Ah, a great cartridge for a handy little carbine.

Yet, it is most often overlooked today for much more powerful, trendy and "cool" cartridges.

I need to load up a bunch of them, and want to see what works for others too.

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Lost it all in a boat accident

I have one that uses some older data from Lee's first edition. They no longer recomend this much powder.

Winchester case
WLR primer
Sierra 170 gr
H4895 32.0 gr

I worked up to this as it was a max load at the time. As previously stated this is now an over max load. I have a 24" barreled Marlin that shoots some mighty fine groups with this combo. One of my best was a three shot group at 50 yards with iron sights you can cover with a quarter.

B

I thought long and hard about rolling my own for my Winchester 30-30, but with factory stuff around $15 for a box of 20, it wouldn't be prudent for me.

I am a huge fan of the 30-30 and the lever guns that use it. I have used different loads over the years, but all I ever use now it 32.0 grains of Varget under a Sierra ProHunter 170 grain bullet. I use Winchester brass and Winchester large rifle non magnum primers. It kills stuff dead.

I have been using this for 45 yrs.
Win. brass and standard primer
33 grs. IMR 4895
170 gr. Hornady
Works on everything from snakes to deer.
Larry

Re 7

30 gr 125 grain bullet

28 gr 150 grain bullet

__________________
To be a rock and not to roll

Been a long time sense I've loaded for the 30-30, but the powder I found that worked the best was IMR3031, don't remember how much I used, take a look in your loading manuals and find a load for this powder.

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John

W748, Fed mag primers and Speer jsp 30-30 150/170 grain bullets.

Sierra 135 grain SP/SSP, 29.5 grains IMR 4198, CCI 250 primers in a Remington case out of 12" TC Contender.

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Love the .30-30 and have used it to take several deer over the years. Works great every time.

My favorite bullet weight is the 170 grain. A 170 grain Sierra flat nose served up over 31.5 grains of IMR 3031 has a muzzle velocity of 2193 fps from a 20-inch barrel along with 1816 ft./lbs. of energy.

Some like the slightly higher velocity of the 150 grain flat nose .30-30 bullet. I've worked up a good accurate load in my rifle but never used it to take deer.

150 grain Remington with 27.5 grains Reloder 7 yields a muzzle velocity of 2205 fps with 1616 ft./lbs. of energy.

A neat little accuracy load that works well in my bolt action .30-30 rifle is the Sierra 125 grain flat nose bullet over 37.0 grains of AA2520. This clocks 2568 fps with 1831 ft./lbs energy. It groups well at 100 yards and would be fine on Texas whitetails with good shot placement though I've not personally used it.

These loads were worked up in a couple of Winchester 94 carbines, one from 1941 and one from 1966. My favorite .30-30 though is this 1928 Winchester Model 54 carbine. It's very accurate on the range and it makes a great stalking rifle. All deer I've taken have been with it.



I can get away with using spitzer bullets in the bolt action Model 54 but it will not shoot them as accurately. Just a peculiarity of the rifle I suppose.

In the for-what-it's-worth department, I have a pre-war Winchester Model 94 carbine in .32 Special. Both the 94 .32 Special and the Model 54 .30-30 have 20-inch barrels with perfect bores. I once obtained fresh factory boxes of Winchester .30-30 170 grain loads and Winchester .32 Special 170 grain loads and chronographed them side by side.

The .30-30 load gave a muzzle velocity of 2104 fps and the .32 Special load gave a muzzle velocity of 2114 fps. A whopping 10 fps difference between the two, using the same weight bullet.

Just in case someone is wondering about the relative performance of the two rounds.

15.5 grains of 2400 under a Lee C309-150-F in Remington cases with CCI standard primers. Accurate as any factory ammo in my Marlin 30AS and very inexpensive.

I like 8 grains of Red Dot behind a 180 grain cast plain base. Slow, fun, accurate target load. Cheap, too...

I know some guys using spitzers in lever guns, but they only put one in the tube, and one in the chamber. I'm not a reloader, so I stick with factory loads.

My initials impression of the Hornady LEVERevolution are that is very accurate and consistent. I have only shot a box so far, and that was with a new rifle. We will be sighting in scopes next week, and like to push it to about 150 yds. with the 30 30s. I'l give a full report. I might even try to scare up a chrono, and give some velocities.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I just loaded 100 rounds this morning. I have an H&R Topper 158 single shot with a 22" barrel so I can load all styles of bullets. I loaded Sierra 125gr spitzers today using 35.0 grains of IMR 4064. COAL is 2.670. I sighted in my rifle this afternoon sitting in a lawn chair and using a 55 gallon drum for a rest. 3 shot groups at 100 yards were about 3/4" CTC. I bought this gun from Western Auto in Bonifay FL when I was 14. It has been a fist deer gun for countless numbers of my son's friends. Really cool little gun.

Good luck with what ever you decide to load..

SC

I've been loading 28.0 grains of Reloder 7 behind a 150 gr Winchester FP, RP brass & primers. Runs 2160 fps out of a 24" barreled Marlin and shoots MOA.

At the range today. Shot some Lee 150 gr as cast, no gc, no sizing, just tumble lube and load up with 7.5 gr Unique. Worked great, accurate, no recoil, little blast. I only loaded 20 to test in near new Marlin. I'm going to load up a bunch more.

165gn Missouri RNFP over 7.5 gn Trailboss
Light load for practice and plinking

160gn HDY FTX over 28.2gn IMR 4895
Reach out and touch

Man,
You guys gotta try the new Leverlution 160g @ around 2200fps with 4895.

I've never seen a 30-30 shoot that good before. I don't have a 30-30, but my reloadin buddy just bought some tips and ran em in a savage bolt. VERY IMPRESSIVE. We just sighted the gun in with em...gettin easy 1/2" groups @ 100yds.

In my contender,
150 GR BT on top of 33 grains 3031.
130 GR Speer FP 36 GR 3031

Thanks guys! So many pet loads to try!!!

Now, I guess I'll have to add a couple more versions of .30-30's to the fold such as a Savage bolt rifle and one of the Rossi levers.

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Lost it all in a boat accident

31.0 gn of IMR3031 behind a Sierra 125gn RN yields 2460FPS @ 15ft with a StDev of 23.6FPS. I load 28.7gn of IMR3031 with a 150gn RN...