Hello - new to forum

[AZMark]

Hey, everybody! I saw several references to your forum over at Leverguns.com so I thought I'd check you out.

I'm thinking about getting a lever action 30-30 as a do-it-all rifle. I plan to handload for it and I want to get into casting as well. I already have a bunch of wheel weights, but no melting equipment or molds yet.

I thought I'd introduce myself before I inundate you guys with tons of questions. I look forward to learning a bunch.:mrgreen:

[onceabull]

AZM...: Welcome here, 30/30 is a fine choice to start out with cast in rifle(s)...About a bazillion usable choices in moulds. can load something suitable for bumblebees,or black bears...Onceabull

[454PB]

Welcome, Mark. There's a huge amount of knowledge here, both with cast boolits, and with shooting in any form you can imagine. I'm a 30/30 cast boolit shooter, but not one of the experts in that caliber. I have a Marlin 336, Winchester 94, and a Savage bolt gun in 30/30.

[NVcurmudgeon]

Welcome, Mark. You have chosen a good starter and do-all rifle. The .30/30 is a rifle that you can duplicate factory loads using cast boolits.

[arkypete]

Mark
Welcome and howdy.
The 30-30 has set some records in the Cast Bullet Assoc. bench rest. It's just about as perfect a cast boolet calber as there is.
Jim

[flyingstick]

Nice to have you AZMark. 30-30 is a really fun gun, to shoot and hunt with. These guys have almost unlimited knowledge on casting and loadind 30-30's.
Did I say unlimited knowledge? I'm sorry unlimited answers:) A world of help here. They seem to chomp at the bits to help another caster in need.
Welcome aboard.
Don

[JSH]

Welcome Mark.
I have not been at this very long, but have come to gain personal satisfaction from making, sizing and shooting CB's.
I will say if you have any interest at ALL, start building your alloy stock pile. Most all lead alloys are usable, there is a vast amount of knowledge on this board of how to turn junk into somthing very usable.
I also think the 30-30 a good starting point for CB's. I have a few myself and one pistol chambered in 30-30. I by chance ran across an early Marlin with ballard type rifling. Not that the Marlin is any better than the other levers, but I had already fooled with the internals a bit on a few of them.
As to load data, I have found that jacketed load data works quite well so far in my rifle. But, the first load I tried gave stellar results, milsurp AA2520.
I can't say enough good about SR4759, with AA5744 falling in right behind it for my applications.
Good luck.
There is always an answer for a question here.
I also may suggest to spend some time on the "search" mode here. A lot of answers can be gleaned, along with a lot of new questions.
Jeff

[woody1]

AZM, I'll add a welcome also. Another 30-30 shooter here. I prob'ly shoot more boolits from 30-30's than all others combined. I recommend you get a copy of the Lyman Cast Bullet Hand Loading Manual, 3rd. edition. It's somewhat dated but lots of good information. Regards, Woody

[9.3X62AL]

Another "welcome aboard" from the Worker's Paradise. Buckshot and I just got back from Prescott (my first visit), and you live in a beautiful, gun-friendly state.

No argument at all concerning the above posts--the 30-30 was my first cast boolit rifle caliber, and I would call a "dead heat" in the race between it and the 45-70 as single-best cast boolit rifle caliber available. I cannot recall a time in my life since age 12 that a 30-30 of some kind has not been around. It took my first deer, and could have taken every other one I've harvested locally. I'm not saying the 30-06 is superfluous.......but the 30-30 remains a VERY useful tool in the hunting fields, gunwriter nonsense notwithstanding.