30 Reece

[Mjshell]

Gerald’s post of his 30 Reece carbine got me wondering. Has anyone heard from or had contact with Carson Reece recently?

[FyrepowrX]

Tommy had tried to contact him for quite a while but never did find him, not sure what ever happened to him.

[BobT]

I have tried to get in touch with him a couple of times over the last few years to no avail, I have an old phone number if you want to give it a shot Mark. I have also looked for an obituary and (thankfully) didn't find anything.

[BT]

And all those related posts on SP. Gone forever.

[D. Sanders]

There is a nice MGM SS octagon barrel in .30 Reece on Gunbroker right now. I used my best Google-Fu but couldn't find a set of dies anywhere. CH-4D doesn't list them in their list of cartridges either. I'd love to bid on it but without dies it would be useless.

[Mjshell]

Hornady used to make the dies, not listed anymore. They will make you a custom set. I’ve been watching that barrel also but it will probably go for more than I want to spend considering the price of custom dies.

[Mjshell]

I have tried to get in touch with him a couple of times over the last few years to no avail, I have an old phone number if you want to give it a shot Mark. I have also looked for an obituary and (thankfully) didn't find anything.

Bob why don’t you text me his number.

[FyrepowrX]

pretty sure MGM is still chambering for the .30badger, which is more or less the same thing....basically a 38spl case resized in a 7.62Tokarev die ; that would eliminate the need for very spendy custom 30Reece dies.

by either name, the .30reece/badger are about the same case capacity as the 32/20, which can easily be uploaded to about the same speeds.

[sunnysmarine]

I just sent my MGM 300 BO to have it rimmed to use 360 DW brass no special dies, For my 30 Badger I bought Lee Tokarev dies on the first use I had to send them in to have the FL die fixed it was like a cheese grater in side at the shoulder works like butter now, I have have hundreds of cases made cheap 38spc I still want a 30 Reece

[BobT]

Will do Mark!

[BobT]

There is a nice MGM SS octagon barrel in .30 Reece on Gunbroker right now. I used my best Google-Fu but couldn't find a set of dies anywhere. CH-4D doesn't list them in their list of cartridges either. I'd love to bid on it but without dies it would be useless.

I have a set of dies Carson gave me years ago but no barrel :neglected:, one of these days!

[61Knuckle]

Probably a good idea to have a set of dies in hand before acquiring a barrel. I've had long lead times crop up with wildcat dies in the past.
Good Luck, I looked at a Reece barrel a couple of years ago, but the die hunt came up empty.

[JStacy]

I have never owned a 30Reese but wonder why people were so enamored with it. A rimmed 30 Whisper is a much more versatile cartridge and quite a bit faster to boot. I have seen some posted velocities from a 30 R with 110 and 125 bullets that must have been from a rifle length barrel. I find it unlikely that a smaller case with less powder will drive a bullet faster than a larger case, not overbore.

[Mjshell]

It’s a low recoil, accurate, round. It’s a miser on powder and just fun to shoot. Then there’s some of us that are shooting buddies of Carson. I was able to talk to Carson last week and he is doing fine.

[BobT]

I have never owned a 30Reese but wonder why people were so enamored with it. A rimmed 30 Whisper is a much more versatile cartridge and quite a bit faster to boot. I have seen some posted velocities from a 30 R with 110 and 125 bullets that must have been from a rifle length barrel. I find it unlikely that a smaller case with less powder will drive a bullet faster than a larger case, not overbore.

I have shot the .30 Reece in a few different configurations, Contender pistol and carbine and Encore pistols, they were, without exception, very accurate. A mild mannered cartridge and as Mark said very easy on powder. I currently have pistols in .307 Winchester, .30-30 AI, and .30 Herrett, I had a .30/20 and traded it to one of the other guys I shoot with. While I have nothing against the .300 Whisper either rimless or rimmed it really doesn't hold a candle to the Herrett as far as ballistics and the rimmed version uses Max brass which isn't exactly common so for me the Reece is logistically, a better choice for my uses.

[P Flados]

FYI, with loads at SAAMI limits, the 300 BO will match the 30 Herrett in a 10" gun. I posted comparative Quickload runs of both over at the SP forum before it got shut down.

The 30 Herrett can be loaded hotter than SAAMI, but if you have a Contender, you will be taking your chances with frame stretch. If you push the 300 BO beyond SAAMI, you will only be taking your chances with messing up brass or piercing primers.

For a 10" 30 cal Contender deer gun, the 300 BO is about as good a you can get without getting into stuff with really bad muzzle blast. One of the various 30-223 wildcats is a little more powerful, but very rare.

Now as far as the 30 Reece or 30 Badger, these were not intended to push the Contender as far as it would go. They have less powder capacity and that tends to make them nicer to shoot.

[pacecars]

First thing I thought when I saw the barrel was what could it be rechambered to? The barrel looks cool

[BobT]

First thing I thought when I saw the barrel was what could it be rechambered to? The barrel looks cool

You could rechamber it to about any Contender safe .30 caliber I expect but for the foreseeable future it will remain a .30 Reece. :smile-new:

[Mjshell]

Bob I’m glad you got it, you know we all want to pull the trigger on it at the next shoot

[BobT]

Hopefully I can get my bench back together soon! I have had formed brass since Carson gave me the die set but never loaded anything.