Fooling around with the 30-30

[bigbossman]

I like my Winchester '94. I shoot it quite a bit, and have reloaded for it for some time. I like to shoot metallic silhouette, and am pretty good at it. Long ago I had established a couple of pet loads for this caliber, one using a 150gr jacketed RN, and another using Hornady's 160gr FTX flex tip that they designed specifically for lever guns. Both loads are good performers, and accurate.

A while back I traded into a pile of Sierra 125gr jacketed HP flat points, and did a work-up on them. In the 1st match I used them, I confined them to the short yardage targets and proceeded to slaughter the chickens and the pigs, knocking down 9 and 8, respectively. I used the heavier bullets for the rams and turkeys and did quite well there as well, eventually winning the match. Later, I got my hands on some Speer 110gr jacketed HP flat points, and had similar results. Hmmm.... Good Deal - these were a lot cheaper than the 150gr RN's and the 160gr FTX's....... a lot cheaper.

Now, I know I'm not breaking any new ground - a lot of competitive shooters have different loads for different yardages, and a lot of folks use lighter bullets for plinking. But none of the guys I shoot with go below 125gr for their 30-30's. Anyhow, over the last holiday weekend, I had some idle time and got to thinking - I had a big bag of 30 carbine 110gr FMJ RN in the garage that I picked up somewhere, and I got to wondering. So I loaded up a few and took them to the range for a spin. I was mildly shocked that they performed as well as they did, and damn near as accurate as my 160gr FTX "pet load". And they only cost $10/100. Accurate and inexpensive, and lighter recoil to boot. Another reliable chicken-killer, at only 23 cents a round to produce.

Again - probably not breaking new ground, and I'm sure many of you guys have been doing this for years. But I'm a self-taught shooter and reloader, and it was new news to me. One thing I did notice was that I had to seat the bullet back farther than I would have thought, as apparently the ogive on the carbine bullet has absolutely no taper as compared to the other bullets, and can get jammed into the lands easier than you would think.

Anyway - take a look......

The bullets:


50 yard off-hand target with the carbine bullets:


For comparison, a 50 yard target with the "premium" 160gr Hornady FTX bullets:


And the Speer 110gr Jacketed FN bullets:

['ol shooter]

Very interesting post, never would have thought of using those. I have a 94, but also have a .30-30 barrel for my Contender and wondering how they might fly with the 14" barrel. Are those Armscor bullets?

[CGT80]

Just last night, I was considering the same thing. I have some 110 jhp for the M1 but it just doesn't seem to like those (feeding issues). Now, I am using 113 cast round nose gc that I make and I thought about burning up that box of jhp's in the win 94 30-30. My sights stay set in place and I know my hold over for each animal with my 180 cast over 9.6 of herco (1300 fps). It works well for chickens at 50 all the way out to chickens again at 120 (instead of rams at 200).

Some red dot under those 110's might be similar to my pet load. Full loads seem like a waste for what I do, but I haven't tried them to see how the recoil is. 170 grain over 4895 is more beating than I like to take and overkill for our competition.

I have run 38spl/357 copper plated hollow points in a 35 remington lever action rifle with red dot powder. They are very light loads, but do fine for ringing a 6" plate at 100 yards. My neighbor complained about his factory loads and the recoil, but he hasn't tried these out yet. He will probably giggle like a school girl when he compares them.

[Capt.Dunsel]

Tried those bullets over 10 gr of unique , they work real well in my contender and my lever gun .

Use this load at your own risk , just to cover my butt .

[bigbossman]

Very interesting post, never would have thought of using those. I have a 94, but also have a .30-30 barrel for my Contender and wondering how they might fly with the 14" barrel. Are those Armscor bullets?

Yes, Armscor bullets. A while back, I was shopping for "something I don't remember", and needed to round the order out to get free shipping. I saw these bullets at $10/100 and ordered a bunch ( I love a deal!). I never got around to loading for my carbines because I'm still sitting on a ton of milsurp ammo, so these got pushed to the back of the cabinet...... until now.

Just last night, I was considering the same thing. I have some 110 jhp for the M1 but it just doesn't seem to like those (feeding issues). ....... My sights stay set in place and I know my hold over for each animal .........

I have run 38spl/357 copper plated hollow points in a 35 Remington lever action rifle with red dot powder. They are very light loads, but do fine for ringing a 6" plate at 100 yards. .

Interesting reply - I was thinking of using these bullets in my 1903A3 for the chickens at 200 meters... Hmmmmm.

Also - we are of the same mind. My sights are set in place and zeroed for turkeys. Everything else is hold over or under, but it is amazing to me that the apparent rise and drop of the 30-30 is so minimal between the chickens and the rams. really not much difference in sight picture at all.

Your mention of the 38spl/357 copper plated hollow points in a 35 Remington has got me thinking of buying a 35 Remington lever gun now. Gee, thanks.

Tried those bullets over 10 gr of unique , they work real well in my contender and my lever gun .

I think 10gr of Unique is pretty much the standard load for just about everything.

[highpower790]

When i had a 30-30 ,I once experimented with the use of Sierra 168hpbt.Single loaded and so long ago I don't remember the results.

[bigbossman]

When i had a 30-30 ,I once experimented with the use of Sierra 168hpbt.Single loaded and so long ago I don't remember the results.

I'm sure they would work very well. The problem with them is that silhouette competition rules require that you load all five rounds in your rifle for your target array.

['ol shooter]

Boss Man and Dunsel, what was the case OAL you seated to?

[bigbossman]

Boss Man and Dunsel, what was the case OAL you seated to?

I seated this Armscor bullet as far into the chamber as I could with out jamming it into the lands, and that turned out to be a COAL of 2.419. The puts the bullet (in my gun) just touching the lands. All the other bullets I use have a cannelure, so I seat to that and crimp. I find that the '94 doesn't seem too picky about where the bullet is - if it closes easily in the chamber, it works fine.

I also put a mild crimp on them, just to keep then in place.

[Wrangler John]

This brings back memories. Back in the 1970's through 1990 I shot a lot of IHMSA Silhouette matches. I went to a 15" Contender for an unlimited gun. Thing shot well enough to keep me in the International Class, but wasn't all that ideal. I just looked up the old RCBS die box (manufactured date 1978), and inside were two loads I used.

One used the Hornady 130 grain Spire Point, today I suppose that would equate to the 130 grain SP (#3020), in Winchester cases, loaded with 34.0 grains of H-335, and sparked by the Federal 215 Magnum Primer.

The other load used Remington cases, 34.0 grains of H-335, the Federal 215 Primer and the 130 Speer HP bullet. Back then there was the belief that hollow point jacketed bullets acted like full metal jacketed bullets on steel targets, but I never got close enough to know.

Both loads shot around 1" for 10 shots at 50 yards with open sights, but I had 20/15 vision then.

These loads are not suitable for tubular magazines of course, but they really sang in the Contender. 34.0 grains of H-335 is listed as MAXIMUM for the 130 grain bullet, and the Federal 215 Primer will add a bit of boost, so if anyone is goofy enough to try this, drop back and work up, remembering that rimmed cases don't announce signs of high pressure as readily as bottlenecked cases. Also when I fired from the Creedmoor position I had my leg protected with a blast shield containing 19 layers of Kevlar. Also, these Contender cases were headspaced on the shoulder, to just the point where the action would snap closed. Ah, the old days.

['ol shooter]

This brings back memories. Back in the 1970's through 1990 I shot a lot of IHMSA Silhouette matches. I went to a 15" Contender for an unlimited gun. Thing shot well enough to keep me in the International Class, but wasn't all that ideal. I just looked up the old RCBS die box (manufactured date 1978), and inside were two loads I used.

One used the Hornady 130 grain Spire Point, today I suppose that would equate to the 130 grain SP (#3020), in Winchester cases, loaded with 34.0 grains of H-335, and sparked by the Federal 215 Magnum Primer.

The other load used Remington cases, 34.0 grains of H-335, the Federal 215 Primer and the 130 Speer HP bullet. Back then there was the belief that hollow point jacketed bullets acted like full metal jacketed bullets on steel targets, but I never got close enough to know.

Both loads shot around 1" for 10 shots at 50 yards with open sights, but I had 20/15 vision then.

These loads are not suitable for tubular magazines of course, but they really sang in the Contender. 34.0 grains of H-335 is listed as MAXIMUM for the 130 grain bullet, and the Federal 215 Primer will add a bit of boost, so if anyone is goofy enough to try this, drop back and work up, remembering that rimmed cases don't announce signs of high pressure as readily as bottlenecked cases. Also when I fired from the Creedmoor position I had my leg protected with a blast shield containing 19 layers of Kevlar. Also, these Contender cases were headspaced on the shoulder, to just the point where the action would snap closed. Ah, the old days.

Thanks for your input.