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Picked up a nice Savage 340 in .30-.30 the other day for $160.00 with a box of Federal 170 grain shells. Has anyone reloaded for this rifle and chronied their loads?? ![[Linked Image]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v507/Win94/SAM_1374_zps15b2fa65.jpg) ![[Linked Image]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v507/Win94/SAM_1376_zps9b532858.jpg)
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I hear that they have limited mag space, so longer pointed bullets are difficult.
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Leverboy;
I have been reloading for a family member who has a 340 in .30-30 for over 25 years now.
While I believe I've chronographed it at one time, I wouldn't begin to know where to look for the data anymore so sorry about that.
It strikes me that it obtained a bit higher velocities than I'd been seeing with the same loads in a 20" barreled 94, but nothing significant.
We did try some 130gr Speer HP in it and at least one Vancouver Island blacktail died with them.
Lastly I seem to recall it was quite an accurate little rifle overall and of course quite pleasant to shoot.
We never pushed it past any book loads by the way.
Anyway I know that wasn't much help, but good luck with your new rifle, it looks like a fun project.
All the best to you this weekend.
Regards,
Dwayne
Last edited by BC30cal; 08/02/13. Reason: wrong barrel length on 94
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I sure appreciate the reply Dwayne. I had it for sale on Alberta Outdooorsmen the other day right after I refinished the stock. I thought better of selling it however. I took it off the buy and sell on that site and I am going to see what I can accomplish with reloads. Thank you for the reply my fellow Canuck!!! Mark.
Last edited by Leverboy; 08/02/13.
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The extractors and clips can be trouble in these. You are in good fortune if it cycles ammo well. You really can't hang bullets out much more than a normal 3030 and it shouldnt be loaded hotter because its a bolt action.
They were designed to be a simple cheap alternative to the lever actions of the day. They are however a cool...light to carry...quick pointing piece of American history!
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Not the 340, but I have a Remington 788 and to load pointy bullets I trim the necks way down. With the mag space being limited I had to load the bullets deep and found that sometimes the ogive would be below the case mouth to get it to fit in the magazine. Long story short since the .30-30 has such a long neck it wasn't any problem trimming them back.
However pointy bullets haven't really out shot the plain old FN .30-30 bullets yet. Hornady Leverevolution shoots the best for factory ammunition with the 160 grain bullet. I almost bought several 340's but held out for the 788 and couldn't be happier.
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Campfire 'Bwana
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I've owned a bunch of rifle from the Savage 340 family over the past forty years and currently have a 340 Series E in 30-30.
Having only one locking lug, this is not a particularly strong or rigid action, but works fine for the 30-30, as long as you don't try to load to 300 Savage or 308 velocities. I generally shoot Remington component bullets in my 30-30s, either the 150 or 170 grain RNCLs. If you want to stretch the 30-30's range, you might look at the 160 grain Hornady LeverEvolution factory loads. At one time, I loaded some lighter, 125/130 grain pointed softpoint bullets, for my wife's niece to shoot critters in SD when she was a student at Black Hills State College in Spearfish. They shot OK and she killed several coyotes and a deer or two while she was in Spearfish.
If you're going to put a scope on it, the B-Square side-mount is a much better mount than the Weaver option.
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Leverboy, I had a later model 842 and it was quite the accurate little gun. Sold it off to fund another 99 and am watching for a good deal on an earlier one like yours. If you refinished that one, you did a great job.
I was helping out at a public sight in day at the range a couple years ago and was going through guy after guy with 7mm Mag's and 30-06's and SAUM's and whatnot with Walmart scopes mounted and struggling to get to shoot 4" groups as the guys are flinching like crazy, and up walks a little rancher's wife carrying a 340 with an old Weaver scope. Bunch of guy's looking sideways at her and snickering. She plops it down on the sandbag, puts 3 shots into about a 3/4" group about 1" high at 100, says "Yep, still sighted in" and gets and up and walks away. Not one peep from any guy. Well, I snickered a bit I suppose.
“ The Savage 99 Pocket Reference”. All models and variations of 1895’s, 1899’s and 99’s covered. Also dates, checkering, engraving.. Find at www.savagelevers.com
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Leverboy, I had a later model 842 and it was quite the accurate little gun. Sold it off to fund another 99 and am watching for a good deal on an earlier one like yours. If you refinished that one, you did a great job.
I was helping out at a public sight in day at the range a couple years ago and was going through guy after guy with 7mm Mag's and 30-06's and SAUM's and whatnot with Walmart scopes mounted and struggling to get to shoot 4" groups as the guys are flinching like crazy, and up walks a little rancher's wife carrying a 340 with an old Weaver scope. Bunch of guy's looking sideways at her and snickering. She plops it down on the sandbag, puts 3 shots into about a 3/4" group about 1" high at 100, says "Yep, still sighted in" and gets and up and walks away. Not one peep from any guy. Well, I snickered a bit I suppose. Very cool story. Thank you for sharing. Yes I finished the refinishing project the other night. Stripped it and steamed all the dents out. I'm happy with it. Unfortunately it is only drilled and tapped for a reciever sight so its going to be an open sight proposition as I want to keep it orginal. I think its a nice utilitarian firearm. It looks nice next to the Savage 1899 and 99's!! 
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Campfire 'Bwana
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I've had a couple, and gave them away to those in need...
I was perfectly happy with performance with stout loads and 150 grain Speer FNs..
For heavy duty, I actually loaded it with 220 grain RNs and W 748, with the bullets seated deep and powder compressed...
but for general use for kids...18 to 20 grains of SR 4759 and the 150 FN Speer, or 110 gr RNs/or SP with 10 grains of Unique...
more than capable to 150 yds...
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Unfortunately it is only drilled and tapped for a reciever sight so its going to be an open sight proposition as I want to keep it orginal. I think its a nice utilitarian firearm. It looks nice next to the Savage 1899 and 99's!! Leverboy; You are of course most welcome for the reply sir and for any help I can give you. I read that you wish to keep it original and that's cool. If you should ever change your mind on that, here's a few ideas. This is a new twist on scoping a 340 and we should be able to find one somewhere up here. http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/savage-340-840-890-822-scope-mount.aspx?a=1003598The one I reload for has a mount that looks more like this as memory serves. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Savage-340-...-Side-Mount-No-GunSmithing-/141026621600Weaver used to make a rimfire side mount called an N3???? I think it was and that might work too, but then again it might have only been a 7/8" scope tube on those....gettin' old and can't recall all the details from 40 years ago anymore.  The story of the rancher's wife's 340 shooting that well doesn't surprise me one bit. There was a story in a Gun Digest back in the day where the author made up a rifle for his mother by modifying a 340 in .30-30 and he got similar results. I'll snoop around a bit more and see if I can find a mount up here in Canada for you - Milarm maybe? Do you do gunnutz at all? I go there for the Equipment Exchange and have picked up stuff - and sold it too - all over our great big spread out nation. Good luck with that 340 whichever way you decide Leverboy. Regards, Dwayne
Last edited by BC30cal; 08/03/13. Reason: added info
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I picked up one a few years ago. It came with the Weaver mount and a Weaver C4 scope. Scope was fogged badly.
I replaced it with one of those old TASCO Bantam scopes that came with someone's muzzle loader kit.
It loves the Monarch (Privi) 170 gr,. flat points.
I never reloaded for it.
The action cycles like silk and the trigger is pretty good.
It is a joy to shoot.
I would like to find one in.222 .
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I have had two of the .30-30 flavor and one of the .22 hornet. They have been some of the most accurate, solid built, easy carrying rifles I have ever owned.
Enjoy the hunt while it lasts!
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Unfortunately it is only drilled and tapped for a reciever sight so its going to be an open sight proposition as I want to keep it orginal. I think its a nice utilitarian firearm. It looks nice next to the Savage 1899 and 99's!! Leverboy; You are of course most welcome for the reply sir and for any help I can give you. I read that you wish to keep it original and that's cool. If you should ever change your mind on that, here's a few ideas. This is a new twist on scoping a 340 and we should be able to find one somewhere up here. http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/savage-340-840-890-822-scope-mount.aspx?a=1003598The one I reload for has a mount that looks more like this as memory serves. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Savage-340-...-Side-Mount-No-GunSmithing-/141026621600Weaver used to make a rimfire side mount called an N3???? I think it was and that might work too, but then again it might have only been a 7/8" scope tube on those....gettin' old and can't recall all the details from 40 years ago anymore. The story of the rancher's wife's 340 shooting that well doesn't surprise me one bit. There was a story in a Gun Digest back in the day where the author made up a rifle for his mother by modifying a 340 in .30-30 and he got similar results. I'll snoop around a bit more and see if I can find a mount up here in Canada for you - Milarm maybe? Do you do gunnutz at all? I go there for the Equipment Exchange and have picked up stuff - and sold it too - all over our great big spread out nation. Good luck with that 340 whichever way you decide Leverboy. Regards, Dwayne Thanks Dwayne! No I do not do Gunnutz. I might look for a peep sight and be done with it. A small handy open sighted bolt gun should be a lot of fun!! Mark
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Had a couple over the yrs, one a sav & one a Stevens. Thought the pointy bullet would be a great improvement for the 30-30 caliber but you had to load them so deep that they ended up not doing anything a good 150gn 30-30 FP bullet wouldn't do. Never found any more accuracy than the average lever gun wouldn't do either. So the only real advantage was a DT mag for those of us that load & unload a number of times a day. BUT then again you can 1/2 cycle 30-30/38-55s out of a 1899 Sav right into the palm of your have with minimum practice & the Sav 99s point much better IMHO. I still have my 1899s 
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I have a Savage 340 with a scope in the Weaver side-mount, and put a Tasco scope on it just to see what the gun would do...it shot under an inch at 100 yards for 3 shots with 170 gr RN Corelokts over IMR-4064 once I got it sighted in. And it does it frequently. I tried 130 gr Hornady's and 125 gr Sierra SPs to see if I could bump up the performance, but as noted above, the bullets have to be seated deeply due to mag length so those are about as heavy as you can go with a pointed bullet. The accuracy never seemed to match what I got with 150 gr and 170 gr RN or FP bullets.
�That rifle on the wall of the labourer's cottage or working class flat is the symbol of democracy. It is our job to see that it stays there.� George Orwell
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I have a Savage 340 with a scope in the Weaver side-mount, and put a Tasco scope on it just to see what the gun would do...it shot under an inch at 100 yards for 3 shots with 170 gr RN Corelokts over IMR-4064 once I got it sighted in. And it does it frequently. I tried 130 gr Hornady's and 125 gr Sierra SPs to see if I could bump up the performance, but as noted above, the bullets have to be seated deeply due to mag length so those are about as heavy as you can go with a pointed bullet. The accuracy never seemed to match what I got with 150 gr and 170 gr RN or FP bullets. I appreciate the input. Thank you!
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Maybe the rifle was throated for heavier RN bullets and the short light pointed ones had too big a jump to the lands? I tried hard to make them work with a bunch of different powders, etc. A shorter 150 gr flat base spitzer like the Speer Mag Tip might be worth a try.
�That rifle on the wall of the labourer's cottage or working class flat is the symbol of democracy. It is our job to see that it stays there.� George Orwell
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My cousin has one in .222. A deer killing machine.
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Leverboy, I had a later model 842 and it was quite the accurate little gun. Sold it off to fund another 99 and am watching for a good deal on an earlier one like yours. If you refinished that one, you did a great job.
I was helping out at a public sight in day at the range a couple years ago and was going through guy after guy with 7mm Mag's and 30-06's and SAUM's and whatnot with Walmart scopes mounted and struggling to get to shoot 4" groups as the guys are flinching like crazy, and up walks a little rancher's wife carrying a 340 with an old Weaver scope. Bunch of guy's looking sideways at her and snickering. She plops it down on the sandbag, puts 3 shots into about a 3/4" group about 1" high at 100, says "Yep, still sighted in" and gets and up and walks away. Not one peep from any guy. Well, I snickered a bit I suppose. Very cool story. Thank you for sharing. Yes I finished the refinishing project the other night. Stripped it and steamed all the dents out. I'm happy with it. Unfortunately it is only drilled and tapped for a reciever sight so its going to be an open sight proposition as I want to keep it orginal. I think its a nice utilitarian firearm. It looks nice next to the Savage 1899 and 99's!! I have one and installed a Savage Peep sight on it. A real tack driver. I use standard 30-30 components with the exception of 110 grain spitzers for varmints. My idea of a perfect truck gun. The magazine can be removed and installed quickly making it easy to load/unload. The receiver is already drilled & tapped. Gotta find another one of those sights for my 322 in 22 Hornet.
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