The thread on "first deer rifle" got me thinking I need to dust off my .30-30 and work up some loads for it, it's a Marlin 336. I stopped hunting with it before I got into reloading so never loaded for it. Found some brass and bullets and ordered some Hornady FTX 160s and Speer 150 flat points.
I have Varget, H4350, RL-15,Tac, and some others on-hand. What has worked for others with 150s and 160s?
In older days, we used 3031 pretty much exclusively .. dad insisted on using 150 grain sierra pointy-point since we were shooting Savage bolt actions and he wanted the higher ballistic coefficient. (Yeah, I know, but talking to him is like debating a cement block.) It worked pretty well with 170 grain hornadys in a Winchester 94 trapper I owned in the late 80s. In the most recent one, Lever Evolution did really well. I also tried H335, CFE223, and .. I don't recall what else. I would start with Lever Evolution. 3031 accuracy is good but the velocities seem lower than ideal.
