Home Forums Lever Action Central Lever Actions - General Whats the best bullet weight for the .30-30?

We seldom have a controversy here so I thought I'd start one.

Which is best, 150 or 170 grain and why?

yes, because it works.

160

170 gr. for me because my gun shoots that weight more accurately than the 150 gr. weight.

+1.. mine seem to shoot the 170's better than the 150's.

It's not like the 150's are going to add a whole lot of range to a 30-30.

The 170 shoots really close to 1" with the loads I currently have ready to go.

I load up lighter stuff just to go out and run the rifle through the gears or do some plinkin'.

Whatever the gun shoots best. Some will shoot 170 gr well, others the 150 gr.

Only way to find out is to experiment with different bullets and loads as each 30-30 gun is a law unto itself.

170's, especially the Speer FN.

I was put on to these by Slim as he has found that they simply kill better. I did a comparison of it with the Hornady gummy tip and found that it gives up very little in the way of coefficient and runs the same trajectory over a distance 220 yards.

Since most bullets at .30-30 velocities don't mushroom much after 150 yards or so, need I say more?

Snow.

Mine absolutely loves the 170 grain Hornady and 748.

Barnes 150gr Flat nose X bullet. I loaded up a bunch of these for a wild hog guide a few years ago and they really make the 30/30 into something else again.

I certainly agree the Speer 170-grain bullet is best overall. [insert smiley face here]
The three Speer flat nose bullets have superior ballistic coefficients and work equally well at 30-30, 30-30AI, 308 Marlin Express and 307 Winchester velocities.
In a variety of rifles I have found the 130-grain Speer bullet to be most accurate at velocities ranging from 2,700 fps on down..
The older smooth-side Barnes X 150-grain bullet has also delivered superior accuracy in a variety of lever-action rifles.

I like the 170-grain Sierra bullet in the 16� Trapper length barrels as the bullets jacket is a bit thinner and the bullet opens up reliably at the lower velocities.

I am the only person who believes the Hornady 170-grain bullet is in third place but my rifles uniformly demand a slightly deeper seating depth due to the wide meplat of the Hornady bullet. The deeper seating depth also has a slight velocity penalty.

I have shot the round nose Nosler partition some and it is a 2�or better bullet for me. The partition opens up quickly and even with lung shots on light bodied deer it shocks their systems very well.

Ken Waters mentioned several times that he preferred the 150-grain bullet in the 30-30 and the 307 Winchester. Ken has a lot more experience than I do but I have found the lighter or heavier bullets put deer on the ground quicker � they are all dead on their feet but they seem to drop quicker for me using the 130- or 170-grain bullets.

Interesting... The 170 gr. Speer is the most accurate of all I have tried in my Marlin. I have used that Speer, Hornady, Sierra, Winchester Power Point, and Remington Core-Lokt and the Speer outshoots the others easily.

I don't have a lot of experience with the 30-30 yet, as I got model 94AE Ranger for my son only 3 years ago. We tried a number of different loads and settled on the 150 Speer. I think this will give you the best edge in trajectory and momentum for deer/black bear-sized game (check the Speer bullet tables). Using 31 graiins of H322, I have shot groups at 200 yards which were a hair under 2". Typically 3-shot groups run around 1" to 1-1/2" at 100 yards depending on how hot it is. Hot days do open up the groups, while in the fall it will frequently turn in 1" groups during a range session.

He has only taken 2 deer so far with this particular rifle--the one was at 40 yards and blew lung tissue into the bushes beyond it and the other was a DRT 250 yard shot--yes 250 yards. The bullet penetrated and expanded perfectly--a quartering towards shot through the base of the neck and out behind the off-shoulder with an instant drop and little less than a golf-ball size exit hole.

I have not tried the 170 Speer, but that would be my next choice if the 150 would not have grouped so well.

YOU NEED TO READ THIS LINK--http://www.levergun.com/articles/3030_Rifle.htm

The 150 Speer penetrates as well as many 170 roundnose bullets and I think it should open better than most at the outer ranges due to retaining more velocity. With the 30-30 you want every ballistic advantage you can get if you occasionally stretch the range. I don't think the Leverevolution bullets are available in components so for me it is the SPEER.

Thanks for the link. Mic McPherson certainly put in some good research.

Hornady say that they are releasing their Leverevolution projectiles early 09 but with standard powders there is no advantage over the Speer out to 220 yards. Slim may want to comment on this further in regard to bullet construction and potential expansion at longer ranges.

Snow.

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The best is the one that YOUR rifle shoots best that why they make more than one weight.

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Just got another 30-30 this week and have dies on the way... Here is some food for thought in an article I stumbled on today. Sorry if it is a repost.
http://www.levergun.com/articles/3030_Rifle.htm

Several weeks ago I stopped at a local sporting goods place to get powder and primers and saw very fairly priced .308 dia. bullets from speer (130gr FP, 130gr HP, 180PSP) from $13 - $15 a box for 100 and some hornady 130 pistol PSP bullets for $14 a box I bought 2 boxes each of the FP and PSP 130's and the lone box of 130 HP's to play with and see what kind of accuracy and velocity I could manage in both my 30-30 and 30-06... When I got home i was nagged by the thought of cheap bullets languishing on the shelves of the store, so after dinner I went back and got the rest (4 boxes each).

I am going to see what happens with the 130 FP's & PSP's for deer next year unless they shoot badly. I have Rem 170' s Win 150's and lever evolution factory loads to try as well but I am intrigued at the little 130's and hope I can get decent accuracy and a bit flatter trajectory to 200 yards with them.

Also have some 150 Barnes x bullets for 30-30 coming. They are just a bit more than corelokts and will give them a whirl too...

Have fun and be safe
Patty

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That was a bullet bargain. I found some Sierra 150 gr, RN for $18 per hundred and I thought that was a steal. I have not tried them yet but with 400 on hand I hope they shoot. I load them over 34 gr. of RL-15 not max but comfortable.

Happy Holidays

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Whatever your gun shoot the best.

I have been around several old Winchester 30-30s and most seem to shoot the 170 Silvertips the best in my experience. However, all the bullet weights for a 30-30 will do the job.

190gr. flat nose cast bullet @ 1900 fps. Duplicates the old .303 Savage loading. It'll knock a whitetail ass-over-tincups.

170, of course. It's a deer gun. You don't get any longer range or impact energy with the 150, so why use it?