Western Field 30/30 and cast bullets

[the_ursus]

I'm looking to find a good hunting load for this rifle. I purchased a lee 309–170 mold
a while back and have yet to come up with a good load. I've tried unique, R7 and h4895 and feel like I'm missing something. At 50yds Unique was lousy and the best I could do was about 2" with r7 and h4895 at that range. I don't know the twist on that rifle so maybe that's my problem. All of my testing has been done with water quenched ww alloy.

Any input/suggestions would be helpful.

[richhodg66]

Western Auto sold Marlin 336s under the Western Field name, so it's the same as any micr grooved Marlin. My son has one marked Western Field and it's a good shooter with jacketed, haven't tried cast in it yet.

How big are those bullets dropping? I'd think you'd need .310-.311 to work well.

[richhodg66]

How big are your bullets dropping?

[rwadley]

Wards sold Western Field. Western Auto sold Revelation.

[aspangler]

If it was made prior to 71 it has cut rifling. try 39 grains IMR4064 with the Lee boolit. My shoots 1 1/2 " at 100 yards.

[RPRNY]

If a microgroove barrel, you are likely to find fat and slow works best, ie at least .310, possibly .311, and keep velocity under 1800 fps. My 336 likes 19 grs 4227 under 170 grs Lyman 311041 quite a bit.

[the_ursus]

Just checked and my sizer leaves them at .305 and bore diameter is .300. I could try pan lubeing and just shoot them unsized. I'd have to go cast a few since I'm not sure what size they come out of the mold at. Wishing I'd paid a little more attention before sizing.

[earlmck]

Just checked and my sizer leaves them at .305 and bore diameter is .300. I could try pan lubeing and just shoot them unsized. I believe you have diagnosed your problem.

[JSnover]

Wards sold Western Field. Western Auto sold Revelation.

That's correct. I still have the one my father gave me after he gave up hunting.

[the_ursus]

I ran a test batch and ended up putting foil tape on the blocks to get my bullet diameter up. They are now right around .310 so hopefully that will do it.

[GhostHawk]

That 4895 should do it but you may want to drop down a fair bit and work up. See where you get good accuracy.

I have had good luck in my Win 94 with light loads of Red Dot.
Google is your friend, one change at a time. Get the boolit fit right first and all else has a chance to fall into place.

[the_ursus]

I will try and post my results after a trip to the range. Bullet weight went up a little more when I taped my blocks, right around 183 now. I'm guessing close to 190 once they are lubed and checked.

[the_ursus]

So now my hornady (I think) gas checks are too small for my oversized bullets. Any gas check alternatives that you guys know about?

[Dave18]

it works for me,

do you have a hornady collet bullet puller, if so, get a collet at the dia you want, and just squish things down a hair till the gas check goes on, I do that with my 44s, I think if you use the 308 collet it will adjust down enough to do what you want,pretty much what I did with the 44

[Ed_Shot]

I load for my brothers 336 30-30. Using the Lee 309-150 sized .310 over 2400 16.0 gr it will consistently hold MOA.

[the_ursus]

Good idea on the bullet puller, I'll give that a try.

[izzyjoe]

You can take a small ball bearing,and place on top of the gas check and tap it with a hammer to bevel it. It will take a few tries, but you'll figure it out. Since its microgrove you'll want them fat as they will chamber, the rifle will tell you what it likes. 16gr. of 2400 is a good load.

[OverMax]

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1018523537/lee-bullet-lube-and-sizing-die-kit

As far as your gas checks. Try annealing the checks prior to installing. Doing so will soften the copper which will allow the copper disk to reform to the heal or base of a sightly oversize cast.
Tip: Seating Die will also do a good job on tightening a G/ checks lip to its cast during the casts final seating.
Having the (link) Push-Thru Die shown will not only tighten a check to its cast it will also resize a bullet to a preferred {never out of round} diameter.

[leveraction 45 colt]

I buy the mbc whitetail number 4 165gr flat nosed uncoated and they are at .311 dia and I load these with 7grs of sr4756 powder and they shoot excellent in my marlin 336w 30-30 so you might try a sample pack from them to see if your gun likes them! these don't require a gas check!!

[richhodg66]

I buy the mbc whitetail number 4 165gr flat nosed uncoated and they are at .311 dia and I load these with 7grs of sr4756 powder and they shoot excellent in my marlin 336w 30-30 so you might try a sample pack from them to see if your gun likes them! these don't require a gas check!!

That sounds like a fun load. I like plain based bullets when you can get away with it. The OP said he was looking for a hunting load which will probably require a gas check design, but at least 98% or our shooting is paper and a load like that is great to hone shooting skills.

I just recently broke the seal on a can of 4756, I think I have some similar plain based bullets around, gonna give this load a try.

[hornady308]

I had one of these. It did very well with 170gr cast and 26.5gr IMR3031. In fact, every 30-30 I ever had has done well with this combination.