Best so far in my 30-30 Marlin.

[44man]

Should be in lever guns, I know.
This is 100 yards with my home made 187 gr boolit with 26 gr of 3031. Nice round groups and I shot three at the pop can after, yeah it is three shots. Why I hate paper.
I size my boolit .311" and use Felix lube, thing is turning into a target rifle. Need to chrono it but should be pretty fast, over 1900 fps. Attachment 110171

[scattershot]

Nice shootin'. Is that a GC or plain base boolit?l

[44man]

Nice shootin'. Is that a GC or plain base boolit?l

It is a GC. I cut the cherry kind of free hand on the lathe, got the check portion a little large so I have to pad the nose and tap the checks on with a tiny hammer! I am kind of crazy and very lazy in my old age but I don't buy much.
Ran out of Fed primers and those shots are mixed with Rem primers too.

[Hickok]

I would write down all the particulars of that load in my log book and right beside it "#1 load Marlin 30-30."

[osteodoc08]

Nice shootin

[357maximum]

Nice shooting Jim, I would be very happy with that. Deer killin medicine for sure and a guy would have to be plum nutsy cuckoo to not be happy with that. Don't need no charts or graphs to prove you got some "GOOD" there. Deer whacker supreme I say....good on you....make sure you post the pics of the venison in a few months.


Mike

[Pb2au]

Excellent shooting sir! With a self made boolit no less. The hat is tipped in your direction.
This thread got me to consider something;
minus a savage 30-06 I recently (and foolishly sold), my marlin was the easiest rifle I own to get to shoot cast well. As a point of fact, even when I knew pretty much zero about boolits, I started out getting good results. Mind you, I started out well armed with a lot of research here of course.
it just seems that crazy marlin just likes to shoot cast.
Sorry for the thread drift, thanks for sharing

[fatelvis]

According to Quickload, you should be getting 1833fps with 87.2% case fill, 93.52% powder burned, and 24,809psi pressure. Sounds like a good load!

[butch2570]

It is a GC. I cut the cherry kind of free hand on the lathe, got the check portion a little large so I have to pad the nose and tap the checks on with a tiny hammer! I am kind of crazy and very lazy in my old age but I don't buy much.
Ran out of Fed primers and those shots are mixed with Rem primers too.

Jim, I don't know if you're shooting the 210 or 210 Match , but Ammunition to Go has both in stock if that's your preferred primer, Butch

[44man]

Jim, I don't know if you're shooting the 210 or 210 Match , but Ammunition to Go has both in stock if that's your preferred primer, Butch

Good to know, thanks.
Can't wait to get more loaded.

[35 shooter]

Very nice shooting and with a homemade boolit and mixed primers no less. Makes me want a 30/30 lever gun just that much more!

[Don Purcell]

Jim, I take it you are water dropping your bullets. Do you just run hot and drop from the mold or do you oven treat a batch to get more consistency? Or does it matter?

[357maximum]

According to Quickload, you should be getting 1833fps with 87.2% case fill, 93.52% powder burned, and 24,809psi pressure. Sounds like a good load!

How'ed you get all that without seating depth or barrel length?

[Larry Gibson]

Probably based on the usual 20" barrel and seating to the base of the neck. That would be a good guess as the oal is limited to 2.52" +/- for reliable feeding through the action. 27 gr of 3031 under a 177 gr 311041 runs just under 1900 fps out sever M94s and Marlin 336s (a very good load BTW). So considering 10 gr more bullet weight and 1 gr less 3031 the QL figure looks about right.

Regardless of the actual velocity that is a very good shooting load in that Marlin.

Larry Gibson

[DrCaveman]

Nice shootin, nice load. I didnt know you shot rifles too

That little pic makes the boolit look a bit like my rcbs 180-fn. Is there any chance you can upload a pic of the boolit before loading? I never get a full .311" out of mine, and they drop heavy. Im workin on that

Good to see 3031 doing so well with the heavy 30-30. Id have thought it was a little fast for that kind of performance. And... Ive actually seen it recently on a store shelf

Good stuff, inspirational. Thanks for sharing

Oh yeah: scope or irons?

[44man]

Jim, I take it you are water dropping your bullets. Do you just run hot and drop from the mold or do you oven treat a batch to get more consistency? Or does it matter?

I just water drop, BHN is around 20. I don't get fussy and don't worry about time to drop. Never seen where it meant anything. I wait a few days before loading is all.

[44man]

Nice shootin, nice load. I didnt know you shot rifles too

That little pic makes the boolit look a bit like my rcbs 180-fn. Is there any chance you can upload a pic of the boolit before loading? I never get a full .311" out of mine, and they drop heavy. Im workin on that

Good to see 3031 doing so well with the heavy 30-30. Id have thought it was a little fast for that kind of performance. And... Ive actually seen it recently on a store shelf

Good stuff, inspirational. Thanks for sharing

Oh yeah: scope or irons?

Sure thing. I use a cheap Tasco scope, Some gremlin stole all my open sights years ago.Attachment 110214
I use straight COWW's, nothing added. The bore ride against the front band is .302", they cast .312" and they are 1.007" long. Base to top of crimp groove is .515". The check is just below the start of the neck. Top of check is at the junction of the shoulder. I get very slight resistance at the final closing of the lever.
One thing I found is the brass needs neck turned to just even it out or there is a lot of run out. I have .002" or less run out. 30-30 brass has uneven thickness.
I seat and crimp all at once. I use Hornady dies.
I hold the forearm and set my hand on the front bag. Doesn't shoot as good with wood on the bag.
I shot 5 with 4895 first, went to 3031, then to the can ( had a weight on the can so it would not move.) I get the barrel very hot without a change. Almost burned my thumb on the barrel once.
Fairly new gun, I think after Rem took them so it must be a Remlin. My grandson had the Marlin .44 with the stupid twist rate, never got it to shoot so I sold it and had to replace it. Got the 30-30 on sale at Dicks Sporting goods. I wanted the SS 45-70 Guide gun but it was double the price.
This one has a laminated stock and I find nothing wrong anywhere.
Maybe he will shoot a deer next season, I use revolvers.

[44man]

So how did the H4895 do? I assume worse but how much?

A little worse but still decent. About a 2" group but the last time I had 7/8" Still a good choice to work with.
I tried all the fast powders and never got what the slower powders will do. 4227 is junk and even 4759 did not reach 3031.

[BABore]

44man,You should have told me! Could have saved you all them components. I've been shooting 26 grs of 3031 in my Marlins for years.

[44man]

44man,You should have told me! Could have saved you all them components. I've been shooting 26 grs of 3031 in my Marlins for years.

Well, I have three boolits I have played with. One is 193 gr.
I agree that 3031 is a good fit, Good to hear from you.
Been a bad time lately, had to change the front wheel bearing and axle on carols 4 runner, then work on the mower. Not fun under machines at my age! Then two storms came through to rip branches off trees. Just cut a huge one that fell out of a maple next to the house. Wind must have been 80 mph. Tons to pick up all over the yard.
Got a new bearing and axle from Rock Auto. Perfect fits and only $118 for both. I had to pull the old bearings and take to a friends with a press to install them. Saved thousands but I am beat!
Work never ends!