30 30

[cty100]

My son has a marlin 30 30 and I was thinking of reloading for the gun. I have some varget here I could try. What bullets should I try, have any of you guys reloaded for a 3030 and what loads worked well for these lever action guns.

thanks chris

[Swampdog]

Used to load the 30-30 some. It is not the easiest to load.If you are not careful you will colapse the shoulder.Don't remeber what powder but I was reloading "spire point" bullets for an old Savage 340.I was using 150 grain ballistic tips .Couldn't seat them deep enough to work in the magazine.

[eldeguello]

ORIGINAL: cty100

My son has a marlin 30 30 and I was thinking of reloading for the gun. I have some varget here I could try. What bullets should I try, have any of you guys reloaded for a 3030 and what loads worked well for these lever action guns.

thanks chris

I have loaded .30/30 ammo. I used the 150 and 170-grain Hornady flatnose bullets, and also the Lyman 31141HP, a cast gascheck bullet that has a flat nose. My mould makes them as hollowpoints, size .311". I size mine down to .308" for use in a .307" bore. Mine weigh 160 grains cast from wheelweights, due to the hollow point. (They are supposed to be 173-grain w/o the hollow point cavity.) I temper mine toa hardness of 15 on the Brinell scale. I use IMR 3031 for .30/30 ammo. 28 to 30 grains of this powder work with both the 170 grain jacketed and the 160-grain casty bullet. Work up your loads from 25-26 grains, and increase them 0.5 grain at a time. Quit increasing when you get the best accuracy.

Varget should work well in the .30/30 as well. Use a starting load hat is 10% under book maximum, and work upfrom there, just as you would with IMR 3031.

[drh1175]

In my Marlin My best load is 35 gr win748 and Fed 210 primers with the 170gr Hornady interlocks. I am getting 1" groups at 100 yards.

[TJEN]

150gr Speers and H4895.