Contender 30-30 carbine barrel arrives

[rickt300]

I ordered a 23 inch carbine barrel in 30-30 last week and it came today. I immediatly set the G2 up with a scope and hit the range. The scope is an old Weaver wideview with a sort of a square eyepiece. Immediatly the scopes short eye relief and the eyepieces shape worked against me knocking a divit out of my nose. Oh well I continue shooting after stopping the bleeding and moving the scope even more forward. I had two loads on hand, the Federal blue box 150 grain factory load and some reloads I put together for a Marlin I used to have consisting of Speer's 130 gr. Flat point and 34.5 grains of H4895. I shot the rifle 51 times in 2 hours in 39 degree temperature, trust me the barrel did not get overly warm. In this case the factory load slightly outshot the reload giving three shot groups of 1 1/4 inches. The eyepiece still came uncomfortably close to my nose which did not help holding tight. Actually I was surprised at how lively the rifle was considering the 30-30 is not really much of a kicker.  A different scope will soon adorn this rifle and reloads put together in brass fired in it will probably tighten things up some. I am going to start with 165 grain ballistic tips and Winchester 748 powder.

[Kurt L]

Sounds great!
I have been thinking on getting one of these also someday.
let us know how it does if you chrono it.
I have not tried any ballistic tips in the 30-30 but I have loaded some
bullets to try and see how they would work.
pointed soft points in 150gr and 165gr etc and shot them single from a
winchester 94 and they would not expand as the jacket is to thick.
just a heads up you may want to test them to see if they do what you want them to
before you get a good hunt messed up or something.
Click on the photo to see full size
these 2 was shot into sand at 25 yards.

[rickt300]

I posted on the Nosler forum and they seemed to think I'd get expansion way out past where I'd be shooting at anything. What speeds were you pushing those bullets? I will definitly sand test then feral hog test. If not I can surely find a good bullet that will work. My secon choice and I have two boxes is the Sierra 170 grain flat nose.

[Kurt L]

Like I said They may work ok never tried them but it would be a good idea to sand test.
The ones I shot were just mid range that I knew would be a safe load. My thought on the ones
 I tested was mid range velocity at 25 yards shot in sand should be higher velocity at that test
than what a max load would hit at say 100-150 yds.so if it won't open up at 25 it sure won't at the 100-150 yrds

[rickt300]

Did my sand test while working up a full power load using the 165 gr. Ballistic Tips and Winchester 748. The bullets fully expanded and penetrated pretty deep. They were the only bullets I had so there was nothing to compare em to.

[Kurt L]

great!
I will remember that! Sounds like your almost set to go
Do you have any pictures of the 165 ballistic tips you shot.

[woodchukhntr]

Regarding the scope problem:  Depending what you are going to use the rifle for, you might consider getting a shotgun scope.  The parallax is set at a closer range than on rifle scopes, but the eye relief is usually longer since nobody wants the scope in their face when shooting a 12 ga.  I like them in the 1x or 1.5x by 4.5x power, although a 2.5x scope is good for general shooting.  The only time I go higher is on varmint rifles, who needs 9 power in the woods?

I have 2 handi rifles set up in scout configuration with 2x pistol scopes mounted forward on the barrel.  The only way I could be hit by the scope is if somebody clubbed me with the rifle!  I plan on getting a .30-30 barrel for my Contender Carbine, and will move the scope mount forward so I can "scouterize" it with a pistol barrel.

[TRM-1]

I have a G2 30-30 and love it. I haven't shot it a lot with full loads as I am shooting Remington managed recoil in it for my son who is ten years old. As far as the scope goes I have a Thompson  center 3X9X40 on it and it does good with enough eye relief, But I would love to put a Nikon Omega  scope on it like is on my muzzleloader (Which has the BDC 250 reticle) Only with a standard nikoplex reticle. The omega scope is a compact scope which boast five inches of eye relief. I think it would be a great scope for the contender carbines.