30-30!
- Thread starter oakfloor
- Start date
Peters cases and 31.5 GR of Varget will knock down a 385 meter turkey..and not just a little, bit with authority! Now I have a new steel banger. also want to try Lever revolution and AA2520, shoot safe.
Yeah, the 30/30 was never given it's chance at full potential due to the actions it was chambered in, the bullet types those actions require, etc. Even with the limitations the 30/30 has dropped many a deer and filled many a freezer. Those Hornady bullets sure help out an old classic in the performance dept!
Well, probably the best rifle for wringing out the 30-30 was the long gone Winchester M54 bolt action. I used mine for our local Burrito shoots between friends. Loser bought the burritos at a local Mexican eatery. Could be at a nice place like La Karichimaka or of the loser was low on monry Taco Bell. Made no difference, everybody ate. 
A burrito shoot is where we shoot 50 yars offhand, 10 shots iron sights only. A receiver sight was legal and I paid for darn few burritos.
Bullets were cast only. People got bore,some moved out of town and the shoots no longer exist. 
Too bad they wer a lot of fun.
Paul B.
A burrito shoot is where we shoot 50 yars offhand, 10 shots iron sights only. A receiver sight was legal and I paid for darn few burritos.
Bullets were cast only. People got bore,some moved out of town and the shoots no longer exist. Too bad they wer a lot of fun.Paul B.
reynolds357
New member
The .30-30 being rimmed made it far less than ideal for use in a bolt action. No rimmed case has ever gained much popularity in a modern bolt action.
I'll agree with that, in general, the key being what a modern bolt action is, and when you are looking...
.22LR is a rimmed round, and quite popular in bolt actions.
The classic military rounds, and their rifles, .30-40 Krag, .303 British, and 7.62x54R Russian were quite popular in their day. The Russian is still very popular, primarily due to the low price.
Bolt guns for the .30-30 have been made, the Savage 340 comes to mind. Good gun in .30-30, but a bargin level bolt gun, and never really very popular.
The .225 Win was a rimmed round, but never got popular, mostly because other rimless rounds did the same thing, or better.
.22 Hornet is a rimmed round, and there are several bolt actions available for it today...
Compared to the rest of the cartridge world, rimmed rounds have not been very popular in bolt guns (outside of milsurps), but there have been some, and some have even survived.
The best bolt action for wringing out the .30-30, IMHO, is the Remington Model 788. I have two of them, both of which, after glass bedding give frequent sub-MOA groups, and occasional groups of .5" or better. The Savage Model 340 also does quite well for a very plain rifle, but not in the class of the 788, and it does not lend itself as well to glass bedding. The .30-30 is a small case and therefore responds to careful case preparation. With that, excellent accuracy is usually obtained in bolt actions and single shots.
Colorado Redneck
New member
Bolt 30-30 reloads
Does anybody hand load 30-30 for bolt actions and use a projectile with better ballistic characteristics (other than the Hornady FTX)?
One of my brothers had a Savage 99 in 30-30, but none of us hand loaded so we just shot factory fodder. I think that would be a good candidate for using 165 gr. Hornady Interbond.
Does anybody hand load 30-30 for bolt actions and use a projectile with better ballistic characteristics (other than the Hornady FTX)?
One of my brothers had a Savage 99 in 30-30, but none of us hand loaded so we just shot factory fodder. I think that would be a good candidate for using 165 gr. Hornady Interbond.
Colorado Redneck said:
Not for bolt actions, but I have loaded pointy bullets for single-shots. Currently my favorite two bullets in that caliber are the Speer 130 grain #2007, which is a flat nose, but a small flat nose, and the Sierra 125 grain Pro-Hunter #2120. With a near-max load of Reloder 15, they do just fine in my Handi-rifle.
The .30-30 is one of my favorite cartridges, very easy to reload, and is simply a dream with cast bullets. That long neck gives lots of support, brass is easy to find, and lasts a long time. It's a great cartridge to bring a kid into centerfire shooting, and is fully capable of about 95% of the hunting we do in the thick piney-woods around here.
Most people forget that when the .30-30 was introduced, it was the first cartridge to use smokeless powder and was considered a whiz-bang long range wonder. Back in the day, it was quite the wonder cartridge.
Sure Shot Mc Gee
New member
Speaking of the 30-30 in a bolt gun. I wonder why the 30 Remington never became popular for the application?
Seems to me it would have been a perfect candidate for the application. {a rimless 30-30} Oh well I guess somebody dropped the proverbial ball on that one.
Seems to me it would have been a perfect candidate for the application. {a rimless 30-30} Oh well I guess somebody dropped the proverbial ball on that one.
The thing I've learned about loading for the M788 .30-30 is that if I want to use pointy bullets I have to trim the neck a long ways back. I've ran the 125 grain Sierra PH and 135/150/165 grain Hornady SP bullets through it. Because of the way the magazine is set up in the 788 I have to seat my bullets deep into the case to get this to work. Most of the time the Ogive is below the case mouth, luckily the .30-30 has a long neck and this doesn't cause any problems when I trim the neck back.
I just can't use the same brass in my M94 so that is kind of PITA but not a big one. The other thin is that because of my magazine restrictions the spitzer bullets have a long jump to the lands, which means some bullets that I want to work just don't. I've been using the FTX almost exclusively because of the design of the bullet it just works easier for finding a more accurate load faster. It doesn't require me to trim the brass back so I can use the ammunition in my M94 in a pinch as well.
I just can't use the same brass in my M94 so that is kind of PITA but not a big one. The other thin is that because of my magazine restrictions the spitzer bullets have a long jump to the lands, which means some bullets that I want to work just don't. I've been using the FTX almost exclusively because of the design of the bullet it just works easier for finding a more accurate load faster. It doesn't require me to trim the brass back so I can use the ammunition in my M94 in a pinch as well.
Let's not judge things by our current standards. Spitzer bullets first made their appearance in the early 1900s, about 10 years after the 30-30 was introduced. When the 30 WCF was introduced, it was considered a very powerful rifle cartridge, and it used bullets of the same design as the then-current military rifle, i.e. round nose jacketed.
I agree, that would have made a nice rifle, but the 30 Remington was never very popular. But the rifle Remington would have likely fielded it in (Remington Model 30) was not exactly a beauty queen, and was only offered in 30-06.
mxsailor803
New member
Taylorce - I really don't like you right now. Showing off your 788 and all while I'm still looking for a 30-30 788 to go with my .243 and .308 788s. Good looking rifle though. Now I need the 30-30 and .44mag rifles.
Jack O'Conner
New member
30-30 is a keeper!
Jack
Jack
steveNChunter
New member
The relatively low SAAMI pressure of 42,000 psi makes the .30-30 a good candidate for a build on an old Mauser action. The bolt face would have to be opened up 0.033" but other than that it should work well if it will feed. There would be enough extra space in the magazine so that they could be loaded staggered, with each case rim in front of the rim under it. I'm not sure if the rimmed case would work with the CRF bolt. I wonder if this has been done. I've never seen one but that doesn't mean they aren't around.