[Fat_46]

I chanced on a Stevens 325A a few months back - its a carbine length bolt action 30-30 Win. Bolt action means (at least to me) pointy bullets in 30-30!

I started to work up my first loads last night, using new brass, and Nosler/Winchester Combine Technology 168gr bullets. I ran into two things that I'm not sure if I need to be concerned about or not:

1 - After getting the OAL to the 2.550 listed everywhere (and required to fit into the magazine on the 325A) it looks that less that 1/3 of the bullet length is above the mouth of the case. Increasing pressure kind of worries me about seating a bullet to this depth.

2 - Because of the shape of the bullet I needed to crimp the case around it to eliminate void space between the mouth and the bullet. Again, I'm worried about over-pressure here.

I am using 28.8 grains of H4895, Win LRP, new Win brass...

Thanks in advance.

[R.W.Dale]

I've owned a couple of these fine rifles

When loading for savage stevens bolt actions you can FORGET about spitzer bullets heavier or longer than a 150grn flat base. Even the 125grn nosler ballistic tip you end up putting all of the bullets bearing surface inside the neck. Another problem is max loads in these rifles tend to shoot all over the place, and when I say all over the place I mean 12" groups. I believe this is due to the ONE locking lug on the bolt flexing and not providing an even bearing surface with higher pressure loadings. In my rifles the best shooting loads are typically a couple grains from max.

Treat these rifles like a 30-30 and you'll be rewarded with outstanding accuracy. Try to turn them into a 300sav and you'll be in for a headache. People buy these rifles thinking they can turn them into a pesudo 308win and end up selling them out of frustration. For high performance 30-30 loads a 340 isn't any more suitable than a marlin 336, for that you need a single shot.

Another thing to keep in mind is all but the lighest 308 diameter spitzer bullets are intended to operate somewhere in the 308win to 300wm velocity envelope. Well beyond the range of even the most insane 30-30 loads.