Reduced loads for 30-30 with 100-110gr jacketed

[Kokopelli]

I have a Marlin 336 in 30-30 and I want to roll some light plinking loads for it. Because it has micro-groove rifling, I plan to work with jacketed bullets of either 100 or 110gr designed for the 30 Carbine. I scored some Hornady Short Jacket 100gr bullets. But load data for low velocities is hard to find. I'm looking to load for 1500 to 2200 FPS.

Powders I have on hand are Bullseye, WW 231, Trail Boss, Accurate #5, Unique and H110. The only load data I could find mentioned 10gr of Unique for ~1500 FPS. Do I need a different powder?

Anyone have any reduced power 30-30 loads using light jacketed bullets?

[ironhorse1]

While I have not tried reduced loads with 110 grain bullets I have shot the heavier loads.

Unfortunately the Microgroove barrel in my Marlin did not do well with the 110 grain bullets. Accuracy was poor and I abandoned further attempts with the short bullets.

If I were to try again nine to ten grains of Unique and a 100 grain Plinker or half jacket Hornady bullet would be my two top choices.

I have found the Marlin prefers long heavy bullets 170 plus grains to perform well.

If you proceed please post your results.

irh

Here's some more load information pulled from my chronograph log.

12 grains Unique 100 grain Speer 1941 1871 1907 fps
10 grains Unique 100 grain Speer 1693 1689 1676 fps.

These two loads must have been ok as I did not mark them as inaccurate. In fact my notes say they were ok at 100 yards.Cutting back to 9 grains would meet your goal.

I'll list four more loads. All loads listed used the 100 grain Speer plinker. All these loads produced large groups at 100 yards as in all over the target and are marked as not accurate.

IMR 4198 26 grains 2200 2410 2270 fps
IMR 4198 28 grains 2688 2492 2440 fps
IMR 4895 32 grains 2145 2173 2229 fps
IMR 4895 34 grains 2333 2400 2320 fps.

Real data for your review.

[ironhorse1]

When you check my previous post edit you will notice that the Unique loads velocities are very close while the IMR powder extreme spread is rather large.

Such large velocity spreads is part of the reason those loads performed poorly.

irh

[Kokopelli]

Thank you, ironhorse1. Those Unique loads look great. I'll post back when I load something up and get to the range.

[NapalmCheese]

In regards to light .30-30 loads in general (I don't have a Marlin, and I don't have light .30 jacketed bullets), my favorite is 5.6 grains of Red Dot under a 165 grain commercial cast lead bullet (Missouri in this case). I have a bunch of 165 grain polymer coated bullets as well, but haven't tried this load with them.

5.6 grains Red Dot - 165 gr MBC RNFP - avg 1050 fps

It's quiet, it's light recoiling, it doesn't lead, and it's tons of fun.

[CSACANNONEER]

In regards to light .30-30 loads in general (I don't have a Marlin, and I don't have light .30 jacketed bullets), my favorite is 5.6 grains of Red Dot under a 165 grain commercial cast lead bullet (Missouri in this case). I have a bunch of 165 grain polymer coated bullets as well, but haven't tried this load with them.

5.6 grains Red Dot - 165 gr MBC RNFP - avg 1050 fps

It's quiet, it's light recoiling, it doesn't lead, and it's tons of fun.

I'll have to try that. I loaded a bunch of 150 grain cast bullets over 6.9 grains of red dot and they were a lot of fun to shoot at my pistol dueling tree. Next time, I'll try reducing my loads to match your's.

[NapalmCheese]

I'll have to try that. I loaded a bunch of 150 grain cast bullets over 6.9 grains of red dot and they were a lot of fun to shoot at my pistol dueling tree. Next time, I'll try reducing my loads to match your's.

I went from 5.5 grains to 8 grains during development. I was in a hotel and brought a Franklin digital scale that didn't seem to like 5.5 grains, but settled on 5.6 grains (I didn't actually do any development at 0.1 grain increments). I was specifically looking for something subsonic.

I don't have the data in front of me but I think 8 grains was just about 1500 fps?

[rsrocket1]

for .308 not 30-30 but still applicable

If you are specifically looking for something subsonic, you need to go to a heavier bullet not lighter. To keep a light 100 grain bullet below 1070 fps, you need so little powder that the pressures will be too low and you'll end up with smokey inconsistent velocities with unburned powder flakes. Think about a 9mm pistol. 4-5g of fast pistol powder will drive a 115g bullet to sonic velocities with a 4" barrel. A 16" barrel will just make it that much faster.

I can keep my 200g Lee C309-200-R bullets subsonic in a 24" .308 Remington 788 with 6.5g Red Dot but couldn't get my C309-113-F slow enough for subsonic work. Both were very accurate at 50 yards but the 113 g bullets just wanted to go supersonic.





For subsonic in 30-30 you should try as heavy a bullet as you can find and start with 6g Red Dot/e3/Extra Lite/American Select/Titewad(not Titegroup)/Clays/IMR Red or whatever the fastest powder you can find. Then work down until you get subsonic. Carry a range rod with you to knock out any stuck bullets, but you should not need it so long as you work your way down carefully.

For 110g 30 cal bullets, if you don't cast your own, look at the Xtreme 110g plated bullets for 30 carbine use. Fun low recoil plinker bullets but they will be in the 1300-1600 fps range. I bought a box of these before casting and they are a lot of fun to use for plinking and can be fairly accurate at 100 yards.



Good luck and have fun.

[ironhorse1]

Going subsonic with heavy bullets sounds interesting.

Sounds like a job for Bullseye or a similar powder with the use of a filler to keep the powder against the primer.

Unique is very position sensitive so anything below nine grains would need a filler.

Regarding Micro grooved barrels I have found that any cast lead bullet needs to have driving bands along the entire length to perform well.

As an example I fired a 165 cast bullet with a short shank and a long nose with 20 grains of IMR 4198. At 25 yards all the bullets keyholed into the target.

If you have a Winchester or other rifle with regular rifling I'm sure there are many bullet choices.

irh

[Kokopelli]

Not necessarily looking for subsonic but low recoil, plinking loads with light, jacketed bullets. But thanks for the 308 data as I also own a Remington 788 in 308 Win.

I’ve used 10 grains of Unique, CCI 200 primer and a Speer 110 JSP RN and a WCC case in my Rem 788 in 308. It gives me 0.583” groups but shoots a little low. I’ve used it on squirrel. DRT.

[Bumslie]

110 grain cast and powder coated bullet.

5 grains of 700x. It's the most fun I have shooting.

I'm working the load down with that bullet

I'm also going to load up a ~60 gr round ball and use 2 gr of powder.

RIP Blitzburgh

[Khromo]

If you can find some H4895, you can cook up some of the manufacturer approved "youth loads". As little as 60% of the maximum load for a given bullet.

https://www.hodgdon.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/h4895-reduced-rifle-loads.pdf

I've worked up reduced loads to use in my "barrel burners", and found safe, very accurate loads that you can shoot all day without heating up the barrel too much. The ultimate plinking rounds.

[bigbossman]

110 grain cast and powder coated bullet.
5 grains of 700x. It's the most fun I have shooting.

I'm gonna have to remember that one. I wonder if it would work well with 110gr jacketed.....

[Che762x39]

Old Winchester 30-30 owner here.

I used the Speer 100 grain 'Plinker' and Speer 110 grain 'Varminter' which is a Hollow Point. Fun rounds that was always accurate.

[Kokopelli]

Old Winchester 30-30 owner here.

I used the Speer 100 grain 'Plinker' and Speer 110 grain 'Varminter' which is a Hollow Point. Fun rounds that was always accurate.

Sounds interesting. What powder, charge weight and primer did you use?