Heavy .30-30 bullet / loads

[mordecai]

Doing some curiosity research.

People have shot some 200gr & 220gr lead bullets down a .30-30 with decent success.

The biggest problem they run into is chambering the cartridge and the bullet gets stuck in the rifling before being fully closed (bullets too long).

Anyhow, thought I'd ask what the consensus is on what the heaviest bullet (cast/coated/jacketed) that reasonably fits in most actions and throats is?

[cedestech]

FWIW and I only have experience with '94s and some 336s... anything close to touching lands won't reliably cycle up from the mag. If you are single loading from the open chamber that is another story but most I have seen have way too much freebore to get close AND cycle up.

To answer your direct question, I've never rang a properly hit ram with a full power 150g that didn't fall. I'd think 170 jacketed at full power would be extra insurance.

If you wanted to "thump" with heavy lead 38/55 would be a better option...

YMMV and IMHO...

[DonM]

If you can get past the overall length/cycling problem with bullets heavier than 170 grains will be the twist of your rifle. With the lower velocity of those heavy bullets, you might find the twist in the barrel to slow to stabilize them enough to get decent accuracy.

[375Short]

The 173g Lyman FPGC is the classic heavy cast bullet for the 30-30. You can seat about any bullet deep enough to feed but you run into issues already mentioned and a few more. Will your rate of twist stabilize the bullet? When you crimp (especially in a lever gun) a deeply seated bullet, will there be something left for the edge of the case mouth to contact? If a gas check is used and the gas check is below the case neck it can fall off into the case. At best that bullet isn’t going where it’s supposed to. If you work through those issues heavy bullets loaded mild are effective, low recoil, options. There are some heavy coated bullets meant for the 300 blackout that would be great but you would be very lucky if they stabilized in the relatively slow twist rates of a 30-30 barrel.

As cedestech said, a larger bore diameter may be the more practical approach to launching heavier bullets from a leveraction.

[mordecai]

Yeah, those are the issues I imagined.
It was a thought experiment, although I figured someone already did all the field work long ago, about how close you could replicate .38-55 from a .30 cal barrel.

I might tinker with a few of the heavy plated sub bullets for .300BLK just to see what happens.

--M

[DAVIDMAGNUM]

To answer your direct question, I've never rang a properly hit ram with a full power 150g that didn't fall. I'd think 170 jacketed at full power would be extra insurance.

I have seen 30/30 with a 180gr bullet and a "slight" overcharge of Varget ring 200 meter rams. ( no, not my rifle or load)

So, when I finally decided to get a dedicated LAR rifle and use my 44WCF for pistol caliber and only as a backup for LAR I got a 38/55.
It may be overkill, but my ram load is effective and easy to shoot/low recoil. A 290gr grease groove bullet, no gas check and 25gr of H4895. Then when the H4895 disappeared I found 28gr of Varget has the same sight settings and "feel". With both of these loads any full bullet impact has knocked over the 200 meter rams at the four ranges I have used it.
Even with a 38/55 I continue to see the occasional ram not fall with a "good hit" by other shooters. This is usually with a 220gr or 250gr bullet and pistol powder like Unique or Blue Dot.

Just my 2 cents.
David

[PAndy]

I had a winchester that shot well with an RCBS 180-fp bullet...weighed 198 gr with gas check. Worked well. Not accurate in my Marlins.

Three things have to work together in your particular rifle, so going heavy for caliber can be challenging. The same is true when developing a heavy bullet .357 load for CLA.

The bullet has to fit the chamber/leade so you can close the bolt of course. Leverguns vary.

The overall length of the round must allow it to feed from the magazine.

The twist rate has to stabilize the long bullet at the speed you want to shoot it.

[H.Plummer]

I shoot a 1950 Winchester 94 with a 1:12 twist using a 173gr gas checked bullet (Lyman 311041, BHN22) from Montana Bullet Works. It feeds and chambers beautifully and has never rang a ram no matter where I hit it. I estimate my velocity to be about 1600 fps and I can shoot it all day without any kind of butt pad.
Just more info for your curiosity.