Thoughts on a 30-30 load

243’s are light...my wife’s 257 AI is sending 110-120’s Gr pills down range. All these kill...I bet your 130’s at any real velocity will do just fine...put them where they are supposed to go, and pick up your deer.

I agree. At 150 yards or less, 130 grs .308 at 2100 +fps terminal velocity into whitetail vitals will kill.

yes they will work. good out to 150 meters. might be good out to 200 meters. you will have to run them around 2,100 fps to 2,200 fps to do any good at the 150/200 meter range. 100 meter and in no problem at all.

Fixed sights may be an issue, like on my old Win M94 30WCF ?

Mr_Flintstone said:

Speer 130 gr Flat Points.

Click to expand...

should work great, more velocity.

Shot a deer with a Hornady 110 gr , 30-06. Didnt exit.

I think it is interesting and possibly can work , just wondering if the rifle twist of 1:12 will like the lighter bullets and if the spin rate of the bullet will cause the bullet jacket to come apart. I've never shot nothing but 170 grainers or 200 on my 30-30.

Shot a deer with 100gr. lead hollow point from a 30-30 mdl. 336 at about 75 yards. Took two steps and dropped. Incidentally, this is a micro-groove Marlin and it shoots lead bullets just fine.

Mr_Flintstone said:

Did you cast this yourself, or buy commercially? I’ve been looking for such a bullet myself.

Click to expand...

I bought these from: gtbullets.com This site has a good selection of cast bullets that are a little out of the normal selection. I also use these 100grn bullets for light loads.

I think Remington has offered a “low recoil” load with a 125 gr bullet for a while, so non-traditional lighter weight bullets aren’t a new thing for the old veteran. Its not offered as a varmint bullet, so it should be plenty tough enough for your purposes.

As the guys said your point of impact may be funky compared to the load you’re sighted in for, so I’ll also recommend you sight in before you go hunt. Once you’re on target that 130 gr bullet will drop your deer if you put it where it counts.

Stay safe.

I have a 336 "Texan", microgroove. Shoots cast bullets just fine. Loves the Lyman 311291 GC, sized .310" at 1750 fps. With microgroove barrels, it wants a .310" bullet and prefers that you stay under 1800 fps.

As to shorties, the 110 grs round nose m1 carbine bullet shoots just fine as fast as you can push it.

Mr_Flintstone said:

I’ve tried the 110 gr .30 carbine bullets. They’re a real whizz-bang load. I also like the 100 gr half jacket and 85 gr 30 Luger bullets; but the Lugers become a little unstable at any appreciable distance.

Click to expand...

They make a mess of possum and porcupine though - telling for a friend.

I’ve used the Speer .308” 130gr Flat Points for years. They are excellent deer bullets. If anything, they’re a bit “hard”, but if you hit bone, they do real well.

I’ve used them with an assortment of powders in the .30/30 but the best is LVR. With LVR, you can get them up to 2,600fps from a 24”bbl and 2,500+ with a 20”bbl. I’ve also had good luck with RL15.

As another poster alluded to, they will likely have a bit lower points of impact than your current load and will require re-zeroing your rifle.

Another benefit of the 130gr flat point bullets is that they are available and less expensive than say the Hornady FTX’s. The Speers also have good ballistic coefficients.

I’m using the 130’s in my Marlin .308ME MXLR. I’m getting 2,900fps and less than 2moa accuracy using Shooters World -Match RIdle powder.