Best mold for 30/30 hunting?

[crabo]

I have a couple of friends with Marlin 30/30s. I don't have a 30/30 but have other levers.

What mold would you recommend for hunting hogs and deer?

Thanks,

[Doc Highwall]

crabo, I would recommend the Ranch Dog if you can get one or the copy that NOE makes with regular grease grooves first, then try the one that RCBS makes as a second.

[Char-Gar]

Every mold maker sells one or more FN bullets for the 30-30 and they are all good hunting bullets. My favorite in the RCBS 180 grain. It will cast 190 grains from ACWW and can be pushed at good speeds. Dispite the heavy weight it is very accuracy in 1-12 twist 30-30s.

That said a dead deer is a dead deer. One bullet does not kill one deader than another.

[Bullshop Junior]

Is there really a "best" mould design for all guns of the same caliber?

[Greg in Malad]

I second the ranch dog mould, it is amazing in my Marlin. My RCBS 150 FN mould casts .308 even, and doesn't shoot very good in my rifle. My LEE 150 FN casts .311 and shoots very well in the Marlin, as does the LBT 180 LFN. In my experience, I think any bullet will shoot well in a Marlin 30/30 if it casts big enough.

[MtGun44]

For hunting you want either a flat nose (also needed for safety in a tube mag) or a
hollow point. Of course you can do the soft nose dual cast route, if you want to.

One that is pretty well thought of is the Lyman 311041 which was specifically designed
for the .30-30 many decades ago. Many shooters have had excellent results with this
one. I have never personally used it for hunting, but it works well in my Marlin 336.

Bill

[northmn]

I have shot only 4 deer with my 30-30, but really like the ehavier bullets which can be driven at about 1900 fps. My load is a 188 grain bullet. The RCBS 180 grain flat nose is a big favorite among a few experienced 30-30 hunters. I use a Lee 312 180 grain mold and flatten the nose with a flat nose punch, but the RCBS would be much less fooling around. I also use about an equivalent of half lead half WW, or chilled birdshot and oven temper them. I anneal the noses with a torch in a pan of water covering the bases. I only anneal a few and sight in and do other shooting with the ones not annealed. Concidering that I have to throw out a few that bulge during sizing (I do this before tempering) due to the flat nose punch on a round nose and some overheating in the annealing process, if you want to pay the $$ the RCBS is the way to go.

Northmn

[jh45gun]

I only have one 30 cal mold at this time an old Ideal/Lyman 311407 but its a good one I use it for all my 30 cal cast loads.

[coyotebait]

I vote for the Ranch Dog design, ether the RD or the NOE. They have a large meplat and cast fat enough to fit the Marlin. Killed a buck this season with the NOE 311-165 cast of WW, worked great.
coyotebait

[Larry Gibson]

Very hard to go wrong with 311041 in a 30-30. There are other bullets just as good but 311041 is the "standard" by which the others are judged. If you want to hunt with it search for info on casting the bullets softer, driving them at 2000+ fps and correct cleaning.

Larry Gibson

[6pt-sika]

I've used the following in a number of different Marlin's chambered for 30-30 !

Lyman 311041
Lyman 311041HP
Lyman 311440

Lee 30-150GC
Lee 30-170GC

RCBS 30-150GC
RCBS 30-180GC

Saeco 30-150GC

Ranch Dog 311-165GC

And just let me say they all shot well enough for use at silhouette matches out to 200 meters !

As to hunting the Lyman , Lee and RCBS bullets performed well !

But my favourite of them all for target and hunting work has to be the Ranch Dog 311-165GC bar none !

[6pt-sika]

By the way the first deer I ever killed with a 30-30 I was using a Marlin (of course) and had loaded the Lee 30-170GC .
Was pushing the bullet with a moderate load of SR4759 and it really amazed me how well this combntaion killed "normal" sized deer (ie 85-140 pounders).

[45r]

I had a Mtn Mold made for my 35rem with a 72 percent metplat, .120 bore-rider secant with small multiple lube grooves at 215 grains and it works very well on deer with AC WW.It makes quarter size holes at only 1780 fps.It was a little too tight untill I fire-lapped the micro-groove barrel and now it fits perfect with light engraving when chambering.Half inch groups at 65 yards are the norm with Vitt-133.Long heavy boolit with lots of bearing surface would be good for whatever mold you chose.I made mine look like a mix of the rcbs 200 and RD's boolits.

[crabo]

Swede said he might run a small group buy of the Ranch Dog 165GC in the spring. I will probably wait for that since I don't shoot this gun myself.

[Whit Spurzon]

6pt-Sika, how fast are you pushing that Lee 170 grain with the SR 4759?

[shdwlkr]

I have 150, 165, 180 and like them all, if I had to end up with just one mold I think it would be the 180 as it covers all the use one could have for the 30-30.
I would like a 140 grain flat nose for varmints though

[SCIBUL]

The Lyman 3211041 works very well for my MARLIN 336 and for the octagon barrel model of my hunting partner. I size them .310 and load with 23grs of N130.

[WyrTwister]

Swede said he might run a small group buy of the Ranch Dog 165GC in the spring. I will probably wait for that since I don't shoot this gun myself.


Please let me know off list if the group buy gets off the ground .

Thanks ,
Wyr
God bless


WyrTwister@hotmail.com

[shdwlkr]

I have one of RD's 165 grain molds when he was still in the business. Great bullet
I also have a 311041 mold and as soon as Swede runs it again I will get it with the hollow point version.
I would still Like to have a 140 grain hollow point for varmints and target shooting. May have to bite the bullet so to speak and pay big $$ and have it custom made for me but I will get one someday.

[Doc Highwall]

In the cast boolit archives junior wrote a very good article comparing the Lyman, RCBS,LEE and Ranch-Dog boolits. The archives here are very valuable do your self a favor and search them.

[Dannix]

In the cast boolit archives junior wrote a very good article comparing the Lyman, RCBS,LEE and Ranch-Dog boolits. The archives here are very valuable do your self a favor and search them.
This the link you are referring to?
http://www.castbullet.com/reload/meplat.htm

Anyone know where the "Ranch Dog TLC311-165-RF" referred to in the above link can be had and for how much?

I scrounged about 50lbs of WW and thinking about getting into casing for a 1894 30-30 carbine. I assume gas checks can be set without a sizer? A sizer is not in the budget right now.

[jimkim]

This the link you are referring to?
http://www.castbullet.com/reload/meplat.htm

Anyone know where the "Ranch Dog TLC311-165-RF" referred to in the above link can be had and for how much?

I scrounged about 50lbs of WW and thinking about getting into casing for a 1894 30-30 carbine. I assume gas checks can be set without a sizer? A sizer is not in the budget right now.

You'll have to buy it used, custom order it from Lee, or buy one the next time they do a group buy. http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=54374

[jh45gun]

This the link you are referring to?
http://www.castbullet.com/reload/meplat.htm

Anyone know where the "Ranch Dog TLC311-165-RF" referred to in the above link can be had and for how much?

I scrounged about 50lbs of WW and thinking about getting into casing for a 1894 30-30 carbine. I assume gas checks can be set without a sizer? A sizer is not in the budget right now.

Buy a Lee push through sizer in .309 or .310 that will size your bullets using a regular press and seat the gas checks too. Just putting on the gas checks by hand would not work well they would be too loose. The Lee push through sizers are inexpensive and work fine.

[MT Gianni]

I'll add the 311407 just so you will be another of the thousands searching to find one.

[ktw]

There are too many good ones.

After being lost in that wilderness for a short while I decided that I was going cut back to just 2 designs for the 30-30 (Lyman 311041 and RCBS 30-180-FN) in order to keep the load development activity to sane levels.

And I wasn't going to dabble in any other 30-30 molds. But then the NOE/Swede copy of the 311407 came along and I bought one of those too.... It takes a lot of willpower.

-ktw

[Dannix]

You'll have to buy it used, custom order it from Lee, or buy one the next time they do a group buy. http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=54374
Looks like I'm going to have to lurk ebay for a bit and get in on the next group buy if I don't find anything.


Buy a Lee push through sizer in .309 or .310 that will size your bullets using a regular press and seat the gas checks too. Just putting on the gas checks by hand would not work well they would be too loose. The Lee push through sizers are inexpensive and work fine.
Got a vendor recommendation? I'm going to have to read up on how to slug my barrel.

ktw, got a link to the NOE/Swede copy of the 311407?

[ktw]

ktw, got a link to the NOE/Swede copy of the 311407?

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=53743

-ktw

[jh45gun]

Looks like I'm going to have to lurk ebay for a bit and get in on the next group buy if I don't find anything.


Got a vendor recommendation? I'm going to have to read up on how to slug my barrel.

ktw, got a link to the NOE/Swede copy of the 311407?

You can order from Lee Direct if I am not mistaken or most places have the lee stuff for sale like Midway or Grafs ect or you can get your local gun shop to order it for ya. I just bought a 309 size sizer with out measuring the bore and mine shoot fine. Others here have said they size their bullets for the 30/30 at 309 also. Others at .310 I think either will work just fine.

OK I see they do not offer the 310 they do offer the 309 or the 311 so I would go with the 309.

http://www.leeprecision.com/cgi/catalog/browse.cgi?1265213640.2190=/html/catalog/lubesize.html

Price is $19.95

If you really want a 310 they will custom make you one for $29.00

[Chuck 100 yd]

311041

[Tony65x55]

If you really want a 310 they will custom make you one for $29.00

If you take your .309 sizer, cover a half dozen bullets with lapping compound and push them through, you will get a .310. It's easy, just remember to keep checking it so you don't overdo it. Remember to clean the die after your done.

[Kragshooter]

I have the Lee .309 and it shoots great in my 336, I use the Lee 170 flat nose, size at .309 and shoot the heck out of em.(gas checked)

[jh45gun]

Yep I use mine sized .309 for my Win 94.

[6pt-sika]

You guys do as you please , but FWIW when i was casting and shooting alot of 30-30 stuff I sized them ALL at .312" !

[6pt-sika]

6pt-Sika, how fast are you pushing that Lee 170 grain with the SR 4759?

It was in the 1550-1700 range . I never ran it over a Chrony but judging by the load tables etc I think thats a safe estimation !

To be honest it shocked the S..T outta me when I shot that deer ! She was about a 100 pound live weight doe at 40 yards . Shot her behind the shoulder and she took maybe 20 steps and rolled over dead !

After that I had similar experiences with the Lyman 311041 , RD 311-165 and the Saeco 30-150 but these were all pushed closer to the 2000 FPS range .

[Suo Gan]

Lyman 311041 and Saeco 316 are two that I use in my Marlins. I bet that there will be another group buy of the NOE RD 311-165. It might be a few more months though. In the meantime I would buy the 311041 for starters.

[45-70marlin]

311041 with 29.0gr. IMR-4895 1"or so at 100yds.

[izzyjoe]

45-70 marlin, i use that same load w/lee 170 gc .310. that load will shoot the darn stripes of a skunk @ 100y. ask me how i know. it's not what you got it's -way you give!

[Blammer]

This boolit is a winner. 311041

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g81/blammer8mm/Cast%20boolits/311041/DSCN7793.jpg

[Dannix]

I bet that there will be another group buy of the NOE RD 311-165. It might be a few more months though. In the meantime I would buy the 311041 for starters.
Yeah, I hope so; I posted another "me too" in group-buy thread. I'm rather busy right now so I don't mind waiting until summer, but I'll go 311041 if a group buy isn't done at that point.

You guys got a good gas cap source? All the prices I've seen put them at more than 1/3 the 6.7cent/rnd 9mm FMJ I buy. :-?

[Joneser]

Anyone ever try a Lachmiller 311175FN?

[Huntsman]

Was anyone able to recover any boolits from their deer?

[shdwlkr]

Dannix
Blammer right here on this site sells gator gas checks. send him a PM

Blammer you're just bragging again about another bullet. But I have to say I agree with you on that bullet.
I have the Rd mold, a 150 grain mold, a 311041 mold and some others the best of the bunch is anything made by NOE. Yea I really do like their molds.

[Rattlesnake Charlie]

I noticed that one response indicated that occasionally the bullet nose diameter was "bumped up" during the sizing operation. I have been plagued with that, and found an answer. Get the raw bullets "cold" before sizing. I mean like below 40 degrees F. I'm not sure of the actual point where deformation occurs, but if I keep the bullets cold before and during the sizing operation, they do not "bump up". My experience is with a Lee single cavity gas checked .309-170F. "As cast" nose diameter is .298, but if sized in Lyman Lubri-Sizer while warm, they "bump up" to about .302 on the nose. Too much for several friends' pre-64 Winchester .30-30's. Also, go easy when you hit bottom of the stroke, or you will also "bump up". Hope this helps some.

BTW, the alloy I've been using is 50% WW and 50% pure lead. No leading with Carnuba Red up over 2000 fps. Gas check is Hornady. With my particular mold, the Lyman ones fall off.

Wisdom comes from experience, and a lot of that wisdom comes from bad experiences.

[Dannix]

Dannix
Blammer right here on this site sells gator gas checks. send him a PM
Yeah, I'm going to be getting in touch with him once the time comes (I'm flat out right now, not much time for hobbies).

I got the ball rolling on another group by for the 311-165. Here's the active thread if anyone is interested:
Re-Run of the 311-165gr GCRF Group Buy is Here (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?p=809994)