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.30 Bellm is the best of the only two bottle neck .30 cal. cartridges on the Illinois list of approved legal handgun cartridges for deer hunting.
200 Yard Capability!
Incredible Accuracy!
Rimmed Cartridge for Easier Loading/Unloading on Cold January Mornings!
.30 Bellm, right, with .44 Mag. and .30 Herrett rounds for comparison. |
| | .30 Bellm Encore Test by Sean Coombs |
| .30 Bellm barrel review by Sean Coombs
on the Staunton River Outfitters website. This is a more exotic, LONG range deer .30 Bellm setup. Quite interesting! |
| Current Illinois regulations permit any straight wall cartridge, plus the two bottle neck cartridges "grandfathered in" from the previous regulations pertaining to the January control hunt..... .300 Whisper and .30 Bellm.
The .30 Bellm, not to be confused with the .308 Bellm, is like its big brother also made from strong .444 Marlin brass. But instead of using the .444 Marlin case full length, .30 Bellm is simply a .444 Marlin case necked down to .30 cal with a 40 degree shoulder at a maximum length of 1.400."
.30 Bellm cases can also be made from easier to form, less expensive, premium quality 7mm BR brass with the small rifle primer pocket for a rimless version of the same cartridge. Rimmed cases are preferred, especially when removing a fired round with cold, numb fingers or gloved hands. I now make all barrels capable of shooting both rimmed and rimless cases interchangeably. The extractors are now set up to handle both rimmed and rimless ammo. Existing barrels can also be retrofitted for rimless extractors.
The 7mm BR case requires fire forming the shoulder forward and trimming the case back, but is something any reloader can do. On the other hand, extensive case forming is required making cases from .444 Marlin brass.
The 7mm BR case, with its small rifle primer accuracy proven with this size of case, offers even greater accuracy potentials, making it more and more popular for general use even where the 1.4" case length limit imposed by Illinois hunting regulations is not an issue.
It is also conceiveable to form .30 Bellm brass from any rimless case with the .30/06 or .308 Win. head size, and I will do this on request.
In terms of performance, think of the .30 Bellm as the chubby little sister to the .30 Herrett. Velocities are quite similar, so checking ballistics charts for .30 Herrett or .30/30 WCF will quickly reveal the drop figures and energy levels you are interested in knowing about.
Two proven loads are now commercially available.
130 Gr. bullet @ 2200 fps from 14" barrel.
125 Gr. @ 2300 fps, Nosler Ballistic Tip preferred.
These two bullet weights perform great on deer and give you a good trajectory and plenty of energy for 200 yard shots.
Ballistics are the same or better than delivered by the standard .30/30, but in a small package that meets Illinois requirements.
New Custom Contender barrels are available in 10 to 14" lengths. I have also made barrels up to 20," which is legal and when fired from a rest gives rifle velocities for even longer ranges.
Rechambering To .30 Bellm:
Any 10" bull or longer Contender barrel, factory or custom, currently chambered for .32-20, 32 H&R Mag., .30 Carbine, or .300 Whisper and having the stronger "stepped" barrel lug (as opposed to the early flat bottom barrel lugs) can be rechambered to .30 Bellm.
If you already have a .300 Whisper, its chamber is 1.4" long, and thus when I rechamber it, no change will be made to the existing throat. So if the throat is misaligned and it does not shoot well as a .300 Whisper, my chamber work will not likely help its accuracy. .30 Bellm will up the performance of your .300 Whisper barrel and give you a decent sized case with a rim on it that is much easier to handle in cold weather..... no more fighting that small diameter case head and spring loaded extractor.
Contact me for rechambering to .30 Bellm, .30 Bellm reloading dies, and formed brass. Mike Bellm cell phone: (541) 956-6938
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| First Blood with a new twist to the .30 Bellm cartridge. | | Robert Bellm used the new rimless version of the .30 Bellm for this Illinois whitetail taken on the family farm, November 2006 |
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| | | Robert with whitetail No. 2 taken with the new rimless .30 Bellm cartridge. |
Report from Robert:
"Mike:
Well, the new barrel is officially “blooded.” Got a young doe at 7:00 a.m. on the 16th, and took a small 8-point at 4:45 p.m. on the 17th. Neither shot was impressive for distance ( 50 yards and 40 yards, respectively), but the cartridge does do the job effectively and neither animal went more than 200 feet after being hit.
I still need to work on accuracy before I’m comfortable at much longer distances. Shooting from a bench is a lot different than being half-frozen and shaking in a deer stand."
Robert also commented:
"One thing I noted: most big-bore slow bullets like the 12 gauge slug or
the.50 black powder conical, etc. don't do too much to internal organs but
sure damage a lot of meat. Your cartridge doesn't hurt the meat much, but
the internal organs are pretty much soup after it goes through." |
| | 2008, Robert scored this nice Illinois buck |
| | And John Neal, this one. |
| | John's deer sniper set up, close up. |
| About the rimless .30 Bellm cartridge.
The very first .30 Bellm rimless barrel was made on a trial basis for my cousin, Robert Bellm, originally from our home town, Carlinville, Illinois.
Cases are made from small rifle primer pocket 7mm BR brass instead of .444 Marlin brass, which cuts the cost of the brass by about a third. It does, however require fireforming cases to blow the shoulders of the cases forward.
7mm BR brass is excellent quality brass, and the small rifle primer approach has proven itself for accuracy in cases of this approximate capacity.
Robert's barrel was made for the Encore frame, and loads were run a bit higher than the Contender/G2 frames will routinely stand. As this is written, 11/06, I tentatively plan to set up Encore barrels to handle the rimless version as a means to help prevent shooters from shooting hotter Encore .30 Bellm loads in Contenders or G2s.
We have no chronographed data for this as yet, but the load we started out with is 29 gr. Reloader 7 with 125 gr. Nosler Ballistic Tips. CNC Cartridge loads this same load in the rimmed .30 Bellm cases with a charge of 28 gr. Robert's load was the standard 28 gr. charge used in Contender loads.
This prototype stainless steel Encore barrel was made by rechambering an existing .32/20 TC custom shop untapered rifle barrel that I cut back to 14." Benchrest style forend was made by Jim Hendershot here in Grants Pass, OR.
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| New Custom .30 Bellm Contender/G2 Only Barrels
Custom barrels are available by waiting list only.
Matte Blued 10" untapered barrels, set up for standard 2-screw TC Contender/G2 handgund forends. $325
Matte Blued 12 and 14" barrels have a moderate taper for better handling qualities and are also set up to take standard Contender/G2 handgun forends. $330
Carbine length barrels are also available.
All barrels are now set up for either the original version made from rimmed .444 Marlin brass or rimless cases made from 7mm BR brass.
.30 Bellm reloading dies made by CH-4D Die Co. are $85.
.30 Bellm new unprimed brass formed from .444 Marlin brass and annealed both before and after the forming and neck reaming processes is $1.50 each or $150 per hundred.
.30 Bellm brass fireformed in your barrel from 7mm BR brass same price, $1.50 each or $150 per hundred.
Shipping:
Barrel only, $15.
Heavy Encore handgun barrels and Encore rifle barrels, $20.
Barrel & dies $20.
Brass only $12.50.
Dies only $7.50.
Call me, Mike Bellm, for details: (541) 956-6938
email: mike@bellmtcs.com
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| Double Annealed .30 Bellm brass made from new .444 Marlin brass.
Annealed before forming due to Remington factory annealing sometimes not going far enough down the .444 Marlin case for this round.
After the numerous forming operations and cutting back to 1.4", the reformed .444 Marlin cases are given a final annealing to assure your investment in this brass gives the longest case life.
Formed, trimmed, chamfered, double annealed rimmed brass $1.50 each, $30 per box (empty, not loaded), $150 per hundred. |
| Commercially loaded .30 Bellm ammo:
Top quality .30 Bellm ammunition custom, loaded, production loaded, and reloaded. If you do not reload and want to take advantage of the .30 Bellm, CNC is the one to talk to for both new ammunition and for reloading your fired .30 Bellm brass.
They have been our choice for commercially loading .30 Bellm ammo and have been the sole source for .30 Bellm ammunition since its introduction and approval with the State of Illinois DNR in 1998. Quality is top notch!
Family owned and operated.
Call CNC Cartridge Co., Benton, Illinois for information: (618) 439-9053 |
| Random Notes, Forming Rimless .30 Bellm cases, & General Comments
I made the reamers and dies in '98, so the round is actually over 10 years old. It was originally "Illinois specific" and is one of only two bottle neck cartridges on the approved list with the Illinois Division of Natural Resources. It is also the fastest, longest range round on the list.
I don't make many barrels, but what I do make is mostly for this round since we were under contract to support the round for 10 years as part of the approval process. For insurance reasons, the loads CNC Cartridge Co. produced were H.P. White Laboratory tested.
From the beginning, in spite of the cost of the labor intensive brass forming process, there have been a number of people buying barrels from all parts of the country that do not handgun hunt in Illinois and do not have that need for the round.
I chose the heavy, rimmed .444 Marlin case largely because originally the Illinois handgun season was in January, one miserable place to shoot a handgun in the winter. I wanted the ease of loading and unloading a rimmed case.
However, with the cost of the brass and extending handgun use to the general shotgun season in warmer weather, I am shifting focus to the rimless BR case. Along with the quality of the BR case, of course, comes the small rifle primer that works so well in small capacity cases like this with the faster, easy to ignite powders.
The BR case is thinner than the .444 case. Thus loads can be increased some from standard, but at this point I have not worked up loads to max. in the BR brass or had any loads pressure tested.
In the Contender/G2, a change from normal to hard UNLOCKING (occurs before hard extraction) indicates flexing of the frame and too much force back on it. Back loads off to the point where the hard unlocking stops.
NEVER take loads in the Contender to the point extraction is difficult.
Basically, the .30 Bellm can be thought of as a .30 BR Improved with the neck shortened .1", 1.4" o.a.l. compared to 1.5" for the 7 BR case. There is one key difference. The shoulder location on mine is forward of the shoulder on the BR case. Thus the BR shoulders have to be blown forward.
Forming cases from BR is easy. Expand the case neck to .30 cal. Trim the case neck back precisely to the point the case sticks out of the chamber the same amount as the barrel-to-frame gap measures. Since the shoulder on my round is farther forward, the case then headspaces on the mouth of the case ala .30 Carbine for example. Charge the case with 7-8 grains of Bullseye pistol powder, fill the case with Cream of Wheat, gently tap the case a bit to settle the Cream of Wheat without mixing it with the powder charge, then either hold the case and barrel upright while loading and firing straight up in the air, OR drip some candle wax on top to keep the Cream of Wheat in the cases if they are to be handled going to the range, etc.
7 gr. leaves the shoulders a bit rounded. 8 gr. fills them out pretty well.
If/when I get a more economical source of unchambered .30 cal. barrels, I will do a lot more of these. This is in the works.
With individuals able to make their own cases, the quality of the BR brass, the inherent accuracy, and ease of shooting this neat round, it will likely continue in popularity in other states for general use.
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