30-30 180 grain round nose

[dinger]

i threw this one out to the gang over at marlin leverguns but,so far, no takers. i have an old 336a with a 24"barrel. i'm just wondering if, with the right powder, it would shove a 180 grain r/n bullet fast enough to make it expand at a reasonable distance(100-150 yards) on a tough target. like elk. maybe the 170 gr partition is the answer but i can't get the 180gr out of my head. thanks fer listenin', dinger

[TNrifleman]

I have not tried the 180 in a 30-30, but it is likely that the 180 would be a bit too tough for the velocities that a Marlin lever gun could produce. I have long favored the 170 Nosler Partition in the 30-30. While ordinary cup-core bullets in the 150 to 170 grain weight work fine for whitetail deer sized game, I don't mind paying a bit more for NP performance, even with the 30-30.

[Larry Gibson]

i threw this one out to the gang over at marlin leverguns but,so far, no takers. i have an old 336a with a 24"barrel. i'm just wondering if, with the right powder, it would shove a 180 grain r/n bullet fast enough to make it expand at a reasonable distance(100-150 yards) on a tough target. like elk. maybe the 170 gr partition is the answer but i can't get the 180gr out of my head. thanks fer listenin', dinger

Yes. With the 24" barrel you can achieve 2200+ fps with numerous powders at safe pressures in your Marlin. That is plenty fast enough for the 180 gr bullet to expand in larger game if the bullet is cast of the right alloy, Or the bullet nose is annealed, Or you two part cast the bullet. My favorite cast bullet for the 30-30 is the Lyman 311041. Mine is an older mould and with 3% antimony shot as my alloy choice for hunting drops the bullets at 180 gr.  These are water quenched out of the mould and a .311 sizer is used to seat the GC and lube with no sizing. I drive then just over 2200 fps out of my 24" M94. First 5 shots out of a clean barrel hold 2 1/2 moa. The next 5 will open the group to 4 moa and some leading will be apparent toward the muzzle. Since this is a hunting load I don't shoot more than 5 shots without cleaning the bore.  If I've not got the critter in 5 shots I'm going home empty handed anyways so might as well clan the bore, eh?  In comparison tests of this cast bullet along side several jacketed 170s in water soaked newsprint the cast bullet gave equal expansion (not a pretty "mushroom" though) and damage in the newsprint. It also gave about 1/4 more penetration. I've shot several deer with thi alloy and a couple elk using this bullet and several others of various caliber. All killed quite well.

The caveat here is you must put the bullet in the right place at a reasonable range.

BTW; My favorite 30-30 bullet for elk is the old 190 gr Winchester Silver Tip made for the 303 Savage cartridge.  I got onto to these from an old hunting partner who I was with wen I shot my 1st elk. I was using a M94 with 20" barrel and the velocity was right at 2000 fps.  They are almost impossible to find now as they've not been made for some years. I found them occasionally at gunshows but not for some years. I did find a box of 95 at an old gunshop in central Oregon about 10 years ago and am saving them for a special hunt. Not sure what that will be but since my first CF rifle was a M94 which I still have I'm hoping to get one of the grandsons to go along on a hunt with it.

Larry Gibson