30-30 bullet recommendations

[Treeman72]

I bought a 30-30 fully understanding its ballistic limitations, with those being moderate levels of velocity and KD power. With that said, if you were to try for black bear and large hogs, what is the best bullet available? My local shops pick up 150 gr copper bullets and 170 nosler partitions occasionly. Are these up to the task, or is there a more worthy choice for penetration and durability?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[Griff]

Whichever your rifle shoots the best.

[Blaine]

I can't imagine Remington CorLokt 170s lacking anything for the task.....

[Nath]

Never had any of the Speers come apart.
A 150grn passed through a large red deer stags neck at ten yards shattering dense bones. Now that bullet was in a few pieces in the thick hide!

Thats the only occasion in many that one broke up.

The only limitation with a 30 wcf I see is you have to enjoy being closer to the quarry!

Have fun.

N.

[Carlsen Highway]

I have used the 150 grain Winchester Power Points and Hornady Interlock round noses on big red deer stags with perfect success.

[Stan in SC]

I find that 150 grain round nose work best for me.

Incidentally,Carlsen Highway, it's good to see you here.You will fit in well.


Stan in SC

[FWiedner]

Every .30-30 I own (All W's) prefers 170gr bullets.

... and they do the job very well.

[Ranch Dog]

I'm assuming that you are talking bullets as a component? I haven't shot a black bear but my choice for large boar would be the Hornady 170-grain FP.

[Hobie]

I have used Speers, Sierras, Hornadys, Winchester PPs & STPs, and Remington CoreLokt. One is about as accurate as the other and all will do the job. I do believe that the old Sierras (those that were .307") would penetrate more due to the smaller meplat but they also gave about 100 fps more with the same charge (30 gr. IMR 3031). Moreover, all shot to about the same POA there being less difference than a typical group of about 1.5-2-inches.

[J Miller]

The 30-30 has been around since 1894. Far longer than any of the exotic modern bullets people are fawning over. It is a proven game getter and it's only shortcomings are those who don't acknowledge it's abilities.

The standard ammunition and components available for it have been refined and improved for a 119 years. They've got them right.
Pick the bullet or factory ammo your gun shoots the best and then read my sig line and do it

Using exotic bullets in the 30-30 is like running Sonoco racing fuel in your old Buick. It will get you to the store and back, but what a waste.

Joe

[Eye-Bite!]

The 30-30 has been around since 1894. Far longer than any of the exotic modern bullets people are fawning over. It is a proven game getter and it's only shortcomings are those who don't acknowledge it's abilities.

The standard ammunition and components available for it have been refined and improved for a 119 years. They've got them right.
Pick the bullet or factory ammo your gun shoots the best and then read my sig line and do it

Using exotic bullets in the 30-30 is like running Sonoco racing fuel in your old Buick. It will get you to the store and back, but what a waste.

Joe

Eye-Agree!

[piller]

How much deader (I sound like a journalist there) do you want the bear? You can even use some good old lead bullets, too. For the lead, ask Ranch Dog about what he recommends or go over to the Cast Boolits forum and ask them. A good lead bullet from a .30-30 will kill a hog, too.

[Charles]

Buffalo Bore offers a Heavy 30-30 load, with 190 grain bullet for better thump on larger critters.

[lever- believer]

I am no .30-30 expert but all of what I have heard from old hunters in the first person sounds like the last few posters. Now granted I live in Virginia and we mostly hunt Deer and Black Bear (wish we had Hogs here) no-one outside of those who worship the gun rags thinks the 30-30 lacks anything in the 'put it down' department.

I read a post one time about a guy (may have been here but who knows).. He stated that people say a .30-30 is too underpowered today for even Deer... but the same magazines review one of those fancy single show switchable barrel pistol and the next thing you know the .30-30 in that handgun can take most anything on the continent. Pretty laughable and so true.

Same holds true for .357 or .44 in a lever. Goodness knows they snub it in a rifle but claim if you hunt bear with .44 that is more than plenty. Go figure again. I still say the Winchester 94, an Marlin guns too, are an American Woods Tradition (read that Icon). For a hundred years men and women have placed their lives in the hands of the .30-30 on hunts. I would see no reason to overthink things too much, however, experimentation with fancy bullets/loads is always fun so if you want 'Rock On!' and let us know how it goes.

If you do your part the .30-30 will get it just as dead. In fact being one always up for a good challenge. Do it with the .30-30 (because you practice hard and can control it well) and then smirk and shake your head at the guy who blew the shot or as bad,gut shotted with a whizbang magnum and then just walk away. Kills them every time (grin).

[Eye-Bite!]

I am no .30-30 expert but all of what I have heard from old hunters in the first person sounds like the last few posters. Now granted I live in Virginia and we mostly hunt Deer and Black Bear (wish we had Hogs here) no-one outside of those who worship the gun rags thinks the 30-30 lacks anything in the 'put it down' department.

I read a post one time about a guy (may have been here but who knows).. He stated that people say a .30-30 is too underpowered today for even Deer... but the same magazines review one of those fancy single show switchable barrel pistol and the next thing you know the .30-30 in that handgun can take most anything on the continent. Pretty laughable and so true.

Same holds true for .357 or .44 in a lever. Goodness knows they snub it in a rifle but claim if you hunt bear with .44 that is more than plenty. Go figure again. I still say the Winchester 94, an Marlin guns too, are an American Woods Tradition (read that Icon). For a hundred years men and women have placed their lives in the hands of the .30-30 on hunts. I would see no reason to overthink things too much, however, experimentation with fancy bullets/loads is always fun so if you want 'Rock On!' and let us know how it goes.

If you do your part the .30-30 will get it just as dead. In fact being one always up for a good challenge. Do it with the .30-30 (because you practice hard and can control it well) and then smirk and shake your head at the guy who blew the shot or as bad,gut shotted with a whizbang magnum and then just walk away. Kills them every time (grin).

Gun Mags are in the business of selling guns and ammo. They are an outlet to the manufacturers to showcase their goods. Every gun magazine i have ever read, not one has ever said: Don't buy this or it's not good for this or that etc. It's always the best or the latest and you can't do with out it, so buy it now. Anyway, The 30-30 has a petagree second to none. It's not exciting to reprint the same cartridge over and over thus the loss of readership. Watch the TV hunting shows where they hunt Grizzly Bears, Moose and the likes. They use a Bow and Arrow or a muzzle loader. So, the 30-30 is underpowered? R-i-g-h-t! Most or experienced shooters know what their cartridge is capable of. In my Opinion.... Anyone who says the 30-30 is to underpowered Needs to reeducate themselves rather then speculate on something they know nothing about.

[stew71]

Remington 170gr Cor-Loks. Makes deer DRT.

[3leggedturtle]

I am no .30-30 expert but all of what I have heard from old hunters in the first person sounds like the last few posters. Now granted I live in Virginia and we mostly hunt Deer and Black Bear (wish we had Hogs here) no-one outside of those who worship the gun rags thinks the 30-30 lacks anything in the 'put it down' department.

I read a post one time about a guy (may have been here but who knows).. He stated that people say a .30-30 is too underpowered today for even Deer... but the same magazines review one of those fancy single show switchable barrel pistol and the next thing you know the .30-30 in that handgun can take most anything on the continent. Pretty laughable and so true.

Same holds true for .357 or .44 in a lever. Goodness knows they snub it in a rifle but claim if you hunt bear with .44 that is more than plenty. Go figure again. I still say the Winchester 94, an Marlin guns too, are an American Woods Tradition (read that Icon). For a hundred years men and women have placed their lives in the hands of the .30-30 on hunts. I would see no reason to overthink things too much, however, experimentation with fancy bullets/loads is always fun so if you want 'Rock On!' and let us know how it goes.

If you do your part the .30-30 will get it just as dead. In fact being one always up for a good challenge. Do it with the .30-30 (because you practice hard and can control it well) and then smirk and shake your head at the guy who blew the shot or as bad,gut shotted with a whizbang magnum and then just walk away. Kills them every time (grin).

Gun Mags are in the business of selling guns and ammo. They are an outlet to the manufacturers to showcase their goods. Every gun magazine i have ever read, not one has ever said: Don't buy this or it's not good for this or that etc. It's always the best or the latest and you can't do with out it, so buy it now. Anyway, The 30-30 has a petagree second to none. It's not exciting to reprint the same cartridge over and over thus the loss of readership. Watch the TV hunting shows where they hunt Grizzly Bears, Moose and the likes. They use a Bow and Arrow or a muzzle loader. So, the 30-30 is underpowered? R-i-g-h-t! Most or experienced shooters know what their cartridge is capable of. In my Opinion.... Anyone who says the 30-30 is to underpowered Needs to reeducate themselves rather then speculate on something they know nothing about.

An older Speer or Sierra manual had a writer than shared his thoughts about this way of thinking on the 30/30 and how "People" said it was so powerful and accurate in a pistol, but was only marginal in a rifle.

[Carlsen Highway]

150 grain power point at 95 paces

[Chuck 100 yd]

I like the Speer Hot Core bullets. They were discontinued for the .30-30 in favor of the new line of
the Deep Curl bullets.
When I found them in stock at a local store I bought the last 200 they had.
The 150 gr. and 170 gr. Hot Core bullets intended for the .30-30 have always been the most accurate I have found.

[JerryB]

I reckon most of the 30wcf bullets would take your game. If I went into a store to buy a box to hunt black bear I would pick up a box of Remington 170 grain Cor-locs.

[Treeman72]

Nice to know some of the factory loads would be adequate. My rifle has been most accurate with 170 corelokts, just wasn't sure about their durability on game stronger than deer. Lots of sources, such as Gunblast's Jeff Quinn, love the all copper 150s.

I recently picked up some Hornady 170 interlocks, are they more durable than the corelokts? My local shops get little batches of ammo and components every now and then, but the selection and time intervals are never consistent. Bad case of you gotta get what you can, when you can.

[93marshooter]

I read a 1930 NRA article predicting the demise of the 30-30 as it is a once a year hunter. It was described as a "brush" gun. That was 80 + years ago. I guess the 30WCF didn't read the article. The 30-30 and the levergun was outclassed by power from the beginning I.e. 30-40 Krag, 7mm Mauser etc. The 30-30 is like a good pick-up ageless and functional. I like Remington 150 gr FN , Hornady leverevolution really works.

[lever- believer]

You know I liken the whole .30-30 not being enough 'myth' to something I seen on a nature channel a few years ago. There was a game reserve in Africa that was having issues with poachers and at the same time Young Bull Elephants killing Rhinos I think (may have the Rhino part wrong). One of the reporters on the documentary was going out with a search party from the preserve and they were carrying two kinds of rifles. One was carrying an Ak-47 to deal with any poachers and another riding an elephant carried an Enfield in .303 to deal with any dangerous game..... but wait... according to the 'press' the .303 isn't enough gun for the job (laughing out loud), even though the .303 had killed more big and dangerous African game than probably another caliber.

Reminds me a lot of the myth about the inadequacy of the 30-30. OK, I think I have ran that one in the ground for now.

[Ji in Hawaii]

I have always preferred the more streamlined aerodynamic profile of the Speer Flatnose bullets over round-noses like the Remington Core-Lokts or the fat meplat Sierra Pro-Hunter though realistically at the ranges I was hitting game (mostly under 75 yards) it didn't make a real difference performance wise, they all dropped piggies dead equally. I always prefer 170 over 150 any day though.

Speer 170 Flatnose

Remington 170 Core-Lokt

Sierra 170 Pro-Hunter

[piller]

One and only person who I know who didn't like the performance of the .30-30 was my brother. He was hunting deer in Colorado with his .30-30, had his elk tag, and hadn't seen any elk, so he was trying for a deer. An elk jumped in front of him and took off at full speed. He fired 5 times at a running elk and piled it up on the fifth shot. He thought he should have been able to stop it on the first shot. I don't know about shot placement, but he probably did not make great hits on it.

[FWiedner]

Actually, there were several years wheen I stopped using a .30-30 becuse I thought it did too much damage and wasted meat.

That was using 150gr bullets. Whatever I was using just made big messy holes.

These days I stick mostly to the commercial Win 170gr PP or the Rem 170gr Core-Lokt loads, once in a while I'll pick up some of the Federal stuff in the blue box.

Nice clean holes.

[Griff]

Actually, there were several years wheen I stopped using a .30-30 becuse I thought it did too much damage and wasted meat.

And the same reason why I stopped using my 7mmRemMag... and went back to the .30-30!

[BigSky56]

for a all around bullet for the 30-30 use a HCGC one of the best imo based on the results Ive done is the Beartooth 173 gr. the secret to a HC bullet is a low % of antimony too much makes a HC brittle and it will break up a good test for a HC bullet is put it on a anvil base down and smack it with a singlejack hammer you will see what it will do when you hit pin bone material in a animal if you are going to hunt in 0* conditions put the bullet in the freezer for a day then put it thru the hammer test. to answer your question hdy interlocks are tougher than regular corelockts I havent tried the bonded corelokts. A HC bullet will penetrate better than a jacketed bullet. danny

[J Miller]

Didn't someone say back in 2005 when Winchester discontinued the 94 that the 30-30 was terminal? Seems I read that.
So then what happened? Rossi stepped up with their Marlin copy, and Mosburg introduced theirs. So, now we actually have more brands making lever guns in 30-30.

All I can do is shake my head in wonder. A cartridge rifle combo 119 years old and still going? Must be something right about it.

Most once a year hunters read too many gun rags. They need to go out hunting more.

Joe

[Carlsen Highway]

The 170 grain Hornady will work well for you.

[John Y Cannuck]

170 grain Hornady Interlock

[Treeman72]

Most impressive on the moose. "Hang 'em high"

I started the thread mainly to see what ammunition gives the best results on large, dangerous game. Looks like the 170 Hornadys should do the trick. I do very limited reloading with a basic Lee setup. My friend who reloads 7.62x54r got me started on it. His Mosin likes cast bullets, so I might borrow a few from him and see how it goes in 30-30. They were an odd number, 172 or 173 grain.

Thanks for the input everyone. Happy shooting!

[FWiedner]

That's the biggest squill I ever seen...

[lever- believer]

Nice!

Seems like someone forgot to tell that Gentleman the .30-30 aint enough gun! (big grin)

Better yet someone forgot to tell the Moose!

[Montana_Jon]

170 grain Hornady Interlock

I have a buddy of mine that just blows smoke about his .300 WSM and he says I need one, I just show him this photo and say, "Not Really". Here in NW Montana, most hunting is done in dark forested areas, yes we can get shots in the clear cluts, but I've never needed shots beyond 150 yards with most under 50.