30-30 options

[Lonegun1894]

Don't let the idea of casting and the slightly warm lead scare you off. Now, you do have to RESPECT it, just like any other activity where you can hurt yourself if you're not careful, but don't fear it. Look at it this way. You drive a car, handle guns, handle other tools (hammers, kitchen knives, etc, etc), and do other potentially hazardous things every single day of your life--all without getting hurt. This is no different in the caution level required, just the precautions and procedure itself are different. You will do fine. I was a bit nervous and almost intimidated when I first started, but that went away within the first 3-4 casting sessions. And I'm sure I'm not the only one, and now I just wonder why I didn't start sooner.

[blixen]

...Look at it this way. You drive a car, handle guns, handle other tools (hammers, kitchen knives, etc, etc), and do other potentially hazardous things every single day of your life--all without getting hurt....

Not to mentiion I'm married to a TEXAN.

[Lonegun1894]

That just means you got yourself a good woman. And you best not forget it, or else, I dont wanna be in range when she decides to remind you of it.

[10x]

I would suggest you try the Marlin first with .311" GC boolits.

If the bore in that 1891 is in good condition, leave it alone! Certainly I wouldn't try to rebarrel it to a rimmed cartridge.

Point, game, and match.
Micro groove rifling in 30-30 works extremely well with a 0.310 or 0.311 bullet. The guys who wrote some of the early articles were sizing to 308 or 309 and that was giving an undersize bullet for the bore.

As for the 1891, get some brass, dies, and a mold. And you can get the small results ( a 170 grain bullet at 2000 fps is going to be very similar to what you can do with a 30-30).

[corvette8n]

I have shot a lot of plinking rounds thru both my 336 and Win 94
8-10 gr of Unique under the Lee 150gr bullet, I also was lucky enough to get the RD mold and have used the same 8-10gr of Unique, its like shooting a .22.

One of these days I'll get around to loading up some plinking loads for the Argy, I bought 50 round of brass from Midsouth( if I remember correctly) and the Lee 312-185 mold.

[blixen]

I just received a C312-155 lee mold to start learning this casting stuff. I'm gathering some other basic equipment, read a lot of the information on castboolits and am ready to begin making mistakes. I never really learn unless it's hands on.
Thanks for all the information.