I was surprised when Ron Reiber, Hodgdon Powder Co.'s product manager, called and almost immediately asked, "What would you like to write about for this year's annual manual?"
"What's this?" I asked. "You always tell me what I'm going to write about! Remember my assignment a couple of years ago to test CFE BLK propellant in 6.8 SPC? And when I informed you that I'd never even fired one much less reloaded for it, you said, 'Great! This will be an excellent opportunity for you to learn from the experience.'"
"And, as I recall, that's exactly what you said it turned out to be," Ron rebutted.
"I know, I know," I said. "I'm just surprised that you're asking me for ideas for an article in the manual."
The ensuing conversation yielded two or three suggestions that, for one reason or another, we quickly dismissed. Ron finally asked, "What are you working on that's caught your imagination recently?"
I promptly described an ongoing project I'd stumbled onto more than a year ago after purchasing a Remington AR-style rifle chambered in 30 Remington AR.
Ron patiently listened to my spiel about the cartridge's exemplary performance, culminating with my attempt to get Ruger interested in chambering the nearly obsolete round in the modestly priced American bolt-action rifle. Surprisingly, Ron jumped at my idea to "wildcat" the oddball 450 Bushmaster Ruger American Ranch Rifle.
So far, I've shared the results of my efforts and even had excellent support from several industry sources. However, even though I'm thoroughly sold on the concept, I haven't convinced anyone that the bolt rifle/30 RAR combo would likely be a commercial success. Maybe this review will attract enough consumer attention to change the situation.
How the Project Got Started
It started with my purchasing the Remington 30 RAR rifle. I spoke with a Remington source originally instrumental in developing the 30 RAR round and its unique companion R-30 AR-style rifle. He said the rifle/cartridge package was intended to be an alternate choice to the venerable 30-30 WCF lever action, i.e., the most popular hunting rifle of eastern deer hunters. The short, fat, moderate-power .30-caliber round was sized to fit and function in a typical AR-15 rifle but with an extended barrel to maximize ballistic performance. The source assured me Remington never intended the 30 RAR cartridge to vie as yet another alternative to the perennially maligned 5.56 NATO.
Topped with 125- or 150-grain Spitzer bullets, the 30 RAR in the R-30 rifle delivers 30 percent or more energy out to 200 yards than the 30-30 does in a Model 94 Winchester. The higher BC bullets ensure obtaining significantly better point-blank range compared to the 30-30's typical flatnose or roundnose projectiles. The R-30 rifle is also finished in Realtree camo and has a four-round magazine, so it's targeted strictly for sport hunting, not military or law enforcement purposes.
I asked why the hunting package never gained much attention. The source explained, "The rifle debuted a couple of years after Obama became POTUS, and the anti-gun crowd's ban assault rifles rhetoric had escalated drastically. As a result, the renewed AR-15 buying frenzy was going full bore, and manufacturers could sell every 223 Remington/5.56 NATO rifle they could ship. At the time, there was absolutely no incentive to make any AR chambered for a new sporting round."
I recalled firing the R-30 rifle at the SHOT Show in Orlando that year because I surprised myself by shooting an MOA group. At the time, the phrase "modern sporting rifle" was not widely used, and I had little interest in them anyway. I'd never seen another one since that warm January day in Florida until I bought the nearly new R-30 last year at a local gunshop. The package included a case of ammo and an unopened set of RCBS dies. The whole deal cost just a bit more than half the rifle's original MSRP.
I mounted a SIG SAUER Whiskey3 3-9X 40mm scope on the R-30 and enjoyed developing handloads off and on for several months. I soon became impressed with the 30 RAR's performance and began to pursue the idea to adapt the almost-forgotten factory semiauto cartridge to a popular, inexpensive bolt-action rifle. As you can see in the accompanying chart, the project was very much a success. I hope, despite its rather dismal record since it was announced 10 years ago, others will also conclude the 30 RAR deserves another shot at success.
So how did I get the idea to wildcat a bolt-action rifle to fire the 30 RAR cartridge? Well, it occurred to me soon after I discovered the Ruger American Ranch rifle had recently been offered in 450 Bushmaster. I was well aware of the similarities between the two rounds. Both shared the same body diameter (0.500 inch) and overall length (2.260 inches). And while the 450 Bushmaster's rim diameter is rebated to 0.473 inch, the 30 RAR rim is too, but (fortunately for my project) only a few thousandths less than the body diameter.
I called an acquaintance at Ruger and suggested the company look into my idea. He reacted even more positively than I'd hoped for, but he then hesitated before responding with, "You can probably complete this project sooner than we can get around to it." He offered to send me a rifle and a .30-caliber barrel blank that duplicated the Bushmaster's barrel length and profile. All I had to do was chamber the replacement barrel and fit it to the rifle.
When the promised package arrived, I charged the 450 Bushmaster magazine with a couple of 30 RAR rounds and cycled the bolt to see if they would feed. The 30 RAR's larger rim diameter helped ensure the cartridge reliably fed from the magazine. Of course, the round wouldn't completely chamber because the boltface was sized for the Bushmaster's smaller rim. Dave Manson graciously provided a reamer and a set of go and no-go headspace gauges. I scheduled a visit with my gunsmith, John Gallagher, and he soon had the rifle converted to accommodate the new cartridge. The most difficult step was opening up the boltface just enough for the larger rim diameter. The extractor and ejector worked just great without further modifications.
The rest of the effort was relatively uneventful. I fired a few groups with the Remington 150-grain factory 30 RAR ammo acquired in the original deal. Remington hasn't made a run of ammo or cases for several years, but Ron searched Hodgdon's test lab and turned up an ample supply of new, primed brass. I eventually prepared many batches of test loads using data from the current Hornady manual, Lyman's special AR load manual, and the 2012 issue of the Hodgdon Annual Manual.
Reloading the 30 RAR
I discovered only one issue while reloading the 30 RAR for my three rifles. At first, the Remington R-30 would occasionally fail to fully chamber a handload, but I never had a problem with a factory round. I quickly tired of performing the potentially hazardous G.I. extraction drill to remove the jammed round and adjusted the RCBS full-length sizer die to resize the fired cases as much as possible, i.e., the die was set a quarter-turn past fully touching the shellholder.
I concluded the shoulder needed to be set back a bit farther, so my gunsmith shaved about three thousandths of an inch off the die mouth. Problem solved—no more jams. I've loaded some of the test cases five times and have not experienced a single case failure. I have discarded a few because of loose primer pockets, which I attribute to aggressive reloader syndrome.
According to my Powley slide rule, IMR 4064 should be the optimal powder choice when loading conventional 150-grain jacketed softpoint bullets. However, no available reference included data for this propellant, so I conservatively estimated a charge weight compatible with the 300 Savage-specific Hornady 150-grain SST bullet. The same was true for CFE 223—no data. However, its burn rate is close to LEVERevolution's, so again I carefully worked up another safe load. Both efforts were rewarded with 1- to 1.5-MOA handloads that I intend to develop further.
Benchmark and H322 also have similar burn rates and along with IMR 4064, LEVERevolution, and CFE 223 provided more than enough choices for reloading heavier-weight bullets in the 30 RAR. IMR 4198 and IMR 8208 XBR readily covered the lighter ones. The charge weights listed in the chart are at or very close to the maximum values found on Hodgdon's Reloading Data Center (RDC), and the max loads listed on the RDC are compressed and generate chamber pressures safely lower than the 30 RAR's 55,000 psi maximum average pressure (MAP).
As the charts show, Remington's initial premise for developing the 30 RAR is fully supported. My first bolt-action test gun was an 18-inch-barreled rifle, and you can see that the 4-inch-longer barrel significantly increased velocity. Recoil in the lightweight Ruger American Ranch rifle was relatively moderate and quite compatible with the novice or a recoil-sensitive hunter.
A final note: I recently learned that tens of thousands of the 450 Bushmaster Ruger American Ranch rifles have been sold, exceeding everyone's wildest expectations. I've shared my results with both Ruger and Hornady and even asked a Ruger distributor if it would be interested in procuring a limited batch of American Ranch rifles and ammunition just to test market acceptance. Hornady promised to supply thousands of rounds of ammunition if a rifle manufacturer would make enough rifles.
Could anyone else but me be interested?
I think the 30 RAR's lack of success is lamentable. Unfortunate timing and inadequate promotion are the primary reasons. As I researched the round's past, I found that writers Richard Mann and Bryce Towsley proudly touted the 30 RAR's excellent hunting capabilities. Mann went so far as to take a custom rifle made by Melvin Forbes to Africa and brought down several head of plains game with it. I was unaware of his idea to chamber the 30 RAR in a bolt action when I started my quest, but I was pleased to discover, once again, great minds often think alike!