Hi
3030 loaded with 165-170 gr spbt @2300+ would do a nice open country loading (off cours in single shot or other than tubulair magazins). if you have experience with such loads and have some good loading data. please share your knowledge with me.
regards
danny

I just use my .30-30 for hunting so I've never loaded them with the boat tailed style but a couple of friends do for their bolt action rifles for silhoutte shooting. It depends on the gun of course but to achieve those velocities, a 150 grain bullet or lighter is usually required. Most of the BT type bullet are designed for more powerful cartridges and do not expand very well at typical .30-30 velocities. This is fine for targets but not real useful on game. There are however several bullets in the 125-135 grain range that do very well as game bullets. I've used Remington 125 gr. PSP, Hornady 130 gr. SP and Sierra 135 gr. SP in single shot Contender pistols with excellent results and you should be able to drive them in the 2500 fps range in a rifle.

Cheers Courtney.

Danny, I don't think that (despite what some on this forum might think) you can necessarily safely load the 170s to 2300 fps in the standard .30-30. In my Contender, the best I can do is 2200 fps with the 170 and that load gives very nearly exactly the same speed in my M94 Winchester. It is tops and works very well on out to 200. If you want to get faster you have to drop bullet weight. Most .30-30s I've owned or loaded for, did not do well when the velocity of lighter bullets got above a certain level. E.g. 110 gr. bullets above 2600 fps. I don't know why, and it didn't apply to all. Not all guns will take the pointy 150s either. The best 150 I've found for the .30-30 is the Speer Mag Tip. The ogive is right for a wide range of .30-30s, AND it works well at top loadings. With the 150s, I've had my best luck with W748 but I imagine that BL(C)2, H322, IMR 3031, IMR 4064 and some others will also work well, depending on the gun.

To boost speed, I would go with a 150 gr Win Power Point or 130 gr Hornady Interlock. (Use the Interlock and not the 130 gr .308 pistol bullet.) Stay away from boattails, because there isn't much room in the .30-30 case already - why use it up with a boattailed bullet? It's not like you'll be shooting at 600 yards... A 125 gr Sierra or Remington bullet also works well on smaller deer at .30-30 velocities.

H-335 and BLC-2 both work well.

Hi
Thanks for replies. I do myself reload with 125 sierra in front of 33 gr Norma 202 and i get 2400 fps in my savage 24v and 2300 fps in my savage 340 with shorter bbl.i beleive the heavier 165 ge hornady sp bt would give somewhat better down range energy.yes cas capacity is a problem with heavier longer bullets,but reloders data gives a 2300 fps ve with R15 powder. unfortunatley I am not able to find this powder in Sweden.
regards
danny

Danny;

RL 15 is made in Sweden for Alliant Tech Systems.

I am sure a little research, or contacting Alliant via Email and they should be able to tell you who is making it. It would have to be Norma or Bofors from what little I know. ( what do ya expect for 7,000 miles away)

Hi sea fire
it is maybe so but non of norma powders are equal in burning rate with R15 and norma's are single based powders not double based like R15. the only scandinavian poweder which is near in preformance is Vihtaviouri 540 which is made in finland and a very good powder too,but they have no loadind data for 3030 for this powder.
regards
danny

I recall an article in Handloader magazine on the use of VV-N140 powder (same as 540?) in the .30-30. I think it was by Ken Waters and may appeared sometime in the last 2 to 3 years. In it he noted that the factory did not offer any load data for the .30-30 and he remarked how well it performed in the cartidge. I wish I'd saved the issue but perhaps someone else did and you can get the load data from them to use as a starting point to develop your own.

check out sam fadala's book on the model 94 winchester. there are lots of normal and AI loads. i used to use one of them (remember: work up; don't accept at face value what's written here). it was a speer 170-grain flat nose, 36.5 grains of W748. sam's book says that chronoed at a tad over 2,300 fps from a 20-inch carbine. all i know is, it shot like a house afire from my model 94, and rubbed out a doe at 195 measured yards (the 94 was scoped, by the way). for top 150-grain and 130-135-grain loads, he recommends H335.
hope to pick up a used marlin this week in .30-30. i'll be handloading for it. that speer 170-grainer, by the way, it a longish bullet that carries very well - and obviously expands beautifully at stretched ranges.

Hi
Thanks for replies
The best result i,ve acheived is hornady 150 gr spbt in front of 31 grain norma 202 (due to the magasine leghth of my avage 340 i've to seat the bullet deep and i got only place for 31 gr powder)at 2200 fps in my savage 340 and it preformed very nicely in dry paper (dry paper is much tougher than wet)mushroomed to 1/3 of lenght all the time and no core separation. i hope i can use it on roe deer hunting if i could.
regards
danny

I have experimented with a marlin 30-30 extensively and my best has been the 130gr Speer flatnose with 39.0gr WW748 which averages 1 inch for 4 shots at 100yds from my Marlin 336. I have used this on northern heavy bodies whitetails and the penetration and weight retention are extremely good. This load also has good velocity above 2400fps in most guns. I also have used the Sierra 125gr Hollowpoint and shot a nice 4pt 122 pounds dressed 2 years ago and this deer was dead before he hit the ground. I have read where some people feel this bullet is to light for deer but I am not sure they have ever used it. I would stick to the Speer 130 grain as I have had more field results with this one and am very confident with it. Be careful of which Hornady 130gr you use as one is for pistol useage and may not penetrate at those higher velocities. I have also used Nosler 150gr Ballistic tips filed flush with the jacket with great results but I cant reccomend it for obvious reasons in a tubular mag. All though this method has no more bullet primer contact than most factory 30-30 ammo, case in point win. 150gr PP. I still cannot ethically say use it.