30-30 Loads

[ESquared]

New as I am to this whole rifle ammo world, I don't know much about the online reviewers, but I've read a few by this guy and he seems to be "tough but fair," even though he has some biases I don't care for (but that's another story). This review is from 2005 (!), but he got some darn good accuracy out of the Leverevolution 30-30 at 100 yds. I'm seeing it on AmmoSeek for under $20/box, but then there's shipping, so about a buck a round to get it dialed in. The ballistics are pretty impressive, based on my newbie knowledge base, however.

https://www.chuckhawks.com/leverevolution.htm

[Mistered]

Occasionally there is ammo made to improve the ballistics and range of what are considered to be marginally performing rounds and in the case of the Leverevolution there seems to be a marked improvement but not so much it justifies the price over conventional ammo.
And if one is just target shooting it's overkill due to price.
A real blooper was the saboted .22 rounds loaded in some .30 cal rounds to function as 'varmint' ammo. One brand was called 'Accelerator' but due to such poor accuracy I believe all commercially loaded brands have dropped it.
If I were going to buy .30-30 ammo I would choose a brand that use 125 gr HP bullets as these will give probably optimum in trajectory and velocity even though most modern factory ammo is loaded to somewhat lower velocities than in the past.
Handloading this particular bullet however results in some pretty good ammo and I'll be loading some up soon myself.

[Mags]

Care needs to be taken when buying ammo from the supplier's Ammoseek points one to.
Some of the suppliers gouge on shipping (charge shipping per qty item). Others suppliers most of the shipping is mostly amortized over the qty of items ordered.

example of the first: $19 per box + $12 shipping per box. $31 per box regardless of the number of boxes ordered. Not a good buy

example of the 2nd: $19 per box + $12 shipping for the first box ($31 box) or $13 shipping for 2 boxes ($25.50 box) or $15 for 3 boxes ($24.00 box). A better buy the more boxes bought, shipping becomes less of a percentage of the total cost.

Regardless, still have to buy quite a few boxes to get the cost per round to about $1 including shipping.

[steider]

Purchased the Henry single shot for the sole purpose of using any bullet I want in a 30-30. Ohh the shame I have.

[ESquared]

Purchased the Henry single shot for the sole purpose of using any bullet I want in a 30-30. Ohh the shame I have.

Congrats on your new Henry! Please let us know what you load it up with and how it all (the rifle and the ammo) performs for you! Sounds like you have a favorite recipe (or two)?!

[Mags]

.
Hey Steider, welcome to the forum from the TV Oregon!

Purchased the Henry single shot for the sole purpose of using any bullet I want in a 30-30. Ohh the shame I have.

[Rifletom]

I've always loaded Hornady 170gr FN for my Mod 94 30-30. Recently found in my garage a coffee can with about 250 Rem core-lokt RNFP bullets! I have no idea when I bought these or what I may have used them in. But, I just loaded up:
10 with 34gr Win 748
10 with 35gr Win 748
10 with 36gr Win 748. All with mag primers. Can't wait to see how these shoot.
Then, I might try some 125gr bullets to see how those work for plinking. Gonna be a fun winter.

[ESquared]

Nice discovery, Tom! Let us know how the different recipes turn out. ALways nice to find a stash of something you'd forgotten about...

[ditto1958]

I use 30-30 bullets. That is, roundnose, and I usually get the 150 grain. I prefer Sierra, but Hornady is usually more available and a little cheaper. IMR-3031, usually 30 grains. (One reason 3031 got popular for 30-30 is that it has the load data in its name. You can use 30 or 31 grains of powder).*

This load is accurate at 100 yards in all of my 30-30 lever guns. If I do my job, it will shoot 1 inch three shot groups.

*Note that published load data has been lawyerized in recent years, and most loading manuals say 30.5 grains is the most you can use in 30-30 ammo with 150 grain bullets. Hodgdon used to publish 33 grains as the maximum load. Did a whole bunch of Winchester 94’s blow up in recent years? I think not.

[Mistered]

ditto on the 3031 powder.
I used to use it exclusively myself and anything loaded with it was always very accurate.
Over the last several years however I have gotten away from the extruded powders as they don't meter very and typically need to be short weighed and topped off with a dribbler for each round.
I started using Accurate TAC powder for my full house 30-30 loads as it doubles as very good powder for .223 and meters spot on due it being a very fine grain powder.

[Rifletom]

In my Hornady book, #8, it has 150gr bullets an d up to 31.4gr IMR 3031.
Now, as to those 150's I found and loaded up with 748; they all shot well, with the 35.0gr load being the best, but, they all shot real well. Just got back from an all day desert shoot with a couple of friends. Three shooters and thirteen lever rifles!
Everything from .22, 30-30, .357/.38, .41 RM and .44 mag/.44spl! To say we had fun, would be an understatement. Lever rifles are just plain awesome. Thirteen! What a day.

[BigAl52]

Rifletom
What brand of 30-30 are you shooting?

[Rifletom]

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. BigAl, I am shooting a Win Mod 94A/E. I believe it's a 1985. I bought it in '93. It shoots 150's and 170's real well.

[Mistered]

The 94 AEs are pretty good rifles - in rifle cartridge models.
I had a 94 AE Trapper in .357 mag that was problems from day one. After MANY complete tear downs and modifications, polishing and the removal of a part I discovered to be a big part of the problem it got much better but was still plagued by some very common (and universally experienced) pistol cartridge model only problems. I did very well when I sold it and this is what precipitated buying my Henry!

[Rifletom]

The 94 AEs are pretty good rifles - in rifle cartridge models.
I had a 94 AE Trapper in .357 mag that was problems from day one. After MANY complete tear downs and modifications, polishing and the removal of a part I discovered to be a big part of the problem it got much better but was still plagued by some very common (and universally experienced) pistol cartridge model only problems. I did very well when I sold it and this is what precipitated buying my Henry!

Good to know. I just cannot make up my mind on another lever caliber choice. But, I'm leaning towards a .45 Colt.
Back to that 94 A/E. I didn't Know those rifles had an issue like what you describe. I would have done the same thing.
Glad you brought that up, in case I run into one.

[Mistered]

Yea the handgun caliber AEs had a lot of problems - most of it due to Winchester trying to re-vamp a rifle cartridge action to accommodate a pistol cartridge and it didn't work out so well.
You won't see a lot of pistol cartridge AEs for sale. I think most are being held onto by their owners as the prices are going up or they are winding up on Gunbroker for ridicules prices.

[ESquared]

What primers are you all using for your 30-30 loads? Headed to Scheels tomorrow and it appears that the only thing they have in stock here in KC is this:

https://www.scheels.com/p/winchester-la ... ng#start=8

Is a Lg Rifle "Magnum" primer okay?

[JEBar]

for 30-30 Nosler list its load recommendations using Winchester Large Rifle Primers ..... they do NOT recommend Magnum primers .... I use mostly CCI Large Rifle primers but that is just a matter of personal preference .... I haven't noticed that for my level of shooting the brand of primer makes any difference .... there is a marked difference in the heat generated between Large Rifle and Large Rifle Magnum primers .... I would only use what is recommended

[ESquared]

It all worked out. FOund some regular (non-magnum) Winchester Lg Rifle and some CCI Lg Rifle at Bass Pro. Don't need a 1,000 round brick, so just picked up 100 of the Wins and 200 CCIs.

Thanks for the guidance.

[JEBar]

both should do just fine .... seriously doubt you will be able to tell any difference