The best load I ever found for mine was 28.5 grains of H335 with the Speer .311" 180-grain round nose bullet. The MV of this load was over 1900 FPS, or more powerfuil that the ORIGINAL.30/30 load of 1894! BUT IT HAS TO BE WORKED UP FROM AT LEAST 10% BELOW!!

I got pretty good groups from my Mini-30 with this load, but the rifle changed zero from day to day regardless of what ammo I used in it, so was essentially worthless as a hunting rifle. (This was the only Ruger rifle I've ever owned that had accuracy problems.)

I got rid of it after abou two years of trying to get it to shoot well. I now have a CZ 527 carbine in 7.62X39. It's zero stays the same, and shoots very well to boot.