I'm new to reloading but Im definatly not new to the .30-30 and I was wondering what bullet you would recomend? I shoot mostly caribou and moose. For factory loads I usually use Winchester super-x silver tip or Federal power shock.

For moose, I'd make sure your rifle has a fixed bayonet, so you can defend yourself when the moose turns on you.

;>}


Seriously...do you really want to hunt moose with a 30-30? I know they did that in the good old days, but back then women washed clothes in a pan with a washboard and cars had to be hand cranked. There's alot better ways to go now.

If I only had a 30-30 and had to kill a moose to survive, I'd sneak up real close and pop him w/ a 170 gr Nosler partition as many times as I could before he saw me. Then I'd hope not to have to run like **** to get away from him before he died.

I would handload with the bullet you have had good performance with in the past. You may increase accuracy and velocity some with your handloads but not enough for the moose to know. The new option will be the new Hornady offering when it comes out. A jelly tip for the tube magazine that has had mixed reviews.

Moose and elk are way out of my relm of thinking. I have trouble dropping 60# deer in their tracks with 06s and 44mag. Now give me a sharp two blade broadhead and I am confident as everything at getting the meat.

I should have mentioned I'm a substance hunter from the Northwest Territories. I use the .30-30 lever action because my grandfather did, my father does, and I have for my whole life. I wasn't looking for critisizim for my caliber selection, I know what works. I was just looking for some suggestions for bullets to handload, I was looking at the Speer Hot-core or Sierra Pro-hunter, what do you think?

Nosler makes a 170gr Partition just for the 30-30 and Federal has a factory load that uses it so whether you reload of not that's the bullet I would use.

I should have mentioned I'm a substance hunter from the Northwest Territories. I use the .30-30 lever action because my grandfather did, my father does, and I have for my whole life. I wasn't looking for critisizim for my caliber selection, I know what works. I was just looking for some suggestions for bullets to handload, I was looking at the Speer Hot-core or Sierra Pro-hunter, what do you think?
If you're a subsistence hunter, then you know how to stalk your game. so I won't challenge your caliber choice.

Another member of this forum, William Iorg, has shot a lot of .30 cal flat points. He swears by the Speer 170 grain flat point as a tough bullet with great penetration. He also recommended to me the Nosler 170 grain partition and the Barnes X 150 grain bullet.

Please post your results what ever you go with, we would be very interested to read t.

Regards

Snow.

In fact the fEderal factory loads with the 170-grain Partitions are on sale at Midsouth Shooters Supply.

For the kind of shooting you are doing I would prefer the Speer 170-grain bullet over the Sierra.
The 170-grain Sierra is a good deer bullet at .30-30 velocities but the jacket is a little light. The Speer 170-grain is not only a tough bullet but expands at a controlled rate and penetrates deeply.

What powder are you thinking of using?

Grizz who posts here from time to time hunts bear and caribou in Alaska with his .30-30 and .30-30AI and has little trouble with the big critters. It is different for those who live among them.

If you get the opprtunity try the Barnes X 150 grain bullet. I have a prediction to make on its performance. From close range on a lung shot you will find it under the hide on the off side and I would not be surprised to hear the bullet exited. The Barnes bullet penetrates very well at .30-30 velocities.

Welcome to the Forum and I hope to hear more of your hunting and shooting!

Edit] Snow, looks like we were both typing at the same time! My dad knows several hunters from Alaska who feel resonably well armed witht he .30-30. Dad carried a .307 or .356 when berry picking but he is a very careful kind of guy...

I agree with william iorg. Obviously, you know how to hunt and william's recommendations are successful with the 30-30 for the game you want.

Dan

I should have mentioned I'm a substance hunter from the Northwest Territories. I use the .30-30 lever action because my grandfather did, my father does, and I have for my whole life. I wasn't looking for critisizim for my caliber selection, I know what works. I was just looking for some suggestions for bullets to handload, I was looking at the Speer Hot-core or Sierra Pro-hunter, what do you think?


Huvik
If you're a Subsistance Hunter like either of the two that I hunted with,as a young man,you can hunt polar bear with the 30/30.
All my experience is with whitetail deer,so I can only recommend what others have had good results with.That would be the 170 grain Nosler Partition,designed just for the 330/30 cartridge.
Frrank

Thanks everyone, I think Im gonna go with the 170 gr. Speer. I'll let you know how it goes.

huvik, Have you used a production load with the speer. I was just wondering if you are looking for a diff. bullet than what you have used for some other reason than that?

I have thought often about getting a 30/30 in a Marlin 336 to extend my range with the lever. I sure like hunting with the little guns. What round would you suggest for our small S.C. whitetail?

I think the factory produced bullets intended for use in the 30-30 are all intended for deer sized game.

For your purpose, I don't think I am stepping to far out on a limb to suggest you have a look at the offerings of Beartooth for handloads.

Cheezywan

In fact the fEderal factory loads with the 170-grain Partitions are on sale at Midsouth Shooters Supply.

For the kind of shooting you are doing I would prefer the Speer 170-grain bullet over the Sierra.
The 170-grain Sierra is a good deer bullet at .30-30 velocities but the jacket is a little light. The Speer 170-grain is not only a tough bullet but expands at a controlled rate and penetrates deeply.

What powder are you thinking of using?

Grizz who posts here from time to time hunts bear and caribou in Alaska with his .30-30 and .30-30AI and has little trouble with the big critters. It is different for those who live among them.

If you get the opprtunity try the Barnes X 150 grain bullet. I have a prediction to make on its performance. From close range on a lung shot you will find it under the hide on the off side and I would not be surprised to hear the bullet exited. The Barnes bullet penetrates very well at .30-30 velocities.

Welcome to the Forum and I hope to hear more of your hunting and shooting!

Edit] Snow, looks like we were both typing at the same time! My dad knows several hunters from Alaska who feel resonably well armed witht he .30-30. Dad carried a .307 or .356 when berry picking but he is a very careful kind of guy...

fyi..tried to order some 150 gr Barnes X, but can't get them anymore. They've been replaced w/ the TSX style. I've done some chrono work with the new TSX and cannot get the same velocity I got w/ the old X bullets in my 30-30 AI. WIll be going to the range tomorrow to see how they do for accuracy.

fyi..tried to order some 150 gr Barnes X, but can't get them anymore. They've been replaced w/ the TSX style. .

Yikes! :( I really liked the Barnes X in the .307 and the .30-30AI. Now I'll have to try the new TSX.

I am surprised that no one has yet recommended Marshall's 160 grain FN or his 170 grain LMN, with the bullet diameter selected to fit the rifle's throat. Am I missing something?

The Old Guy

Yikes! :( I really liked the Barnes X in the .307 and the .30-30AI. Now I'll have to try the new TSX.


APologies for drifting off the thread a bit...

w/ the same charge of BLC(2) I was getting from 100 to 150 fps lower vel from the TSX. Varget loads were about 50 fps higher w/ TSX vs X, but still not what I would consider good velocity in my AI.

I'm going back to 3031 to get an accurate load and then see what velocity I end up with. I do hope the TSX shows the same great accuracy that I've gotten with it in other calibers.

I am surprised that no one has yet recommended Marshall's 160 grain FN or his 170 grain LMN, with the bullet diameter selected to fit the rifle's throat. Am I missing something?

The Old Guy

He's in Canada and I'm sure shipping and customs would be a pain in the rear....

I have a couple of questions.... I was wondering about cast bullets like the beartooth? do they ship to canada? and how are they in a marlin 336? and about these Marshall bullets, what are they?

Marshall and Beartooth are one and the same. You can see his bullets on this site. Marshall and his family started and support this forum. Marshall makes a high quality hard cast bullet in many configurations. I shoot them in my Marlin 1894 44 mag for deer. The one animal I have taken so far with the round has been a complete success. You can see the work I have done with Marshalls and others help to try and get good accuracy out of the little Marlin.

I would suspect you would get the same problems as with all US shipping to canada.

When I use store bought bullets for my 30-30, It is always the Speer 170 grain. It has a little higher ballistic coeficient and has worked well for me. I have never hunted anything larger than a whitetail deer with it though. Please come back and tell us how it works for you and about your hunting experience.

I've used 170 gr Speers for about 15 years or better with great results. They're the only bullets I use in my 30-30 anymore. I've never recovered one from a deer cuz they always leave an exit hole. Even on a front shoulder hit.

I am surprised that no one has yet recommended Marshall's 160 grain FN or his 170 grain LMN, with the bullet diameter selected to fit the rifle's throat. Am I missing something?

The Old Guy
I would be worried that these or any cast bullets would just pencil on through the animal and not expand to create sufficient tissue damage to cause immediate blood loss, especially in larger animals such as moose and caribou. Shooting the shoulder bone might create enough auxillary projectiles to do that task, but maybe not. I've never used 30 caliber cast bullets on game, so I'm just guessing.

Again, experience speaks volumes. Anyone? Anyone?

i use the hard cast in my lever 44 because the bullet already makes a 44 size hole. I get complete pass thru with bone crushing performance. There is a cut off for the size hole needed on certain size game from a non expanding bullet.

Quote:
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Originally Posted by TOG
I am surprised that no one has yet recommended Marshall's 160 grain FN or his 170 grain LMN, with the bullet diameter selected to fit the rifle's throat. Am I missing something?

The Old Guy

He's in Canada and I'm sure shipping and customs would be a pain in the rear....

I was going to suggest Marshall's 160's aso. i have had great results with that bullet and IMR 4064, as well as Win 748.

Too bad he cannot get them:confused:

on the other hand, the Speer <OR> Hornaday 170 RN have also given stellar results!

Was loading some 30-30AI last night and I remembered how much easier the Lyman M die makes bullet seating.

With the thin brass in the 30-30 case, the M die is the best help I've found to size the neck and provide a slight flare for seating the bullet.

Great for jacketed bullets and indispensible for cast!

It' the 30 cal short.

Maybe we could get Hornady to make the leverevolution bulet available for reloading.

I would be worried that these or any cast bullets would just pencil on through the animal and not expand to create sufficient tissue damage to cause immediate blood loss, especially in larger animals such as moose and caribou. Shooting the shoulder bone might create enough auxillary projectiles to do that task, but maybe not. I've never used 30 caliber cast bullets on game, so I'm just guessing.

Again, experience speaks volumes. Anyone? Anyone?


Wyonative
Don't be afraid of using cast bullets on deer.
I'm a big fan of the Hornady Interlock on deer,with the 30/30.But my 170 grain soft lead,paperpatched bullet is every bit as good.I get the same one shot,on the spot kills,with much less meat damage.
Frank

“Was loading some 30-30AI last night and I remembered how much easier the Lyman M die makes bullet seating.”

The use of the M-die certainly does make bullet seating easier. With the thin brass and sharp shoulder it is very easy to just slightly set the shoulder back and very lightly collapse the shoulder when seating bullets. This is hard to see on a visual inspection of the cartridge but will cause problems when chambering the round.
I mentioned this to Dave Scovill at Handloader in a letter I had written on another subject. Dave kindly wrote back and suggested I would be better off with a heavy chamfer on the inside of the case mouth as this would help me retain uniform neck tension and a stronger bullet pull. I wrote back with some thoughts and he wrote back with more thoughts and I later discovered Dave had investigated this previously and had written an article about it many years ago.
The short story from Dave was the increased neck tension would give me lower extreme velocity spreads and would tighten my groups.
I used the M-die quite a bit loading the .30-30AI and could not see where I was having trouble with accuracy and I was happy with my chronograph results. I loaded some ammunition with ball and some with extruded powders and compared the M-die against a simple heavy chamfer on the case mouth. With extruded powders I could not identify a difference. With ball powders I received slightly lower velocity and higher extreme velocity spreads. I thought about this for awhile and bought a Lee case neck expander. I have only shot the ball powder loads with bullets seated using the Lee tool but it appears Dave had this pretty well figured out. The Lee tool just flares the case neck but does not uniform the case neck. This seemed to have a positive affect and reduced my extreme velocity spreads using ball powder.
As far as accuracy is concerned it is very difficult for me to see a difference between bullets seated in cases after using the M-die or the Lee tool. I suppose I would have too use a rifle with a greater accuracy potential to clearly see a difference.
Still, the use of the M-die or the Lee tool does help when seating bullets in .30-30AI case. I consider the use of some type of case mouth conditioning to be an important aid in seating bullets when you are loading for the .30-30AI.

I have loaded 180gn through 200gn sierras round nose for a friend using a 30-30 on black bear says they work well.

“Was loading some 30-30AI last night and I remembered how much easier the Lyman M die makes bullet seating.”

The use of the M-die certainly does make bullet seating easier. With the thin brass and sharp shoulder it is very easy to just slightly set the shoulder back and very lightly collapse the shoulder when seating bullets. This is hard to see on a visual inspection of the cartridge but will cause problems when chambering the round.
I mentioned this to Dave Scovill at Handloader in a letter I had written on another subject. Dave kindly wrote back and suggested I would be better off with a heavy chamfer on the inside of the case mouth as this would help me retain uniform neck tension and a stronger bullet pull. I wrote back with some thoughts and he wrote back with more thoughts and I later discovered Dave had investigated this previously and had written an article about it many years ago.
The short story from Dave was the increased neck tension would give me lower extreme velocity spreads and would tighten my groups.
I used the M-die quite a bit loading the .30-30AI and could not see where I was having trouble with accuracy and I was happy with my chronograph results. I loaded some ammunition with ball and some with extruded powders and compared the M-die against a simple heavy chamfer on the case mouth. With extruded powders I could not identify a difference. With ball powders I received slightly lower velocity and higher extreme velocity spreads. I thought about this for awhile and bought a Lee case neck expander. I have only shot the ball powder loads with bullets seated using the Lee tool but it appears Dave had this pretty well figured out. The Lee tool just flares the case neck but does not uniform the case neck. This seemed to have a positive affect and reduced my extreme velocity spreads using ball powder.
As far as accuracy is concerned it is very difficult for me to see a difference between bullets seated in cases after using the M-die or the Lee tool. I suppose I would have too use a rifle with a greater accuracy potential to clearly see a difference.
Still, the use of the M-die or the Lee tool does help when seating bullets in .30-30AI case. I consider the use of some type of case mouth conditioning to be an important aid in seating bullets when you are loading for the .30-30AI.


I yield to the master! Plus I have a Lee neck expander die also.

I have to disagree with Scovill a bit. If the "M" expanders aren't giving enough neck tension, it's a simple matter to polish them down a bit. Chuck one in a drill press and have at it with good wet-or-dry sandpaper. Still think it's the best thing going for cast bullets and fragile case mouths....

huvik- right? glad to see your post. I load nothing but Partitions in my old favorite levergun. I have shot Marshalls 160 grn. and really like them, have done nothing but shot targets with them. I have used 150 grn hardcast on one particular bull and it went clean thru after a "jump" on impact and walked like it did not care at all. A going way shot presented a stove pipe shot and must of been an easy 200yd range when I shot again. Went thru the left ham, thru the intestines and out the chest and down it went. When skinning I was abit concerned about what the bullet had done to the meat. Not a bit of meat damage, you could eat right up to the shot tissue.

There are too many "hunters" that often say that the ole .30-30 is a retired has been shooter-how wrong they are! You get in close, watch what you wear, keep the wind in your face, use cover and take your shot albeit bears or moose-it works. 7 plus 1 is alot of killing power-didn't say wounding power as some question but killing power!

Try the Noslers first although what Slim has mentioned of the Speers, was it? might give a try-he has done quite abit of reloading in this particular lever gun and caliber. Need any help don't hesitate to give him a pm.

good shooting!

Well thanks everyone for all of the advice, I decided to load some 170 gr Speers with IMR4895. I have to say I think I found what I'm looking for, I've been using them for the year now and I've had no problems what so ever on everything from Caribous to Grizzly Bears. Thanks again.

You da Man!!!!!!! Way to go huvik! Got any pics for the Game Pole?

yes indeed!

i'd love to see the Grizz harvested with a 30-30!:eek:

Some months ago I suggested that reloaders contact Hornady and ask when the Revolutions would be released as bullets. When they say 'never' ask "why?"

Might be the time to renew our efforts.

The squeeky wheel gets the oil.

I was certain you would have good results from the 170-grain Speer bullet.
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Grizz 106 is the guy to tell a story or two about big bears taken with the .30-30.

Here's some pictures from this past year of hunting, ignore the date stamps, and unfortuanatly I cant find any pictures of the harvested bear.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=89490&l=869d7&id=739815240

huvik - Great pictures! Thanks for sharing your experiences. Riley

huvik- I can relate to your use of & confidence in the great old 30-30. I moved to an isolated area in the Rockies about 25 years ago. I brought 3 guns with me; a 10/22, a 12 gauge pump, & my Model 94 Trapper. I could not afford a proper .270, so I began to reload, in the hopes of extending the usefulness of the little levergun. My most accurate load used the 130 grain Speer FP., & with it, I took fur bearers & deer. I used the 170 grain Speer for deer & elk, & never felt undergunned. Some of us forget from time to time that a 170 30-30 at 50 yards is about like hitting the same target with a .308 at 200 or so.

Thank you for your post. It brought back many wonderful memories of times spent in the high country, with a little "underpowered rifle". And good luck with your reloading.