Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Barnes bullets in the 30-30

While in the gunstore yesterday I noticed a few different manufactures loading Barnes bullets for the 30-30. From what I understand the tsx and ttsx do their best work at higher velocities. Thus allowing you to step down a bullet weight in a caliber. For example 110ge ttsx in the 270 or 130ttsx in a 308 or 30-06.

So with the relatively low velocity of the 150gr 30-30 loads I saw is this really a good choice? For game such as elk moose or bear I would think the 170gr partition to be a better more reliable loading.

Anyone with experience with this have some field results using the Barnes out of the 30-30?

Haven't put any of them through deer yet, but the Barnes 150 TSX has a whopping big hole in the end. I have shot them into water jugs at lower velocity and they expand well down to 1600 FPS.

I loaded with LeverEvolution powder and got well under an inch groups at 2400 FPS which came at 35.5 grains. Max load is 38.5. and from the workup I did, I would expect my rifle to be running on the high side of 2700 with 38.5. 35.5 is a very mild load, but 2400 FPS and a Barnes bullet will do impressive things.

I'd love for Barnes to release a 130 grain TSX with that big hollow point. It would have the BC of a '63 VW bus, but if you're only going 150 yards it wouldn't matter, and they's still go all the way through every time.

According to Barnes, the 150 TSX will open at 1400 FPS. I have some but haven't killed anything with them.

The .30-30 has Cup 'n Core written all over it.

One issue I have with the Partition in a 30-30 is that even the 170gr Partition has a recommended minimum velocity of 1800fps. Considering most loads for 30-30 in 170gr top out around 2200fps, that means you're below minimum somewhere around 160 yards.

Ouch. Those follow up shots out in the open or down the logging road might suck.

For woods hunting they would be peachy, and going with a Partition or 150gr Barnes if doing woods hunting for moose, elk or black bear makes a lot of sense to me.

For me, cup and core bullets are the ticket since I hunt open spaces. And deer die easily.

This was from a 150gr Hornady this fall. Boom. Dead. Wouldn't have been any different if he'd been a 170 class buck.

I like the 170-grain Speer Hot Core best. I have not seen the newer Deep Curl.
I shot quite a few of the older smooth side Barnes 150-grain X bullets and these open up very quickly on our light frame deer. The older Barnes X penetrates well and leaves some interesting exit wounds.
I have shot the X bullet in the 16�, 20� and 26� 30-30�s and 20� 30-30AI�s and in the 307 Winchester. The smooth side bullet delivered accuracy to equal any other bullet I shot and was tied with the 130-grain Speer Hot Core for best accuracy.

The 150-grain Barnes X is long and this reduces some powder capacity. I found my best accuracy in Winchester rifles at 2.50� COAL which again reduces powder capacity a bit. I never found the Barnes X to be lacking in penetration.
Gunsmith Mic McPherson wrote that he set his daughter up with a Savage Model 170 in 30-30AI with the Barnes X and she took a cow elk with no difficulty.
I bought quite a stock of these on a one-time good deal and it will be awhile before I have them shot up.

As you most likely already know I am a big fan of the Barnes TSX & TTSX bullets. IMHO the 30-30 works perfectly with standard cup and core bullets. IME the 150 jacket allows fpr greater mushroom of the bullet and less penetration than the 170 grain. The 30-30 has always worked to perfection with standard cup and core bullets because the velocity is slow enough so as to not over tax the integrity of the bullet

Personally I shoot mostly 170 grain with a few 150's thrown in for flavor

I have a freind who is a feral pig guide in California. They kill some big hogs there, ner the barley and hopps fields. I loaded up a pile of 150gr X bullets for him and he loves them. They are wonderful preformers and make the 30/30 think it is a 300 Winchester Magnum out to moderate ranges.

If I ever get my hands on a 30/30AI, I will be loading the 130gr TTSX's in it. Many experiments have been done lately disproving the old wives tale that only flat nosed bullets should be used in a tubular magazine. Handloader and rifle magazines in particlular, recent editions. Dave Scoville did everything he could think of to do to get a primer to ignite and could not do it. When he manipulated a primer strike in a tube magazine with 30/30 and 45/70 ammo the 'explosion' was not even enough to damage the rifle as the gasses were not controlled enough to build up any pressure. Buging the magazine tube as the only damage he and the other author of another article could muster.

Well, there has been enough magazine tube �detonations� reported in the past 10 years to convince me it can happen. There have been few serious injuries but two incidents come to mind in which there were serious injuries to the shooter.
If I were going to take this chance, I would vent my magazine tube. A few of the 1895 Marlins in my local area have vented tubes - two small slots cut in the top of the magazine tube, one just ahead of the receiver and the next about 1 �� ahead of the first. The vents are pretty well hidden by the barrel.
I�ll be interested in reading of your shooting results

It is exactly this possibility that has kept me from experimenting with X bullets in my .30-30.

Instead I went with Hornady FTX, which have been very accurate in my Marlin and provide useful range increases over the 170g Speer and Nosler bullets I was using.

Yet one more reason to switch to a Savage 1899 lever gun for shooting .30/30's!

Don't see how their '30/30' version is gonna cause you any issues.

The 30-30 Barnes X has given me no trouble at all. The large hollow point feeds well from the magazine and the 307 Winchester has put it to the recoil test.
I have read about the new Hornady GMX for lever guns but have no seen any to purchase.

As mentioned the hollow points on the TSX's for the 30-30 are cavernous. I cant comment on 30-30 tsx's, but do know the tsx's for the 45-70 are reliable.

They may not. Take two .30-30 carts and lay them tip to primer on a flat surface, the way they would lay in the magazine. Do this with a FTX and the tip touches the edge of the primer. Remove the tip and the metal touches close to the center of the primer. Not sure the diameter of the hollow on a .30-30 TSX but I'm betting the edge of the hollow would come very close to the center of the primer. Too close for my comfort.

It don't

Even if it did, and one went BOOM in the magazine tube, very little energy is expended. Some vents in the magazine tube as was mentioned here in ana earlier post and using some brownells steel bed to bed/wrap the magazine tube where it goes through the forarm might be an added safety idea even though probably superflous. Might do that when I build a 30/30AI someday and fuel it with 130TTSX's.

For years I have dropped a pointed tip 30/30 into the chamber, closed the action and filled the tube with round nose. Remington 150gr PSP work just fine. I am a Barnes fan but never saw the need for them in my thuty thuty.

I'm guessin it's existence is mostly for 30-30 fans in lead-free zones.

No, I was loading them for my pig guide friend more than a decade before the lead ban in Calif. They are simply an excellent and wicked looking bullet. Makes the 30/30 a little bit more gun than otherwise.