Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Savage 99- Hornady Leverevolution Ammo

Gentlemen, what has your experience been with 30 30 ammo
(roundnose, etc.) vs the Hornady Leverevolution ammo
relative to loading, cycling and accuracy in the 30 30
Model 99, thanks for any responses, Flareman

wow I guess nobody has tried 'em.. I'll have to get some bullets and load up a batch.. I think they would be a good bullet for the 303

plab

I'm wondering how the 110 Barnes ttsx are going to do in a 30-30. recoil should be 222 level and terminal performance should be great.

I have two boxes of Hornady 140gr MONOFLEX bullets set aside for reloading both 303 SAV and 30-30 WIN cartridges.

At the moment I'm looking for a proven load data using H4895 and W748 or W760 for either. If anyone cares to chime in that would be appreciated.

1.) I don't have any data from dialing in for a specific gun, I just load for the pleasure of going to the range and hitting targets with my own hand loads. I specifically bought a 99 in 30-30 so I could load pointy bullets for the advantage it would give me for ballistic coefficient and the possibility of a longer range kill.

The problem I had, is with a given weight bullet(150gr) the round or flat nosed bullet was a more compact (shorter) bullet than a pointy bullet, thus needing the pointy bullet to be seated deeper to make a short enough OAL to still load and eject. Seating the pointy bullet deeper in the case takes away space for the powder. If I had tried a more compact powder it might have worked but with a max load powder for a compact RN 150 gr bullet, you can't seat the 150gr pointy bullet deep enough to fit the gun. Dump out some powder and you can, but now you don't have the same charge.

Some experimentation with more dense powders would work. Some reloading data shows "percentage capacity" for various powders at their max load. A powder that shows a lower percentage fill but gives similar results, might work.

2.) The 303 should load the same, using 30-30 data, as far as I've read, but I don't have one and haven't tried it. Load for specific bullet weight. The shape doesn't have much bearing on the powder charge, just the type of powder, weight and jacket material.

3.) I don't see how the Leverevolution bullet would be any different than any other pointy bullet of similar shape. All of which could be loaded in the 99 all along. In-fact the 303 Sav was originally pointy from what I've read and that is why it was thought to have the advantage over the similarly sized 30-30.

I use ftx 160 bullets in the 30 30. 33 grains of lever whatever powder. My 36 action thinks it is too hot. Never had luck with winchester 94 s 336 s or 99 s taking max loads as prescribed on the lever whatever powder. Either rem or fed primers. I really like the 160 ftx 308 mx flavor in the 300 sav case.

I shot some in a 30-30 99 a few years ago, they shot 2" higher than the rem 170 core locks, but grouped better! this was at 50 yrds. Id use them again!

I wouldn't mind trying some Leverevolution powder, but not so much the bullets or loaded factory ammo. Nothing wrong with them, I'm sure. It's just that I'm curious how the powder would perform with 180-190gr. cast bullets. (The thumpers that have survived over a century of jacketed bullet fads and kept on thumping!)

Thanks so much for all of the detailed replies. I have purchased
a box of the leverevolution factory ammo, 160 Gr FTX for my
thought was that this "pointy" nose bullet would simply
load better when cycling the lever to load another round
in my 99, will let you know the results at the range with
accuracy, etc. Flareman

OH, YES, I must tell all that this is one great forum to be
a member of, as a newbie to 99's I studied all of the posts,
very informative and responsive, before my acquisititions,
and your responses to my questions have been super,
Flareman

These guys are a buncha danged enablers is what they are.

I like 32 grains lever whatever and 180 grain silver tips in the 303. The lever whatever flows easy and two bucks cheaper per pound.

Only in Marlins.....can't recall exactly, but several deer, hogs, bobcats, coyotes, with 160gr FTX. Everything died, penetration was great, but expansion seems to tell me the FTXs are a bit too tough for deer on down. Small exits and no deer DRT, from typical DRT, non CNS hits. Limited and anecdotal, but even the Barnes 30/30 pils are much more 'emphatic', if limited to 150 and in.