replaced them in an effort to get the pistol to work with today's wimpy ammo.

I'm not convinced cutting springs is a good idea. First it modifies the original if you have one. If you get a replacement and cut it, you change the preload faster than the load force and create more potential problems. I'm looking for a source of proper springs, even to the point of consdiering having them wound.

As for loading, if you are using bullets that are correctly sized to an original barrel, you want to pay attention to neck OD. American made brass may run a little thick in the neck walls. You have to have room in the chamber neck area for the neck to expand and release the bullet or pressures go up. If you have room in the chamber neck area the thicker walls are for the better.

[MarkC]

Thanks for all of the excellent info, I did purchase the reloading dies and will go that route. However, I also found a website that has .30 ammo. Have any of you had good results with this brand?

From www.samcoglobal.com

.30 Luger Ball (7.65 Parabellum)

Mfg. Lapua/Sako, Finland 1979-81, FMJ, NC/Berdan, 93 gr. Brass cases. Packed 25 rds per box,
2000 rds per case. Wt. 58# per case.

29.9 cents per Round
250 rds $ 74.95
$ 598.00 per case

[ken d]

Marc;
You might try www.grafs.com for .30 luger.
Under Fiocchi speciality ammo they list .30 Luger $16.49 per box of 50. Prepaid freight but a handling and insurance fee of $4.75 per order.
Case price may be cheaper yet.

Ken D

[Dwight Gruber]

Unless you have a Luger with a particularly light recoil spring I recommend you not waste your money on Fiocci. It works my 1900AE with a weak flat spring just fine, but it was incapable of satisfactory operation of my 1920 Commercial with a standard-weight spring.

--Dwight

[Thor]

I agree with Dwight on the Fiocchi ammo, pretty weak stuff.

Samco has a little hotter loading-.30 Luger Ball (7.65 Parabellum)

Mfg. Lapua/Sako, Finland 1979-81, FMJ, NC/Berdan, 93 gr. Brass cases. Packed 25 rds per box, 2000 rds per case. Wt. 58# per case.

29.9 cents per Round
http://www.samcoglobal.com/ammo.html

[Doubs]

Wolff sells a 'service pack" of three springs for the Luger that has one each 40#, 38# and 36# spring. They consider the 38# spring to be factory standard for BOTH 9mm & .30 caliber. At least that's what their tag says. (I've scanned the tag but this forum doesn't permit pictures.)

I'd suggest trying the 38# spring and if it's too stiff, put in the 36# spring. I've used Wolff springs in several Lugers and they seem to be excellent. The service pack also includes an extra power firing pin spring.

[JuergenG]

I agree that the Fiocchi .30 Luger (93 grs. FMJ) appears much weaker than other ammo.
I was lucky to get a hold of 300 rds. of M&F Thun (Swiss surplus of 1984). Great stuff, much more of a bang, but the pistol (SIG 210-4) hardly even jumps. Much more precise than the Fiocchi.
Downside: Berdan priming, and currently no more available on the German market. Hopefully the dealer will be able to secure another lot.
Funny: The cases AND bullets are lubed. I understand the Swiss got away from that in 1985.
Juergen