Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters What's out there in 30-30 land these days ?

LVR turns the 30-30 into a 300 Savage.

Anything in the burning range of 3031 and 4895 works pretty well.

Just a Hunter,

In my experience, no, not exactly. It's pretty close to .300 Savage factory loads, though.

Have gotten 2650 out of 165's using published, pressure-tested data in the .300.

What data and rifle was that in Muledeer? I love the 300 and use one for a good deal of my big game hunting, usually shoot 150s but I have a pile of 165s I need to put to use.

More in line with the OP. One of my favorite loads for 30/30s is a 173gr cast bullet over Trailboss. They have the report and recoil of a rimfire but shoot very well out of both of my 1950’s Marlins.

TheKid,

Data from Speer, using Reloder 15. Their latest manual lists 2674 fps from a 24" barrel.

I first used their data a number of years ago, when I used 42.0 grains for around 2650 fps from a Savage 99 EG with the 165 Partition. No problems even in the lever gun.

Excellent, thank you.

Just going by what my loads have shown and comparing Hodgden load data. I wonder if they made a mistake somewhere though since they show 165s slower than 180s in the 300 Savage,

Hodgdon's 300 Savage data is anemic.

RX15 for 150/170 gr Hornady bullets or cast if you do that.

We had a 1952 Dodge step side, wood bed pickup with a straight 6, 4 speed w/granny, and floor button starter.

edit: actually that straight 6 was a FLAT head 6.

It would start and run when nothing else NEWER would. Hard to be that '52.


Jerry

Isn’t it amazing with all the whiz bang stuff this thread is going this far on the old 30-30? Cast some bullets the other just to play with my 1957 vintage 94.

A lot of that newer stuff in 30-30 land hasn't been tried by me other than maybe the Hornady FTX bullets which didn't shoot all that well out of my Marlin compared to traditional flat and round nose 30-30 bullets. Leverevolution's a nice powder but eventually I gravitated back to IMR-3031 with the 170 gr. stuff and BL-C2 for 150 gr. just like years ago. Decided to stay old school because it's just a woods gun for woods ranges. In that environment the 30-30 just plain works. Even with those "old fashioned" bullets. I could pull my 6.5x55 or even the 257 Weatherby out of the safe if conditions dictate the need for more instead of trying to stretch my effective 30-30 range with heavy loads and soft pointy bullets. If any rifle loonies need more than standard 30-30 ballistics just look at it as a great excuse to justify yet another rifle purchase.

Don't be makin' fun of the "old 30-30". Ingwe tells me it's not that old of a cartridge and they do shoot now and then.



Lower left is a group from the Contender, the rest are from a Win 94 Trapper @ various distances (50, 80 and 100 yards). 170 gr Hornady with RX12, BLC-2 and RX15. Not too shabby for a receiver sight, hey?



Of late I've been doing a fair bit of work with cast bullets, this at 50 yards

Well, Ingwe would know since he held the original patent on the .30-30 cartridge.

Heard rumors to that effect.

Sincere perspective of mine is that in the real world any one of a very small population of cartridges would serve the needs of the average shooter, or perhaps even a muzzle loader or two. There are niche cartridges that do things a bit better than other cartridges of course, and they give the marketing wankers something to salivate over for a spell. It makes for variety and gives us something to fiddle with and i for one do fiddle with a fair bit of it.

That said, in response to the frequent inquiry here at the 'Fire, boil it down to one rifle/cartridge and I'd likely take the 94 pictured above. I don't eat prairie dogs or griz, I hunt the woods/swamps and can do small game loads without any grief because I cast bullets. Function trumps bling every day.

But this forum doesn't always address practical matters, Dan. I suppose that's why it's difficult to take seriously at times.

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"The 30-30 sucks!"

Half will get their back up when you post something like that. But...the other half will agree, citing cartridges they think are better.

There's another 'but'. Have someone in the industry that is respected post his or her support for the 30-30 and some reverse their stand, or qualify their remarks. "Well, what I meant was that I wouldn't use one..but it's okay for others to use I guess..."

Etc., etc., Amen.



An odd picture of an angry 24 hr Campfire poster. Is he ranting?
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284LUVR, if you were happy with 748, get more. Nothing succeeds like success!

I hear ya Steve, but I'm not falling on my sword-er-.45-70 over this.

You got an old wooden bucket laying around by any chance?

I love the smell of black powder in the morning.

Dan

There is always a disturbance in the force the first few months of the year. Hunting seasons are few (depending on where you live), and those who are surrounded by snow get cabin fever. For the northern folks, even a range trip is hard to manage.

I haven't seen anyone mention the Hornady 140 gr. Mono Flex. I haven't shot them much, but Win 748 and H4895 looked promising. Mind you, the loads I've been playing with are for my Contender.

Steve - where did you get my portrait?
I'm not ranting - just sitting in the corner drooling down my shirt-front.

I think many of us here project our own circumstances when making pronunciations concerning "what's best" or "what you should think is best". I know I've slipped into that trap on occasion. I am like Dan in that a .30-30 would suit my needs from now into the hereafter, caster that I am. I won't imagine many folks in the "high wide and lonesome" would mirror that statement. Where I live and hunt a 6.5 Creedmoor is superfluous, a .300 Magnum ridiculous, and a .375 right out there. Bottom line is it's all good. Just get out and shoot.