Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Loading for the 30-30?

Not really looking for loads exactly, rather your experiences with components! And specifically for tubular magazine lever actions.

How would you compare the brass from; Federal, Hornady, Remington, and Winchester. I'm thinking on Hornady even though it's twice as much.

On bullets, not that I have any real experiences with them, but I just don't care for Hornady's flex-tip bullets. Thinking on using Hornady's 170gr. flat points, and giving a try to Sierra's 150 and 170gr. Pro-hunter flat points.

Thinking on getting started by buying some Hornady 170gr. flat point ammo and then reloading some various bullets.

Really open to some suggestions.

Phil

i dont no if this helps but i load imr 4198 with a 125gr sierra and in my 94 i load imr 4198 with 110gr roundnose hornady i load the sierras in a 340 savage bolt gun

170 partition
Rl-15
cci-250
R-P nickel cases
very accurate w/a lyman peep, the nickel brass doesnt stretch at all in my rifle.
neck size enough for a mild crush fit on closing, on the 4th time loading these cases w/ no ill effects so far.
Gunner

I have killed several types of big game with std 170 gr flat points, Can't see why folks reccomend the partitions.The 30-30 sure isn't going fast enough to make bullets come apart and you get about the same penetraion with std C&C bullets.But if you like to pay double for your bullets,have at it.

I have found my accuracy loads with IMR3031 powder, and have used Winchester,Federal, and Remington cases,seeing no difference.( I do separate by MFGR)

Just make sure you trim them all to the same length or you will be chasing the crimp cannelure

Loaded a gob of .30-30s...

Win 748 is an excellent low pressure powder in them. Ive never noticed a whit of difference in brass. My fave boolit is a 170 Gr. Win. Silvertip, but since those are no longer made for the reloader, I used to shoot Hornadys exclusively and was always happy with their accuracy and performance on game...

Ingwe

My M 94 in 30 WCF and I have always been fans of RL15.

RP brass has served us fine.

Pretty much my experience with this round, and my rifle absolutely loves the Hornady 170 FP. Shoots good with other bullets, but the Hornady flat point is clearly the one it favors.

saddlesore,
my rifle fires the partition w/ more accuracy than any other slug Ive tried,
plus I may have to bust a big fuggin hog in the tailpipe and I know first hand the NP wont let me down, I like 2 bleeder holes.
Gunner

150 and 170 Lee gas checked lead bullets work great, I've switched to a Ranch Dog tumble lubed gas check mold that throws 6 at a time. No need for jacketed bullets, 2100 fps full power gas checked loads work as it was designed for. Range brass is plentiful, why buy new?

Greyghost;
Hornady 170 FN, 33.0-34.0 RL#15 and win. cases works REAL well in my Mod 94AE. Worth a try.
PM sent on factory stuff.
Tom

I like EL 7 and H 322 with a 150 grain Speer Flat Nose....

anything between 1800 to 2400 fps work just peachy keene!

Three years ago, I bought some Rem 30-30 brass to load up for my son for his birthday. I wasn't able to seat a primer in any of the cases. So, I bought the primer pocket reamer sold by Sinclair. Reaming the pockets worked, so I could seat primers.
I'm loading the same load for him, and for my 30-30. The most accurate bullet I've found is Nosler's 170 gn Partition, after trying all other 170 gn bullets. I never was able to get any 150 gn bullets to shoot, so I only load the 170's now. IMR-4895, with Fed 210 primers works in both rifles is the recipe.

My only .30-30 is a Savage 340 bolt gun, and I load nothing but cast bullets for it. But as this is a general question, here are my thoughts:

I'd create two or possibly three classes of loads. I'd want a fun/plinker load, an off-season varmint load, and a big game load.

For the fun load, noting I've ever tried beats the Speer (or Hornady) 100-grain half-jacket Plinker bullet over 10.0 Unique. If you let kids shoot this, you'll fail at loading enough to keep up with how fast the kids can shoot them.

That load would double for some varmints, but a dedicated load using a 110 or 125-grain JHP is a better killer of larger critters like coyotes.

For big game, use the 150 or 170-grain bullet that is most accurate in your gun - leaning to the 170 if there's a near tie. RL-15, 3031, Varget, TAC, or 748 are all great choices for propellant.

170 hndy fp over h 335

great on deer

An old stand by load I use is the 170 fn bullet and 31 gr of imr 3031

Rocky pretty much nailed it.

If you want to have cheap fun shooting the 30-30 offers as much case capacity as you can use with cast bullets, even heavy bullets. I shoot 175 grain gas checked cast at 1900 FPS. That's a load that can be used on a lot of things, and that has quite mild recoil.

Hadn't considered the 100 grain half-jacketed plinkers, but that's a good idea.

Switch to something jacketed and you've got a good all-purpose rifle out to 150 yards or so. I don't think it matters a lot which jacketed bullet you use.

For several decades now I haven't used anything but cast bullets in various .30/30's, ranging from Winchester M54 and Savage 340 bolt guns through a couple of Savage 99's (even a Win M94- the sloppiest of the lot). Bullets ranging from 170 through 190 grains in the 1800- 2000 fps driven by appropriate charges of 3031, 4064 and 748 have proven themselves in terms of accuracy and killing efficiency on whitetails. My current favorite is a 190gr. flat point cast and 28gr. 3031 in the .30/30 and .303 Savage. I would blush if I told you about the groups I get with that load in the M54 Winchester.

For plinking I like a 150 gr. cast bullet over either 6gr. Red Dot or 10 gr. Unique. About as cheap as shooting premium .22 rimfires.

I use 3 brands, in fact, they get mixed up as I load them. Cant really tell a difference. My 336 shoots 1.5-2" with Fed, Win and RP brass all mixed together in the same box. That is really all the accuracy I need from a 30-30 anyways, so why bother separating it? Been running W-748 in it for years with the Horn 150 RN.

I use imr-3031 and rl-15 powder with 150-170gr bullets.

My best load for my Marlin 336A (24" bbl 30-30) is 32 g WW748 with a Speer 170 grain. Now that this Speer HotCor bullet is discontinued, I use a 170g Remington Corelokt. They shoot well under 1.5 moa.

One thing I did which really helped in making more consistent and smaller groups, was to use a flash hole uniformer on tha brass (mine is a K&M uniformer). It makes for more uniform combustion, and makes nice round groups.