Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 600 yard 30-30

Thanks for the link! He did it on a dare. That'll learm 'em!

Correction: The "Palma" matches are a specific set of matches shot at 800, 900 and 1000 yards with iron sighted rifles shot from an unsupported prone position (sling). There are also very specific cartridge requirements. For "The Palma" which is contended internationally every four years between countries, competitors must shoot the 308 Winchester/7.62 NATO with a bullet no heavier than 156gr. NRA Palma (for US Shooters) also allow a 223 and the 308's can shoot bullets heavier than 156gr.

The rifle as described would more accurately be called a Prone Rifle. The experience from the old days is that it takes ~2700fps muzzle on a 168 Sierra to cross 1K supersonic.

BTW, wasn't there some efforts decades ago to shoot a 30-30 based cartridge in Bench Rest? I remember reading the article where they even had Federal produce higher quality, small primered brass headstamped "30 American" to form their cartridges. I've heard that Dave Tooley is the repository for information on that historical effort.

Nez was never bound by convention. After accomplishing all he wanted with the AR in Service Rifle competition, he went hard at doing it all over again with a retro M14 (actually an M14 with the modern technology applied to it). I am not surprised he is doing this. Best wishes to him.

I thought the dogma was a rimmed cartridge was immune or at least highly resistant to brass changes due to said rim.

I always wondered why the 30/40 Krag wasn't looney fodder.

I think there is some deficiencies in rimmed cartridges performance in some actions?

But I love the 30/30 and I use mostly lever lotion powder in them.

Because you can push a 185gr berger to those speeds out of a .308win and get your aze handed to you when the wind blows.

Maybe he is using that 30 American brass they made 20 years or so back ,seems like it was thicker and used a small rifle primer? MB

Keep us updated on the progress Butch.

I will keep you updated. They are not using 30 American brass, but if they had any they would play with it. I was wrong about it being a Palma rifle, Nez corrected me.

I have a 30/40 prone rifle which I built on a PGW action (40X clone). Shoots just like a 308 only faster. I have another built on a Ruger 77 and ser up for "F" class. With a barrel change, it becomes a 30/30 heavy varminter. I get more pleasure out of a 1/4 inch group from the 30/30 than I do a 1/8 inch group from the 6BR. GD

Everyone knows there is only a handful of inherently accurate cartridges out there and if it doesn't have a 30 degree shoulder, it has to have a 30 somewhere....

I have done an overload work up on a 30-30 to see how far the brass will go

Savage 219L-D single shot break action 30-30
1 in 12" twist
26" long.
7 pound rifle

220 gr HNDY round nose moly W748 2.92" 26" barrel, 30-30
Quickload prediction:
33 gr 51 kpsi 2176 fps
34 gr 56 kpsi 2232 fps
35 gr 62 kpsi 2287 fps
36 gr 68 kpsi 2340 fps
37 gr 75 kpsi 2394 fps
38 gr 83 kpsi 2446 fps brass and primer still look good
39 gr 92 kpsi 2498 fps primer very cratered, case full of powder, ball powder compresses a hair below 2.92"

If you want to find a reason for why Frank de Haas hated the Sav 219L-D, take one apart and put it back together. The parts are stamped [poorly] sheet metal.

Is Nez the shooter or the shmiff?

I am about to take possession of a single-shot 30-30 from Henry Firearms. I need it like a hole in the head, but an wanted another toy. This is very interesting reading and I am afraid that I may have to get into a little testing myself. The trigger is pretty heavy, but using new bullets and stout loads, could make this rifle a blast. It is going to be a short-range doe smucker, but why not try something other than the normal loads?

Nez is the shooter. Since Michael has so much experience building and shooting the 30-30, Nez decided to let him do the metal work.

Great thread, and great link to the benchrest forum. Years ago, a guy wrote about high velocity .30-30 loads in a Ruger #1. forget where I saw it, but it was screaming along with very good accuracy.

You make a great point about the Krag! I have a Ruger #3 in 30-40 Krag that will go faster than anyone will publish (with no pressure signs)!

Well in all truth what I said was old info. I guess everything improves with time except Libtard Democrats.

With Win W 748, you might be surprised what kind of velocity you can get out of a 30/30 case...

How does the 30-30 ballistics compare to the 270 in this case?

I remember Seafire's posts about 748 seated long in the 30-30 lever action... about 15 years ago on AR.

The 30-30 case can take a lot more pressure than the 270 case [despite the nonsense in "Speer 12" about 30-30 case strength], but has less volume than the 270 case.

I have overloaded hundreds of guns. After I bought the Win 94 and Marlin 336 for overloading, I could see that they were too weak to work up to brass or primer failure. So I never reproduced Seafire's experiments.

But Savage 219s in 30-30 are many times stronger than the brass. It is the same calculation I went through for the 45/70 Handi Rifle.

Do you have an opinion on the Henry break-action rifles? I just got one in 30-30 and it seems like a great little rifle. I have not been able to shoot it yet, though.