For those who shoot 30-30

[SRK14]

What grain bullet do you prefer? My marlin 336 seems to shoot 150 and 170 grain bullets equally accurate. I’ve always shot the 150s for deer. Just curious if there is a noticeable difference with a 170.

[Edward F]

160 gr FTX® LEVERevolution from Hornady.

[RedBear78]

I shoot 150s heavier bullets shoot good but just start dropping really quick.LeverRevolutions do shoot flatter and further but I just wasn’t impressed with the expansion and knock down power they seemed to shoot clean through and not expand like I like em to.

[Tony Pic]

I shot exclusively 150gr flatnose for years and did well with it. Then I tried the 165gr lever revolution when they came out. Now, I can keep them in just about a 1" group at 100 yards. The micro groove rifling seems to like the LR more than traditional 30/30 loads.

[tx_basser]

My 30-30 shoots same.. 150's are very accurate. I loaded up some 125's just for the sake of trying and man, those are some little firecrackers.

[txpitdog]

We shoot 170’s but only because they just work. I do have some 160FTX to load but haven’t tried them or compared them to our usual plain Jane 170s

[cva34]

All above shoot and kill well.in my 3030...But haven't tried 125 0r 130s

[RifleBowPistol]

I have only owned one 30-30 lever gun, a old Winchester 94. I loaded some 150 gr. round nose for it, shot a few targets with it, then sold the gun. So I really don't have much experience with traditional 30-30 ammo or guns. I think the only center fire lever gun I have ever hunted with, was a Winchester 94, in 375 Winchester. I never found anything to shoot that thing at. Really thought that gun, should make a great pig gun, but never got the chance to find out.

But I do have a lot of experience with 30-30s. I have hunted with 30-30 Contender pistols and carbines since the early 90s. I have killed a lot with those, more so my Super 14 pistols. I used to use Sierra 135 gr. single shot pistol bullets. With 31.5 gr. of IMR 3031, it would drop a deer where it stood at 250 yards. Those old bullets had thin jackets with soft lead, they would open up quickly, even at low velocities of a handgun. Those old loads would leave the muzzle around 2100 fps. It was amazing how deadly they were out even past 200 yards.

I have since tried two or three different Barnes 130 gr. Tripple Shock X bullets, out of a carbine. Those were leaving the barrel at around 2550 fps. I got a small hole in and out and very little blood, every deer ran about 40 to 50 yards, before they dropped. I was highly unimpressed with those bullets. But they do work very well for head shots on very large pigs.

My latest loads, have been 125 gr. Nosler Ballistic Tips, leaving the muzzle at 2740 fps. Those are quite deadly. I would like to get a longer 30-30 barrel, then work on some 150 gr. Nosler Ballistic tip loads. I am pretty sure with a 23" barrel, which is a stock Contender barrel length. Then 40 gr. of Leverevolution, I should be able to push the little 125 gr. bullets to around 3000 fps. Which would probably make a interesting combo. But, I think for deer and pigs, stepping up to a 150 gr. bullet and maybe get 2600 to 2700 fps, maybe get close to 2800 fps. Should make a very good deer load.

Then I could also have my barrel reamed out to a 30-30 AI, then I could get a lot more powder in the case. Then it should be no problem getting 2700 to 2800 fps, and probably more, from a 150 gr. bullet. But then it's not really a true 30-30 anymore. I really want to have both a 23" 30-30 barrel and a 23" 30-30 AI barrel. Use the true 30-30 chambering to show people what a 30-30 can do, with modern pieces and then a AI chambering, just to see some very impressive numbers with a 30-30 label attached.

I still think the old 150 gr. round nose 30-30 rounds out of a 20" barrel, should have more than enough energy to kill deer past 200 yards, but there are a lot of people who don't think so. A flat or round nose bullet, is not going to have that horrible of BC numbers that it won't have enough left in it to drop a deer out past 200 yards. I think they should have enough energy left in them to be lethal out to 300 to 400 yards. But the bullet drop, is going to be noticeably greater than something like a 308, which already has a good bit of bullet drop. The main problem I see with shooting deer with the old traditional 30-30 ammo and lever guns at ranges beyond 200 yards, is accuracy, then add the bullet drop to the equation. With those two factors, the chances of someone used to using something like a 270, figuring the correct point of aim at 350 yards, are probably quite low.

Some day, I would like to do some longer range testing with the old round nose 150 gr. 30-30 bullets, just to see what they can do at longer ranges. Probably shoot them out of a Contender carbine, so I know the gun is plenty accurate. First things to check would be accuracy and bullet drop at various ranges. If the accuracy is good enough, try shooting some ballistic gelatin, at various ranges. Of all of the various types of tests I have done over the years, that is one test I have wanted to do, but have yet to do. I would be very interesting to load up some 30-30 ammo with both the old round nose bullets and then something like a a Sierra Game King and a Nosler Ballistic Tip, then try them all at ranges out to 500 yards. Measuring the accuracy, bullet drop, velocity and then seeing how each performs in ballistic gelatin, out to 500 yards. Then load up each bullet with traditional 30-30 powders, such as IMR 3031, then try all three bullets with some Leverevolution. So you would have six different loads to compare at the various ranges.

I know my info, did not really answer you question, but gives you info, on 30-30s, you may not know much about.

[SRK14]

My go to load for a 30-30 has been 30 grains of imr 4895 with a 150 grain Winchester power point bullet. I have wondered about the hornady leverevoloution loads but it seems very hit or miss as to how they shoot in any given rifle. It seems as if they are great or that they are horrible depending on who you ask. I’ve also wondered about expansion. I’ve also herd lots about hornady products ftf.

[MUZZYSLINGR]

My go to load for the 30-30 is the 170gn Sierra flat point . Use the Leverevolution powder & a Winchester primer. Never had a hog take one step after a hit from one of these loads.

I do have some Hornady 160gn Flextips and some Speer 130gn flat points to try out eventually.


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[xman59]

my marlin shot both 150 and 170 gr well,,, but 170 was my choice,,, i almost always opt for better penetration in most calibers, except for prairie dogs,, then its about speed!

[HoustonHunter94]

I have only used 150's in my 1979 336, they seem to group well and have killed a lot of stuff over the years. I did get 3 boxes of the LR and plan to shoot them soon and see how they group, just haven't had a chance to yet.

[grizzman]

160 gr FTX® LEVERevolution from Hornady.

This. It's all I shoot anymore.

[Bone Thug]

This is my favorite 30-30 round....It’s a deer dropper!!

[Johnny44]

Bone Thug, please don’t tell anyone else about this. All joking aside, I’ve used all variants of 30-30 to include reloads on maybe a thousand different animals over MANY YEARS and there is only one magic 30-30 bullet. All 30-30 does the job, but if you want a standout from the rest and know if something is hit right then...Powermax 30-30 150gr !

The other two standouts are Federal 125gr and Hornady 140gr GMX, not terminally but ballistically.