Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters A real writing on the 30-30

I've never heard what a "strong action" .30-30 could do. The only factory rifles I can think of in that category would be the Winchester Model 54's and the Ruger #1. The Winchesters are collectible and 80 years old, and the Rugers were limited production and have been unusually hard to obtain, unless you pay a premium for them. I do know where there's a custom High Wall in .30-30 Ackley, but the receiver's rusty and they want far too much for it. The current Miroku Browning/Winchester Low Walls could be rebored to .30-30 and make a neat rifle, but again not a cheap proposition.

I'd probably jump on a Ruger if one became available at a good price, but I have a ton of bigger .30's, and I don't really see the point of turning a .30-30 into a .300 Savage...when I already have four .300 Savages

I think it was Ken Waters years ago who wrote of the .30-30 as not a "super-anything" but an useful round in the light, handy, Win & Marlin carbines, which is why millions were sold over the decades. If I ran across an interesting .30-30, I'd surely hunt with it, but it would be at moderate ranges or less. I have a Contender carbine and took a doe with it a few years ago - it's quite accurate, but a little fussy to work, and not easily fixed.

The Marlins of the 1950's, the Savage 1899's, and of course the early M94's all have a nice character about them. But I would stick to moderate loads, with any of them. Maybe 125 or 130's in the 1899, for a bit more speed.

The Remington 788 is probably tied with the Winchester 54 and Ruger #1 as the strongest factory built 30-30s.

Marlin 336s are pretty strong actions, but the weak link in the 30-30 chain is probably the thin brass. Regan Nonneman rechambers them from 30-30 to 307 and from 35 Rem to 356, so there doesn't appear to be a strength issue with the Marlins.

If you haven't read it, JO'C wrote a nice chapter on the 30-30 in his book, "The Hunting Rifle".

Hah!!! Blam blam Sam!!!

What a great cartridge used in some great rifles.
It's days are numbered, however, replaced by ARs in 6.8 SPC.

I don't think there is really a need to hot-rod the .30-30 with both the .300 Savage and .308 Winchester available.

I have always liked taking a Winchester 94 along on casual outings. I have owned them in .25-35, .30-30 and .32 Special. If I ever decide to latch onto another one, it will probably be a .30-30. The other two cartridges are hard to find and not a lot of fun to reload. There just aren't a lot of bullet choices out there that will work in 94s.

I am playing around now with a Marlin 336 in .35 Remington, and remembering all of the above. I haven't run across any factory loads and even brass is hard to come by. My idea was to load it with new factory brass and good 220-grain bullets and kill an elk with it...just because. Now, I am seriously thinking about selling it and moving on.

I know one thing, though: the .30-30 as a factory cartridge offering is going to outlive me!

Hot rod? With the exception of a few boxes for practice and hunting in the fall I rarely load full snort .30-30's, but I do shoot sacks full of low velocity cartridges every year. If I had a nickel for every 150 grain plain based cast bullet driven by 6 grains of Red Dot/Clays/Bullseye out of a .30-30 I could buy this website!

Lots of 180's and 190's with 16 grains 4759, 1500-ish fps, too. If that performance was gotten out of a .357 handgun the owner would be strutting around bragging about his killing machine. Years ago I whacked a bunch of deer with that load, it ain't as much of a slouch as you might think.

Therein lies the true beauty of the .30-30- its versatility and willingness to do anything asked of it. Kind of like an old Labrador.

Long range slayer of huge magnificent beasts? Oh hell no. Ideal for the tinkerer and eastern deer hunter? Oh hell yes!

I don't know how strong the action is, but the Savage 340 .30/30 I had was the most accurate .30/30 I ever shot.

Even with the old Weaver 4x on it

John Wooters used to run hot .30/30s out of a TCR single-shot at kinda-sorta .300 Savage levels. Best as I recall, he didn't publish his loads for fear someone would try them in a weaker rifle.

I figure the .30 WCF is fine as it is and plenty of rifle for woods use, just not something with much loony potential. A falling block single shot chambered for it would be nice for targets and woods walking, but the few Ruger and Browning turned out aren't likely to show up in my LGS anytime soon, unfortunately.

A common sentiment re: 340's. Mine was very accurate also, if more than a bit homely. I consider them with their single locking lug to be on par with M94's strength-wise. What gave me pause was it appeared to be ill suited to handle escaping gas in the event of a case failure. It could've been an unfounded fear, who knows? It had huge sentimental value (Pop's gun), so instead of selling it I gave it to a nephew who hasn't fired it since I gave it to him eight years ago, and probably won't fire it during the next eight years, or ever. (His shooting iron of choice these days: an F/A-18 Hornet.)

I think most folks would enjoy a 30-30 more if they shot cast from it.

I haven't shot jacketed bullets from my 30-30 in years.

+1 on the cast:



Blue Dot works well too.

Here's some 30-30 writing I'll bet you haven't seen:

http://www.leverguns.com/articles/paco/3030varmint.htm

My Marlin .30-30 and .35 Rem are by far my favorite guns to shoot and hunt with. I like to get up close to my intended target.

Yes indeed! One of the most fun load I've shot is 10 grains of Unique with Lyman's 311466 (150 grs.) and it puts all shots under 1" at 50 yards from my 336A. My deer load is RCBS 30-180 FN and 35 grs of H-414 (1970 fps) which cluster 2.3 MOA for 18 groups. But, we've all heard that Micro Groove barrels won't shoot cast.

I've been saying that for years, but it would seem nobody but we few cares. I have .30 caliber tubes that have never seen a jacketed bullet, and never will.

As my late friend Joe Harz would say, "You can lead a man to reason but you cannot make him think."

The 30-30 loaded with a max load of LeverEvolution powder and a 170 grain Sierra FN is a fairly speedy round out of my 30-30 H&R Single Shot with a low Hodgdon published pressure to boot.

With several deer taken with this load, it is my favorite woods type deer round.

My opinion is the .30-30 is an excellent cast bullet chunker!

Anything worth doing with a .30-30 is likely worth doing twice.

I believe there is always room for an article on the .30-30. It is a versatile cartridge which allows the handloader to develop basic skills which cross to loading and shooting any cartridge.



I have the Fadadla book and while it gives good basic coverage on the .30-30 the discussion of using spitzer bullets in tubular magazines is a distraction today. The new Hornady FTX bullets eliminate the need for this – IF the FTX bullet will shoot in your rifle. The FTX bullet will give a few accuracy problems in some rifles.

The Fadala book is not a useful tool for the new user of the .30-30 Ackley Improved.



Fadala could have Improved his book with a more detailed discussion of loading the .30-30 cartridge. A discussion of some common loading difficulties such as: crimping the case mouth while seating bullets on compressed loads. The various types of crimp available to the handloader. Thinning of the case mouth with repeated loading. Cracked and broken cases along with their removal. The use of short bullets (short COL) such as the Sierra 125-grain JHP and possible feeding issues.

A chapter on sights with a discussion of open sights and adjusting the steps on the open sight ladder. Various types of receiver sights and their adjustment. Front sights could provide enough material for a chapter by themselves.

A chapter on targets is appropriate to the discussion of iron sight shooting. Simple math formulas and or a chart for the amount of target covered by the front sight at various ranges would be valuable. Discussing the difference in sighting your rifle for the bullet to hit at the top of the bead or to strike the center of the bead is important to the iron sight hunter. I believe it has been quite a while since I have seen a useful article on the use of iron sights in a magazine.



When it comes to articles on the .30-30 few are as interesting as the Phil Sharpe article: “That ‘Ol Thutty Thutty” from the March 1952 American rifleman. You can shoot a .30-30 for many years and still have new things to try.



When it comes to the .30-30AI Sam could not run the risk of an open discussion of high pressure loads for the Improved cartridge.

Ackley was clear in his writing the Improved cartridge operate at higher pressures.

I have read several articles in the last over the years on the .30-30AI. Robert Hutton, H.V. Stent Ward etc. I believe the definitive article on the cartridge waits to be written. An author contemplating writing an in-depth article on the .30-30AI would be well served to read Robert Hutton’s article from the May 1961 issue of Guns and Ammo. While not as in depth as the handloader would like it answers many questions.