150 or 170 grain in Winchester 94 .30-30?

[FergusonTO35]

So, if I'm not mistaken my 1978 Winchester 94 with 20" barrel has a 1:12 twist, whereas my Marlins made in 1967, 1976, and 1991 (all Micro Groove) should be 1:10. My Marlins shoot great with Hornady 170 grain slugs so that is what I feed them. My 94 shoots them well enough, but I'm wondering if 150's would tend to be more accurate in the slightly slower twist of the 94? My 94 wears a receiver sight and has me pulling the trigger, so any extra bit of accuracy I can scrounge is welcomed. There doesn't seem to be a clear consensus across the various forums on the topic, maybe its just a case of every rifle is a law unto itself? None of my .30-30's are hot rods, my favorite 170 grain load is 28 grains of Hodgdon 335 for a very consistent 1960 fps across my chronograph. I have about half a box of Sierra 150's and a can of Accurate 2495 that I have a mind to use. Just thinking out loud here!

[NSB]

I’d just advise you to shoot them and find out. Twist rate is a pretty good guide line, but it’s not infallible. Sometimes you just get good results regardless of what the book says. I speak from experience. I’ve been around for a long time.

[FergusonTO35]

Thanks, that's what I'm going to do. Come to think of it, I have some RCBS 309-150-RF slugs made up as well.

[schutzen-jager]

i use 160 grain cast with great results -

[kungfustyle]

Your Winchester will shoot the 170's just fine. I use Tac, 3031, H4895 and CFE 223 and all shoot great with 150 and 170g jacketed and GC lead 311041's. Cool thing about the 30-30 is you can achieve almost the same velocity with cast vs jacketed. Concerning the twist rate, you won't have issues until you get a bullet too long to load, I've even heard of 195ger's doing OK, but that's outside of my wheel house and the common load data.

[Winger Ed.]

My old top eject Winchester loves the RCBS 170RN.
With a just under max. charge of IMR 3031 or 4198, it just wants to be accurate,
and would make Stevie Wonder look good at the range..