Thread: 30/30 reloading

Hey guys, I thought I’d get the 30/30 round going while everyone has plenty of time to post advice.
I’ve got a Marlin stainless 30/30 20” barrel, I bought it for the cowboy looks and never really used it much.
Got plenty of PPU shells and die set.

I wondered what everyone used in terms of powder and projectiles.
I think the factory rebounds are 150 grain Flatnose soft points.

Thanks.

I was using Hodgdon H335 with Sierra 125gr TMK (in my Contender single shot so I can load ballistic tips). I was going to try ADI 2207 and the Nosler 125gr BT next though, see how that goes.

AR2208 mainly, trying Leverevolution recently. Trailboss and 151gr cast bullets for subsonic.
Sierra 125 FNHP and 150gr Prohunter FN.
Hornady 150 and 170 interlock FN.
Tried the 160 FTX but not that impressed with accuracy, but they go okay in my 308 (mild load to keep to 30-30ish velocity)

Originally Posted by lee308

Hey guys, I thought I’d get the 30/30 round going while everyone has plenty of time to post advice.
I’ve got a Marlin stainless 30/30 20” barrel, I bought it for the cowboy looks and never really used it much.
Got plenty of PPU shells and die set.

I wondered what everyone used in terms of powder and projectiles.
I think the factory rebounds are 150 grain Flatnose soft points.

Thanks.

What year is that Marlin mate? My 336 Dark will not reliably extract PPU brass and I know I'm not alone in that problem as far as the 336 Dark is concerned.

A shame for me as PPU brass is good stuff.

Originally Posted by Cigar

AR2208 mainly, trying Leverevolution recently. Trailboss and 151gr cast bullets for subsonic.
Sierra 125 FNHP and 150gr Prohunter FN.
Hornady 150 and 170 interlock FN.
Tried the 160 FTX but not that impressed with accuracy, but they go okay in my 308 (mild load to keep to 30-30ish velocity)

What are those cast subsonics like? I've thought about cast bullets for my 30-30 but the suppressor I have for it (ODL) reccomends against using them in an Ocrania can..

It’s a stainless 336, 4 years old. and no problem extracting. I’ve shot 60 rounds through my one. Hasn’t had a problem.

Originally Posted by 308mate

What year is that Marlin mate? My 336 Dark will not reliably extract PPU brass and I know I'm not alone in that problem as far as the 336 Dark is concerned.

A shame for me as PPU brass is good stuff.

Originally Posted by 308mate

What are those cast subsonics like? I've thought about cast bullets for my 30-30 but the suppressor I have for it (ODL) reccomends against using them in an Ocrania can..

I haven’t put one in an animal yet.
They are very accurate at 50m so should do the job if I do my part. Need to keep in mind they only have roughly 4x the energy of a 22lr sub so need to pick my shots.

Through my 336 15.5 inch barrel I'm using

29.5gn of 2206h with 160gn ftx
28 gn of 2206h with 170gn FN
And a plinker (sub) round with 7gn trailboss and a 150 RN

I would like to try casting at some stage, looks like fun.
Shots at 50m

Originally Posted by 308mate

What year is that Marlin mate? My 336 Dark will not reliably extract PPU brass and I know I'm not alone in that problem as far as the 336 Dark is concerned.

A shame for me as PPU brass is good stuff.

My Marlin 30-30 dark shoots PPU factory ammo fine but a bit harder to extract comparing to Hornady and FC. The reloaded PPU brass doesn't suffer from the extraction at all though.

Originally Posted by Cigar

AR2208 mainly, trying Leverevolution recently. Trailboss and 151gr cast bullets for subsonic.
Sierra 125 FNHP and 150gr Prohunter FN.
Hornady 150 and 170 interlock FN.
Tried the 160 FTX but not that impressed with accuracy, but they go okay in my 308 (mild load to keep to 30-30ish velocity)

I find Leverevolution 160gr FTX could cause keyholing with my Marlin 336 Dark 16.25'' barrel. Do you have similar issue as well?

Originally Posted by eamars

My Marlin 30-30 dark shoots PPU factory ammo fine but a bit harder to extract comparing to Hornady and FC. The reloaded PPU brass doesn't suffer from the extraction at all though.

Yeah my issue was the extraction I actually had to stuff a cleaning rod down to get the empty cases out a couple of times. No issues with any other brand.

Interesting about the reloads working fine.

Originally Posted by Nathanfish

Through my 336 15.5 inch barrel I'm using

29.5gn of 2206h with 160gn ftx
28 gn of 2206h with 170gn FN
And a plinker (sub) round with 7gn trailboss and a 150 RN

I would like to try casting at some stage, looks like fun.
Shots at 50m
Attachment 136617Attachment 136619Attachment 136621Attachment 136624

@Nathanfish what speeds were you getting for each load ? I have an identical stainless 336 with 16.5" barrel on the way and was just gonna use leverrevolution ammo but your results look promising I guess I might go down that rabbit hole and add 30-30 to the list of calibers I load

Originally Posted by eamars

I find Leverevolution 160gr FTX could cause keyholing with my Marlin 336 Dark 16.25'' barrel. Do you have similar issue as well?

No keyholing, just very average grouping at 100m, which was not great when i was looking at using them for longer range shots. My rifle is a Win M94 Trapper with 16" barrel. I was using FTX reloads, only doing 1820fps so they might group better with more speed.
The fallow weaner I shot front-on in the throat at 20m reckoned they worked okay...

While I don't have any loads for you, I used IMR3031 and switched to 170 grain projectiles years ago after having a good talk with a fellow who had devoted his career to Winchester 94's. His wisdom was that the 30-30 was a 100-150m gun for most people in most circumstances with it being almost always used within 75m, so the slightly more arc'ed trajectory more or less didn't matter but the additional weight of the projectile did, with 170 grains being about the heaviest projectile that would reliably stabilize in most 30-30 barrels.

Don't really know if it's true, but had a lot of success with the winchester 94 and those loads until I got tired of pulling the 94 apart to get the water out of it after every hunt. The 94 isn't all that waterproof or all that fast to disassemble/reassemble

Sorry mate. When I shot these, I had to use the indoor range which is pretty shit for light so my chrono didn't read . Mine did not shoot well with factory levereverlution where the cheap ppu stuff was good