Heavy Hunting Bullets In 30-30 Win.

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Last Post 10 November 2019

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mashburn posted this 04 July 2019

As I've stated several times before, I'm a old gun builder, hunter and have reloaded for over 50 years. But my reloading other than handguns has been mostly with jacketed bullets. My interests have changed and I'm into cast rifle bullets, mostly from the hunting aspect. I don't claim to be a great white hunter but I've killed more than my share of Deer and I have killed deer with more different calibers than most people have ever thought about. However when I face a new challenge I'm not afraid to ask for advice. My question is: how heavy of a bullet can you shoot in a 30-30 Win and get good dependable accuracy, I'm not talking about little plinking loads, I'm talking about hunting loads. When I'm loading cast hunting rounds I always use GC's.

The forum has been pretty slow here lately so lets hear from some of you people who have much more experience than I do and get some activity going..I've read All of The Famous Frank's advice so I think I'm probably on the right track

Mashburn.

David a. Cogburn

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sudden thunder posted this 10 November 2019

I've shot medium power loads with 180 gr bullets, accurate!

Shoot for the moon! Getting older may be inevitable, but acting your age appears to be optional ....

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M3 Mitch posted this 23 July 2019

As I understand it, the rifles are easier to get to shoot accurately than the carbines are. You probably already know this, but there is an excellent article on accurizing "old school" lever guns in the 1965 Gun Digest. One thing I read there is that if the carbine style front barrel band is tight on both the barrel and the magazine tube, the gun will tend to "walk" shots vertically as the barrel heats up. The rifle style Model 94 is not set up like that and so can't have that particular problem.

Working with a 94, you will have the short throat and OAL restrictions for reliable feeding, while I have not tried heavier, I'm thinking 170 to 180 grains is about all the bullet in terms of length you can make work through the action. Just IMHO, a flat point is better for hunting, and stays far away from any possibility of setting off primers in the magazine tube.

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mashburn posted this 23 July 2019

Hello M3 Mitch,

At the present I'm working on a model 94 in rifle length. I have several 30-30's but am just playing with the one at the moment. Like I've said before, I'm filling up a notebook with notes from all the response I have gotten.

Thanks,

Mashburn

David a. Cogburn

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mashburn posted this 23 July 2019

Hello Fitzpatrick,

Thanks for your reply and Information. When I hear the word Herters it brings back lots of fond memories. You must have some years on your also, like myself.

Mashburn

David a. Cogburn

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mashburn posted this 23 July 2019

Hello offhand35,

Thanks for your response. I, also shoot a lot of RL 7 powder with both cast and jacketed bullets.

Thanks,

Mashburn

David a. Cogburn

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M3 Mitch posted this 22 July 2019

Mashburn, you never said what gun you are shooting in 30-30. I think the default guess is some sort of Winchester 94, probably a carbine, but there are a lot of other options. If you say which rifle you are using, that might help the collective give more usable advice.

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RicinYakima posted this 22 July 2019

Harleyrock, My Savage 99 is a rocket ship not a plain old "lever gun". Smooth, sleek and not a box of rattling parts.

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Fitzpatrick posted this 22 July 2019

I have a LBT 200gr. SP that drops bullets at 204gr., and a RCBS 180 SP that drops bullets at 185gr. I run them through my herters 313 swedge die just to flat nose them and shoot in my old model 94 getting 1800 fps with the 200gr and 1850 with the 185gr .with my old eyes and a marbles tang sight she will shoot 2in.groups at 100 yds pretty consistently.

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harleyrock posted this 22 July 2019

Just being a little "nit-picky" here, in jest:

"While I can shoot 210 grain 311284 from my Savage 99, it doesn't work with lever guns."

My Savage 99 was a lever gun.

Lifetime NRA since 1956, NRA Benefactor, USN Member, CBA Member

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offhand35 posted this 21 July 2019

I have been shooting 30-30 with a a bullet made from an Accurate 310-170C mold w/ RL 7 in my Encore w/ an MGM barrel, 1:10 twist. Velocity and grouping are much better than what I get from a jacketed 170gr bullet.

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mashburn posted this 10 July 2019

Hello M3 Mitch

,The 170 gr lyman bullet that you are talking about has been in the back of my mind or at least something very similar. I'm going to keep an eye on ebay and see what turns up, I've been watching for Ed''s recommendation with no success as of yet.. Sometimes you can find a bargain and other times I don't know what those bidders are paying such high prices for. My other ace in the hole is I have a friend that has more molds than most dealers. I'm going to go through is molds and borrow all of the .30 caliber molds that I have a interest in and cast some bullets from all of them and see which performs the best. The guy is so lucky finding this stuff, He bought a box of junk in a pawn shop recently and when he dug through it there was 4 or 5 lyman molds in it. I'm 75 now and started reloading when I was 19 or 20. I had no money to buy equipment or bullets or such but I had a friend (much older) that had all the bells and whistles and he sold reloading equipment and components and he would set me up for a certain load and I would stuff cartridges. I would pay him for the components that I used and leave with a pile of ammunition. I hunted every spare moment and loved to just go out and shoot and this was the only way as a broke and poor college student, that I could to keep my habit going. I was up in my 30's when I got to where I could afford to reload and now have everything in the way of equipment that anyone could ask for and I consider myself one of the most knowledgeable jacketed bullet loaders that exist. But like I said,I 'm new to cast bullets in rifles When I got serious about reloading back in the mid 70's you could buy a box of primers for less than a dollar, I've bought 22 caliber bullets for a little over 3.00 and a pound of powder for between 3 & 4 dollars. The price of components now days is enough to make everyone consider going to cast.

You statement about loading with the base of the bulle below the bottom of the case neckt is something that I've often thought of but never did test. In my younger days and I couldn't afford to run out and buy exactly what I needed & I sometimes had to improvise and seat bullets below the shoulder. I didn't spend time & (Money which I didn"t have) to experiment but I may if my health holds out.

When I saw that Obama was going to be president I bought molds for every caliber of firearm that I owned and that was a lot of calibers. Some of them I've never used. I stocked up on primers and powder. I have swaging dies to make jacketed bullets of two different caliber and did have more, but sold some of them..It's about 4 in the morning and I couldn't sleep so I think it's time to go back to bed and try it again.

Thanks for your reply,

Mashburn

David a. Cogburn

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Brodie posted this 09 July 2019

Mashburn,

NOE lists a 178 gr. (TL310-178R) bullet in both .310 and .311 gas check and plain based. You might consider this one if cast from a little softer alloy it should weigh over 180 gr. and with that big flat tip it should hit like a Mac Truck. I have the 165 and it shoots quite well in my 7.62x59 bolt (paper patched) and in my model 94. It is a tumble lube design, but if that is not you thing i think that you could fill those little grooves with the lube of choice. John Alexander has shown that less lube seems to mean more accuracy. Good luck.

B.E.Brickey

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M3 Mitch posted this 09 July 2019

It's great to get on here and ask questions, none of us has enough time to make all the possible mistakes for ourselves!

Considering that Lyman 170 grain flat point - I *think* it was designed specifically for the 30-30, and may be about as long a bullet as you can use without having part of the bullet "hang out" below the neck (which rumor has it can cause sub-par accuracy, although I think we had a thread on here more or less debunking that idea) while still keeping OAL well within specs so as to feed without any problem in most any tube-magazine 30-30 out there. An over-long or short cartridge can tie up a 94 anyway such that you need to take it apart further than I at least would want to do out in the woods.

That said, it was designed a long time ago, intended to work for anybody and everybody, but you have that throating reamer available, so a slightly longer and heavier bullet as Ed suggested might be an improvement.

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mashburn posted this 09 July 2019

Hello Hi-Velocity,

Thanks for the info. All of the information that I receive goes in my load notebooks for further reference.

Thanks again,

Mashburn

David a. Cogburn

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mashburn posted this 09 July 2019

Hello cbshtr,

Thanks for your response. It sounds plausible. I store all of the load and bullet suggestions that I get on the forum in my load notebooks and take ideas from all of them. That is why I ask so many questions.

Thanks again,

Mashburn

David a. Cogburn

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HiVelocity posted this 09 July 2019

I'm partial to the RanchDog 311-165 in hollow point configuration. This RNFP works in everything .30; including the 300 Blackout. Deer here in the south run around 160 - 180 lbs, the particular bullet has no problem dispatching them as slow as 1300 fps. I also have the Saeco #315 [175gr HP] truncated, but have not had an opportunity to do any testing with this bullet.

Just food for thought;

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mashburn posted this 09 July 2019

Mitch,

Thanks for your reply and information.

Mashburn

David a. Cogburn

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M3 Mitch posted this 09 July 2019

While I have never shot any game with them, the old Lyman 170 grain flat-point bullet has given me decent accuracy and I think if cast in #2 alloy, would probably be at least a decent hunting bullet. I mention this in case you already have that mold, or can obtain it more easily than a semi-custom mold. It's only 10 grains lighter than Ed's preferred 180 grain slug.

Although. I am starting to agree that the semi-custom makers are worth the extra money and the wait, if you measure your own rifle's throat and know what diameter you want. That said, my 170 grain FN bullet fits every .30 caliber rifle I have tried it in, giving "minute of beer can" accuracy out to about 75 yards.

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cbshtr posted this 07 July 2019

I agree with the RCBS 30-180FN, but I would get the NOE version if available. I have never been able to get an RCBS mold to cast at a large enough diameter to fill the throat of any of the guns I tried them in, that is with a softer hunting alloy. NOE molds cast at or larger than stated diameter with whatever alloy I use.

Robert Homan

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mashburn posted this 06 July 2019

Hello Notlwonk,

Thanks for the information.

Mashburn

David a. Cogburn

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