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,
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,
Crabo
Do not argue with idiots. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.
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.
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.
Is there really a "best" mould design for all guns of the same caliber?
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.
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
If it was easy, anybody could do it.
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
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.
A gun is like a parachute: If you need one and don't have one, you won't be needing one again.
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
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
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 !
Parker's , 6.5mm's and my family in the Philippines
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).
Parker's , 6.5mm's and my family in the Philippines
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.
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.
Crabo
Do not argue with idiots. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.
6pt-Sika, how fast are you pushing that Lee 170 grain with the SR 4759?
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
Beware of a government that fears its citizens having the means to protect themselves.
NRA Patron member
Veteran
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.
Please let me know off list if the group buy gets off the ground .
Thanks ,
Wyr
God bless
WyrTwister@hotmail.com
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.
Beware of a government that fears its citizens having the means to protect themselves.
NRA Patron member
Veteran
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.
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |