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I have hunted with Federal Power -Shok & Winchester Power point 170gr ammo for years .. Always worked . White Tail , a few Black Bears & Hawgs .. & Feral dogs ...

But Im thinking about testing some advertised
" Better " 30-30 ammo ....for this coming Bear hunting season ...
Im looking at

170gr Federal Fusion
170gr Winchester Power Max

Im just wondering what you 30-30 fans consider
" Top Shelf " ammo ...

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I handload my .30-30, and prefer the Hornady 170 interlock bullet.

My first choice of what you have listed is the Federal round. If I did not load for my rifle, that's what I'd buy.

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One good thing about 30-30 bullets is that they aren't big compromises. They were designed for 30-30 velocities and impact ranges which is a fairly small target. Not like most pointed .308 bullets that get used in cartridges from 300 savage to the big magnums, from 100 pound deer to elk and moose. what perfect in one application could be a fragmenting bomb in another.

I have shot a few deer with hornady 170's and seen a fair number shot with a general selection of other 150g and 170g ammo and haven't really seen a lot of difference all worked well.

If you want to try some "better" ammo here are a few. I doubt that they will really do much that your powerpoints didn't, but sometimes its fun to try something new and cool.

170 Nosler Partitions

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1...ter-170-grain-nosler-partition-box-of-20

Hornady 140 monoflex

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1...r-140-grain-monoflex-lead-free-box-of-20


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I wouldn't waste money on "better" .30-30 ammo. I've killed many deer with 150 and 170 Rem. Core-Lokt, 170 Win. Silvertip and 170 Federal blue box factory loads. They all perform/kill well enough as to leave little room for improvement. Pick what's most accurate in your rifle and you're GTG.

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I've alway been partial to 150 gr. Core-Lokt's been shooting deer and bears with hounds with them for over 50 years....past 8 years been using Cutting Edge Bullets 130 gr. Raptors there only a component bullets but are the best bullet I've ever used....

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Originally Posted by Blackheart
I wouldn't waste money on "better" .30-30 ammo. I've killed many deer with 150 and 170 Rem. Core-Lokt, 170 Win. Silvertip and 170 Federal blue box factory loads. They all perform/kill well enough as to leave little room for improvement. Pick what's most accurate in your rifle and you're GTG.


I have also .. Big bucks , a couple of big bear and more than a few bigger hawgs .. useing vanilla shelf ammo ... its works ..
This is more out of curiosity ..

Id like to try some "new tech " on a ole woods carbine.

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Quote
I have shot a few deer with hornady 170's and seen a fair number shot with a general selection of other 150g and 170g ammo and haven't really seen a lot of difference all worked well.


Absolutely true.

What drives my preference for the Hornady is the difference in accuracy compared to other component bullets. It is noticeably better, but that may change when I run out of the particular lot number I have.

My rifle seems to prefer 170s to 150s, and of the 170s, it really likes the Hornady.

Otherwise, terminal performance has been the same.

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Originally Posted by Buckeye


Originally Posted by Blackheart
I wouldn't waste money on "better" .30-30 ammo. I've killed many deer with 150 and 170 Rem. Core-Lokt, 170 Win. Silvertip and 170 Federal blue box factory loads. They all perform/kill well enough as to leave little room for improvement. Pick what's most accurate in your rifle and you're GTG.


I have also .. Big bucks , a couple of big bear and more than a few bigger hawgs .. useing vanilla shelf ammo ... its works ..
This is more out of curiosity ..

Id like to try some "new tech " on a ole woods carbine.


Have you tried this "new" vanilla shelf ammo? The groups are repeatable in my Marlin 336 C and display good performance on whitetails. The InterLock bullet would work on other critters, too.

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I shot a Bull Moose at 10 yards with a 30-30 and a 170 silvertip. I pulled that bullet out of the heart and it was a perfect mushroom that lost almost no weight. You can't do better with a 30-30 than that.

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Bro, the 150gr Powermax is the supreme 30-30 bullet. I’ve killed many game animals with a 30-30, some years about 150 animals. I’ve been very fortunate to have the time and opportunity to hunt in very liberal states when it comes to quotas. 30-30 is my thang. If you are gonna hunt bear with the 30-30 and want the best results (they all work) the 150gr Powermax has no equal in the effect upon impact with the animal. The effect for me has been body jarring impacts with expansion and a half dollars size exit wound. I’ve yet to hit an animal with powermax that didn’t knock the hell out of them. Personally I’d still consider the 160 or 140 grain versions of LeverE for bear.

If there were a magic bullet for the 30-30...

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I will even be as bold to say that nuthin on planet earth will stand up to the 180gr 30-06 Powermax.

Last edited by JohnnyLoco; 03/24/19.
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Considering the fact that I can't say I get "body jarring impacts that knock the hell out of them" even with 165 grain power points out of my .30-06, that's downright fuggin amazing performance from a .30-30. There's only so much available horsepower in a 150 gr. bullet at 2400 fps... Wide expansion with larger diameter wound channels will always result in a shorter wound channel, AKA less penetration.

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Two things happened when I switched to 150 gr PowerMax back when they first came out.

First, you knew immediately if you hit the animal

Second, its the first time ever with a 30-30 folk would look at the deer on the rack and say “what the hell did you shoot that with?”

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The Winchester/Olin 150 grain Deer Season XPs shoot better groups from my Marlin, Mossberg, and Savage 30-30s than any other factory load that I've tried. I don't know if they are stout enough to be the best choice for anything tougher/bigger than deer, but man are they accurate!

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Any 170gr RNSP is a winner in the .30-30.


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Back when I was about 14 years old, I managed to draw an antelope hunt tag for the Fort Sumner, NM area. My sole big game rifle at the time was a Marlin 336 30-30 scoped with an El Paso Weaver K-4 scope mounted in Weaver tip off mounts. I studied the Hornady and Speer reloading manuals and ballistics charts religiously for weeks, comparing the performance of 150 gr vs 170 gr Flat nosed and Round nosed 30 caliber projectiles. I drew it out on graph paper, I reread all of my Jack O'Conner books and settled on the Speer 150 gr Round Nose loaded over IMR 3031 in Winchester cases with CCI LR primers. Opening day of the hunt, I killed my first antelope with that 30-30 at about 125 yds. That was 50 years ago and the first of many hunts with that Marlin, which still resides with me today. Never have found a need to hunt with any other load in any of my 30-30s except for the time I failed to grab the ammo box on the way deer hunting and had to stop at a hardware store and buy a box of 170 gr. I didn't get to shoot a deer with the 170 gr. so I can't testify that they don't just bounce off deer or barely make it out the end of the barrel when fired.


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While pretty much all the 30-30 bullets work very well I also think the Winchester power max should be a very good bullet. Came up with a couple boxes and found it to be very accurate and hit to same point of aim as my standard round the 170gr power point. Being a bonded core it should be a hair better, whether that's necessary is debatable.

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My 30/30 ammo pouch holds a mix of 170 federal blue box and federal fusion at the momemt. They both work and the good news is they shoot to same point of aim in my Savage 99 30/30, so don't have to be concerned about mixed ammo.

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I would think the 110 Barnes ttsx would be the one in a Savage 99.


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Interesting to read some of Townsend Whelen's early stories, this from the days when the 30-30 was a newer "wonder" cartridge. He was impressed with it effectiveness on game, period. Also viewed it as very good at "long range" when loaded with the newfangled smokeless powder.
Any of todays bullets are likely improvements over what was available a 100 years ago.
The 30-30 might just be an example where Partitions really are to much bullet, and todays C&C's are just right at such modest velocities.
When I look back over several decades of hunting, mostly with 270's, 35 Whelens, and similar, a pretty significant percentage of that game could have been taken with a 30-30. I should note that I am mostly an eastern woods hunter.


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I've loaded the 150 Hornady RN for several years without complaint. Always seemed to do it's job on whitetail.

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