Wilson Combat: Testing the new 30AR

[ccoker]

From Bill Wilson of Wilson Combat

When Remington first anounced the release of the relatively new .30 RAR cartridge and R15 rifle in this caliber I have to admit I was initially under impressed. Being an avid 6.8 fan I have to admit based on factory published ballistics for it's 125gr bullets I simply didn't see any real gain over good 6.8SPC loads. Now that I have some "hands on" time with this new caliber I'm begining to see some real potential especially for hunting. Over the past month I've spent a lot of time experimenting with the .30 RAR as to load development and building guns. I now have close to 1000 rounds down range now (of widely varying loads) through the following guns:

DPMS 20" medium weight upper (long gas)
Wilson Combat 16" Recon (mid gas)
Wilson Combat 11" suppressed SBR (CAR gas)

Here are my observations:

Positive

The cartridge case is VERY strong, in fact so strong it makes it hard to read pressure signs.

It seems to be capable of VERY good accuracy, can't wait to get some match grade barrels made up in a couple of twist options.

With bullet weights of 125gr or less I personally see no substantial gain over the 6.8SPC, however with 130gr to 150gr I'm seeing some terminal performance gain both on paper and in the field (dead hogs).

It's easy to reload and seems to be happy with several different powders and a wide variety of bullets.

With close to 1000rds downrange through 3 guns I have had 100% function, so it's obviously reliable.

Fits in a standard AR15 platform so can be light and compact, MUCH better than the big and heavy AR10. A 30RAR upper will work just fine on your 5.56/6.8 lower, something the .308 doesn't have going for it.

Modest recoil, about like a .243 in a comparable weight bolt gun so will still be a good choice for female and youth shooters/hunters.

Negative

Low magazine capacity if compared to a 5.56 or 6.8, 4rd mag is about the same size as a 10rd 5.56 and the 8rd is the same size as a 20rd.. This is due to it's single stack design, but may be one of the reasons it feeds so well, I've even shot some flat point bullets designed for the .30-30 and they fed........... Low magazine capacity will probably prevent it from ever being a serious "tactical" weapon except for a SWAT sniper.

Can buy new cases!!!!! Being an avid handloader it's a major pain (and expense) to have to buy factory ammo and blast it away to get cases!!! Hopefully Remington will start selling cases soon as this would be a big boon to the cartridge popularity.

Only 4 factory loads are currently available: 125gr FMJ, 125gr CoreLokt, 125gr Accutip and 150gr CoreLokt.

No load data except for Hodgdon/IMR powders is available.

Reloading observations

IMR8208XBR, Benchmark and H322 seem to be excellent powders. I have also got acceptable results with AA2460 (shoots great, but seems to dirty up my suppressed SBR much worse than extruded powders) and R10X (lighter bullets).

Several bullets have worked well for me, but for now I've settled on 150gr Nosler Ballistic Tips and Accubonds for these T&E guns since they seem to shoot the best with them. I think the caliber is at it's best with the 130gr Barnes TSX or with various 150gr bullets. If you don't own a 6.8SPC you may want to play with the lighter bullets, but they don't interest me.

With 150gr bullets I'm getting 2275fps out of my 11" SBR, 2500fps out of the 16" Recon and 2600fps out of the DPMS 20" in 90+ degree weather.

Cases seem to last 5 or 6 loadings with full charge loads.

General observations

Ballistically it's a .300 Savage if you compare them in the same barrel lengths. Out of a 11" SBR I can duplicate the ole reliable .30-30 fired from a 20" barrel (with the added bonus of being able to use high BC bullets), so obviously it will get the job done in the hunting field even out of short barrels.

I'm impressed with it enough that Wilson Combat will build a few rifles/uppers and see if there is any demand???

Pictures of our first 16" Recon and 11" suppressed SBR T&E guns and targets attached.








Bill Wilson
Wilson Combat
870-545-3618
http://www.wilsoncombat.com
http://www.circlewcranch.com

[hitman1012]

It looks very promising. Are the mags something made just for this round or something else? How was the 16 " shooting? Thanks

[ICANHITHIMMAN]

I have been waiting and waiting to here info on this and an still very excited but the Mag capactiy just made my cry a bit. Thanks for the info

[Pumpkinheaver]

Thanks for the report, I've been thinking about one of these for deer hunting.

[MarshallDodge]

I have heard some other people discussing this and it sounds promising. Definitely an answer to those that cannot use 223 for hunting.

For the tactical crowd, I wonder how hard it would be to make a lower with a larger magwell and some magazines to go with it??

[BWilson]

It looks very promising. Are the mags something made just for this round or something else? How was the 16 " shooting? Thanks

Mags are purpose built by DPMS and seem to be of good quality. For whatever reason the 16" isn't shooting quite as good as the 11", but I have found putting a suppressor on a rifle normally improves accuracy. We'll see how the cartridge really shoots when we get match grade bbls in a couple more twist choices.

[Artos]

What about heavy bullets and going subsonic with this case?? I originally got excited about this round as there would be no case forming & you could double duty as a full power / short range suppressed pig gun under the moon.

lots of potential in a hunting application.