Yes no mabye ? Probably gonna get my little brother a small set up so he can feed his guns and do some custom tailoring stuff. Nothing much. Decent press , few manuals , ect. Might get him some casting stuff down the road since he's been on me about that too. Anyhow was just curious what people though about .30 carbine or .30-30 as starter calibers for new reloaders.

The 30-30 is way more versatile for trying different loads. With the 30 carbine its pretty much a 110 grain bullet round nose if actually used in a M1 carbine because of feeding and a powder of choice and thats it. The 30-30 has way more options to try out.
I load both rounds.

something like a Lee Classic cast turret would keep you in rounds for both well.

I can't comment on 30 carbine but 30-30 there are lots of things you can do with it. from 90gr little bunny busters to 170 game loads for big hogs and deer.

I started reloading with. 357 and. 44.
Headspacing on the rim.
30-30 may be more forgiving as far as that goes.
I remember separating numerous case heads when I began loading. 243 and 30-06.

Don't know anything specific to either but reloading for selfloaders comes with consideration for feeding and extraction. Small base dies??? Full length resize???

I started reloading for an old bolt gun 30-30 forty some years ago. I think it's a great round to start with.

Another thing to consider is if ou are actually loading for an M1 carbine that you don't have a lot of leeway as far as powder charge goes. From the thing not cycling to damaging gun components. Cast bullets is something I would stay away from as well in an M1 Carbine. Leaving it really like " plonk 14.5 grains of H110 in the case and cork it with a 110 grain round nose plug. Reloading done. Stray from that and it can get frustrating at best.

Whatever happened to the 30 carbine? In the 70's it was a pretty popular round. I remember when many sporting goods stores had bins of them and sold them in bulk, usually under 10 cents apiece, I remember one place that even sold them by the pound.

they are around and people shoot them , but in the 70s everyone was buying them up fromt he CMP and such

then they got to be worth something now you don't find them under about 1K

lots of cheaper things to shoot

I bought an M1 carbine from the NRA through their Division of Civilian Marksmanship in around 1965 for $18.75 and shot a deer with it, I do reload for it and also reload 30-30 Winchester, I also think the 30-30 would be more versatile!

Being a bolt action guy, I dislike having to crimp when I reload for tube fed guns.

The 30 carbine as the name implies was designed for one specific purpose. With the birth of the 5.56 pretty much went down history lane. Because now you could give every soldier an M16 that was way lighter than the M14 and the Grand that was fast fading away anyway. Now folks that run artillery pieces etc. could have a weapon that outclassed the M1 Carbine by a large margin with next to no extra weight. Some sporting arms manufactures and even pistol makers took up the cartridge and chambered some of their offering in it. But I think it was sitting between a rock and a hard place to be honest. Not enough horsepower to make it a good hunting cartridge and to big to fit into a pistol that one could carry around. That and the fact that a whole boat load of better cartridges were developed afterwards to better fill the spot the 30 carbine had occupied.
I like it for the fact that my admiral likes to shoot it out of the M1 carbine I have and thus it became her bedside gun for times when I am away from home. It helps me sleep better, knowing that between the two big dogs and her being quite proficient in the use of that old M1 that I have upgraded with a laser sight, making it a true point and shoot weapon she can stand her ground here on our little patch in the sticks.
I load that round as hot as the M1 can eat it and use and load it with soft point round nose that expand well but still hold together at the velocities the M1 spits out. Using H110 powder

I got a 30-30 marlin and it's deadly out to 150 with 125 grain soft points. Loaded up all my brass years back and haven't shot it much . I'd have to look in my journal at the exact load config. It belonged to my uncle who hunted with my father and I up until cancer took him in1989. His wife gave me the rifle . It has a 3-6 weaver on it and would be more deadly with a different scope. But I'll never replace it .....

I got no problem with iron sights on my thirty thirty’s. I like 150 grain pills. H335 to push them.

My go to for the 30-30 is a good dose of Leverevolution powder pushing a 150 grain Sierra pro hunter round nose soft point cork. Shooting it out of a 1949 vintage Winchester Mod 94 with peep sights. Just the right tool for the woods on my place in the hills of Tennessee and ya just don't get more American than that to boot ( well not for a old Kraut anyways )

Used to load 30-30 for my son lots you can do with it.

I can’t think of any bottle neck cartridge more adaptable to cast bullets. Long neck, rimmed, and cheap brass everywhere. Might want to check out NOE’s RG4 mould , a copy of the Ranchdog bullet. I have a four cavity that allows casting a 170 grain bullet in either flat point, dimple point, or hollow point with the same mould, just change nose pins. All my .30-30 rifles shoot the dimple point the best, and they do very well on deer. I’m loading with Reloader 7 at 1850 fps, and up to 2200 fps with IMR 3031. Really saw no advantage going to 2200 fps so settled at 1850 fps. I’m using an alloy that is 50/50 Coww/ pure, with enough tin added to match the antimony in the WW. My mould is for gas checked bullets. I make both copper and aluminum gas checks, but you can buy .30 cal gas checks from several sources on the net.
If you are going down the cast bullet rabbit hole, and ordering a mould from NOE, you might as well also order the 30LR expander plug and the tool for shaping your gas checks , to make them actually fit the bullet base when seated. Neither tool is expensive, but both will set you on the right path.
Scuba told you correctly about the .30 carbine cartridge. It is a very limited platform, for both options and performance, pretty limited options, but you can load for it with either cast or jacketed bullets.