Howdy guys,
I'm reloading some speer and hornady flatpoints for my Marlin rifle. Using 37 gr of IMR 4350 with 170 gr.bullets is getting great groups of 1' to 1.5 " at 100 meters. The only thing I'm wondering about is that the bullets are printing about 8" lower than the factory stuff like Rem, Hornady,and Win. The factory stuff shoots 2" to 41/2" groups. I have no chrono right now but the tables say I'm at about 2000fps. What do ya'll think?

I think you shoudl decide if you wanna shoot factory or shoot reloads. If you want your reloads, then adjust your sights.

With due respect to the knowledge of the persons who have responded to this question, (and I do have a lot of respect for them) I have to disagree with the advice received. I like my reloads to be close enough to the factory offerings to be able to use them if I lose my reloads or forget them. I would try finding a different load that is close to the factory loads. The 30-30 is not used for its speed so that is not a major factor. One thought, I use reduced power lead loads for training my kids to shoot big game rifles. Those loads paper around 7" lower than factory Winchester, Federal, and Remington - which all are pretty close to the same on paper. This is out of a Marlin lever gun. Hope this helps.

I would bet the velocity with 4350 is very low, you should try 4895, 4064, 748, h335 or similar powder.

Your powder choice is to slow for the 30/30 cartridge. You may be far better off trying the 150 grain FN bullet with IMR-4064 WW-748 IMR-3031 powder. One of those pwoder choices should solve your problem of duplictaing the factory ammo speed and POI. IMR 4350 powder is better suited to large capacity cases like the 30-06 and larger.

My initial comment was based on my presumption that the topic initiator WANTS to use IMR 4350. I don't agree with the powder, I don't believe it is a good performer. I use IMR 3031 which works well in my 2 .30-30 rifles. I agree with the comment about ammo having similar ballistics to factory ammo (or military ball in mil surplus arms). But that's not what everyone wants. Some just want to use what powder they have.

That said, his question was (as I read it), what should I do about my reloads striking 3-4 inches too low? Readjust the sights is the answer.

The reload tables NEVER get the velocities right enough for sight adjustment. You need a chronograph if you want to know the truth. An alternative is to sight in for that load and shoot it at various ranges so that you know the trajectory. This is a good idea even if you DO have the correct MV.

Quite frankly, the answer is in the manual to which animal refers. All he has to do is read the book. I'm not moved to rewrite the book everytime to give a complete answer.