Home Forums Lever Action Central Marlin 336 Lever Actions 30-30 & 170gr ballistics in JBM

Am going to use my 30-30 again in the pine-hills of eastern Washington this coming deer season.

Will be using 170gr Sierra Flat noses, and/or 170gr Nosler partitions. (Both shoot real well in my 336)

Studying the ballistics in those rounds indicate the 30-30 can stay in a very good trajectory out to 175 yards… If I sight in at 2” high at 100 yards, the bullet will only be 2.5” low at 175 yards. (And still carrying great energy at 175)

Immediately after 175 yards the170-grain pill drops like a rock, and you’d need a computer on your back to keep up with point of aim!!!

Where do you sight in yours with 170 grain ammo, and why? (Not with 160 grain FTX’s, as my 336 doesn’t like that bullet!)

Fun times ahead…

I'm sighted in for dead on at 50 yards, because almost all my shots are 50 yards or under. Even with that, I'm only a few inches low at 150, if needed.

Most of my shots will be well under 100 yards . I sight my Winchester's in 30-30 or .32 WS to be about 3" high at 100 yards for the reason you already mentioned. Just incase. I shoot the Hornady bullet.

I stick with history over just incase. I'd rather be able to pop out an eyeball at 50 yards in the brush, without working on being a few inches high.

My 30-30, with 170 CoreLokts, is sighted in at 50. It’s only 1” low at 100 and 4” low at 150. Very easy to hit with it. Most of my shots are under 75yards. Good luck and have fun!

Thanks, Tom

50 yard zero

My 30-30 has a 16 inch barrel. I sight in about 3 inches high at 100yards which translates to right on the money at 150 yards. I've discovered that all the 170 grain bullets I've tried will mushroom nicely even at that extended distance. 30-30 is a keeper! - Sherwood

Same as most of the crowd. Most of my lower velocity, shorter range rifles are zeroed at 50yds.

I have a tendency to shoot a bit high in the field, so no need to make it even higher. The vast majority of my shots on any kind of critters from ground squirrels on up are inside 100yds, anyway.

I zero mine at 100. That puts me 1/2" high at 50 and 3" low at 150. It only gets used for woods hunting so that zero works well. I have flatter shooting rifles I take when I hunt in places where longer shots are possible.

This...^^^

I always used 170 corelokt in my winchester trapper carbine. Sighted dead on at 50 yards. Still good at 100, but never shot at anything that far away in the deer woods.

Dead on @100 for me. No more than ³/⁴" high at 50, 3 inches low at 150. 175 to 200 is a backline hold for a distinct aiming point. Using 170's at chrono 2200 fps.

Manny

My younger brother shot 4 whitetail last year with his 30-30 Marlin. It may have been the first times he had shot it at game.