Slugged my Gauntlet 30 - What size die if any to try?

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Geezerhood

Geezerhood

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Aug 16, 2022
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Southern, Utah, USA
I just snagged a new Gauntlet 30 for a price too low to pass up, wanting to give 30 cal slug shooting a try at the lowest entry price for a decent gun. I know nothing about shooting cast slugs in airguns, so I come to the forum for some advice.

It seems to be a good (and LOUD!!! :eek: ) shooter with commercial cast slugs right out of the box. My intent is to shoot my own cast slugs from the fairly new 55gr hollow point NOE mold that I ordered. I slugged the barrel today and the grooves which are directly opposite each other which makes measuring easier. They are consistently at .299 to .300 on more than one slug run through it. I will try shooting the NOE 55 gr straight out of the mold, but may want to try different sizing dies as well. What would be the most likely to try first on this gun as well as for future 30 cals? I would be buying 2 dies for sure, probably three.
 
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I've tried shooting all kinds of .300 slugs in my Guantlet 30 ... unfortunately Umarex goofed the breech on this gun, getting slugs loaded is tough, and probably not great for the pin. I'm considering taking it to a gunsmith. They shoot down the barrel just fine and with decent accuracy (depending which slugs), but getting them in there is a PITA and a pain in the palm as well. Definitely can't use the magazine.

I'm shooting exclusively 44.75 grain pellets in my Gauntlet 30 now as a result. For slugs I'm using my AEA Challenger Pro, where they slide in silky smooth and magazine-friendly.

That all said, I sure do wish you luck if you can find something that works, or maybe you don't have this issue with your gun in the first place? I wouldn't be surprised if you have to size down below .300 but that sucks because there's not a lot of undersized ammo like that available.
 
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Yup, mine is tight as well. I have been using multiple very light taps with an oak dowel to chamber these. Trying to chamber by hand is extremely difficult and would almost surely bend the probe tip over time. After having watched several videos, I am planning on opening it up to the point where the slugs are a smooth zero rattle fit up to where the pellet is left by the probe. I can't see any reason that the chamber before the rifling should be smaller in diameter than the grooves are in the barrel, but I am pretty sure this one is that way. I have some cerrosafe somewhere that I haven't used for 30 years, and IF (unlikely) I can find it I will cast and measure the chamber and throat.
 
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These might work. Just looking at how the base flares out almost like a pellet skirt. I bet they'd slide in easily enough. Will try some when I get a chance to. Obviously this photo isn't .30 caliber but I assume they look the same.

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Geezerhood said:
That definitely looks like a good possibility with a more narrow front portion. I might chamber one of these "Bob's Boat Tail" slugs and see how far down the body the rifling contact goes. Too bad there isn't a chamber reamer rental source out there like there is for PB guns.
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Yes! And I've thought about offering such. The biggest issue is, there are no standards like SAAMI. There would be a lot of reamers per caliber and or bullet weight.
 
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BillG said:
With the slug that's hard to seat, does it traverse the rest of the way fairly easy? If so, I'm going to suggest that the angle is too steep. LOL....I've seen some that look like more of a chamfer than a lead. This can be addressed. Pretty easily.
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Yes, I can easily push it down the barrel by hand with a wooden dowel once past the chamber area. I have to tap a short dowel with a mallet several times to get it into the bore. The amount of force needed to chamber this 68gr Boat Tail would eventually damage the bolt handle and / or the probe. I have cut a few centerfire rifle chambers by hand using a floating reamer holder and a reamer with a floating pilot bushing and am confident I could clean this up in a few minutes if I had the right profile on the reamer. I will be casting some NOE 55gr hollow points soon and will soon see how difficult they are to chamber. I haven't yet tried any pellets because my shipment of ammo was delayed and I don't own a single tin of 30 cals since this is my first 30 cal gun.
 
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They are .301 to 0.303 OD and slightly fatter right on the mold part lines as they have not been sized. My pellet order arrived today and I was able to shoot some FX 44.7gr .30 cal pellets. Not as easy as chambering a 22 cal pellet or slug, but it went in without what I would consider too much pressure. I have nothing to compare it to of course. The FX pellets produced two 5 shot groups that measured .118" and .146" on my 50 ft indoor range from a rest.

Thanks for the offer to help! I will send a message shortly.

Here is a photo of the rifling marks on the slug when it was chambered with the bolt handle fully closed then tapped back out of the chamber. They sure do look beat up under magnification in this light. At arms length you would think they were perfectly smooth. You can see deep engraving of the lands in the rear band and also pretty deep in the front section. They shoot OK at 50 ft leaving the barrel at 978 fps but at 865 872 fps I will often get 5 shots touching each other.


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