Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Savage 340 in 30-30

Yes it would, but I was comparing apples to apples, i.e. a 340 in 30-30 to a 94 in 30-30.

I have had as much or more fun working with some cheap clunkers than with some pretty well-built custom target and hunting rifles. When I shoot a 3/4 in. group with my Model 70, that's fairly gratifying. When I do the same thing with an old P14, it's even more so. The Savage 340 is a perfect fun gun. GD

I shot my first deer with my great grandfather's M94 30-30 at age 11. I this it made my dad somewhat angry as I didn't get to go hunting again until age 16. By that time I had a part time job and bought my own M94, a Lyman tong tool A pot I could use on the stove and ladle. Bullet mold was the Lyman #311291. (Lee did not exist in 1954.) A lot of trial and error before I found a load that would kill deer. I used that same bullet in a 1917 and it shot well in it as well. Don't remember much about the 30-30 load other than it was Du Pont's version of IMR3031 and I'm guessing the velocity was about 1800 to 1900 FPS. That load did do a number on deer though.
I haven't had a chance to shoot anything since April of last year due to my wife's stroke but when I was shooting the 30-30 and cast were my choice in a "fun gun".

I still have that old 1911 M94 that was Great granddad's but it's been relatively retired. Bore is dark and a bit rough, trigger pull is outrageously tough so on the rare time is went out was more to let it know I knew it was still alive. Got a smoking deal on a 1981 issue 94 and use it for some shooting. Popping off called coyotes with it too. For 30-30 rifles I have the two 94's, two M64's and an M54. The 54 was my "burrito shoot" rifle, ten shots at 24 yards shooting offhand. Iron sights and cast bullets only. Other shooters were using 308's, 06's whatever. Winner got to choose which Mexican eatery we would go for lunch. Lowest scoring shooter paid. That M54 got me an awful lot of free lunches.

Just my not too humble opinion but I think the 30-30 is a winner with cast bullets. My bullet of choice is the Lyman #311291. I believe the Lee mold mentioned earlier is a fairly close copy with a slightly flatter nose. Another popular bullet is Lyman's #31141 now called #311041. Great looking bullet for the 30-30 and looks as if it would be a great deer bullet. Only problem I've has has been is that not one of my rifles in 30 caliber will shoot it worth a damn. Others have reported great result with is so maybe it's just my guns. All I can add to that is I have two #31141 molds and a clone by NEI and none shoot accurately in my rifles. I have found that bullets sized to .310" work just fine even in a Marlin 336 with Microgroove rifling. Sized to .309" in the Marlin and groups went all to hell with lots of leading.

My alloy is ten pounds of cleaned wheel weights with one pound of linotype added. Works great at 30-30 speeds for hunting. Add a third cup of chilled small size bird shot and water drop the bullets and they'll over about a week's time get harder than an IRS auditor's heart.

The only thing I can add is prior to my wife's illness, I usually hit the range at least twice a week and I'd guess that for every jackets bullet I shot some 50 to 100 rounds were shot with cast.

Paul B.

Well thanks to all this conversation about 30-30 bolt rifles I now own a Springfield 840. I was shopping one of my local stores and spotted it on the shelf. They had $250 on it so I figure what the heck and offered half that. Well $125 and tax later i'm out the door with it. The stock has no cracks and very little finish and the trigger and bolt appear to have been subject to 30+ years of WD-40 but the bore looks good and everything works. Hopefully it will clean up to be a fun little shooter. It had the base half of a Weaver side mount installed, so I bought the top half with the rings from ebay and it should be here in a few days. Should be a neat little gun.

Weagle, that's a steal!

I picked up 322 in 22 Hornet a few years ago because the trigger was all gummed up. Got it for half the asking price cuz the trigger didn't work. A good cleaning and I was in business.

http://leeroysramblings.com/Gun%20Articles/stevens_325_savage_340_bolt_act.html

Leeroy R Wisner's emails were helpful. That guy is sharp, and he is 80!
I bought some of his stuff from his son at a gun show when he retired and sold his gun parts manufacturing biz.
I bought one of his books off amazon.
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006FC818/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I got a Savage 340B for $119 at a pawn shop 10 months ago.
My Springfield 840 I got for $75 at a gun show 12 years ago.

I have not shot either one, but I have a 25-35 reamer, and plan like Z1r to convert.

I could not find a Savage barrel nut wrench of that small size.
Leeroy said to pinch it in the vise with pin gauges in the grooves.

Update:

I went to the LGS on Sunday and picked up the 340. It was pretty much as advertised. There are some dings in the stock and a little surface rust on the barrel. I got it home, stripped it down and gave it a good deep cleaning in preparation for a Dyna Bore Coat treatment. It had an expected amount of crud in the trigger group. The rust on the barrel came off with some PB Blaster and a copper scrubber. The trigger improved dramatically after a good soaking in brake cleaner, PB Blaster and some cycling. My guess is that somebody had lacquered it up good with WD-40. The bolt got a similar soaking. After cleaning, I looked down the bore, and couldn't find any major problems.

All in all, it appears to be a good find for under $200.

BTW: Hint to the wise, do not wrap a rifle in saran wrap before shipping. Yikes!

Excellent find indeed, even considering the archaeological cleanup it needed.

Back in the day, the 340 and its brothers-by-another-number got a black eye for two reasons: First, they had that single lug forward (not counting the bolt root) for locking, whereas "everyone knew" that REAL boltguns had two locking lugs up front. Second, Americans being Americans, cases that were loaded hotter than they should have been would stretch in the slightly springy action and case life was shortened due to repetitive full length resizing. Folks in the know in north central PA in the 1950s and 1960s and even up to the present either stuck with factory RN loads or mild reloads including cast, and didn't overwork the action or the cases. The 340s (& Co.) with which I've been familiar were all better than good performers on deer out to 150 yds, which is a LOOONNNGG shot in PA Wilds woods. At typical distances of 40 to 75 yds, the little Savages did for deer just fine. It's why so many of them stayed in families until inherited by a non-hunting generation, and why those that end up being turned loose don't stay long on funshop shelves in north central PA.

As for loads, my most successful Savage 340 load was 150 gr jacketed flat point (#2000 IIRC) over 32 gr of W748. Over my trusty old Oehler 33 it gave right around 2000 FPS and was VERY effective on whitetail. A plinking and surprisingly effective coyote load is a 170-180 gr RNGC over 10 grains of Unique, yielding around 1550 FPS in my gun. I use Moyer Cast Bullets 173 gr FP and 180 gr semi-pointed gas checked bullets pretty much interchangeably in the little Savage, but the 173s are mostly dedicated to the tube-fed 30-30s. ORH accuracy at 50 yds, and nickel-quarter groups at 100 yds using a 4x Lyman All-American with post and crosshair on a (what else?) Weaver side mount.

Best of luck with the new project!

Noah

Clark: That was a great site. Thanks!

OkieJohn: I read PetLoads this AM. Good stuff. Thanks a bunch for the suggestion.

shaman, Great find. A buddy has had one for years just sitting in his safe. Now he also wants to restore it and give it to his grandson. Can you tell me the type of side mount for scope use you have? Thanks.

B-Square.

Excellent! Thanks.

I already have a Savage 325 in .223 REM-- same kinda deal. I'll tell you that if you use JB Weld and epoxy the mount, it's pretty darn solid. I've never had mine wander. It does not take all that much heat to release it if you ever have to do so.

I load mine with 29gr IMR 30-31 under 165gr BT Sitzers. I get nearly 2,000 FPS with no sticky bolt or other signs of high pressure. You need to seat the bullets deep to fit the magazine box, which was designed for stubby FN and RN bullets.

Pretty sure his is an 325[30-30]. I'll ask about being drilled and tapped. If not, the JB weld idea sounds good. Thanks again.

Oh, I'm talking about the epoxy on top of the D&T. I wouldn't just epoxy a scope mount to a receiver.

LOL! I was wondering there.

Geez, I would hope not. That's what duct tape is for...

. . . and pipe clamps! You forgot the pipe clamps!

Yep. Got me there. Who the heck knows what I was thinking of? Mind wondering again.


Pipe clamps, huh?