Starting to cast for .30-30

[mac266]

I just got a new mould for my .30-30. It's the Lee 150 grain flat nose, gas check. I poured a bunch of bullets the other day and am waiting for time to put the gas checks on and size / lube them.

My load manual -- the Lyman cast bullet handbook -- says they sized to .309. I'm loading for a Marlin 336 with the micro-groove rifling, so that sounds a bit small to me. I know the *correct* answer is to slug the bore, but I'm not going to bother right now. Isn't .311 a good starting point?

[sghart3578]

.311 is what I use in my 336 with microgroove. I use the Lee 150 gr bullet also along with others. I think that you will be happy with it.

[JWFilips]

From my experience you will find that the Marlin 336 ( especially if it is pre-1980 vintage) will do better with the .311 if the boolit is not super hard. I shoot BHN 12 but have shot softer and a bit harder. Sometimes on the softer lead w / light loads I size .312"

[ShooterAZ]

Believe it or not, the ubiquitous Lee C309-150F is one of the most accurate 30 cal boolit in almost all my 30 caliber rifles. I don't know what it is about it, but my rifles absolutely love it. My mold casts at a tad over .311, and that is what I size mine to. I don't have a Marlin, but my M94 likes it fine, as well as all of my other 30 cals (except 30 carbine). It's a fantastic boolit in my opinion. I size .311, lube with BAC, and the bores are mirror bright even after hundreds and hundreds of rounds. Good choice.

[dlbarr]

Not meaning to hi-jack the thread, but maybe this has some application...I have a Marlin 336 micro groove barrel. It was a gift from me to my Dad about 25 years ago. He is now 90 and brought it back as he's not going to be a shooter/hunter any more. I have not shot it much but have cast some LEE 309-170s and never gotten reasonable accuracy from it.

Do you slug a micro groove barrel?

[JWFilips]

It is a good idea to slug any barrel if you plan on using it for cast. Based on its age I can tell you it most likely will like a fatter boolit .311" or +

Just how fast are you loading it? From my experience the old 336's are very happy in the 1500 to 1800 fps range with cast . I shoot mine 1200 to 1500 fps

[ShooterAZ]

I am getting excellent accuracy with this boolit at 1850-2000 in the 30-06 and 308W. 1950 -2100 +/_ in the lowly 30-30 also with very good accuracy.. Beyond that, accuracy starts to drop off.

[Camba]

I am very interested in this topic. I will stay tuned.

[fatnhappy]

It's been my experience with micro-groove rifling the fatter the better. So far I've always seen my best performance with boolits as fat as the throat will safely allow. While I traded away my MG .30-30 it wasn't for lack of accuracy or functionality. It would shoot 3" groups with the 311291 sized .310 over 31 grains of IMR-3031 at 100 yards. I consider that nothing short of phenomenal. I have no doubt it would have done much much better had I mounted a scope on the rifle.

I don't necessarily recommend max loads, I certainly recommend careful measurement of your rifle's throat and fired brass.

[Bzcraig]

How are you guys getting your Lee 150's to size .311 or larger, mine drops 'em a smidgen over .310?

[rintinglen]

You may be able to fatten it up by using a bit more Tin in the alloy. That might get .ooo3-.ooo5 inches. If that is not enough, you'll have to either "Beagle" the mold or "LEEment" it. There are stickies on each process, but in a nutshell, "Beagling" involves the use of aluminum tape to minutely wedge the blocks apart, while LEEmenting involves the use of metal polishing compound to enlarge and smooth the cavities.

[LEDSLINGER]

Hi all, I just got a new Handi Rifle in 30-30. Made in Ilion, NY with a marlin style micro groove barrel. A real hybrid for sure! I have several Lyman moulds and a few Lee moulds to choose from in .30 cal. Nice to hear those barrels like a fat Boolit, something I did'nt know about. So far I have only bore sighted it but did manage to hit a water filled 1/2 gal. milk jug at 60 yards after a few scope tweaks. I had some pretty old factory 170 gr. stuff I wanted to use up before I got down to casting as this is going to be a cast Boolit rifle. I have noticed this rifle has a very short throat length. Need to slug it next. Iam using home made Freechex from .015 thk. aluminum flashing. My punch set makes checks to fit the heel of my Lyman 314299 (.303 British) so if I need to go fat with the 30-30 I should be ok with the .314 checks and just squeeze them down a thousandths or two.

[atr]

my savage 340 and Winchester 94 both like them sized 0.311

[Wolfer]

My 336 was made in 66. It slugs at .308 from what I understand that's something of an oddity. My mold is the Lyman 311-041 which drops at .309. I size and check at .309
With 17 gr of 2400 accuracy is excellent to a little above 1700 fps.
Im certain a slower powder could get a little more speed from it. Maybe I'll try it sometime but in the meantime it kills deer just fine.

[44man]

On average a Marlin needs a .311" boolit and bore ride of .301". I made my mold that way and have done less then 1" at 100 yards. Actually had 3 shots in a pop can of 3/16". I use 3031 and 4895. A little over 1900 fps.
The 30-30 can shoot great. I also bought the RCBS 30-150 FN and it casts large enough. Pure luck!