30-30 for Plinking?

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I have recently been enamored by the Marlin 336 in 30-30. I have quite a few sporting arms and my main interest is to spend a weekend day plinking (ie - let's call it 'relaxation time').

That being said, I have been looking online at ammunition distributors and have yet to find a 30-30 round for plinking. Does such a round exist (and where)? Most of the options I have found place the round at a cost that would prohibit plinking at tin cans.

Thank you,
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[Acheron]

To be honest, the .30-30 isn't really meant for plinking. I have a NEF Handi-rifle in .30-30 and it's not the kind of rifle I would shoot all day, mainly due to ammunition costs. Nowadays .30-30 exists solely as a hunting cartridge, so most of the ammo you are going to find is SP. The cheapest stuff I could find is Wolf Gold, which is nice because you can reload that stuff (brass case, boxer primed). You could handload a bunch of rounds with cheap, lightweight bullets, but that's a lot of labor to just shoot at cans.

If you really want to plink all day long for cheap, get a .22LR. They're the only rifles that are that cheap to shoot.

 

[Jim Watson]

You are about 90 years too late. Once upon a time, there were factory "miniature" loads in popular centerfire rifle calibers for practice and small game. Better .22s and handloading eliminated most of the interest and they were dropped from production long ago.

 

[Roadkill]

I reload so I guess I plink a lot with calibers others wouldn't, I load 26g of IMR 4895 and a 150 grain lead plated bullet (Berrys) and sometimes run 100 rounds through my Marlin 336 at a time. I've also used 110g bullets but the point of impact is about 15" higher than the 150g bullets and I don't like readjusting the scope. The plated bullets are alright for plinking but I'd never hunt with them. Occasionally one seems to just disappear off the target. I'm sure its because of the plating seperating from the bullet.

 

[Avenger29]

Handload. I think all of the factory ammunition for the .30-30 is hunting ammo.

Cheapest ammunition I buy is Federal Game-shok for $9.27/box at Walmart.

I just got a reloading setup specifically for reloading .30-30. I only have two centerfire rifles- my .30-30, and a Mosin-Nagant.

 

[Roadkill]

....

 

[bamabluesman]

30/30 is no plinker

if you want a lever action plinker Marlin and Henry both make a fine lever .22lr. Not cheap ammo but if you want to shoot over 100 yards get a .22 Mag.

 

[slzy]

if you can afford it,do it.

 

[Fast Frank]

Plinking with a 30-30?

I say yes if you can afford it!

The .30-30 is a great medium sized round.

It offers enough power to blow things up and manages to do it without beating up the shooter.

The lever action rifles that are normally associated with this round are comfortable and fun, too.

Walking around taking pot shots at random targets is probably the best way there is to familiarize yourself with the rifle and the way it shoots. (Be sure of your targets and their background!)

Doing this kind of shooting will go a whole lot farther towards helping you make a good shot on game than resting on a sand bag and a bench.

If you have a place where you can plink with your .30-30, and two or three boxes of bullets won't have you eating beans and rice for a month, I say GO FOR IT!

 

[3006mv]

That is a great rifle for plinking if you or a friend are set up for reloading try 115 gr FN with 7.0 gr Blue Dot or 110 gr SP with 37.0 gr Win 748 both mild and accurate plinkers. Also read this for other calibers http://www.hodgdon.com/data/youth/index.php. The more casual shooting you do the better prepared you'll be during hunting season (now).

 

[GunNut]

You can reload .30-30 lead rounds for close to nothing, so yes it would make a good plinker.

If you just want a lever action to plink with, check out a Marlin 39A in .22lr. They are an awesome gun.

 

[alucard0822]

For handloaders, 30-30 is second only to 22lr and pistol caliber lever rifles for plinking fun, My favorite is a 170gr OT hardcast over 8.5gr of trailboss ($35 per 500) almost no recoil, very quiet, accurate and will knock a squirell about 50ft , eh I mean can


these bullets, please leave some for me http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=116346&t=11082005


the load is light enough there should be next to no leading even without gas checks.

 

[jpwilly]

I plink with all kinds of calibers and cannot see why you can't plink with a 30-30. It's not going to be cheap. I suggest you get into that other part of the shooting hobby, reloading!

 

[Lovesbeer99]

170gr Oregon Trail cast bullet, and 7 grains of Unique, and the round is great for plinking. If feels like a 38 special, it's very light but it hits cans and such hard. I love this round, and it's cheap to reload too. Speer also offers a 100grain plinking load, but it costs more than cast, and uses more powder.

Shoot safe - I do.
Lovesbeer99

 

[Dr. A]

Try this data when you've decided on handloading. I've shot hundreds in a day several times.

http://www.gmdr.com/lever/lowveldata.htm

Another alternative would be to buy a 357 mag Carbine (1894) Marlin, and plink with 38 special loads.

Handloading, would be much better in my opinion. A whole other hobby!

Then there's casting.

 

[jlbpa]

If you have a 30-30 and don't reload you are missing some plinking fun and missing out on a great vermin eliminator.

speer 100 gr .308 plinker (half jacket) and around 17 gr of dupont 4759 cci 200 large rifle primer. Much better than a .22lr for killing ground hogs, and killing the coons that kill my chickens. It would also work great on feral cats, feral dogs. That half jacket makes a nice big entrance hole for some reason. I've shot coons before with a .22lr. Seems it always takes a couple shots to kill it. However the plinker round it takes just one shot.

I agree that plinking with a scoped rifle using reduced loads is a hassle messing with the scope. I've tried that with my 22-250 turning that into a .22 lr and .22 mag using 55 gr lead bullets but then I had to waste some 22-250 normal loads to get my rifle sighted for long range again. My 336 wears a williams fp peep sight. The plinker round seems to be quite accurate out of my rifle.

 

[Cosmoline]

If you handload and cast bullets, then yes you can make it a very nice plinker. The bullets use little lead and you can get many, many loads out of the brass. Plinker loads using handgun powder are published in most load manuals. It's actually one of the cheapest centerfire rifle cartridges to load for if you can make your own bullets.

If you buy factory, OUCH! For reasons I've never been able to understand, the .30-30 is one of the most overpriced cartridges on the shelf. Sometimes its on sale, but otherwise you end up paying .30'06 prices for something using half the materials.

I also agree about the plinker bullets. Those are fun fun fun. And they don't muss up the barrel with lead.

 

[greyling22]

bump for handloading with lead. makes a pretty good squirrel gun. though you use less powder and get a smoother action out of a pistol caliber marlin.

 

[esmith]

Unless handloading, 30-30 will not be a plinking cartridge, at least not by my standards as I am not wealthy to the point where i dont have to care how much it costs to shoot it. High powered cartridges that are used for plinking are often milsurps. Lower powered cartridges that can be considered for plinking could obviously be .22s and if shooting cheap stuff, .223.

 

[GRIZ22]

Rolling your own with lead bullets is the best way to do this. I use a 165gr Meister lead bullet over 7.5 grains of Unique which chronos at about 1250 fps, about the same energy as a 357 mag.

There are factory Cowboy Action loads with lead bullets which you can get but they cost more than rolling your own.

 

[qajaq59]

Loading your own for the 30-30 is not only easy, it's also dirt cheap if you use cast bullets. I buy them locally for peanuts and use a starter load of Unique, which gives me roughly a 1,000 rounds per pound of powder. I go through a minimum of 100 rounds a week, every week, so I can practice firing off hand.

 

[yotesmoker]

If I reload

for the 30-30 plinker which bullet should be used...308...310...311.????

 

[Avenger29]

.308. But, if you are loading them into a tube magazine rifle, such as a lever-action, you need to use flat-nose bullets. Don't want to set the primers off in a chain fire. For single loading, you can use spitzer (pointed) bullets. Just be careful not to load them into a tube magazine.

 

[shotout]

Handloading and bullet casting yourself will get you a lot of plinking at very little cost. I have several loads using 120 and 150 cast bullets that are very accurate hunting ammunition and don’t cost very much.

I use these same bullets in reduced power loadings also. You save a little on powder. I size only with out using a gas check, and no crimp on the bullet. It saves a lot of time but require loading in the rifle one at a time. These are good for general plinking and small varmints.

I also have a load using a .311 round ball. I run it through the sizer. The load is 5 grains of Unique. The ball is seated with my thumb, flush with the case mouth and sprue down. No need to resize the case each time, just repime. Sometimes I push a little bullet lube in around the bullet. Have not seen the any benefits to this and lately do not use lube. Lots of fun, pretty accurate out to about 25 yards, and about like a .22 report. I have used on squirrels and rabbits with much success.

Another advantage of the reduced loads with out crimping is no need to trim cases. I keep the best cases for use with jacketed and lead bullets for crimped hunting loads. The cases in the reduced loads last forever it seems, I think that there are some with 50-60 loadings.

I always clean the bore thoroughly before firing jacketed bullets. Have heard that it is OK without cleaning, but this has been my practice.

The disadvantage of several loads is several aiming points. I just try to shoot often to keep it all straight. Maybe not such a disadvantage after all….

 

[db_tanker]

I have always used the 30 Carbine cast gas-checked or a semi-jacketed bullet with some Unique...Trailboss works good too...I prefer the GC's due to less leading worries.

Regardless they make an excellent 100 yard gong-ringer.

D