Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 30-30 Bolt Action

Need loads for spitzer bullets. My Wife got me a Savage 30-30 bolt action for Christmas, and brass. I have bullets and wide range of powder, just need loads. Thinking bullets around 150 grains and down would do well. Any thoughts and/or loads?

I use Hornady 130 gr spitzers (not the single shot pistol bullet), 125 gr Sierra or Corelokt bullets. The problem with the Savage 340 series is that the magazine restricts cartridge overall length, and that can get to be a problem with 150 gr bullets being seated awfully deep. I found good luck with H-335 and IMR-4064. W-748 would also work. Most of the reloading manuals have loads listed for the 125-130 gr flatpoint range, and I sued those loadsto start with. I am at work and do not have my load data with me.

For accuracy in the lever actions.. I have found a sedate load of 18 to 20 grains of SR 4759 and a 150 grain bullet does wonders for accuracy...velocity is far from max.. but accuracy is stellar...

I prefer accuracy to velocity any day...

Spitzers sound great in a bolt 30-30, but if you try to use them for hunting they might not expand well at 30-30 velocities. Having said that, it might be interesting to try a 168 Sierra MK. I had a 340, and it shot better groups with FN bullets than any of my lever guns. It was my first "real" CF rifle. Right now I have a 788 but I haven't even shot it yet! The 340 might shoot cast bullets very well.

I shot 125 Nosler Ballistics in a Remington 788. They shot really well. The bullets had to be seated very deep to fit the magazine. Keep in mind that these lighter bullets are considered varmint bullets by most folks, but at .30-30 velocity the really do act like deer bullets.

Never killed a deer with them though. The gun was a loaner for the kids I take hunting and we didn't have any luck that year. I got rid of it because I didn't want to chop the stock on a desirable rifle and one of the kids almost lost the magazine which was hard to replace. I currently use a .30-30 Ackley barrel on my Contender with a 150 Corelokt bullet at Ackley speed.

Leon

Hornady says their rubber tipped lever relolution bullets will be availible this year as componets.

http://www.hornady.com/story.php?s=789

30.3 grains of IMR 3031 under a 150 grain Sierra flat base used to shoot exceptionally well in my mom's and my grandma's Savage 340s (not sure W.T.F. dad was thinking giving them rifles for Valentine's day, but I guess he lived through it ...) but expansion was limited at best.

Mom and grandma are both ... "gone" (sniff) ... along with grandma's rifle. Mom's rifle has been retired for a dozen years. I don't see dad ever doing anything with it. If/when I decide to drag it out, I'm going to use 150 grain flat points or the 125 grain ballistic tip in it.

Tom

Even the bolt guns are designed to use factory ammo, including their magazine length.

When you really think about it, pointy bullets aren't going to do much for the 30-30. It is going to be velocity limited by both case volume and case strength no matter what you use as "corks." So you have a 200-yard gun at maximum, based on impact speed and energy. Run through a few ballistic tables comparing the BC of regular flat-nose bullets versus even the most pointy ones and you quickly discover there's hardly a finger or two's difference in drop or wind deflection at 200 yards.

My own Savage 340 is a dedicated cast-bullet gun. I don't intend to use it for anything but "off time" at the range or casual field walks for use against offending rocks. But if I did decide to stoke it with jacketed bullets for deer, they'd be bullets designed for the 30-30 -- and that means flat or round noses.

Rocky,

I don't have a Savage 340 anymore.. but I did play with reloader 7 with it in that case.... with 110 grain bullets it would chronograph at 3000 fps using older reload data...

using 125 grain bullets, I was chronographing about 2650 to 2700 fps...it was surprisingly flat shooting, as was the 110 grain HP and SP loads... and with antelope or blacktail sized game they were more than effective...

with that MV the 125 ballistic tips made on heck of a competent deer load...easily out to 250 yds...

I myself would LOVE to have a vintage Win 54 in 30/30...

Wow. That's certainly hauling the mail.

I'll modify my comments to say that with standard bullet weights, pointy bullets in the 30-30 are little if any better than blunt ones.

Lightweight bullets may well be a different story.

(My own Model 54 dream revolves around the Hornet my Dad bought - and sold. sniffle, sniffle, sigh...)

Rocky,

I can get excited about anything in a Model 54 that is chambered in something exotic or different than today's standards..

I just like "old rifles" in good shape...particularly a Model 54...

Yeah in my perfect little mental world, I can picture me out hunting with a Model 54 chambered in something like a 257 Roberts or 250 Savage, and loading up the huge buck I just took in the box of my Restored 1948 to 1954 Green Chevy 3100 Pickup....

My mind does lean toward the Nostalgic side of life as a preference...