.30/30 Powders

The deer man

Well-Known Member
Can anybody recommend powders for the .30/30. I think I used IMR 3031 last time, ages ago. A bit vague but lost the memory on my laptop with all my loads on it, fortunately had them all backed up except - guess which one! So starting this calibre load from scratch again.
Many thanks
 
Can you get IMR-3031? It is great. What do you have?

Forgot to ask: what bullets are you loading?
 
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Thanks Southern, yes I can get IMR 3031.
I can also get BL-C(2), H335, H4895, just not sure which may be the best for accuracy and velocity. At the moment I can't even access my Quickload to give me a clue as that got frazzled when my laptop lost it's memory!
 
Hi
my best load for 30/30 BL-C-2 36GR 110 GR RN have had some good results !have a look on the HODGSONS web site for data load to confirm
gundog
 
Can you get IMR-3031? It is great. What do you have?

Forgot to ask: what bullets are you loading?

. . . and I forgot to reply! I think they are either Sierra PH 150 gr FN or Speer Hot-Cor 150gr SPFN. Think they might be the latter as they don't have the 'crimp' mark at the end of the jacket where it meets the lead flat nose. They've been around a while in a plastic bag!
 
COAL depends on the bullet shape. A really flat nosed bullet might have a MAX OAL of 2.53". A very round nose might have a max of 2.550". A pointed rubber tipped 160-gr FTX might be 2.60 (Hornady manual says 2.535, and 2.570 for the 140). Not knowing his rifle, I would start short, or set my dies off of some gold standard, like Federal, Remington or Winchester ammo.
 
COAL depends on the bullet shape. A really flat nosed bullet might have a MAX OAL of 2.53". A very round nose might have a max of 2.550". A pointed rubber tipped 160-gr FTX might be 2.60 (Hornady manual says 2.535, and 2.570 for the 140). Not knowing his rifle, I would start short, or set my dies off of some gold standard, like Federal, Remington or Winchester ammo.

What i was getting at was that depending on his rifle -and I assumed it is a lever gun- he may want to utilize the crimping groove in the bullet. That doesn't leave much lee way for adjustment. I'm not certain locating the crimp on a different part of the narrow band will have much of an effect.~Muir
 
Well, you could just load up any 150-gr at 2.50" OAL with 31.0 grains of IMR-3031, IMR-4895, H-4895, Varget or RL-15 and go hunting.

I may have to. I am out of 3031 and cannot find any
 
It's one powder I can always find . I use it in my 30/30 and 45/70 , it works great . It also worked really well in my 350 RM with 250 gr bullets.

AB
 
I finally found a can of W-748, so I can finish off the old one on my next batch of .30-30s. I bought some Hornady 160-gr FTX ammo, so it gets shot for groups and chronographing next.
 
Hello All, thanks for your input, it is a lever gun Marlin Model 336 (manufactured 1974) with a 20" barrel including the chamber, 18" of rifled barrel. It has a Leopold VX-I 2-7x33 on it. A rifle I don't use a huge amount but real old favourite.

I've got some Federal 150gr ammo that has always worked very well and the COL is 2.500" and some PRVI 150gr with a COL average of about 2,540". I've also got some old home loads at COL 2.550" with cast lead 150's, not so good.

I think I'll start at 2.500" and try some IMR 3031 and have a play, chrono them and see how accurate they are. I'll also try some BL-C(2) and maybe R15 which I use for my 7mm-08 as I have plenty of that.

One final question, what velocity are you getting with IMR 3031, what should I expect?

Now I better go and prep some cases!

ATB
 
I'm using 34gr of leverevolution behind 160gr ftx in my marlin 336 lts, also going to try 140 & 150's. Next trial will be 110gr v-max over BLC-2 and before anyone says it's unsafe I shall be having 1 chambered and one in the mag. I shall get chrono results to you if you wish when tested. Lower speeds than yours expected as only 16.25" barrel.
 
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