Anyone have load suggestions for the 30-30 in a contender carbine? Bullet weight 125 to 150 gr.

I would ask Bobby Tomek. listen to his bullet suggestions. 40,000 is a good limit in the Contender both G2 and original.

have a pair of 30/30 carbines i pack around a fair bit....newest one is a 21" factory taper carbine barrel i got here in the classifieds around a year ago; been using 36.0gr AR-Comp with the Barnes 120gr Tac-TX for 2664fps.

The one I've carried more is a 20" stainless MGM medium tapered contour, load for that one has been the Speer 130HP over 35.0gr CFE223; chronos 2420fps from that barrel...i've shot a few deer & hogs with that bullets & it works pretty well
at those speeds with nice expansion & penetration. I have recovered a couple of those bullets, will see if i have pix of the expanded bullets.

in the pic below, there is a lump on the topmost shoulder....that was a speer 130 that went through both shoulders & lodged just under the hide.

Have found success with my Contender.30-30 using Reloader 15 with Sierra 150 FB spitzers and Hornady 150 RN. Book data is good but you will likely experience frame stretch at max load levels. Ballpark 2300 fps with the Sierras is good for sub 1/2" 100 yd groups in my gun using an El Paso Weaver K2.5. Either bullet does good work on hogs and deer.

Frame stretch is not fatal but extraction can be difficult. Cast bullets might be the schizzle for this rig but I've not tried them yet.