30-30 boolit joy

[rbstern]

I took my first three batches of 30-30 to the range today:

All cartridges had the Lee 309-150FP, ww, water quenched, sized 309, gas checked and tumble lubed. The three loads were:

7.4 grains Red Dot
14.4 grains WC820
25 grains surplus IMR4895

The gun is a Marlin 336, circa nineteen eighty-something, that I found looking pretty beat up in a gun shop a couple of weeks ago. I refinished the stock and got many years accumulation of crud out of the barrel and action. It's my first Marlin lever gun, and I have to say I am impressed with the action's smoothness. I was worried about the micro-grooves, but I took heart from the folks here who said boolits and micro-grooves can be made to play together.

I set my target board 25 yards out, and a gallon milk jug at 100 yards. I didn't have a rest with me, so I had to shoot from the bench on my elbows. Everything grouped well, with some three shot cloverleafs at 25 yards. None of the loads produced any flyers. The buckhorn sight was adjusted a little low and left for me, but that's an easy fix.

The real fun was the milk jug, which I shredded from one end of the backstop to the other. Didn't matter which load I used to do it. They all went true, minute-of-milk-jug accurate. The rifle and the rounds worked beautifully together. Got home and took the bolt out, found minimal leading.

If deer season opened tomorrow, I'd take this gun and these loads to the woods in a heartbeat.

Next up, I'll bring the chrony and a rest and start fine tuning and see how tight the groups can be made.

Thanks for the many contributions you've all made to this successful outing. I read many past threads on 30-30, microgrooves, milsurp powder, reduced Red Dot loads, etc., and it helped me short circuit a lot of load development time. I'm moving right to fine tuning and practice.

The Cast Boolit web site rocks!

[boogerred]

good deal,man.we all love to hear that.

[Buckshot]

................rbstern, aren't those days just loverly 8)? Main thing is ya had fun and it didn't cost $8.98 x however many boxes ya shot.

If I might, I'd like to suggest you get one of the Lee C309-113's, the ubiquitous 'Soup Can' slugs. They'll really zing with not much powder. Excellent to 100 yards or so. They seem to shoot really well in most any 30 cal.

Anyway, I'm glad you posted about your day at the range.

..............Buckshot

[Maineboy]

Good shootin rbstern. My first 30 caliber moulds were the Lee 180 grain RN and the 150 caliber FP. I bought the 150 FP to use in my very early production 1894 rifle. It was a winner there and it usually shot better than the 180 in all the other 30 caliber rifle I tried it in. I don't use it much anymore in spite of it's good accuracy because it's a oneholer and it takes a long time to produce a bunch of boolits. Buckshot's suggestion of the Lee "soup can"is a good one if your looking for another plinking mould. I find it just as accurate at 50 or 100 yards and the mould is a two holer.

[Cherokee]

I use the same bullet in my 30-30 ACww+2% tin. My Win 94 has a throat diameter that should demand .311 bullets accordig to conventional wisdom so that is what I have been using. I have used milsurp 4895, IMR4198, IMR 4831, H335, H4227 & 2400. All my shooting is at 100 yd because that is the distance for CAS long rang rifle use at my club. I have not been aboe to get less than about 3" groupings, often larger. 2400 & 4227 were erratic. 4831 was not much better. the 4895 seems the most consistant at 22-23 gr. When the winter goes, I have several loads with the bullet sized 310 and 309 that I will try.

[versifier]

Soupcans are effective deer boolits, and damned accurate to boot. They can be pushed to impressive velocities in the .30-30 (2600-2800) and still retain good accuracy without leading. (I like RE-7 with them - 29.5gr YMMV.) None of the deer in several freezers around here are complaining about their performance relative to the Lee 150gr versions, both have done the job (sized to .308 ) within 150yds. The Soupcans are more accurate, but it is a difference between 1" and 3" at 100yds, not enough to make any "minute of deer" difference. Break, bolt, and lever guns, the loads perform consistantly. The .30-30 is the MOST cast friendly of all the .30 caliber cartridges.
For some reason, a smilie comes up above instead of "point three oh eight") I don't know why...

[C1PNR]

(sized to .308 ) For some reason, a smilie comes up above instead of "point three oh eight") I don't know why...

I think it's because the "shortcut" for that smilie is a combination of 8 and ) i.e., 8)

When you type it in it looks like what you want, but when you "Submit" the post, the edit program recognizes that combination as the "cool" smilie.

Take a look at the expanded smilie listing and you'll see that combination, along with a lot of others. The 8 - ) without spaces will do the same thing. 8)