Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting 30-30 w. pointy bullets

I've got a Savage 340 in 30-30 that I'm working up as a Yute rifle for #1 granddaughter.

Somebody somewhere mentioned using hollow-point boat-tail bullets. I've not been able to find actual working recipes.

Q: Have any of you actually used HPBT's in a 30-30 bolt gun? What bullet did you use? How did it work?

My friends son uses a T/C Encore carbine in 30-30 and they load up 125gr. Sierra Pro Hunters. I’ll ask him specifics about the load and performance, but it seems like the perfect little tree-stand gun.

I've used them in the form of the old Sierra MK for punching paper, but never shot a bambi with one. The pointy bullet that has taken a number of deer from a 340 on our property is the Hornady 150 interlock. It put deer on the ground quite reliably. As for load data, I use 150 recipes for the 30 wcf and chrony the results.

If memory serves me right Pro Hunters are pretty good deer bullets. I've got some here for 8mm and 170 grain. At .30-30 velocities I would use something in 150 grains. That's just me. I wish I still had my .340. With a .340 you can shoot any shape bullet you want safely. Of course, in my .30-30 94 AE I shoot the 160 Grain Hornady Flex Tips which are safe in a tubular mag.

Sierra MK and Prohunters are two different bullets. I don't think I'd try to kill a deer with a MK. I don't know what it would do but it's not designed to expand on game. It's designed for accuracy on paper. But I've never tried it. For all I know it may be the best deer bullet on the planet. But I just don't know that so personally, I wouldn't go there.

Not Sierra, or any HPBT, but a kid out of Little Rock has came to the family camp over in Arkansas with a Contender rifle in 30-30, he has shot a couple deer over the years with the 125gr Nosler ballistic tip, I recall no problems, just seeing dead deer with exits.

One more point. In my limited experience I've garnered that HPBTs are for longer distances. No .30-30 I've shot was a long range affair. Even with Hornady Flex Tips it's still a sub 300 yard gun, well at least mine is. I would think a good accurate flat base bullet would serve you better, in whatever weight. JMHO.

Filaman has the simple solution, if you simply must have a pointy slug, and they're available in factory loads. I don't really see the need for them in most cases, and especially for a kid whom I imagine will be encouraged to take sure shots at moderate range. Pick a bullet designed to expand properly at the .30WCF's modest speed, and not any match bullets that might not. I've killed some deer with the Sierra 165gr Gameking HP, which is pretty explosive, but in .30/06 and maybe .308.

If I were gonna be tricky with a .30/30, I'd try some of the 150gr Speer Gold Dot bullets designed for the .300 BO. They should expand at lower velocity, allowing you to reduce the powder charge a bit if the girl is recoil-sensitive, and the 6.5s I'm using in my Grendel are pretty dang accurate. Reviewers on MidwayUSA say a lot of good things about the .308 too.

I wouldn't even bother, but if I just had to, it would be 125gr Nosler, either BT or Accubond.

Personally I would just stick with .30-30-specific bullets and be done with it. All the makers have put a lot of work into them over the decades to make them as efficient as possible. Lots of competition in that corner of the market and nobody could afford to make a lousy bullet. Within acceptable .30-30 distances there's really no need for streamlined bullets. But, that's just me.

Nope. Its not just you...


+1

I agree also. At one time I had a Remington 788 in .30-30 that I thought would be a good youth gun, so I loaded some 125 BTs for it. Turned out that to fit the magazine the bullets had to be seated so deep that the ogive of the bullet was below the end of the case. The stock was too long for the kids anyway and the kid almost lost the mag the first day. Mags for a 788 in .30-30 were hard to find and costly. Now my kid rifle .30-30 is a Contender and shoots 125 Its really well.

The 150 Corelokt has bang flopped an awful lot of deer.

I am with if its not broke don`t fix it crowd .I doubt that much improvement can be made over the standard 30-30 bullet.

I do shoot some different bullets for paper but for hunting stay with the tried and true.

I've taken exactly one deer with a 30-30 in a 14" Contender, using a 150gr Nosler Solid Base HP. I think they may have been a test run or a screw-up at the factory. My LGS had them for cheap a few years ago, and he said he was nearly gifted them by the Nosler rep.

Last fall I picked up the bullets that Pappy mentioned here. I've had very good experiences with Speer Gold Dots so far, and got both the standard 150 gr version and the Blackout version. Haven't tested them to see how much I can get them to expand at velocities between a Blackout carbine and a 30-30 carbine. I think this is a good choice for what you're after, Shaman.

Using Sierra 150 FBSP in my Contender since day one. Bangs and flops. Caution with long bullets...SAAMI spec twist for the .30-30 is 1:12 and that is not a friend of “long”. Basically I agree with gnoahhh.

Why not just shoot factory ammo?

Your granddaughter probably doesn't possess the shooting skills that are desirable for long range hunting, so a little more velocity and a higher BC isn't likely to add much practical value to the equation. If you feel a pressing need to shoot pointed bullets, you could always shoot Hornady's 140 or 160 grain LeverEvolution factory loads.

If you have a Savage 340, I highly recommend the B-Square side-mount, as it is hands down the best scope mount for that series of rifles that I've seen. CDNN is selling them for $15, up from $10 not too long ago.

Another vote for just using bullets designed for the 30-30, either factory or handloads. The old 30-30 is about the only cartridge that has bullets designed just for it, and not as a compromise to work in a myriad of cartridges..And 30-30 bullets just work. And with a new young hunter, the last thing you want is an "issue" caused by poor terminal bullet performance.

This thread makes me wish I had an 1885 low wall in 30-30.....

I've thought for a time that a nice handy double in 30-30 or 30-40 would be a HELL of a lot of fun.