Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 30-30

i want to use 150gr hornady rn bullets in my marlin 30-30 what powder do you like for whitetail deer ?

I have used imr-3031 with 150gr hornaday and rem core-loks don't have the book right here for the load data.Good Luck

Win 748

I've used a lot of Varget in the last 5 years or so, and it is pretty good-- if you can find any. I used to use a lot of IMR3031 and it worked great. Availability of RL15 seems to be loosening up a bit, and it's maybe the best powder I've used in the .30-30-- But I've only used it with 170s.

There are lots of other great powders for this caliber, some of which have been mentioned in other posts. Lots of people like H4895 and BLC2. Also Ramshot Big Game might be worth a try.

Good shooting!

748 or rl15 whichever you have on hand or can find at the local slobbershop.

i have been using imr 4198 and 125 gr serria in a savage 340 deer go about 10 yards and fall over

All of the above are good powders. H4896 gives the highest velocity per pound of pressure.

New powder??? ..... or fingers?

One of Jim Beams offerings???

imr 3031 works great !

My "hot load" for my modern M94 is a 150 gr Win PP over 36 gr of RL-15. That clocks 2400 fps through my carbine.

I loaded some for my buddy's son to use through his M94 but wanted to manage recoil so I loaded it identically but w/ 29 gr of powder which is the list start load. My friend said his son was getting great results both accuracy- and recoil-wise w/ that.

I'm thinking that my next go-'round w/ those is going to utilize the latter load, as the former is a lot more juice than is necessary and was developed at a time in my loading career when I had a little different ideas about what a load ought to be than I do now.

I have had good success with Varget and 3031.

I don't load 150 grain bullets in two 30-30's, but load the 170's. For them, IMR-4895 is THE powder; great accuracy in a 30-30.

H4895 is good for about 2300+ in my 336 with 150s. Build up to 32grns and find a sweet spot.

I've thumped some dandy bucks with 150s in the ole dirty-thirty. Great cartridge for the brushy short range areas around here.

Good Luck

loder

I haven't tried 4198, but have used H-335 and a couple others with the 125 gr Sierra and 130 gr Interlock (not the pistol bullet) in my Savage 340. They work fine at .30-30 velocities on deer.

I prefer 3031 in my .30/30s and .303 Savage (all in Savage 99s). A while back I was low on 3031 and decided to use up some H322 left over from my .223 days. Under a 170 gr. Sierra, 28 grains of the stuff produced jaw-dropping groups. My Sierra manual lists 29 gr. as max, so I would work up to it if you try it. No problems in the 99s.

That said, I'm still a huge believer in 3031 for .30/30-size cartridges. For some reason I never had good luck with BL-C2 in .30/30. IMR4895 and H4895 produced excellent results, but I just plain like 3031.

Gnoahhh,
If IMR 4895 and H 4895 produced excellent results, why don't you like them better than 3031.
What is the difference?

I have not started reloading yet, but I have all the supplies and the powder I have to start with is H4895. I just want to learn from your experiences.

Thanks,

The 4895s do give excellent results. Truth be known, the .30/30 class of cartridges are very forgiving when it comes to powder selection. Heck an experiment with surplus H-4831 gave sweet results. When accuracy and safe velocity/pressure are provided by multiple powders, I then start making selections based on sentimental reasons (or what I have the most of, or want to get rid of). I started loading .30/30s 40 years ago and 3031 was what I started with. It has given me the best accuracy on average, with several different guns, based on copious note keeping over those 4 decades. So, it would seem that I use 3031 as the benchmark against which I compare the others.

If all I had were 4895 I would happily and cheerfully load .30/30s all day long. When it is gone I would grab a can of 3031 for a comparison. Who knows, 4895 may become your benchmark. Boils down to personal preference.

FWIW,

I used 3031 for years before switching to the 4895. Both work.

I've also had excellent accuracy with IMR-4064 with 170 gr Corelokts.