Home Forums Lever Action Central Lever Actions - General Favorite 30-30 Deer Bullet

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.

Whichever bullet shoots best from the 30-30 (or 303 Savage) gun I'm using. Hornady and Speer would be my first choices, but Sierra or others are fine if the gun likes them. 150gr or 170gr are the normal choices with 150gr as preferred for whitetails.

The fun thing about 30-30 class guns is you can work up a bunch of loads and shoot them all day long and never be sore.

My dad's 1954 Marlin, the thing shoots most factory ammo into 3/4" groups. Never found a handload that does quite so well, but it shoots Hornady 170gr into 1.25" which is perfectly good for hunting.

Good grief, Rory- a rifle with a tube AND a hammer! Quick give this man a beer to wake him up!

It was my dad's.. I'll take the beer, but don't panic. It's the only one in the safe.

170 gr Nosler Partitions and RL-15, have a modern 26" octagon barreled 30-30 Winchester that fires these to 2400 fps, you guys wouldn't believe what they will penetrate through, nice accuracy from the Lyman receiver peep to boot.

The .30-30 has surprised me more than once.

I can believe what that bullet will do at 2400 fps. A .308 with the 170 Partition at 2500 fps is a penetrating, animal-killing, woods-hunting monster.

I'd gladly hunt timber elk with it Vic, or the biggest black bear that ever scratched his butt on a tree trunk.

I like the lever what ever Hornady 160. I have yet to hit a deer with one but outta a 300 savage it done real well on elk at 350 yards plus. I love the 30 30.

Vic,

I won't ever question you experience but do you really think a Nosler Partition is needed in the eastern deer woods? I am primarily referring to woods hunting at woods ranges and not open field shooting.

Doc

No, not at .30-30 velocities.

It's more a matter of an accurate bullet in a particular rifle, but if used in a .308, then it would become more relevant as you get close to 2500 or so fps.

Any of the .30-30-specific bullets are well designed for the velocity for which they are intended. Out of my M94, I get lower 2100s, so accuracy is the deciding factor.

Hornady 170 fp is the winner there.

My M94AE likes the Sierra 170 flatnose. In factory ammo, the Winchester 170 gr is the rifle's choice. Have not shot any critter with either one.

I shot a couple deer in 2015 with a 125 gr Nos Bal tip downloaded to 30-30 velocities.

That is a plastic tip. It should work in a tube.

Any of the 170 soft points work well

170 grain Rem, but as Strider says all 170 grain bullets work well.

For flat/round nosed bullets, the Barnes 150gr 30-30.....it may be the only Barnes I am enamored with. No, it's not 'needed' in the 30-30, but it is anecdotally more emphatic for bang flops from the 30-30....and I load it in my kid's 308, and it's nice, also. I like the FTX, but have seen expansion issues on occasion. 130 speers ain't bad, either.

My favorite bullet is no longer being made....the 170 gain Winchester silvertip (old style). Shot extremely well out of my M94 with a charge of IMR3031.
Most of the game I've taken with the .30/30 has been with 170 grain Hornady interlocks; the Sierra and Speer 170 grain FP bullets shoot well, too, but I just haven't had much opportunity to use them on game.

Dare I mention a 30-30 Savage 340 BOLT on this thread?

Mine likes the Sierra 125's. Deer Devastatingly downright deadly!