Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Bolt action 30-30

After watching he videos, I have one question. Since when is the Lyman #311041 a plain base bullet? I have two of those molds and they take a gas check.
Paul B.

Keep your loads reasonable but take advantage of the wonderful bullet selection out there. And don't fall into the "no advantage to a spitzer in the 30-30" school of thought. That old argument doesn't hold water.

I've been using 30-30s in the Contender for years, my current being a 24" DVH Custom barrel that is superbly accurate. Using a book load, this barrel pushes the 110 grain Hornady GMX to 2805 fps. Designed for Blackout speeds, this bullet gives soft tissue expansion down to 1600 fps and is rather wicked at the higher speeds of the 30-30. And while it expands to a wide frontal diameter, it still maintains a high percentage of its weight, allowing for relatively deep penetration. I am generally not a fan of monos at pedestrian speeds, but this bullet -- along with the 110 and 120 grain TAC-TX Blackout offerings from Barnes -- feature different technology and do significantly more damage than the conventional monometals. Having detailed quite a few wound channels from these bullets, "impressive" is the word that comes to mind.

Another terrific bullet is the 150 grain Speer Gold Dot Bonded-Blackout, which consistently opens to nearly .6" with impact speeds as low as 1600 fps. It still opens decently down to 1450 in my own testing. Speer's book load of CFE223 and this bullet give me 2469 fps, and I've used it on some large hogs, numerous coyotes and a couple of does as well.

The 125 grain Nosler BT and Accubond are also topflight choices. Muzzle speeds of 2600 fps are safely attainable in my barrel.

With good bullets in a single shot or bolt rifle, the 30-30 makes a dandy 250+-yard medium game cartridge, and I'd have no qualms pushing it out to 300 under the right conditions. My 110 grain GMX load is less than 9" low at 300 and maintains just over 1000 ft./lbs of energy -- more than enough for any whitetail or mule deer out there. .

Taken from the boar below:






Taken from test medium with an impact speed of just under 1700 fps:




Exit on a coyote with 110 grain GMX:



Barnes 120 Blackout bullet taken from hog below:

Some folks still must like those 340's. A 340C in good shape sold for $581 on gunbroker last night. Obviously a fellow could pick up a brand new Ruger American for a lot less.

I'd been watching this auction sit at $315 for several days and was going to bid a maximum of $425 but it quickly escalated beyond that with several hours left to go.

Speaking of Ruger Americans, it would be pretty neat if Ruger did a run of those in .30-30. Wonder if they'd sell any, besides the one to me?


https://www.gunbroker.com/item/891152569

And the one to me! Be Well, RZ.

Of the 3 bolt action rifles in 30-30 that I know of, Remington 788, Savage 340 series, and Winchester 54, the only one that sold in volume was the Savage and it probably sold in volume because for a long time it was the least expensive new commercial centerfire rifle on the market. Almost anybody could afford to buy one. I remember when it would be more unusual not to see a Savage/Stevens/Springfield/House-brand 340 series rifle in the used gun racks of most small town gun shops all over northern New England than it would be to see several of them.

I don't think that Ruger would sell enough American Rifles in 30-30 to justify the cost of getting a rimmed cartridge to feed reliably in those magazines.

On of the older Lyman manuals had an article about a bolt action .30-30. I'll look when I get home.

Mike

I did the same thing with Winchester component bullets for the .32 Special that I loaded in a questionably sporterized 98 Mauser in 8X57mm. Not the best idea ever but a cheap rifle and free bullets were better than nothing.

Mine is a Foremost branded Savage, J C Penny’s I think. Dad bought it for me 50 years ago for my birthday. Between me and the old man lots of deer and hogs have hit the dust. Need to drag it out and kill a hog or two. It loves the Hornady Levrolution ammo.

I have thought for a long time that it would be a fun project to turn a modern bolt action into a 30-30 AI, and shoot it at modern bolt gun pressure.

But then reality sets in, and I realize it would be a 300 Savage.

Just found an old Penny’s ad online from 1969, about the time dad bought mine. White line butt spacer and gold trigger model sold for 59.99, the Marlin lever action was 99.99. Makes dollars and sense now why I got the bolt gun. Dad loved me to death but boy was he tight with a dollar.

Oh, it's just wishful thinking for sure. But I have the dies, a few hundred .30-30 cases and a few hundred jacketed RN bullets plus molds and lead to make a bunch of cast bullets suitable for it, so I'm thinking, hey, c'mon Ruger, meet my individual needs...

Yeah, maybe, but I surely wouldn't try that trick with a Savage 340. Would be interesting as an academic exercise with a 788 or somesuch. Perhaps.

Cool idea....never thought of that one....

Thinking about this some more. (Ok, I'm bored.) With the smaller case capacity of the .30-30 making it virtually an ideal .30 caliber cast bullet launcher, considering the current paucity of gunpowder a lot more holes can be punched in paper for the same amount/cost of powder to do the same thing with the same bullets at the same sedate velocity out of .30-06's and .300 magnums. More bangs for the buck, so to speak. What's not to like?

Though not bolt actions, you won’t encounter much in the way of feeding problems with these .30-30s:

I talked to Jess about it and he said he had done a few and they turned out fine. My Marlin 30-30 that he rebored to .375 win will work with both 38-55 and 375 winchester. I haven't given up on the idea. This won't chamber of course, but it feeds like butter.

I've got a Savage 340 in 30-30. I was expecting to load pointy bullets with it, but I was warned against it on this august forum. .308 FP's are meant to open up at 30-30 velocities. Something like a Hornady IL SP 150 grain is not. I'd had a friend that used to shoot pointy bullets in his, but

a) He was doing it to win bets
b) He never shot them at deer.

The 340 is a great rifle, and the 30-30 is a great round, but it is not a 30-06. I shoot mine with slightly off-MAX loads of H4895 or LVR. Mine seems to prefer 170 grain Hornady FP's over the 150's. I've also tried the FTX-- it works fine as well.

I also would like a .30-30 bolt gun. I had my chance about 20 years ago at a gun show when I came across a 788 for $350 but, at that time, I was on the look out for a Marlin 336 SC.
For now I will be happy shooting my 165 grain cast bullet at 1950 fps from my CZ-527 carbine in 7.62x39.

+1

Brother has old Savage 340 in 30/30 which is a fun little gun I would like to load some 130 gr T-Tsx's up if I can find some time....

maybe in the fall after I retire.