Old age is a high price to pay for maturity!!! Some never pay and some pay and never reap the reward. Wisdom comes with age! Sometimes age comes alone..
Posts: 10226 | Location: Temple City CA | Registered: 29 April 2003
Nothing mentioned so far is "wrong". I happen to use WC-846, which is the surplus equivalent of BL-C2 and WW-748. Works fine, but either of the 4895's, IMR 3031, any of the 4064's, H-335, Varget, N-135, or about two dozen other powders will do fine in the undiscriminating .30-30.
Posts: 13263 | Location: Henly, TX, USA | Registered: 04 April 2001
I shoot a Contender carbine in 30/30 and use 150 grain Hornady I/L bullets over IMR4064. It amazed me the first time I shot it. The accuracy is excellent and velocity is about 2350 ft/sec.
Dennis Life member NRA
Posts: 1191 | Location: Ft. Morgan, CO | Registered: 15 April 2005
These days at least 10 powders are available for almost any cartridge one can name, and will work well in it.
In the old days that was certainly not the situation. In the '30s, '40s, '50s and even somewhat more recently, the classic powder charge for the .30-30 was 30 or 31 grains of IMR 3031 (amount depending on lot # and bullet weight). I don't believe that is how the powder got its name, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was.
Stranger things have happened. H-380 is reported to have gotten its name from Bruce Hodgdon, who found 38.0 grains of it to be the perfect powder charge for his then still a wildcat .22-250 with 50 grain bullets. So when he bought many tons of it surplus from the military and sold it to handloaders under his company's banner, he named it H-380.
Anyway, if you want classic factory equivalent loads for your 30-30, it is hard to go wrong with IMR 3031.
Posts: 9685 | Location: Cave Creek 85331, USA | Registered: 17 August 2001
It would be hard to go wrong with H 4895. 
roger
