Hi everyone. I used the 3030 off an on since I was young. I used Remington, Winchester, Federal and Hornady on deer. Last buck I got I used 160 grain FTX. What do you think is the best bullet for penetration. I used partitions, ftx's, speers. I was looking at swift, barnes, and nosler manuals. So what do you guys use on mule deer. 150's or 170's? And maybe someday the 94 will take an elk.

I think if you want an Elk use the 170 grain partition. And defiantly no Hollow points.

Best I guess is the one that shoots the best in your rifle and you like.

There have been endless discussions for more than a hundred years on bullet weight and brand but I doubt it makes that much difference. Me I like the 170's and Rem CoreLokt bullets and yes I've taken elk with that combination. Bottom line is, shoot what you like and have it.

If I were going to hunt elk with a 30-30 lever action I'd choose a Winchester Power Point 170 grain so that I could practice enough with it to be precisely aware of it's trajectory so that I could make equally precise bullet placement.

I have used the Nosler 170 or the Barnes 150 XFP for deepest penetration. Most of the time, I just grab Federal Blue Box 150's or 170's if I am deer hunting.

The Beauty of the 30-30 and other moderate velocity rounds is that with proper placement into a vital area from a reasonable distance, the normal Cup and Core bullets from the major manufactures work wonderfully. Buy some Remington CL, Winchester Powerpoints, Federal Hi Shok on sale and learn to put them where you want them at the ranges you are willing to shoot from. Go hunting. Have fun. Eat well.

I don't even use a jacketed bullet in the 30-30,
I use straight lead.
it does the same thing.

I had good luck with rem corelokts and silvertips over the years..These days Ive been shooting Barnes X flat top Hollow points, they work great on Texas HillCountry whitetail and mule deer, and I know they will shoot through an elk..They penetrate like hell..

I have used the woodleigh 150gr bullet with good results. The 170gr. partition is another good one.

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
I had good luck with rem corelokts and silvertips over the years..These days Ive been shooting Barnes X flat top Hollow points, they work great on Texas HillCountry whitetail and mule deer, and I know they will shoot through an elk..They penetrate like hell..

My choice too for larger game, I have also gone to them in the 308 Marlin Express (basically 300 Savage ballistics).

quote:

I had good luck with rem corelokts and silvertips over the years..These days Ive been shooting Barnes X flat top Hollow points, they work great on Texas HillCountry whitetail and mule deer, and I know they will shoot through an elk..They penetrate like hell..

I might disagree with a lot of what you post, but this is dead on. I have done a fair amount of testing of the x 3030s and the TSX 3030s It is a piece of cake to get 2400 FPS out of them with a rifle and pretty close with the carbine using LeverEvolution powder. Like all Barnes bullets they penetrate better than anything else. The huge hollow point opens extremely well. The difference between them with that powder and EVERYTHING else is night and day. There is no other load that is close.

Like all Barnes bullets, you may have to fiddle around with seating depth before you get accuracy, but it can be had. I get 3/4 inch with my 336 Marlin. I will take them hands down over anything else I have ever shot including the Hornady flex tip LeverEvolution ammo which is loaded hotter than I load mine.

I bought about a dozen boxes of "Spitfire" 30-30 bullets obviously loaded with the 150 gr. Barnes X bullet, at least I think they were Barnes X....The penetrated better than any 170 gr. bullets I tried. Not unusual with monolithic bullets as the 150s are as long as the usual 170 gr. cup and core bullets..I intended to use them on elk, but decided that I don't need to see how small a gun will work for me on elk, been down that rode, proved nothing, I really like the 30-06 and the .338 for elk..But I shot a few whitetail and one or two Mule deer with those rounds, Did great, knocked the right down..

.30-cal 170gn FN ... @ maximum velocity.

None better for taking your average Midwest deer. Should be fine too for western mule deer, and even elk.

The best bullet for a 30-30 is the one that you use after you get really close to the target. (Only ones I ever used is the Silver tips and Power Points of the 1960s.)

My sons buck fell to a 3030. Its his grandpa's 94. Bought it new in the 80-90's. My dad past on. I was 12 at the time. I'm 40 now. I shot a few deer with it through the years. Mainly using silvertips or power points. I got into reloading and started taking the Winchester out more to shoot. My son got his buck with his grandpa's gun. I loaded 160 ftx's and leverevolution. It was about 170 yards or so the buck was. The buck dropped but needed another round. The bullet did its job, i didnt recover it because it was somewhere in the gut pile. I'm thinking of trying the Swift A frame 3030 bullet the 170's with Leverevolution there getting above 2300 fps. What you guys think? The deer he got was a big bodied deer. Bucks neck was bigger than my thighs. So let me know what you think.

The reason the 30-30 seems to kill our of proportion to its paper ballistic is for a number of reasons, one is bullets have continualy been addressed by the factories over the years to perfection or near perfection. The other is the 30-30 has good SD and slow velocity creates lots of penetration as the bullets upset slower as they penetrate, same can be said for the 25-35..On the Eruopean and African front they accomplished the same thing with the 6.5 sweede and the 318 WR for instance, slow long bullets at slow velocity worked back in the day and still do today..contrary to the preferred 3500 FPS crowd..Who is right or wrong on that score makes little difference to either crowd since both methods have worked for a long time..I like both methods and it makes hunting more interested..I have no written in stone opine on the subject. The advantage of velocity IMO lies primarily in a flatter long range trajectory and at those long ranges their performance usually equals a 30-30 or a .318 WR!!

Been awhile since I've posted on anything but I do know this. Them 94's sure is sweet to handle and from my experience with them cup n core have worked just fine on moose here. Recipe for success is practice a lot, get in close and put your round in the lungs. I have a love affair with Partitions at any speed or caliber but many times I've used both 150 and 180 hardcast with great great results. Thinking about picking up a box of Hawk 190 weight and see if I get happy. What's not to love about the .30-30 but mine has been Ackleyized....better? Seems to be.

To answer your question, the 170 Remington's always did the job for me.

The 150 grain Corlokt was the favorite round when I was growing up, but our deer were small and all hogs got shot in the head/neck. Here in Utah the 170 seems to be the most favored. I like the Speer 170 HC in the 30-30 Ackley, it really holds up well/kills well. I ordered som Hawk 190fn in the .030 jacket. They shot well ( I liked H335 for them) but I never killed anything with them. The .030 made more sense to me than the .035 they load for Buffalo Bore, but hey, maybe the know more than I do? ha

Would you shoot a deer at 300 yards with a 308? Are most of your 30-30 shots at 100 yards or so? Then you are hitting the deer with exactly same energy. So that is why it still works.
All the new fangled gimmicky bullets do not make it into something else, for me.

I shot 20 head of PG game in Africa with a .338 and the heaviest jacket they had..Every one of them parted with the jacket...My grandson shot a spike buck with a 160 gr. 7x57 in the white spot under the chin, I was a 160 gr. withheavy jacket. It exploded on contact, it certainly demoralized the buck, but we chased him down on foot and shot him again..I called and suggested soldering the jacket to the core, but that fell on deaf ears...I did find them a good bullet in my 38-40, 45-70 and a 30-40 Krag...Apparantly they work at very slow velocity with the thick jackets.

All of the factory bullets Ive used worked just fine in the 30-30 and penetrate very well indeed..

My favorite bullet for the 30-30 is The 150 gr. Barnes X flat nose hollow point, handloaded or by Spitfire, Ive had good results with all factory bullets on deer. Its been around so long that the handloads and factory stuff seem to perform as advertised

I have seen very little if any difference in the 150s or 170s as to killing effect..I feel like the 170 should be better on elk, but Ive had about the same results with the 150 corelokt.

Yep, the 300 Wby becomes a 30-30 at some point as the range lengthens..I know a deer shot at 100 yards with a 30-30 is as effectrf as a deer shot at 200 yards with my 30-06. There is precious few animals I wouldn't shoot with a 30-30 at 100 yards, even the big bears if I had to..Then there was the African PH who was an American who used his 32 special to guide in Afrca, and got away with it.

Just bought 7 boxes of Hornady Custom 170 grain. Got them for $24 per box which is considered a good price over here.
I look forward to try them in the old 1893 Marlin.
I have so far only tried Winchester and Remington 150 grain. The Remingtons was by a mile the most accurate.

Oh..I just got in Sam Fadalas book on Winchester .30-30 Model 94. How could a fan of the dirty-thirty be without..

170g Rem Core-Lokt and go hunting