Home Forums Lever Action Central Marlin 336 Lever Actions 30-30AI

I just recently picked up a Marlin 336 30-30 and have been thinking of going to the 30-30AI cambering. Can anyone tell me about the 30-30AI. Is there much or a gain over the standard 30-30. How much pressure can the 336 withstand.

Can't see where it buys much over a 30-30 shooting the LE ammo. An it's easier to tune the rifle to shoot LE well than it is to rechamber one in 30-30AI

QM said it. If you shoot factory ammunition, the Hornady LeveRevolution will give you similar performance from the 20� barrel.
I�ll admit my Winchester rifles deliver better accuracy with the Hornady ammunition than my Marlin 336.
I have handloded and hunted with the 30-30AI for quite awhile and I find it an easy cartridge to work with. I know I have loaded the 30-30AI above 50,000 CUP for hundreds of rounds in three rifles with no indication of wear on the rifles.

In my 20� Winchester Model 94AE the 160-grain Hornady LeveRevolution ammunition just nudges 2,300 fps.

In my Winchester and Marlin 30-30AI rifles, 2,300 to 2,350 fps delivers the best accuracy and the quickest kills on our light frame West Texas deer.
Maximum 30-30AI velocities with the 20� barrel will exceed 2,400 fps using Hodgdon Varget and Alliant Reloder 15. 2,300 fps was my target velocity for the 30-30AI and I had no difficulty achieving this speed with a variety of powder.

Most shooters don�t realize the fantastic performance of the standard 30-30 WCF fired in the 26� barrel rifle. Our 26� Buffalo Bill will deliver velocities above 2,375 fps with the Hornady LeveRevolution.

The 308 Marlin Express will deliver 2,300 fps from the 22� barrel rifle with the 170-grain Speer bulet and the cartridge is easier to handload than the 30-30AI.
Marlin has taken extra care fitting the locking bolt to the sliding bolt and has used nylon slide strips between the forend and the barrel. These and a few other little tricks have resulted in a rifle/ammunition combination that challenges the Handloader to beat for accuracy and power.

With the 308 Marlin Express there is no compelling reason to Improve a 30-30. You can have a lot of fun with the 30-30 and when the new canister powders become readily available, we have something new to try.

I wonder how many Remington M788s in .30-30 have been
AIed over the years.

Sounds like you want a 32 Win Special...

I have seen one 788 reamed to 30-30AI. This one was at gun show in San Angelo. It sold but I don�t know who got it and have never seen it on the range.

The BEST resource for the 30-30 AI cartridge:

- Winchester's 30-30 - Model 94 by Sam Fadala. Sam gets 300 Savage performance (safely) from his custom rifle featuring 24 inch barrel.



I owned a classy single shot 30-30 rifle for a time. Savage model 219 with custom stocks and AI chamber. Barrel was 22 inches long. I loaded Sierra 125 grain pointed soft tip bullets for genuine 200 yard deer killing performance. It was a KEEPER but I traded it during a moment of temporary insanity.

Sherwood

I have several 30-30AI's it is one of my favorites in the Contender. I run 150's from the 14 inch pistol at 2367 and get 2540 from a custom 20 in carbine tube. That is not much behind my .300 Savage and about 200 fps slower than my 308 win in a 20 in length. I like the fact that I can shoot factory ammo in either barrel and get good hunting accuracy and fired brass for the AI. With 125 NBT's it is a good long range yote hammer while still having good performance on deer and lopes, I believe I am getting around 2700 from the carbine with the 125 nbt.
I also have a old 788 rechambered in 30-30AI but it has magizine constraints that limit the improvement I think as I need to seat bullets deeper to fit the mag. Not a problem in the single shots.
A friend has an old Savage bolt gun (can't remember the model) that also suffers from mag constraints. It has been cut to 18 inches as well and really shows no improvement over his old lever gun in 30-30.
I load a lot of cast bullets in the AI for fun and fireforming cases. A 180 gr cast Flat point knocks deer down plenty fast and is mild to shoot and has little report.
Actually just like the parent cartridge it is a good deer killer, pretty versitle, lots of bullet choices for the handloader, accurate and easy shootin and effective.
All my other 30 calibers have been sittin in the safe dreamin about deer huntin while the 30-30AI has been makin meat

In the 20� barrel lever-action carbine, my velocity goal for the 110-grain bullets was 3,000 fps.
For the 125- and 130-grain bullets, my goal was 2,700 fps.
For the 150-grain bullets, my goal was 2,500 fps. For the old smooth side Barnes X I looked for 2,300 fps - later dropped to 2,250 fps foe best accuracy.
For the 170-grain bullets, I originally wanted 2,300 fps and with newer powders this was raised to 2,350 fps.

ALL of my velocity goals were easily met in both the Winchester and the Marlin rifles with a wide variety of powders.
I have Sam Fadala�s Model 94 book and enjoy reading it. Fadala relied primarily on barrel length for his velocity increases and wrote that he was not seeking highest velocity with his 30-30 Improved.