Home Forums Lever Action Central Lever Actions - General 7x30 Waters Model 94

I just acquired a 7x30 Waters with a grand total of 4 rounds of ammo,some empty brass and 7x30 dies. I have been looking for 7mm flat nosed bullets to reload, but to no avail. None of the major bullet manufacturers make them and I have had no luck looking on-line with the major suppliers. I did find some factory ammo on-line and will use that as a last resort. It has been suggested that I file off round nose and semi-spitzers bullets to use in the tubular magazine. It has also been suggested that I can use cast flat nose bullets, but I have zero experience with them. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks in advance, Porsche 73

I have the same rifle and I use mine as a two shot rifle -- one in the chamber and one in the magazine -- you can use any bullet that way ---

Gene

Keep your eye out for the bullets, they pop up from time to time. I love my 7-30 model 94.

This^^^^

That was always my plan until Leverevolution ammo came out and I got lazy and stuck with 30-30.

There is a guy named Jack over on Marlinowners that is tooling up to make bullets suitable for your waters. It is a great cartridge.

That's excellent news! I have a small collection of bullets and some factory ammo, but I don't shoot the rifle much since components are hard to come by.

Hawk lists a 7mm 140 gr flat point that could be used in place of the discontinued 139 gr Hornady FP.

Wouldn't any plastic tipped 7mm bullet work, same thing as Hornady FTX? Just a suggestion.

I wouldn't think so. The hornady stuff has 'gummy' tips unlike normal tipped ammo.

Has anybody ever documented a tubular magazine detonation caused by pointy bullets?

I found a 7-30 on Gun Broker. It was a local sale so I went to inspect it before I bid on it. So I knew what I was bidding on. Someone else had flat nose bullets for sale on Gun Broker but the sale was ending a half hour before the gun was over. I got the bullets as I figured if I didn't get the gun I could always sell the bullets later. You need to watch for the bullets and hopefully you will find them. I am surprise that when Sierra makes bullets for Federal they don't sell some. Maybe they have an agreement with Federal. Good luck finding some. I know it is not easy.

No, and in fact, I believe that myth has been debunked several times (though few pay any attention).

The Hornady 139 InterLock "SpirePoint" has a fairly flat nose. Ditto the Speer GrandSlam 145, Woodleigh WeldCore 140, and Swift A-Frame 140.

The Sierra GameKing 140 HP has a fairly broad meplat for that HP.

I have read that the reason the Army at the time turned down the Marlin in 45-70 ( want to say the Marlin 1883) was because of tube magazine detonations.

Dave Scovill did an article some years ago showing that some calibers were less susceptible to detonation do to the way the round sat in the tube.

The Army stuck with the Trapdoor because the head of Army supply and logistics was worried about soldiers "wasting ammunition". Also, if there were detonations (and there may have been), primers then were WAY different than they are now.

Marlin made a lever gun or two with a spiral tube for the 250-3000 that mis-aligned the primers and tips.

Yes I know about the wasting ammo reason. The same reason for the burst mode on the M-16 in these times. However, they did test the Marlin and claimed to have had detonations at the time.

Just an FYI, Federal's 7-30 Waters shoot 1.5" groups from my contender pistol, a bit speedy when u find them though.