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170 Corelokts in mine

I smacked a 160# hog with Remington 170 Core Lokt and it worked nicely. Hogs can get big down here so I opted to go with 170's, erring on the side of caution. He ran about 50 yards and piled up.

I also put a Leupold Vari-X III in 1.5-5x20 with heavy duplex on it.

Round up a selection of 150 and 170 grain ammo and test them in your rifle. I doubt you'll find much meaningful difference in the lot. They will all work nicely for your stated purpose.

My favorite woods stomper is a 190 grain flat nosed cast bullet of around 10-12bhn. Driven at 2000fps, give or take, it surpasses everything I used in the .30-30 and .303 Savage to date.

The people who make bullets and loaded cartridges for the 30-30 have had over a century to tweak the construction of their creations so penetration and construction is probably as good as it can get.....of course there are new attempts such as the Lever Revolution(?)...LVR Powder, etc

I have two 336s and my son has one. I like the Speer 170, but that's all I have used on game... but I have done some experimenting with 150s and 170s and have found that within 100 yards or so for PRACTICAL purposes there is little difference in POI between them.

J Cooper said a 20" 336 or Win 94 with peep sights is an ideal "Police Rifle" and scout type, survivalist weapon. I assume in an urban environment. Given the widespread availability of the cartridge and the handling qualities of these carbines he makes a good case. In his book "The Art of the Rifle" he can be seen firing a 94 complete with tang peep and butt cuff on page 90.

I pulled my model 94 trapper out at the very end of our deer season here in Georgia. For nostalgia purposes I shot a huge doe in the first 45 minutes of daylight. I shot here with 150grn corelocts as that's all I had from 28 years ago, which is the last time I killed a deer with the rifle at 13 years old. I shot that same load my first 3 years of my hunting with a rifle. That exact ammo killed everyone of them stone dead at ranges not exceeding 50-60 yards. I killed probably 9-10 deer with that rifle. I love it. I've never hand loaded for it, didn't see the point really. I've never had one get away from the factory loads and I was always shooting in close quarter. Iron sights of course.

I have both a Winchester and a Marlin and they are my guns of choice when hog hunting. My shots are almost always shorter than 70 yards so coreloks are what I shoot. 150 or 170's make little difference. That Hornady leverevolution ammo is the real deal. It really extends your range with a 30/30. I use it when shooting hogs out in crop fields. I know many folks have gotten away from lever actions but for me they are perfect for the close quarter hunting I do.

I shot two hogs, I took my outfitters advice, use a head shot. I was using a 250 Savage so it's a little apples to oranges, but, he said that a big hog with a lot of fat can take a good shot that goes all the way through, and not leave a blood trail. He said the fat just closes up. This was in SC near swamps, so if you didn't find your pig quick, gators could get it. He also said the vitals of a pig are a little farther forward than a deer. The only pig that was shot and not recovered was a deer style shoulder shot. Knocked the pig down, it jumped up, staggered off, no blood trail, never found. My two pigs were 220 pounds and 150 pounds, the 220 pounder was shot behind the ear. The 150 was shot in the left eye, bullet came out behind the right eye. Neither moved more than 5 feet. My old Marlin 336 in 35 Remington would shoot well enough to take head shots at 100 yards. Good luck with your 30-30, I really enjoyed our hog hunt, Joe.

Yes, the same is true for hogs. For deer and hogs, both, my dad shot both 150's and 170's, but always preferred 150's in his .30/30. He used the CoreLokt load for years, then switched to the Federal Power-Shok load because it was marginally more accurate. He rarely uses the .30/30, anymore, so I got it from him a few years ago to let one of my sons use, just for something different and old school.

I've found IMR 3031 & 4064 both to be good, as well as Accurate 4064. My favorite bullet is the Speer 130 FN. I bought a box trying for the lightest possible recoil for my son. Then I shot them. It's consistently 1.5-1.7" at 100 yards with a couple different charges. I decided that was the bullet for us and bought more. But, I've also loaded plenty of 150's for the sake of experimentation. On game, any of the 150's will be just fine. If the 150 is calling you, try a few different ones and go with the one that groups consistently. The Sierra 150 and the Hornady 150 both group well from Dad's rifle. But, if you're in the air on hand loading fodder, do yourself a favor and try the Speer 130. Takes hogs just fine, which means it will take deer just fine.

Best -
Andy

170 Silvertips or Power Points in mine.

I tried LVR this year with 170g bullets. With the book load from a 24" barreled Winchester M64 I average 2360 fps and 2" 100 yards groups.

I'm content to keep my .30-30 hunting loads at the 2000fps level. At Eastern wood's distances it doesn't make a difference in killing efficiency, IMO, backed up by experience. If I want more performance than that, I figure that's why god put '06's, .300 Savages, etc. in my collection.

2000 fps (give or take 100 fps) is the honest factory velocity for most .30-30 loads anyway.

Factory CoreLokt

Hand load Varget and Speer 130

I reload for everything but my 30-30. In my Marlin 336 I shoot Federal Blue Box 150s. Good for deer and hogs and holds an honest 1.5" group at 100. Picked up 6 boxes of all the same lot#. Will do me for a long while.

I've chrono'd 150 core lokt's, 150 power points and 150 power shoks out of my 20" Marlin 336. All went between 2240 and 2290 fps. 170's of the same brands all went between 2050 and 2100.

You either have the fastest barreled 336 out there, or a screwed up chronograph.

I've tested 150s and 170s, Remingtons, Federals, and Winchesters, out of six different .30-30s (4 Marlins and 2 Winchesters) over two different chronographs. The 150s generally ran about 2100 (occasionally 2150) and the 170s about 1950-2050.

My dirt poor hillbilly neighbors don't know nuttin' about no fancy boolits an kill deer by the truckload with their thutty thuttys using Core-Lokts from Walmart.

I think they be onto something,............. shhhhhhhhhhhhh

Gosh I clocked them out of my two Winchesters too and while not as fast as the Marlin's numbers {about 50-60 fps shy across the board} they were still way ahead of yours. I think my chrono is ok. CCI Standard velocity .22 LR's recently clocked 1130 fps out of an 18.5" barreled Marlin 995 and CCI Maxi-Mag 40 gr. .22 WMR'S went 1930 out of a 22" barreled Marlin 882. Seems right to me.

What is interesting though is the Hodgden website shows LVR with similar or less pressure than many other powders. The ones that do show less pressure than LVR barely get over 2000 fps except for BLC-2 (Still 100 fps behind) and others that don't get closer than 100-200 fps behind 2000 fps in their 24" barrel. Knock off 4" of barrel and see the velocity difference. Maybe not much since it is a low pressure round, but maybe it does.

What is also curious is 300 Savage pressures are 4000-10000 more for the same velocity or less with the only similar weight bullets Hodgden lists. 165g and 180g

Vic in Va is right about the powder in my experience 3031 or WW748 are tuff to beat. My hunting circle has had good lock with 150 and 170 gr bullets so I'd let you rifle decide what it lines . To be honest I've hunted deer in Kentucky probably 25 out of the last 35 years. Haven't seen myself or my friends make a shot that couldn't have easily been made with a 30-30 as there have only been a handful that were about 200 yds and the30-30 can easily handle that as well as any other rifle.