30-30 Maximum Distance With Accuracy

[FAsmus]

Gentlemen;

The title of this tread is about shooting long range targets with the 30/30 ~ Like out to 800+ yards with iron sights. ~ A good receiver or tang sight with perhaps a Lyman 17A or MVA spirit-level sight on the front.

You pick the action: Bolt gun, single-shot - of various designs - lever as in Winchester, Marlin, Savage .. anything at all but NO jacketed loads need apply!

~ This is the Cast Booit site after all.

Forrest

[Don McDowell]

Must be the Zombie thread,,, approaching 3 years old...

[GabbyM]

Must be the Zombie thread,,, approaching 3 years old...

Just more proof the 30-30 will never die.

[Blackwater]

Interestingly, a friend of mine once had a 16" barreled Marlin in .30/30 that he loved for way back in the woods hunting where he knew shots would be short. He shot a lot of deer with that old gun, and he shot it a lot, even at distances he never intended to shoot, really. However, one day he saw a really nice buck that was just a tad over 300 yds., and he'd been shooting at that distance a good bit lately, so he couldn't resist. Sure enough, he got that deer, but it ran 50-75 yds. after the shot despite being hit very well. On dressing it out, he found the bullet and it hadn't expanded much at all. Can't recall just which bullet it was, but most .30/30 bullets are pretty darn close in jacket thickness & performance, so I'd have to put the max. limit for the .30/30 on deer at 250. Those blunt bullets slow down pretty fast, and without speed, the bullets won't expand. At really long range on paper or steel, however, the only real limit is the shooter's skill ... or luck. If you've ever shot a .22 LR at ridiculous distances, you understand. It's amazing what some holdover can do, and how fast it can be guesstimated.

[FAsmus]

Blackwater;

So - how far do you shoot the 22RF?

We have a RF course of fire here that goes out to 410 yards. ~ Cross-stick rest, iron sights.

I don't know if this a 'ridiculous' distance but it sure lets you know a thing or two about wind drift.

Forrest

[Clay M]

The old .30/30 will always remain one of my favorites .. My father bought a repossessed Marlin 336 at the local hardware store for $60 back in 70..It was for me.. It was all I had.. It never let me down..
I am very confident with that rifle.I learned to shoot it well..
I remember he brought it home one night out of the blue, wrapped in the hardware store paper.Wow ..my own deer rifle. I still remember the joy of that day 45 years ago.
Things have change for me some over the years..The .308 win is my darling now.I was walking with my son today and looking at the the 600yd shooting range.. The challenge is what you want it to be..

[Blackwater]

FAsmus, I've almost always shot long distance in plowed fields or over water, so I can spot the misses. And yes, the misses far outnumber the hits, but it's amazing how rapidly one can at least threaten far off targets with slower, speed of sound type ctgs. I think that's at least part of what made me get a BPCR. My 1885 Browning is one of the most fun to shoot guns I have, and it's never fired a smokeless round in it. One CAN, if he's crazy enough, learn to love the smell of sulphur! One never really knows what the limits are for anything unless and until he challenges "common knowledge," and finds the limits for himself. Sometimes "common knowledge" isn't very common, but sometimes, it's not even "knowledge" either. Funny how that works, ain't it? ;^)

[shdwlkr]

Lets see soon I will be trying
22wmr at 600 yards, .223 at 800 yards and .338 at 1200 yards nope none will be true lead bullets but the fun is seeing just how far I can throw a pill and hit something with authority. You need a certain amount of speed to go the distance and lead just doesn't start fast enough sometimes. Might try lead bullets one day
How far with the 30-30 I think depends on barrel length, ability of shooter, wind, etc. Me I think with lead I would stop at 250 yards but then again who knows I will have to think on this one. As some other things come into play like type of powder, charge weight, humidity maybe?

[FAsmus]

Blackwater;

B: I've almost always shot long distance in plowed fields or over water, so I can spot the misses. And yes, the misses far outnumber the hits, but it's amazing how rapidly one can at least threaten far off targets with slower, speed of sound type ctgs.

F: I shoot several different 30 caliber rifles over long range (out to 835 yards) regularly. These are mostly bolt guns with receiver sights and Lyman 17A's up front. The cast bullet loads I shoot are pretty much all 2000 ft/sec or slower - or right in the good working range of the 30 WCF.


B: I think that's at least part of what made me get a BPCR. My 1885 Browning is one of the most fun to shoot guns I have, and it's never fired a smokeless round in it. One CAN, if he's crazy enough, learn to love the smell of sulphur! One never really knows what the limits are for anything unless and until he challenges "common knowledge," and finds the limits for himself. Sometimes "common knowledge" isn't very common, but sometimes, it's not even "knowledge" either. Funny how that works, ain't it?

F: I own several big-bore singleshots and have used them for many years at the Quigley and the similar 1000 yard Championship. ~ I dislike the elaborate case-cleaning procedures required with black, so I gave up on it long ago.

Forrest

[michaelcj]

Couldn't agree more Fasmus….. Our sagebrush range is comfortably set up at 300yards and the most enjoyment is always the .22rf at the 9" gong and 1lb empty propane cans. As the oldest there, I will admit to "cheating" occasionally with my 1890 .22WRF with Lyman tang sight.

[TCLouis]

FAsmus

Now that is the kind of fun distance shooting I could enjoy.

The more ya do it the easier it becomes from my way distant past experience.

[Tailhunter]

A .30-30 levergun can be exceptionally accurate, particularly for short strings of fire, provided a little work is done to the junk hanging off of the barrel. I've never found the rear locking bolt to be an accuracy disadvantage for practical shooting. My Marlin .30-30 routinely turns in half inch, five shot groups at 100 yard from the bench with a 4X scope, at the high end of medium velocity with cast boolits, but it isn't by accident. My .35 Remington is close behind. It won't keep ten at a time there, though, due to barrel heat. Many leverguns are severely disabled by forearm, band, and mag tube bind.

Gear

i have no reason not to believe you but people spend thousands of dollars to get a long range bolt gun to do that.

[Win94ae]

i have no reason not to believe you but people spend thousands of dollars to get a long range bolt gun to do that.

They "get a long range bolt gun" to load pointy bullets in them.

[Win94ae]

Gentlemen;

The title of this tread is about shooting long range targets with the 30/30 ~ Like out to 800+ yards with iron sights. ~ A good receiver or tang sight with perhaps a Lyman 17A or MVA spirit-level sight on the front.

You pick the action: Bolt gun, single-shot - of various designs - lever as in Winchester, Marlin, Savage .. anything at all but NO jacketed loads need apply!

~ This is the Cast Booit site after all.

Forrest

I've rediscovered the site, and noticed this thread is still active, and no one has tried any more medium range shots with cast bullets... until now.

I had just set-up this rifle with this new front sight, to be able to shoot at 100 yards on my first sight setting. The furthest I had shot it with this setup was 350 yards; one shot, one kill.
Since I haven't tried 500 yards yet, I had to take a sighting shot to see where my highest notch would place me.



I was hoping that the sight setup would get me at least to 500 yards, but it looks to be more like 450 yards. It really starts dropping when shooting over 250 yards, (what I usually shoot at.)

It also looks to have entered the transonic range of velocity, as the bullet trace isn't present for the last 75 or so yards.

I'm going to try again tomorrow to see if I can hit the spot with one shot.

[dk17hmr]

I was actually just thinking about this this morning. My LR shooting buddy just chronoed his 18" 308 that we regularly shoot at 1000 yards and it was coming in at 2410fps with a 175gr smk. That's really not a whole lot faster than what a 30-30 could do. I think at my elevation, single loading a 30-30 with 175s, and one of my long range scopes 1000 to 1200 would be doable.

[Win94ae]

I was actually just thinking about this this morning. My LR shooting buddy just chronoed his 18" 308 that we regularly shoot at 1000 yards and it was coming in at 2410fps with a 175gr smk. That's really not a whole lot faster than what a 30-30 could do. I think at my elevation, single loading a 30-30 with 175s, and one of my long range scopes 1000 to 1200 would be doable.

Oh yeah, I think it could be done too.



I don't really like the LeverEvolution powder, because it seems to only like max charge loads, and the loads are a little hotter than I like. But it would get that bullet at that target velocity.

I say, "Go for it!"

[Win94ae]

Today's shot went well; "one shot, one kill!"



I found a more comfortable shooting spot, I was able to take the shot in a more comfortable position.

If I had a sight that had more adjustment I'd take some shots further, but that will have to wait for another day.

[35 shooter]

Win94ae that's some nice iron sight long range shooting. I enjoyed watching it and a couple of the others that popped up after it.

[John Boy]

Accuracy shooting at 1000 yards is another whole ball of wax, and for the gifted shooter, with young eyes, great wind doping qualities, and a bit of luck thrown in.

45-70 with a 535gr bullet and 70grs FFg black powder - globed foresight and a vernier rear - 3 lead splashes in the black, Homer at 1000yds - Ridgway R&P Club...
[IMG][/IMG]

[35 shooter]

John Boy WOW! More super fine iron sight shooting! VERY nice.