Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 30-30 Win and Leverevolution powder

For anybody who is interested I recently completed some tests using Hodgdon Leverevolution powder and the 30-30 cartridge. My brother in law has a 1894 winchester chambered for the 30-30 cartridge and he is new to reloading and he wanted me to help him with developing some accurate loads for close range deer hunting.. We settled on 150 gr sierra flat nose bullets and after going through some of my reloading manuals we decided to try winchester 748 powder, I also had some Leverevolution powder on hand that worked well with my Tc contender 25-35 so we decided to try it also. We worked up to 34.5 gr with the 748 powder, we got 2182 fps with that load, the leverevolution ran away from the 748 loads, 37.5 gr got us a five shot average of 2353 fps. Accuracy was next, using open sights at 40 yards the 748 shot groups that averaged 1 3/4 inches, the leverevolution shot a group that measured .409. The other suprise was when we chronographed five rounds for average velocity we got an extreme spread of 12 fps and a standard deviation of 4, prior to this the best standard deviation I got was 9. We were using new winchester brass and federal 210 primers, the rifle we used had a 20 inch barrel, Hodgdon reloading data shows 2530 fps with 38.5 gr of Leverevolution, they used a 24 inch barrel. I was not sure what to expect because I tried Hodgdon superformance in my 300 wsm and it was a dissapointment.

I have played with the Leverevolution powder a bit and it really does perform as advertised. I also saw very low ES.

thanks for posting....I got to try that stuff soon....

I have too many powders on hand and havent sprung for the leverevolution stuff ....yet. I picked up my first 30-30 this spring. A well used 1969 model that wasn't abused by wasn't babied either.
Anyhow I put on a 2-7 ballistic plex burris and also picked up some of the nosler 30-30 blem bullet ballistic tips from shooters proshop.
I haven't tried em on game but the jacket looks great. It is thin till it gets down to the cannelure where it really gets stout.
Accuracy was unreal. It shot groups 1/2 the size of what I get with speer 150 flat points. Here is a pic of 5 shots at 100yds. A real .77" c to c. 34 grains h4895 has them doing 2350 out of my 20" barrel and is a hodgdon manual load.
If you could pick up a little velocity with the lever powder plus maintain this accuracy it would be scary good.

FWIW---I did a little hillbilly test on that bullet to mirror a 300 yd hit. Here is a cat litter jug of water with a piece of plywood.
I loaded down to 1400 fps and put it into the jug and through the ply wood. Will it work on Deer at 300 yds? Maybe...it sure did will killing a jug of water. Wood damage would certainly be enough if it was doing the same damage to heart and lungs.

Those are impressive groups KrackY. We took the rifle to a local gunsmith to have it set up for a scope, due to the fact that it is a top eject a side mount will have to be installed. As far as Leverevolution powder goes I was impressed at the accuracy, the max load that we used was not showing any signs of pressure, ejection was easy, no ejector marks, primers were starting to get flat so that is why we stopped at where were at.

The data on Lever is impressive.

Measuring iron sight groups to the nearest thou of an inch? Cracks me up!

Just to satisfy you, the group measured .40, you ok with that.

Kraky, I had a 170 grain Hornady completely penetrate a deer at 236 yards, with a fairly impressive spray of blood on the snow. the bullet was started out at 2184 fps.

Someone forgot to tell the bullet and the deer that the bullet was supposed to just bounce off....

Leverrevolution is by Hornady,not Hodgson.

Stan in SC

In my early hunting days I used the 30-30 a lot on mule deer and antelope. I found that the 150 grain Speer flat noses pushed to 2250 fps tended to expand very little past 175-200 yards but penetrated very well. I had to shoot several animals more than once but I still got em.

Ammo by Hornady, powder by Hodgdon.

I've yet to have a 170 gr bullet of any kind stop in a deer except on a lengthwise shot. I killed one at 314 yds with a 150 gr. core-lokt over 33 gr.s IMR 3031. It was a broadside shot that broke the onside shoulder and the bullet exited just behind the offside shoulder. The deer went down in 30 yds..

I ran some LVR out of a Staineless 336 30-30 last year.

Fair groups with good velocity...




My rifle didn't care for the 140 gr. Hornady

Thanks Freddy for all your help, that's the second screamin and accurate load that you have worked up (the other was a 270 WSM)and it has proven itself in the field already. edthefed