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

I have worked up W748 and 220 gr in my Sav219L to what Quickload thinks is 92 kpsi 2500 fps.

I have worked up IMR4895 and 170 gr in my M94 angle eject up to what Quickload thinks is 25 kpsi 1850 fps.

I have not shot my Marlin 335 nor my 91/30 I rebarrelled to 30-30, but they will be somewhere in between.

I have put a 25-35 barrel on a 98 Mauser and necked down some 30-30 brass. I work up W748 and 100 gr to what Quickload thinks is 87kpsi and 3300 fps.

I loaded up 35 grains of W 748 with a 220 grain RN in a Model 94, with an MV of 2100 fps...

Loaded the brass 5 more times just to test duratbility of the brass and the safety of the load...

only bring this forward for those ( with experience) who might have an interest in it..

must admit, I've always wanted to pick up and NEF in 30/30, throat it out to be able to take a 220 grain RN or 180 grain RN, seated to the cannelure..... or maybe a Mauser action might be a good choice for an action for that combo...

Seafire: some years ago somebody gave me a batch of 190 gr. Silvertips ( for the .303 Savage) Loaded into the .30-30 with 748 they worked well, really well....but my case life wasnt as good as yours....and I didnt hot rod them...
Course, they quit making the 190s so I went to the 170 STs...and laid in enough of them to last the rest of my days..

Ingwe

All these guys have given you great loads here for the old .30-30. My advice is:

1. Don't try to make it something it is not - namely a high velocity hot rod. It works just fine the way it is.

2. IMR 3031 is the powder I always go back to for the .30-30. It just works.

IMHO

I have been reading reloading forums since the www got gun forums going.
I first read Seafire's 30-30 220 gr W748 35 gr seated long load ~ 7 years ago on AR.

That is probably the most memorable post about reloading I have ever read.

Later he developed quite a following with various Blue Dot loads in rifles. I am still shooting Blue Dot in 223, all these years later.

Bullet supply seems to be a problem with the 30-30. Every place I went 30-30 bullets were out of stock and on order, kept trying to find bullets and damn near missed getting some of the ammo from Natchez who had the Hornady 170gr.FP ammo for $18.22 a box. I picked up 10 boxes which leaves them with 8 boxes left, guess it went pretty fast.

The ammo once fired will give me some brass for reloading... so I put off buying any brass for now.

The only bullets I was able to find was the Sierra 150gr. FP Pro-Hunters at Mid-South. Picked up a couple boxes of them.

I had to go to Mid-South for the dies also, Redding's deluxe 3 die set, Redding File/Trim die, and a Lee Factory Crimp die.

Have to check out what I already have in powder, believe I have a pretty good supply of H335 and H4198, really need to pick up some Varget and some BL-C(2)




Phil

No one is advocating that Torch..

however once you get out of a lever action, in a strong action the old 30/30 case is pretty efficient.. and can deliver some pretty strong performance for the amount of powder used...

in the lever action world.. 1800 fps in a 30/30 is more than sufficient for deer at wood's ranges..

in the lever action world.. 1800 fps in a 30/30 is more than sufficient for deer at wood's ranges..

I actually like a charge of 10 to 20 grains of SR 4759 and a 150 grain FN Speer or Sierra..

The loading level depends somewhat on WHICH lever action you're using.
I'm much more comfortable loading the 30-30 really hot for my Savage 99 than for any M94.
Not to mention being able to use pointed bullets in the 99 as well.

When loading for the 30-30 the strength of the action isn't the only limiting factor to higher pressure, it's the case itself. The 30-30 case is not designed for much higher pressure than the factories generally load it to.

For high pressure 30-30 loads necked down .375 Winchester brass works better because it is stronger than 30-30 brass.

Marlin 336A 24" barrel, likes RL15 and 170 Hornady FPs.

My tests with this mixed used brass:




What does it all mean?
When one considers that the Max 30-30 load from Hodgdon: 170 gr 32 gr 748, and yet I can shoot 220 gr 39 gr 748, then one has to think there is some REAL safety margin in the 30-30 brass.

Compare that to 270 loads, where a hair over, and it is short brass life.

30-30's are about like anything else each rifle may show a preference for one brand or another of brass, but it's not as noticable with the 30-30.
Jacketed bullets for hunting and accuracy ,I and my rifles prefer the speer bullets, pushed with either 748 or Rl15.
Cast bullets 18 grs of 5744 with a 170ish gr bullet will give good target accuracy to 300 yds.

Yesterday I got some 170 gr. Remington bullets, and compared them to the Speer 170s that I usually use but haven't been able to get. The differences were more stark than I had expected. The Speer was only 0.015" longer. The Remington canalure was about two widths farther from the base. But the big difference was the bearing length. I measured this by inserting a bullet nose first into a resized case and measuring the length, then subtracting the length of the case. The Speer was .61" and the Remington was .46", or only 75% the length. Also, the canalure was on the full diameter part of the Speer, but a long way on to the reduced portion of the Remington. It will defintely be interesting to see what if any difference in how they shoot. Has anyone used the Remingtons before? Has anyone used both? Till now I have only used the Speer and Hornady. Other than the shape of the tip, the Hornady were pretty similar to the Speer.

Here's a picture comparing various 30-30 bullets.
Left to right ww 150, ww 170, rp 170 and speer 170 in a 30-30 ai. Bullets are the hornady 150, speer 150 and 170

150 gr. nosler ballistic tips in my savage 340 i killed a deer at 175yds and it took 3 steps

the sierra pro hunters are super accurate and expansion is great

I use H-335 powder and Winchester cases in my 336-A Marlin. I also de-burr the flash holes and mill the primer pockets.

Both the Speer 170-grain Hot-Core and the Remington 170-grain Core-Lokt give good accuracy, usually under 1.5"