Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game 30-30 bullets

I like the Speer 130gr Hot cor and so do my 30-30's. Flat shooter for the 30-30 for semi open country With good handloads.

The simple answer is they all work.

I usually hunt with 170 gr's. I just like heavier bullets.

Hornady and Sierra 30-30 bullets - both 150 gr and 170 gr - have proven to be interchangeable on my loads and work-ups, and shoot to the same p.o.i (by bullet weight). That said - here's the usual disclaimer that my work-ups and experience may not work in your rifles, so load responsibly.

Barnes has recently released a 190 gr Original that looks sweet, Am swamped with getting my other rifles OFF of commercial loads, so I can load test this 190 gr before things get dicey.

I am a cheapskate or maybe just lazy when it comes to the 30-30. I reload everything else but I do not reload 30-30. Why, reloading is too much effort and cost for a rifle I only take out every few years for hunting and shoot once a year if that. But more to the point, not only is commercial 30-30 ammo cheap, it is effective and accurate in my 336. The Federal blue box (I prefer the 170 grain rather than 150 grain) , the cheapest around when available, is so cheap that it is not worth reloading, If I pay $15 a box (on sale or at Wally world) I am paying a lot. Bullets. primer, powder the cost of dies , etc. will cost almost as much, to say nothing of my time and effort More importantly it shoots as well in my 336 as anything else. May be the bullet is not as good as a the pricier ones used for reloading. But the deer don't know that. If they they would probably laugh at me. But seriously it works and works well, a small hole going in and a bigger hole going out and the deer not going very far if at all..

If you look around, you'll find almost everybody is either sold out or has limited stock. I find that 160 gr. Hornady FTX (gummy tips) cut my groups down noticeably. If you can't find them, you might have to think out of the box if the flat nosed 170 or 150 grain normal bullets as sold out. I'd try the Speer hot core flat points, that actually have more of a point than other 30-30 bullets.. They get good reviews.

3 or 4 months ago, back when you could buy 150 or 170 grain FED/REM/WIN 30-30 ammo at the local Walmart for about $17 per box of 20, I would have said buy a box of each and see which shot the best groups in your rifle. My Mossberg 472 seems to prefer the 170 grain Deer Season XPs from Winchester, while my Savage 170 pump gun shoots its best groups with the 160 grain Hornady FTX. I reloaded for the 30-30 in the past, but no longer shoot them enough to justify the time and expense when there is all of that good factory ammo selling for under $20 in most cases and places. I've never seen a recovered 170 grain Remington RNCL that didn't look like a perfect mushroom.

In my Marlin 336A I have used lyman cast lead on a half dozen or so. Then I tried the Speer 130's and they worked very well. Winchester 64 has taken five with the Hornady 170's and my 94 another three with the lyman cast. I've never tried 150's but if I ever do it will be the Hornady or Speer bullet. I hunt with iron sights and my shots were under one hundred yards, most under 75 yards. Nothing like still hunting with a lever action for me.

If'n i had to choose one bullet for the 3030 it would be the Hornady ftx. I have used it in every one of my 30-30's and it has never let me down. That said i am talking about the bullet not the leverevalution ammo. I got two boxes of those and every case i fired in 5 different rifles split from the shoulder back about 1 inch. Hornady said "oh well"
I usually let my individual rifle tell me what weight it likes. My 336's mostly like 160-170g. My 94's like 170's hands down. My Savage 99's like 130 or 150's.
Put any bullet where it belongs and something dies.
My 80 year old sister used one of my 336's with the hornady gummie tips to kill her moose. One shot and down. Went in on the front of the shoulder and turned the lungs to mush. Just my .002$ worth

With 150 and 170 Interlocs on the shelf, this gift is already wrapped.

Just shoot it. Most any bullet will work at 30 30 velocities. If the doe died quickly I guess the bullet didn't fail. I shoot 170's of any make I can get hold of. My 94 is a 2/12" gun at 100 so I don't work up loads for accuracy. Maybe I should. I shoot 190 grain Barnes Originals l in my 303 Savage and they seen to penetrate well, never recovered one yet. The 303 is a ballistic twin to the 30 30.

170 Rems is all ive killed game with. Worked great on hogs.

I have killed a half dozen or so deer with my single-shot Henry 30-30. I load 150 (sierras? Not sure as they are factory seconds from Midway)and have never caught a bullet yet out to 168 yards. Just over book max load of 3031

The Speer 150gr Hot Cor shoots great too, I like the 130's because of a bum shoulder even after surgery
So I could hardly shoot my bolt actions, my 223's worked good & I took plenty of whitetails with them.
Seen a Marlin SS and I had to have it, this rifle put bullets into nice little groups after a bit of tuning.

I took a doe at 240yds with the 130gr Hot Cor, bullet went through, deer went 50yds and dropped.
Talk about a confidence builder.

My wife gave me a Marlin 336 30-30 in 1986. I haven't shot it much, but after trying several bullets, I think it likes Sierra 170 grain flat nose Pro Hunters,

I bought cases and Barnes 150gn TSX bullets in bulk a while back so have some tight groups developed for that bullet.
Also found some 130gn Speers with the small flat point so am working on some loads for it the moment. Haven't used this Remlin on game yet, but the rifle itself is as good or better than any JM I have shot or reviewed since about '71.

I fitted a 3x Weaver on it and it mated so well with this carbine that I left it there.

I also prefer( or my 30 30 prefers) 170’s, but both would work. I would just stay away from the leverevolution gummies as they tend to expand violently at closer ranges.

Load up 10 rounds of the 4 bullets you have, and do your own accuracy test, to see which is best for your rifle.

I use 170 grain Speer over 32 grains Win 748. With prepped, weight-sorted, same headstamp brass (flash hole deburred and uniformed with K&M flash hole uniformed) I get near 1 inch groups at 100 yards from my 1976 Marlin 336a 30-30 ( 24" bbl).

For the 150 gr and 170 gr bullets, Sierra Pro-Hunter FN's and Hornady Interlock FN's Both do very, very well in either weight. Both take deer well. Put any of these over a good dose of RL 15 or LeveRevolution and you'll have a good round for deer and black bear.

I'm giving the Barnes 190 gr Original RN's a spin right now, for hog/heavy brush bullet.

I use to use the 170s, but since I started handloading around 1995, I took a liking to the FN Speer 150s...

they are very accurate in the 30/30 and also in the 308 or an 06....

Friend bought a 1000 long time ago, and was competing with a Garand.... that is what he had, so I loaded it for him per his request...

he started winning matches with them....Go Figure? power I used was IMR 4064....

I have never hunted with a 30-30 though have owned a rather nice '57 M94 I bought when living in Calgary in 2006. I recently acquired a Savage M170 and it shoots the Barnes 150 gr TSX well. I hope to put one through a hog in a couple of days.