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What's your favorite handloading bullet for deer and hog-sized game with a tube magazine? Assuming the accuracy is there, do you like the light(125), medium(150) or heavier for performance on game at ranges under 150 yds?
I figured this forum would get more responses than the reloading forum for this particular question.

I use the sierra 170gr fn. It is the most accurate out of my rifle.

I prefer the Sierra 170 grain FN as well. On the whole, I prefer the 170 grain over the 150, but admittedly, all my experience with the 30-30 on game has been with the 170's.

One bullet that I always wanted to try was the 130 grain Speer FN. I've read good things, just never got around to trying any.

I have a few "favorites".

Hornady 170 gr
Remington 170 gr
Lyman 31141 173 gr
Speer 130 gr FN



Taken with a Speer 130 gr FN over 36 gr W748. I have not tried this bullet in my Winchester 94's or 64. The Marlin shoots it rather well.

WW, Have a .30-30 like the one you pictured.. Great little rifle.. I have shot some 130 Speers, 125 Sierra's, 170 gr. Horn. But my favorite hunting load is WW 150 gr. Silvertip..
I also used some WW 150 Hollow Points.. They are very destructive...

Great looking rifle, Woods Walker! So the 130 grain Speer FN is a good performer for you?

Thanks!

As far as being an accurate bullet out of that Marlin...absolutely.

As far as performance goes, that Doe is a sample of one, she was feeding on acorns in the middle of a flock of Turkeys on the top of a ridge. It was such a beautiful sight that I just stood there and watched and as time passed the right shot presented itself. A short shot of 40 yards or so, about a 20/30 yard death run off the backside of the ridge. Complete penetration.

My interest in the bullet was peaked when I read about the excellent results that Jim Taylor wrote about on Paco Kelly's leverguns.com forum years ago and decided to give them a try.

Up until then I had only considered the 170 gr bullets and had no reason to seek something better until Mr. Taylor's writings got me to thinking. He wrote about his excellent results and that sparked my interest.

I thought I would use the Speer 130's much more but I have "burdened" myself with too many guns and the reality of not enough time.

My M94 Winchester has a decided preference for the Hornady 170 fp and IMR3031

Having plenty of rifles is a good problem to have.

I have used a bunch of IMR 3031 in the 30-30 and 45-70 and find it is one of my preferred powders for those cartridges.

I would like to try Varget in the 30wcf but have not got around to it.

I have a Marlin 336-A in 30-30 with two loads developed so far, the Hornady 160 gr FTX and the Remington 170 gr core-lokt round nose along with 170 gr core-Lokts hollow points. Both loads are with Hodgdon LVR powder.

I have a box of Speer 130 gr flat points along with Sierra 125 gr HP I intend to develop loads for a Glenfield model 30 once spring gets here.

There are so many powders that work well in the 30-30 with some rifles preferring one powder over another with-in the same burn rate. I have used BLC, R-15, H-4895, H-335, LVR, 3031 and a pound of CFE223 waiting it's turn.

Doc

Anybody ever try the 170 RN partitions in their 30-30? I have always shot 170 speer hot cores and they shoot good out of my marlin. I have always thought about trying the noslers for deer hunting or maybe shooting an elk some day sneaking around in the timber with my 30-30!

The noslers shoot very well in my marlin with the max charge of Varget listed in their data. Kills deer well too.

I lean towards heavier bullets for deer with the .30-30. No good reason really, other than I like them.

I'll hazard a guess that probably more attention has been given to .30-30 bullet development over the course of the last century than most any other. Stands to reason- the last thing a bullet/ammo company wants is word getting around that their .30-30 ammo sucks. Pick one that suits your fancy.

Not really relevant to this discussion, but my personal all-time favorite is a cast bullet- 190gr. flat nosed, cast soft (bhn 10 or so), gas checked, and driven by 28 grains 3031. It is universally very accurate in every .30-30 (and .303 Savage) rifle I've subjected it to- so much so that I largely have quit experimenting along those lines- and it knocks deer for a loop.

My favorite at this point is factory 170 gr. Winchester PP's. I've heard good reports of the Rem. HP Core-Lokt, but haven't tried them.

I really like the Sierra 170 FP, followed closely by the Sierra 150. Killed a lot of deer with them, and no complaints from me.

150 grain PowerPoint HPs or 170 grain CoreLokt HPs, if we're talking factory fodder. Barnes 150 grain TSX HP if we're talking reloads.

All this confirms my statement that they're all good. Everybody has favorites that span the whole spectrum which tells me there aren't many (if any) bad bullets intended for the .30-30 out there.

Now if there were a bunch of guys crying about "XYZ" bullet being woefully inaccurate in every gun they tried them in and which didn't kill deer to save their butt, I would amend my theory...

170 gr. Winchester Power Point .

You're absolutely correct when you mentioned the bullet development for the .30-30, how it can be optimized better due to the fact that it's not going to be potentially fired from anything from a .300 Savage to a .300 RUM. It's construction can be centered around being fired at approximately 2050 to 2300 or so fps, depending on weight, and landing in meat within 100 yards. Not to much happens to a .30-30 bullet outside of those parameters.

The result is very predicable and desirable terminal behavior.

It boils down to which one your gun shoots best. I've tried 130 to 170 grain bullets, and my rifle, in general, has a preference for the 170 grain, the Hornady in particular.