Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Moment of Insanity: 30-30 Bolt Action Rifle

One of the biggest regrets I have had.....long ago, went in a gun store, one of those old traditional dark musty places.
I passed on a M54 Win in 30-30 with a Redfield receiver sight.
I think they were asking $250. Never liked that stamped trigger guard; and who needs a bolt action 30-30 anyway?
I hope whoever took it home had a lot of fun with it.
Hope this doesn't make me sound like a rube...I load 170 gr fn in my .308 Fw and load them to 2500fps. Fine whitetail load.
Bill

OK, I'm having a good laugh.

If I can get the COL thing worked out, I do have some 165 grain Accubonds. Those open reliably down to 1800 FPS, where most Sierra and Speer bullets need at least 2100 to open reliably.

Sighted for 150 yards, a 165 Accubond shoots flat enough and has enough velocity to reliably open at over 300 yards.

Wow!

If it turns out to be as good a shooter as some have said here, it has even more potential than I had supposed.

I have no idea where to get a scope mount for it, so will probably be using it with open sights. So that is going to limit it to maybe 200 yards anyway.

So why not use conventional 30-30 bullets?? Hmmmm....

BTW, I'm sure that it will almost entirely be a cast bullet target rifle, shooting pistol powder at 1500-1600 FPS. Cheap, fun, hard to beat in that category.

Denton, I loaded a Contender Carbine .30-30 with spitzers for awhile. The RNs work better. If it ain't broke there's no solution.

Weaver #1 side mount:
#1 Side Mount Base fits Anschutz 1568; Carcano Military Action; CIL 830 & 950, 950C; Cooey Model 71; Enfield P14/17 Receiver Cut like Remington 30; High Standard Mauser Action; Japanese Ariska 6.5mm & 7.7mm; Mauser Models ZB, HVA Husqvarna w/Receiver Ring 1.3" dia; Remington 7,30,700,40-X,600,660,721,722,700ML LA/SA; Savage 20,110,111,112,116,340,342,840,842; Schultz & Larson; Sear Models 51L, 53; S&W Mauser Actions; Springfield '03; Stevens 110E, 325, 322; Stevens-Springfield 840; Winchester 54,70 LA/SA, 670,770.

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=27347/Product/SIDE_MOUNT_1__RINGS___BASES [img]http://[/img]

That may very well be where I end up.

With a new toy, it's always a lot of fun to start sketching in the area where it's going to work well. The machine is designed for conventional 30-30 bullets, and getting out of that mold is probably going to be an uphill battle, without a lot of payout.

Still, you have to admit that being the only kid in town who can shoot Accubonds in his 30-30 does have a certain neatness factor attached to it.

BCP: Thanks very much!! If this thing turns out to be a good shooter, I could see a little lightweight 4x scope on it.

I just this summer put the side mount setup on my savage 340 .222 Remington. Interesting and totally incomprehensible fact that the scope does not sit over the centerline of the rifle but is a little overcenter, the Weaver website even warns you of this. Does no harm, still easily usable, but I cannot even guess why they designed it this way.

Dang D, if that is what you do in a moment of insanity I'd love to see what you score when you're lucid! That is an awesome find man!

I've been keeping my eyes out for one of these for quite a while. Cool as far as I'm concerned.

Nothing wrong with those "same old 30-30 bullets". They'll kill efficiently within 150 or 175 yards without a problem.

Nice score!

Mr. denton
I�ve always had a bit of a soft spot for �starter� rifles and the Savage 340 is one of those.

I�ve played with 2 over the years, one in .222 that shot well enough to kill a deer or three for a young friend and one belonging to a family member in .30-30.

If memory serves I loaded 130gr Speer HP, 150gr Cor-Lockt and 150gr. Hornady Spires for the .30-30 and as far as I know all three killed blacktails on Vancouver Island without complaint.

I�m sorry I can�t say which load shot best or what the velocities were, I do know I loaded IMR 3031 and kept the OAL within what the magazine allowed.

I cast a 170gr FP c/w a gas check that I shoot in an older 94 and I�d bet they would be fun to play with in a rifle such as your 340 too.

There was a neat article in a Gun Digest one year about a fellow that built a deer rifle for his mother by cutting down a 340 to fit her, installing a decent recoil pad and maybe even bedding it. Anyway the result was a pretty light deer rifle that ended up doing the job with aplomb for this fellow�s mom.

No surprise for those of us who've killed deer with the fine old round though.

Good luck with your new project and all the best in your upcoming hunts.

Regards,
Dwayne

Nothing wrong with bolt guns in 30-30. I once had a Remington model 788 in that chambering. It was nasty accurate with any reasonable load I put through it. I shot a lot of cast loads through it, also.

As for hunting loads,..try the Speer 130 grain flat point. Twist it's ear with some WW748.

You know for short range deer hunting, I kinda think a .30-30 might be the ultimate choice for doing an adequate job, without ruining much meat. Sorta like the .30-40 Krag, and .300 Savage.

Pretty darn easy to find ammo & brass, too.

The Mini Sharps in 30 WCF has yet to see a spitzer of any kind, probably keep it that way. It does shoot lead nicely.

Nice catch.

Denton,

Not familiar with that rifle, but have loaded 30 caliber 125 gr Nostler BTs for a friend shooting them out of a 14" Contender who has been very pleased with the results. He was not getting good expansion with the 150 gr factory offerings so tried those. Excellent expansion & good penetration at 30-30 velocities out of that Contender. He is still shooting white tails & eating sized feral pigs with that same load with good success.

A low recoil option that expands well if you're concerned about 150 gr offerings not expanding with the 30-30.

Good buy !!

My father has the same gun for 30 yrs everything anyone who uses it aims at seems to die!By the way it has a peep sight

Hey Denton! I'll show you mine if you show me yours.

Found my 340 cast bullet gun a few years ago. It hasn't had a jacketed bullet through it since the first weekend, when I fired a box of factory ammo to check it out. A 170 cast bullet at 2000 still shoots soft, the kids will love it and you may never need any fancy bullet loads for it. Besides, shooting cast has its own cachet these days. ANYBODY can shoot bullets they buy...

Killed my first few Tx Whitetails with an old 325 Stevens..the step-brother of the 340.Using 130 Speer FP's...it was a pretty fair deer dropper..need to drag it out of the safe and take it for a spin again..

Very true.

There was a time that I was most interested in creating the most effective large critter killing combinations. That does have its place.

But most of my shooting is at the range, quite often with my adult children and their children. Right now, my focus is on having the maximum fun for the minimum cost.

Denton, I had one of those 340s for a few years. started my son's deer hunting with it. It was extremely accurate with factory Remington 150gr stuff.

Also loaded 125gr Nosler B-tips and it did well with those. He killed a nice whitetail at about 200yds with that combination. Also very accurate.

But the surprise was when we loaded the 125gr Barnes X-bullet. Not quite as accurate as the B-tip and the round nose Remingtons, but excellent terminal performance at about 2450fps (IIRC the fps). I had confirmed with Barnes at the time that the X would reliably expand well below those velocities.

Trim the brass back to minimum for spireponts. The 30/30 being a low recoiling round, you don't need to crimp into a cannelure. Just seat the bullets to the needed clearance. The case mouth will be close enough to a fit that it should cycle reliably (ours did). With a small 4x scope and thusly loaded, it's a nice light packin' and light kickin' deer rifle for 250yds and under.

30 cases are clean and ready to form.

Cast bullets are on their way.

Reloading dies are on their way.

I found a stash of 123 grain .309" bullets for my SKS that might be fun to shoot. I've got a couple of other things on the shelf that should be fun as well.

Hope I can get all the pieces together while the nice weather holds. And I very much hope it turns out to be as good a shooter as the posters here have indicated.

They say you ought to spend as much on your scope as you do on your rifle. Well, that Weaver mount and and a Master Series scope are sure enough going to meet that criterion.

nope...it's the bucks.

here's your sign.

I haven't shot a jcketed bullet in a 30-30 in so many years that I forget just when the last time was.
With that said, I've taken 15 deer with the Lyman #311291 cast bullet and either 30.0 gr. of IMR 3031 or 30.0 gr. of W-748.
The last two der taken of my 17 total with cast bullets used the RCBS #30-180-FN which casts a 190 gr. bullet in my allow. With 28.0 gr. of W-748, velocity is 1950 FPS which duplicates the old .303 Savage with the same weight bullet. The two deer shot with that bulelt were literally DRT.
The one bullet that I always thought would be fantastic in the 30-30, .308 Win. and 30-06 was the Lyman #31141, or to use the modern number, 311041. For some reason, and I've tried two Lyman molds and an NEI clone, that bullet has never shot worth a damn in any .30 caliber rifle I've tried it in. Heavy loads, light loads, various diameters, none seem to work. I swear, that bullet is driving me sane. Maybe I ought to slaughter a lamb and sprinkle it's blood over that mold at midnight and see if that helps. Sure couldn't hurt. (Yeah I know blood will rust it badly.) I figure the problem is it does not have a bore riding nose but I'll keep on trying although I hate frustration.
Probably my best shooting 30-30 is an old Winchester m54 I picked up at a gun show many years ago. The checkering is about all worn down, the stock needs to be refinished and there's damn little bluing left on the meatal but the bore is as shiny as a brand new dime an when I do my part, it lays those bullets into nice tight groups. I havegiven though to having it restored, but like Murphy says, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." It ain't broke, nuff said? I have a couple of M64s in 30-30 as well, one a good shooter and the other? Well to be kind, it goes bang when you pull the trigger. Only one 94 left and one Marlin 336 with the straight stock like the "Texan" model. They all shoot better than I can with my cast bullets so I'm happy.
Paul B.