Mossberg 464, 30-30... Longer Cartridges?

[Palmyrahicks]

Are there any other current manufacture 30-30 lever guns that can accept a 2.685" C.O.A.L."? Most loading manuals seem to indicate a maximum of 2.550" C.O.A.L?

I have a Mossberg 464 lever-gun that easily and reliably handles RNs with 2.685" C.O.A.L.". This is a big plus when loading heavier than standard boolits (200g CB, RN, GCs). I am just wondering if anybody has or knows of other 30-30s that have extended cartridge length capabilities.

Thanks, Palmyrahicks

[richhodg66]

I don't have an answer to your question, but I have watched those 464s with casual interest. I kind of wish Mossberg would do more with them in terms of variants (hate that Tacticool version) and calibers. If it will handle longer cartridges than a .30-30, maybe they were more forward thinking than most when they designed it.

[FergusonTO35]

My 1978 Winchester 94 handles longer cartridges no problem, my 464 is a little tighter. My two Marlins will cycle them no problem but the leade into the rifling is a lot tighter, necessitating deeper seating or a skinnier ogive. With the modest powder charges I use, I just seat to 2.420 for all of them and they work great.

[OverMax]

I kind'a think the older made Winchesters and Marlins were designed to accommodate such cartridges. (heavy cast weights) as it was popular years ago to cast bullets in a kitchen for something to do. Times have changed and I imagine so has chamber lengths. Truth is "these days if a feller wants to shoot heavier boolits y'll have to buy another gun."

[FergusonTO35]

I would surmise that casting and loading lead bullets is more popular now than at any time in the twentieth century. Heck when I was a kid in the 1980's it was the province of primitivists and people shooting cartridges for which commercial bullets did not exist. Same for reloading, nowadays a large percentage of hunters and shooters I know reload or at least have some experience with it. Likewise most gun shops and big box outdoors stores here have at least some reloading stuff whereas back in the day very few did.

[rintinglen]

Prior to WWI, casting may have been more common as a percentage of shooters, but I'm on board with Ferguson on this one. There are many more casters than there were when I was young, the 50's-70's were very much magnum oriented, "more is better," and cast boolits, other than as a source of cheap, pistol plinkers were largely ignored.

It was at about this time that game animals became increasingly harder to kill. Beasts that fell to our grandfathers 30-40's suddenly needed at least a 7 mm mag to be sure of a humane kill, and the poor old 30-30 became a laughing stock, only good for gophers, groundhogs and maybe a coyote, in the hands of a skilled marksman, of course. A man with a 30-06 need tremble and shake if he were to adventure into territory where a grizzly might be found. Happily, this condition of comparatively tough animals seems to be diminishing.

[AllanD]

Prior to WWI, casting may have been more common as a percentage of shooters, but I'm on board with Ferguson on this one. There are many more casters than there were when I was young, the 50's-70's were very much magnum oriented, "more is better," and cast boolits, other than as a source of cheap, pistol plinkers were largely ignored.

It was at about this time that game animals became increasingly harder to kill. Beasts that fell to our grandfathers 30-40's suddenly needed at least a 7 mm mag to be sure of a humane kill, and the poor old 30-30 became a laughing stock, only good for gophers, groundhogs and maybe a coyote, in the hands of a skilled marksman, of course. A man with a 30-06 need tremble and shake if he were to adventure into territory where a grizzly might be found. Happily, this condition of comparatively tough animals seems to be diminishing.

It isn't so much that game animals grew "harder to kill", it is that if the animal runs any distance at all it'll either cross a property line to where you have no permission to hunt (thus someone else will collect your deer) or some other member of the orange clad legions will put additional holes in "your" deer and claim it as "HIS deer" (again if someone else takes it home was it ever really yours?), this mental exercise is why I bought M1895 Marlin I expect that everything I may ever shoot will drop in it's tracks like a sack of coal.

I cast my RCBS 45-405GC bullets of pure lead (before anyone bugs me on this I cast my last batch of 20:1 PB/Sn) and I expect them to expand to the diameter of a quarter
before making an exit hole the size of a coffee cup in whatever creature they run into

I have and will continue to abuse the gong plates at 200 &300Meters at my club range, and If I break them again, then I guess I'll just have to fix them again.

30 years ago I was perfectly content, not with a 30cal Magnum, but with a 25-06. the only "magnum" I own is a custom built HEAVY barreled 7mm Mag (which I have yet to fire even though I've owned it for a decade, I suppose I should buy a scope for it)

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[FergusonTO35]

Very true. My best friend lost a nice buck last year that made it onto another place. I lost a big doe the same way a few years ago. Both deer were easy shots with rifles that we shoot well and have practiced with alot. I've passed on more than a few shots right on the edge because I knew there were hunters on the other place and that is the direction the deer would most likely run. Interestingly, the fastest deer kill I've ever made was with my heavy barrel .257 Roberts loaded to sedate .250 Savage power level. Standard heart/lung shot at 80 yards, she dropped like turning off a light. Skinning revealed the 117 grain Sierra Pro Hunter was surprisingly destructive but did not touch the spine.