Cartridge Drawing

Introduced in the Thompson/Center Contender in 1973, the 30 Herret was a joint development of the late Steve Herrett and Bob Melek. Basically a shortened version of the Winchester .30-30 cartridge, the .30 Herret was once quite popular among handgun hunters and silhouette competitors. Case forming dies are available from most manufacturers of handloading dies.

The .30 Herritt is an extremely fine cartridge for the Contender, one that is extremely effective on deer size game. But when both are loaded to the same chamber pressures for 10 and 14 inch barrels, the larger .30-30 produces from 100 to 200 fps higher velocities. Today, the popular thing to do among owners of barrels in this chambering is to have them rechambered for larger and faster cartridges. A barrel in .30 Herritt is easily rechambered by SSK Industries for the .300 Savage, .30-40 Krag, .30-40 Krag Improved, or .309 JDJ. The latter cartridge will push a 150 grain Spitzer from a 14 inch barrel at 2500 fps, considerable faster than is possible with the .30 Herritt.

As a deer cartridge, the .30 Herrett is probably seen at its best in a 14 inch barrel with a Speer 130 grain flat nose or Sierra 125 grain Spitzer loaded to about 2200 fps.

Perhaps the .30 Herrett should be remembered as an excellent idea introduced at the right time, one greatly responsible for creating a considerable amount of interest in hunting deer size game with single shot handguns.

In Production:
1973-