.307 Diameter Bullet in 30-30?

C

ChasHam

New member
I was cleaning out some garage shelves and found an old box of Sierra bullets--at least 30+ years old.

The stock number printed on the box is 2010 along with ".30 Cal, .307 Diameter, 170 gr Flat Nose 30-30". The jacketed bullets have an exposed lead tip, are cannalured and have a flat base. Best I can tell with a high quality dial caliper is they measure .306

The Sierra website doesn’t even show a current .307 diameter bullet and stock number 2010 is for a .170 flat nose .308 for 30-30-- the customary diameter for 30-30.

So— can I load up these babies and feed them to my 1970’s Winchester 94?
 
There should be no problem using them in a .30-30. Accuracy might not be as good as a .308" diam bullet, but you may get acceptable accuracy from them.

There may or may not be a small issue with Neck tension, but you can easily check after seating a bullet in a resized case.
 
Run 'em. They should be fine.
There's always a chance that they'll shoot poorly if they're .306", but you won't know until you try it.


But....
Are you sure they measure .306"?
Sierra used to mark these bullets as ".307 Diameter" just to differentiate from other cartridges, but they were manufactured at .308" diameter.
 
No worries...Sierra has always made superb bullets...my experience with them goes back to 1962...shooting on the Air Force hi power team, & that's all we shot through those accurized M-1's all the way out to 600.

Later, in my 60's, I shot the Service Rifle matches at Camp Perry, using a Colt HBAR...and the firing lines on Rodriguez & Viale were still dominated by bullets out of a green box.

As to your .30-30...my choice has been Sierra's 150 FP for many years, tho I've sometimes strayed due to availability. Most .30-30's...hell all of them...can't wring out the accuracy of the bullet due to tube magazines, barrel bands, two-piece stocks, et al. You're well served by those green box bullets...don't sweat the size!

Best Regards, Rod
 
Are you measuring with an OD thimble micrometer? If it's a caliper, it isn't hard to get a measurement error that large. If that's what you are using, try pinching the jaws closed between your thumb and index finger to avoid flexing the beam. Do that both for the zero and the measurement.

Edit: I missed seeing the picture link. Mitutoyo is a good instrument, but I'd still use the pinching approach.
 
Best accuracy with all jacked rifle bullets happens when they're at least .0004" larger than the barrel's groove diameter.
 
I remember when Sierra bullets specifically for .30-30 were listed at .307".
As Bart says, I don't think they would be best for target shooting, but it might be hard to tell a difference in a lever action carbine.

I would be dismayed to find them at .306" but would give them a try. As long as they had good bullet pull and the magazine spring didn't set them back, they might shoot ok.
 
7.62 NATO M80 ammo often has .3070" bullet diameter. The M118 match ammo bullets were .3085".

Military rifle teams sometimes used .3092" commercial match bullets replacing the arsenal match bullet in service rifles.
 
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