Ammunition & Hand Loading > General Ammunition Discussion

30-30 ammunition ?

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UPCrawfish:
I recently acquired a NIB Marlin 336A in 30-30 caliber, mounted with a 3x9 scope.  As this was a 'marriage dissolution sale', I got it well below the going rates I've seen lately at the box stores (this one had Dick's tags on the box).

I've never had a lever action before, much less a 30-30, so here we go...

It appears that there are basically 2 bullet weights to choose from, 170 and 150.  And, 2 principle sources, Winchester and Remington.  I do see a brand at Cabela's (HSM ?) that has received some good reviews.

Can our ballistic experts recommend one over the other?  These do not appear to be 'cheap' rounds and I would like to be a bit frugal getting started.

Hunting would be in heavy woods and targets likely within 100-150 yards.   

maanbr:
The 150gr any brand flat tip bullet will do you just fine in the deer woods.  My brother bought some of the lever evolution hornady a few years back.  They worked well on deer but not worth the money, they performed on deer just as well as the standard stuff.

I found a rebate last year or the year before from Federal and got boxes for like $9 if I remember right.  Even without the rebate .30-30 is relatively one of the cheapest rifle rounds to shoot.

NE Bull:
AWE! the ol .30 WCF. putting meat on the table since 1895!
There is much to be learned at marlinowners.com  - Go Team .30-30!!

00BUCK:
I had an 100th anniversary edition Winchester 94 that was my all-time favorite deer rifle for short range hunting. I gave it to my nephew for his 12th birthday. I had serious mixed emotions - loved the gun, loved passing it down to the next generation too. The best part was he shot a nice little 8 point his very first deer hunt. Anywho ...

I dialed mine in with Winchester silver box RNL in 170gr. You will find that it is not a flat shooter but they are very accurate once you have your distances figured out. Mine was great out to about 170 yds. The LeverEvolution rounds are more about distance shooting versus what it can do to a deer. I tested a box and found it to be very accurate out to about 230 yards. You will lose a little of the brush busting power that the original ammo is famed for though. My advice would be to decide what your optimal distance will be then buy a 150gr and a 170gr box of Winchester. Set up targets at your optimal distance then PATTERN the rounds. Don't try to dial it in right away, just get it on paper and then see what your groupings are. Once you decide which load gave you the best groups you can dial it in. The places I hunt now provide opportunities for shots in the 300 - 700yd range so that rifle rarely went on hunting trips. In the eastern part of the state where your shots are rarely longer than 150 yds that is an excellent choice.

  Spend some time with it - figure out what it likes and you will have a great deer rifle!

NE Bull:
Another FYI about the Hornady Leverevolution is that it uses a 'slower burning' powder, thus accelerating throughout the length of the barrel (as compared to one big bang). Thus I noticed with my 20" Texan they shot considerably lower than comparable Winchester/ Federal rounds.  It is my understanding that they work wonderfully in the XLR series Marlin Leverguns  whose barrel length (24") utilizes the slower burning powder to it's full potential. (also it is rumored that the XLR series was the 'target' gun for this ammo, especially since the .338 Marlin (XLR) is a proprietary group effort between Marlin and Hornady)  Federal also makes a decent round for target (not sure of knockdown capability) and Privi has come out with some to that I have been tempted to try out as I am impressed with some of their other rounds for the price.

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