Favorite .30-.30 cast boolit?

[Black Chrome]

I picked up a .30-.30 a while back. It's a Winchester 94 Ranger with an 18" barrel. I'm finally getting ready to start reloading for it. I've bought some 170 grain J words to start with but I would like to cast my own. The NOE 165 gr ranch dog is tempting with the 15% off sale right now. I am sucker for a big wide meplat. I've also looked at the LEE 309-170F. I will be powdercoating these boolits no matter the mold. What is everyones favorite mold/boolit and why? These will probably be loaded to velocities around 1700 FPS with IMR 3031. Is a gas check necessary for these velocities with powdercoating? What about using a gas check style mold and not using the gas check for reduced loads but running the check for full house loads? Enlighten me before I pick up a mold haphazardly. Thanks

[WALLNUTT]

In my Win 94 it's the Ideal 311441. The 788 gets the RCBS 180SP.

[alfloyd]

If you get a bore rider mold and you powder coat it the nose may be too big to fit in the barrel.

Lafaun

[Black Chrome]

If you get a bore rider mold and you powder coat it the nose may be too big to fit in the barrel.

Lafaun

Thanks. These are the type of things that I know nothing about. This is my first attempt at PC in a rifle. I have done pistol calibers with success so far.

[Morgan61]

I have the Lyman 311041 and the NOE 165 gr ranch dog for my 30-30's and both shoot well. I do favor the NOE for hunting.
As mentioned by other posters, the nose will be over sized if you powder coat the nose of the NOE 165 gr ranch dog.
I powder coat just the driving bands on my NOE 165 gr ranch dog's and they shoot great.

[Black Chrome]

I have the Lyman 311041 and the NOE 165 gr ranch dog for my 30-30's and both shoot well. I do favor the NOE for hunting.
As mentioned by other posters, the nose will be over sized if you powder coat the nose of the NOE 165 gr ranch do.
I powder coat just the driving bands on my NOE 165 gr ranch dog's and they shoot great.

Thanks for the info on the ranch dog. How do you tell if a boolit is a bore rider or not? What about the lee 309-170?

[Tom W.]

I have the RD mold and an old 160 gr SC Lee mold. There isn't much if any difference in accuracy in my rifle. It is an old NEF single shot with an older Tasco 4x scope.

[Morgan61]

Thanks for the info on the ranch dog. How do you tell if a boolit is a bore rider or not? What about the lee 309-170?

If the nose is the same dia. of the bore. The ranch dog nose dia is advertised to be .300" but mine drop at .304" with my alloy.
I have to smoosh them in when I close the lever and they shoot fine.

[Tatume]

What about the lee 309-170?

My Lee C309-170-F mold produces outstanding bullets that are very accurate. The mold is also easy to use as it is very light.

[Rattlesnake Charlie]

While I like the Lee C309-170-F, the NOE RD TLC-160-RF does have a larger meplat. Only some experimentation will tell what your rifle likes best. I expect it will like both equally. Where are you located? I have some of both cast up and can send you some. PM me a snail mail address.

[Edward]

Get the Lee mold ,both my marlins/Win 94 like the 170 gr and you can't lose because for the money you can cast till your bored and then sell the mold for near what it cost you!

[10x]

I like the Lee 150 and 170 gr FP GC molds. One of the best 30 cal bullet designs I have used.
I wish lee made 6 cavity molds for these two designs

[Boolseye]

Another vote for the Lee 170. Exceptional accuracy, ideal for the 30-30.

[Black Chrome]

For those of you that vote lee 170 are you powder coating these boolits? If so do you powercoat before you put the gas check on and size or are you gas checking and sizing then powder coating then sizing again?

[mattw]

I have a very old 31141, not marked 311041. I love it, works great in my 60's era Winchester. I also shoot the Loverin 311466 and it is very accurate, have to use hard lube since some of the grooves are outside of the case mouth. My 311466 is not cut well, when sizing 2 sides really squish the lube grooves and the other 2 sides are nicely formed.

[Hick]

Another vote for the Lee 309-170F.. Works very nicely in my Winchester both with gas check and without. Another one I use, mostly for plinking, is the Lyman 311410. I think it was really designed for a 30 Carbine, and is plain based-- but it works well. If you buy instead of casting, you might want to try the Bear Creek 100 grain moly-coated 32 caliber pistol bullet. It is a flat-nosed and easily sizes to .309 without damaging the moly coat. It typically runs about $35 per 500, which makes it a very low cost plinker.

[kbstenberg]

For those concerned about the nose being too lg for the bore. an added step would be to just nose size your bullets.
Get or make a sizing die the exact dia to fit your rifle. Then nose first size the bullet just where the bullet contacts the bore of your rifle.

[shootsblanks]

I got up early and ordered a noe sc311-165 with a set of handles this morning... and I didn't realize until I read your post that I forgot to put in the code to get 15% off.:killingpc

[RayO]

311291 has been good for me in the 30-30 and other 30 calibers.

[Oily]

Check out EBAY if you like the 311041 Lee special order 6 cavity clone of the Lyman 311041 $76.99. Kind of pricey for a Lee 6 banger but hey great bullet and yes it is a 6 cavity!

[jimb16]

+1 on the 311291. I use it in almost all of my .30s.

[MostlyLeverGuns]

I like NOE's 311-195-FN, copy of the RCBS for the .30-30 and .303 Savage.

[FredBuddy]

The Lee 150 flat nose, powder coated, chambers nicely in 5 of 6 of my 30-30's, including a Win 94.

But, for real fun, try the flat base ideal 311008, powdercoated, with Unique or Trail Boss.

Cheaper to load than today's 22LR prices.

More lethal than 22LR, and no recoil.

Great for new shooters and it's CUTE.

[popper]

gas checking and sizing then powder coating then sizing again unless you use washers or something to keep the PC off the shank. Crimp groove in those moulds may cause seating depth problems. PC on the nose of WFN may require deeper seating. Get some samples from OP and load dummies to see what works, or do a pound cast. I got a 170PB & 185GC without lube or crimp grooves - so far they shoot good. The PB even works in my ar bo @ 1800 fps. Might try it with Rx7 in the 30/30.

[Boolseye]

For those of you that vote lee 170 are you powder coating these boolits? If so do you powercoat before you put the gas check on and size or are you gas checking and sizing then powder coating then sizing again?
I'm old school, no PC here.
I tumble in a light coat of 45-45-10, apply the gas checks and size (Lee push-through sizer), then pan lube. I actually size that boolit to .311 for my 30-30, engraves the rifling on chambering, shoots like a laser.

[10x]

For those of you that vote lee 170 are you powder coating these boolits? If so do you powercoat before you put the gas check on and size or are you gas checking and sizing then powder coating then sizing again?

Yes , I cast the bullet, make sure the base has no bumps from the sprue, shake with cheap black powder, bake at 375 in a $3 toaster oven for 10 minutes, cool, apply copper or freechex III gas check and then size to 0.311" or 0.309 using a lee push through sizer. My SPS 700 heavy barrel in .308 will not chamber a .311 bullet but almost ever other 30 caliber gun I have will.
I have found that letting the throat of the barrel size the bullet gives me better accuracy than slugging the barrel and sizing 0.001 over barrel diameter.

[jimb16]

I have an old single shot .30-30 that I have to set the bullet WAY out for. It wants the bullet sized to .310. Its a barrel for an old Savage 220 series shotgun/rifle combo. With a 150 gr. Loverin and 7.8 gr of Unique, it is a real tack driver! BTW, I have the 20 ga. barrel that goes with it.

[Black Chrome]

Well I ordered the Lee 309-170F mold and .309 sizing die. Hornady .30 cal ga checks as well as a couple sample packs from Vulcan checks. Hopefully I can cast some and try these out over the holidays.

[rintinglen]

Another boolit that merits attention is the RCBS 30-180 Fn. That boolit actually casts more like 190 grains unless you are using linotype. It is very accurate over 30 grains of WW-748.

I also like the Lyman 311-041, 311-291, 311-466 and NOE's 312-440 designs. In fact, you are hard pressed to find any flat-nosed or round nosed boolit that won't shoot well from your 30-30 once you get the size and load your gun prefers sorted out. I suspect that you may wish that .309 die was a .310 or even a .311. I have 5 30-30's and all except my savage are actually happier when sized .311, but the Savage has a tight neck so I run .310. I have loaded thousands upon thousands of 30-30's with cast, ranging fro 88 grain 311-419 loads up to the afore mention RCBS at 190 grains.

[dale2242]

311291 because that`s what I have.
Sized .309. NRA 50/50 lube.
Bought it in the 60s and have used it in 30-30 to 300 Whby mag....dale

[10x]

Another boolit that merits attention is the RCBS 30-180 Fn. That boolit actually casts more like 190 grains unless you are using linotype. It is very accurate over 30 grains of WW-748.

I also like the Lyman 311-041, 311-291, 311-466 and NOE's 312-440 designs. In fact, you are hard pressed to find any flat-nosed or round nosed boolit that won't shoot well from your 30-30 once you get the size and load your gun prefers sorted out. I suspect that you may wish that .309 die was a .310 or even a .311. I have 5 30-30's and all except my savage are actually happier when sized .311, but the Savage has a tight neck so I run .310. I have loaded thousands upon thousands of 30-30's with cast, ranging fro 88 grain 311-419 loads up to the afore mention RCBS at 190 grains.

I have found that with cast bullets, using the largest size bullet that will allow easy chambering of the loaded cartridge gives me the best accuracy.
In some guns that is 0.309" but usually I shoot 0.310" or 0.311" in my 30-30 rifles. The barrel does an excellent job of sizing the bullet.
I used to carefully slug the bore, then size the bullet to bore diameter or 0.001" over the bore diameter. I found I got better results with some guns by shooting with the "as cast" diameter.

I keep track of sized bullet diameters of my lee 150 FP GC bullets by the colour I powder coat them. Black powder coat is sized at 0.311" Blue powder coat is sized at 0.310" and red is sized at 0.309".
this sizing is based on the ease of chambering a loaded cartridge, not bore diameter. Also this way I don't take out rounds loaded in 0.311" that will not chamber in a tight throat that will only accept rounds loaded with 0.309" bullets.

Other bullets that I like in 30 cal that give great accuracy are the 311466 and 311407 (loverin designs) - both powder coated.

[dead dog]

The first mold I got was the Lee 309 170f with a 309 sizer it worked in Remington 700 but not my 94 . I had to lap it out .002 to get work in the Winchester.Now I use the c312-185 and a 311 sizer. 8 grains of universal for fun or a case full of 414 for hunting.

[lotech]

Having tried a number of cast bullets in the .30-30, I'll second the recommendation of the RCBS 30-180 FN. It has a wide, flat nose and shoots quite accurately with minimal load development. I have not had a .30-30 in a while, but I had good luck with WW alloy (190-195 grs.) and bullets sized to .310".

[Leadmelter]

RCBS 180gr is a great boolit for the 30/30 and 30-06.
Leadmelter
MI