Henry Rifle Forums

I got a screaming deal yesterday on three boxes of 30-30 ammo for $15 per box. At that price I didn’t care what the components of the ammo was as it will be just for plinking. Two of the three are very unusual and I don’t recall ever seeing these before even when working for a Remington and later a Federal ammo distributor. This was many years ago. Anyway…

First up is this box of Remington 30-30 160 gr Extended Range. I googled it and came up pretty much with nothing. A little discussion on a hunting forum that discussed a .270 extended range but not specific to 30-30.

Next is this box of Federal 30-30 125 Hollow Point. Haven’t googled it yet but will here shortly.

Anyway, to me it looks like the profile of the bullet in both cases should be fine for a tubular magazine but I would appreciate anybody’s input on that. Neither box has a warning about not shooting in a tubular mag.

Appreciate your input and if anybody has had any experience with either of these.

Those points look fine to me. Have shot similar factory 30-30 ammo in lever guns with no issues.

Well as you said at $15 a box, they will be fine for killing paper.
The 170's on the left is some fine hunting ammo, and some you don't see much lately.
Heard of the Rem., but never remember seeing any.

RP

factory ammo labeled 30-30 Winchester is designed to be used in tubular magazines .... in testing each box you may well find they group differently ... the longer the distance, the greater the spread ....

Like Randy said, those 170's are fine hunting rounds and I'd think the 160's would be also. The 125's, I'm thinking ok for smaller game? Never have shot any 125's in my 30-30. Should be fun tho.

I've shot some factory 125 grain 30-30 ammo in lever guns and also a 30-30 Contender pistol and it really makes shooting a light 30-30 carbine/pistol a very pleasant experience.

Have read that back before WWII there were light factory 30-30 loads with 100 grain bullets, specifically for small game hunting that were very popular during the Depression since a lot of folks could only afford one gun.

I would be willing to bet those 125's would really put a hurtin on these small deer we have over here.
Heck I've taken 2 or 3 with a 62 gr. 223.

RP

I finally got around to googling the Federal 125’s and surprise….they’re current production. I sure don’t recall this load back in the day when working at a gun distributor that stocked Federal ammo but hey, it was only 31 years ago…..

I read some reviews that said these 125’s are a very mild recoiling load so I may save them to introduce new shooters to 30-30. My old Win 94 has the hard buttplate that can be somewhat uncomfortable to smaller stature shooters.

as I remember, my Grandfather had a box of 110 gr factory 30-30's .... he preferred 170gr Winchester Silvertips .... no clue what happened to the 110's