I have to correct my load data. I use 19.0gr of R7, NOT 19.5gr. Loaded for a match this past weekend but used my 357max instead of 30-30 to shoot the match.
Printable View
Re: lever action silhouettes.
The club I used to shoot at had some of the "stickiest" Rams I ever saw. Not a match went by without multiple somebodies ringing a ram, and this with 30-30's! I went to a 45-70, Marlin CB and a heavier load. But that I think was overkill. Your 35 Rem with 200 grain boolits and 1700 fps should do the trick handily. RL-7 or 5744 are your friends, but 2400 can be also work if you can find it.
Those rams will fall with a Lyman Keith Boolit at 850 fps! I have dropped several with my Ruger SBH with Midrange loads of 8.0 gr of W231 and my S&W 696 with the same boolit with 6.0 gr of W231 for 750 fps from a 3" bbl. There were witnesses!!!
In my 1894 CB with 24" bbl my full magnum loads of 429244 and 22.0 gr of H110(1600fps) knock them down hard as does the .45-70 with 300gr boolits at 1550fps.(33.0 gr of 5744)
I have also use my Enfield #4 Mk1 with 314299's 205 gr and 16 gr of 2400 (1600fps)
All these gun have one thing in common. They all have quality Receiver sights on them that can be adjusted for elevation and repeat each time. The Leverguns have Steel Lyman 66LA's and the Enfield has a Redfield Olympic.
They are all sighted dead on at 100 yards and that allows for two elevation changes for 150 and 200 yards. (Meters at my club.) I have these offsets written in a book and refer to them when shooting this game.
What you want to do will work fine. Taking the gun to the range and sighting it in off a bench at 100 150 and 200 yards to get exactly what you need for elevation changes is the fast way to success.
That way you know the boolits trajectory and can concentrate on Sight Picture and Trigger Control and Follow Thru, instead of chasing the sights everytime you go to shoot. Once sighted in correctly it will do the same thing every time as long as you don't change your loads.
If you do change them, you get to start all over.
Hope this helps.
Randy
All the information has been really helpful Thanks again. My older son has traded for a marlin in 35 rem, and my younger son just purchased a henry 45-70, so this may become a family event. Looks like I hay have a lot more casting to do.
Casting to promote quality time at the range with your kids is one of the all time best reasons to be in the boolit game in the first place.
In the last year & a half, I have been lucky. I get spend a couple of hours on most Fridays at the nearby indoor range with my younger son.
And yes, he has probably used at least a couple of hundreds of pounds of my boolits :)
My .357 load was the same for my 10'' DW, and my 10'' BF. knocked down lots of rams at 200 meters. 210 gr. LBT mold, with 12.5gr.s of W296.