Hunting loads

[garnerboy]

What would you consider a minimum hunting load in a Marlin 336 30/30 and a Ruger SBHH 44 mag? Looking at using 255 grain bullets in 44 and 150 in the Marlin.

[hockeynick39]

Depends on what shoots best. Fit and accuracy are king!

[centershot]

In the 44 I prefer a 250 gr. plain base Keith bullet (PCBS) at around 1100 fps. In the 30-30 I prefer a heavier bullet, the 311041 (173 gr.) running at least 1700 fps minimum.

[jaysouth]

search button is your friend. You will get hundreds of responses to your specific quesions.

[quilbilly]

Given the results ten years ago from my terminal ballistics test into wet compressed phone books with my 30/30 and cast 160's, you probably don't even need 1700 fps. 1550 will do the job if your shots are under 125 yards on small to medium deer (live weight 180#).

[725]

I like the Lee 310 for the .44 mag pushed by a good amount of H110, and as above, for the .30-30, the 311041, w/ mild alloy anywhere around 1600 fps. Work out the most accurate loading and go with it.

[sghart3578]

I can't answer for the 44 magnum but in my 336 I like the Lee 150 gr GC loaded over 25-27 gr of IMR 3031. I can't imagine that this load wouldn't be good on deer size targets out to 125 yards, maybe further.

With my particular Lee mold I "Beagle" it to get it up to size then add a gas check and size to .311".

I have a new Arsenal mold that is a copy of the 311041 and it is great also with 3031.

[greenwart]

My rule of thumb is does it have the same energy as 357 magnum muzzle velocity at impact. Approximately 600 ft-lbs. I load 30-30 to 1875 fps for the lee 309-170 F they drop 180g for me. At 200 yards estimated velocity is 1414 fps and an energy of 799 ft-lbs. I had to dispatch a feral hog my son had wounded with my 357 (he got the first one this was behind it) and the results were what you want.

[curioushooter]

30/30 and cast 160's, you probably don't even need 1700 fps. 1550 will do the job if your shots are under 125 yards on small to medium deer (live weight 180#).

You mean 1550 IMPACT velocity or muzzle. I've found from calibrated ballistic gelatin testing that much under 1500 FPS you cannot expect a cast bullet of any reasonable hardness to expand. In these lower velocity ranges hollowpoints become necessary to affect expansion.

For 30-30 the ideal performance is going to be from a 150-170 grain bullet (with a flat point) around 2000 FPS muzzle velocity so that across its entire effective range (lets say to 150 yards) it will have enough velocity and weight to expand and penetrate through a typical deer.

Bullets in this velocity range and type kill by wounding. The larger the wound the more rapid the blood loss the more quickly the animal succumbs to anoxia given equivalent shot placement (which is the most important factor).

Energy, shock, stretch cavity, etc. and all these other words are highly conceptual and not evidence based. You can measure wound volume in a post-mort and you can simulate it with ballistic gel. Only the real counts.

30 caliber bullets launched at 2000 FPS will expand to ~50 caliber if made of a sufficiently ductile and malleable alloy. Linotype or anything with much more than 3% sb will likely fragment.

My 30-30 hunting load would be Lyman 311041 or similar cast of 91-6-3 (pb-sn-sb) lubed with something like carnuba blue and pushed by 27 grains of IMR-3031.

If only inside 100 yard shots, then it would be the MP molds hammer-o-thor HP pushed by ~15 grains of 2400 if your gun could cycle this. I have used a similar bullet in my 32-20 contender pushed by 15 grains of AA1680 and it gets about 1500 FPS. This expands nicely without fragmenting if 91-6-3 is used. Still, the wound volume will come about equal to what 357 mag does, which is pretty good!

[quilbilly]

Muzzle velocity. I did my terminal ballistics tests at 45 yards, measured penetration (knowing soaked compressed phone books are quite hard), then looked at the boolits. The flat point boolits expanded nicely penetrating about 14" while the round nose began tumbling after penetrating 3-4" leaving a vicious wound channel over 15 more inches before exiting the hard medium. I concluded round nose would spoil more meat. My alloy then was a little softer than I use today. My thoughts do not apply to any of the black bears hanging around our neighborhood including the runt with a bad attitude.

[gumbo333]

In my experience with the 30/30 using 165 - 173 cast lead boolits, I had very good results in the 1400 - 1600 fps range. Old fart loads.

[robinsroost]

I have an 1894 Marlin, a Vaquero and a SBH Hunter, all in .44 magnum. I have two loads for them, a lead 240 grain SWCHPGC and a 300 grain flat point jacketed soft point both loaded with max loads of H110. They work equally well on deer and hogs. The 300 grain is for the hogs...……..robin