Deer hunting 30-30 reloads

[kb]

Im looking to reload some 30-30 for deer hunting.  What has been your experiances with what ever bullets you use?  What is your load?

This is just for some whitetail hunting, nothing too exotic.

Thanks,

kb

[Wyo. Coyote Hunter]

 ;)kb, I don't shoot my .30-30 enough to do much reloading for it. But I did try the Speer 130 grain flat point. Shot one wt. doe. To me it blew up too much for deer hunting. I have friends that like it. My pal just loaded a bunch of the 160 plastic tipped  .30-30's. Of course nothing is open to try these on by coyotes, and now they are laying low. I think this is the way I would go if I were handloading for mine. I just bought 5 boxes of 150 grain Silvertips for my hunting. The 130's were great on p. dogs.

[454Puma]

I've got the LEE 150grGC mold I'll be using this season.  I've loaded them over 33.5gr of IMR 4350 I have to run a few over the chrony and see how they shoot. Shot some with IMR4198 27 gr. They shot to about 2.5" at 100 yds! Good enough for deer!   

[Badnews Bob]

170 my preferred or 150 grain REM core locs loaded in the upper mid range gets the job done for me, No need to load them hot and that bullet works very nice.    I am gonna try some 170 grain lead bullets this year.

[ncsurveyor]

31.5 gr H322 under 150 gr Rem SP

That's about as milquetoast as you get for smokeless.....

[mangulator]

I need to agree with you ncsurveyor, I like H322 powder but with a 150 grain Speer bullet for deer hunting.

[salvo]

I have a bunch of 30-30's and have settled on two loads for all of them, I let the rifle pick which load it likes best. I have not found a 30-30 that does not like these loads.
I usually load Sierra bullets, but others work well too. 150 gr JFP with 31 gr of IMR3031 and a 170 gr JFP with 30 gr of IMR3031 - Federal primers.

[jlchucker]

My 30-30's all work very well with the Remington Coreloct 170 grain bullet. This includes a Winchester 94 with a 26 inch barrel, a pre-64 flatband carbine, and a Marlin 336 (safety-button version) that I got as a well-used bargain a few years back. I use 3031 for powder with these bullets.  These guns all like the Winchester 170 grain Silvertips as well, but those are no longer around as a component bullet, and I'm kind of hoarding my stash of these.  I want to try some 170 gr flatpoint cast bullets (plain base from a group-buy mold) as soon as I can find time and good weather to cast up a few.  On the subject of cast bullets, the Lyman 311041 with a gascheck, cast to about Lyman no. 2 hardness, seems to shoot straight, and a lot of folks on another website appear to have shot some pretty nice deer with that bullet.

[Halwg]

I use H-4895, it's a great 30-30 powder.  My favorite load is 170 gr Speer FN.  I also load 150 gr Hornady's.  Both over H4895 powder, works well.

[OLDHandgunner]

I've always used IMR 3031 with 30-30 rifles with 150 gr & 170gr FP bullets. Very accurate.
Now for my 30-30 in a 12" Custom T/C barrel  I use Win 748 with 130 BT's. Also very accurate.
Can't wait to try the new Hornady 160gr FlexTip bullets. They have been ordered for 3 months now.

[T.R.]

Sierra and Speer 170 grain bullets are very accurate in my carbine.  No deer can stand up to well placed shot using either bullet.

I once bought Hornady round nose 180's and ground the tips flat with stationary belt sander.  I was thinking the jacket thickness was designed for 30-06 velocity and would provide deep penetration (wild boar) at 30-30 velocity.  My theory proved correct.

Sam Fadala has pulled 190 grain bullets from 303 Savage cases and loaded into 30-30 cases for elk hunts.  He reported deep penetration as well.

In summary, go with factory made flat nose deer bullets and you'll be pleased.  Bullets heavier than 170 grains should be restricted to heavy bodied creatures with thick hides and bones.

TR 

[swordfish]

170 gr JFP with 30 gr of IMR3031 - Federal primers.

That works for me.