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.

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"