Bullet Recommendations

[JHinman]

I am a new reloader, starting this to feed my lever-action silhouette "habit."

I'm reloading .45 Colt, and will start reloading .30-.30 (.30 WCF) as soon as I can find some primers.

I'd like recommendations for bullets from you experienced guys.

My .45 Colt is a Marlin 1985 Cowboy with a 24" barrel. I've been loading a 200 grain cast bullet; is a heavier (250 grain) bullet likely to be more or less accurate?

My .30-.30 is a 1951 vintage Winchester Model 94 carbine. I've never loaded anything for this - what should I look for in a bullet?

Thank you for your help!

[corvette8n]

I used the Lee .309 150gr fngc in my .30-30's have recently bought the RD 165 mold but havent cast with it yet.
I also have some 300 gr .452 dia Lee bullets from another forum member to try.
Been thinking about getting the 6-cavity .45 cal 300gr Lee mold.

[JHinman]

Corvette8n:

A 300 grain bullet for a .45 Colt seems heavier than the norm (based on my reading, not my experience!). What do you see as the advantage of the heavier bullet?

I ask this not to criticize, but to learn.

One if the things I value is a low recoil. In a match I'll shoot 50 to 70 rounds in the course of a couple of hours. What relationship is there between recoil and heavier bullet loads?

[Le Loup Solitaire]

Hi, For 30-30 generally one uses 150 or 170 grain bullets. There are many choices to consider. I use Lyman 311291, a 170 grain roundnose; it is a very old design and one of the most successful bullets ever made. It has a flat nosed counterpart, Lyman 311041 that some folks think is better for hunting. Both are easy to cast and do well in 94's. LLS

[MtGun44]

311041 is great for the W94. Nose contour and length should be tested for feeding before
purchasing any mold for the Marlin - or verify feeding by experience from another
shooter of the same model and caliber.

Bill

[EDK]

Read Glenn Fryxell's articles at lasc.us. Lots of good information in general and one article in particular on 1894 MARLINS in 357-44-45 Colt. I've had 357 and 44 MARLINS since the 1970s...and learned a lot from Glenn! It's hard to argue with his data...almost makes me want to buy a 45 Colt, but I have a lot of 44 moulds and components.

The conventional wisdom on the MARLINS is hard alloy, oversize diameters, gas checks, and load them to the high side for better performance. I'd start with .454 diameter amd round nose/flat point style. Cowboy Action Shooting is pretty much low end loads, inter-changeable rifle and pistol, and short range accuracy requirements....whole different ball game there....you definitely want 100% smooth feeding.

I use LYMAN 311041 gas check and a 311041 plain base group buy mould in my 30/30 MARLIN Cowboy rifles and a micro-groove 336. Water dropped wheel weights and alox 50/50 lube have worked for me so far.

:Fire::cbpour::redneck:

[MT Gianni]

Your guns are unimportant with out bbl and throat dimensions. Slug the bbls and get throat impact dimensions then size your boolits larger then the throats. I like 250-300 gr in the 45 and 150-195 in the 30-30.

[softpoint]

Another choice for the 30/30 is the RCBS 180. I'm having good results in a Marlin XLR with this bullet:drinks:

[JHinman]

These comments and suggestions are really helpful. The Glen Fryxell articles are particularly interesting.

I'll try to get the slugging done today.

[JHinman]

My Marlin bore is 0.451", per slugging.

I'm thinking of a Lyman #454190, which is a 250 grain flat nose with the highest ballistic coeffient of the Lyman cast bullets (boolits), according the the Lyman reloading book. I'll size to 0.452, casting with wheel weights.

I don't have throat dimensions. I'm not sure how to obtain that. I was lucky on the barrel slugging, as I happened to have some soft round balls for my Ruger Old Army that fit nicely down the tube of the Marlin (the balls, not the ROA :mrgreen:)

[Rocky Raab]

If I am correct, you cannot use gas checked bullets in CAS. They have to be all lead only. That will have more impact on your 30-30 bullet choice than for the 45 Colt.

The "gamers" in CAS have ruined the game in their rush to ever lighter loads to improve speed. Such goofs have long ago abandoned the 45 Colt completely. But if you still shoot the game for fun with the 45, you can either stay strictly traditional with 255-gr bullets at 850 fps - or slide down the slope of "wussy" loads with 200 or even 185-gr bullets at 500 fps or so.

For what it's worth, one of my favorite light loads with the 45 Colt uses 230 RNL bullets meant for the 45 ACP, over 6.0 of Nitro 100 powder. That gives 800-850 fps and marvelous accuracy. Another accurate bullet (but one that hits quite low on target) is the Lee 200-gr SWC Tumble Lube bullet TL-452-200-SWC.

[JHinman]

Rocky - I am not shooting Cowboy Action Shooting. That requires speed, and I'm a slow-moving kind of guy.:-)

I'm shooting metallic silhouettes, in pistol and rifle caliber lever action. This is governed by NRA rules, and I believe gas checks are OK. I'll check on that, though.

My biggest concerns are accuracy and being able to accomodate the changes in range (40 yards for the chickens to 100 yards for the pistol caliber rams and 200 yards for the rifle caliber rams).

I've heard that the 30-30 is marginal for the rifle caliber matches, both in accuracy at 200 yards and in sufficient energy to knock down rams at 200 yards. I have the 30-30 though, so that is what I'll shoot. (It was built in 1951 - a couple of years older than me!)

Until I can get my 30-30 set up and find some primers, I'll be shooting the .45Colt at the rifle caliber matches also. I have knocked down rams with it, the one time I tried it. Perhaps I was more lucky than good!

I sure appreciate the comments people have posted!