Bolt Action 30/30s ???

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IMHO, the 7.62x39 is best left to the handloader and falls far short of the .30-30 in effectiveness. It's good to a couple hundred yards on small deer (light bullet for its caliber). The .30-30 in a bolt gun (I had a 340 Savage) has the distinct advantage of being able to shoot a spitzer boat tail and, heck, now days there's even the factory option of lever evolution stuff from Hornady that gives the .30-30 little more range than the 7.62x39 and potentially more penetration and assured expansion. Having loaded for and used the 7.62x39, I'm not as high on the round as I once was. Just the fact that .30-30 hunting ammo is available everywhere and that it can shoot up to 170 grains (the Nosler partition 160 is a heckuva hunting bullet), I prefer the .30-30. A 7.62x39 bolt gun, though, would likely be extremely accurate IF it had a .308 diameter bore. I don't know that the CZ has that, probably not, probably .311" which is standard for the caliber. That severely limits bullet choice for hunting. A .308 shoots about as well out of my SKSs as a .311, but they're not exactly bench rest accurate in the first place. 3" groups at 100 is normal for them.

If I wanted a .30-30 hunting rifle that wasn't a lever gun, I might consider a TC G2/contender carbine. It'd be a really handy, uber accurate little rifle. Single shot, but so what? I hunt with a 12" Contender pistol that is very accurate in .30-30 and effective to 200 yards with a Nosler 150 BT. Give it a 16" barrel can only extend that effective range and I could shoot it better in the field with a rifle stock. I have no doubt I could get 300 yards out of it effectively for deer hunting.

That old Savage 340 was 1 MOA accurate with about anything I shot out of it. Amazing for a bargain shelf rifle. If you find one, though, be sure it has a scope mount with it. I doubt it'd be easy to find that weird side mounted scope mount now days.
 
The old Winchester 54 rifle, predecesor of the Model 70 could be had in .30-30 chambering.

About forgot the 788 Remington, was also available in .30-30.
 
I'm in the unique position of owning bolt actions chambered for both rounds a Savage 340 a cz527 and a mauser in x39 my experience with both rounds are as follows. With bullets lighter than 150grs the 7.62x39 is FASTER than 30-30 by about 250fps when shooting max loads. With 150grn bullets velocity differences are minimal between the two. With the 170grn bullets the 30-30 is about 200fps faster.

With the 7.62x39's I can shoot more aerodynamic bullets than I can through the Savage due to it's very limited magazine length, nothing longer than a 125grn ballistic tip or a 150grn spitzer sp fits without placing the start of the bullets ogive inside the case mouth.

Right now the x39's are a good deal more accurate than the savage 340, but I'm in the process of fitting a new stock to the savage that should help in that dpt

I doubt it'd be easy to find that weird side mounted scope mount now days.

Not a problem I ordered a b-square from midway a couple months ago.
 
I'd rather have the 99 in .300 Savage, or .308. They made some in .308 a few years back. Is the 99 still available?

I was shooting Sierra 150 spitzers in my 340 Savage and had no OAL issues. Boat Tail bullets weren't really popular in hunting bullets in the 70s and I didn't start loading them a lot until the 80s when I sold the gun to my Uncle. But, it ws very accurate with that Sierra 150 spitzer and pushed it about 2400 fps with a max load of IMR 3031. I can't get, but about 2400 fps from the SKS with a 135 pro hunter spitzer using 4198, but my print out shows a 16" barrel, so I must have shot that out of my paratrooper. I didn't get the rifle til later. It might be shooting that load a little faster, but I can't equal the 2400 fps I got from the 150 in the 340 and in the SKS, at least, OAL is limited in the magazine as well as chamber. Perhaps the CZ is freebored a little better and has more magazine length?

Anyway, all this is moot unless you handload.
 
But, it ws very accurate with that Sierra 150 spitzer and pushed it about 2400 fps with a max load of IMR 3031.

I can't get anywhere near that velocity from my 340 within published data 2200 fps is all I can get. Did you actually chronograph these loads?
 
Another one:

Savage's first Model 40 (not the new Model 40 22 Hornet) was available in 250 Sav., 30-30, 300 Sav., and 30-06.

Bruce
 
Yes, I chronographed 'em about 20 years ago before I sold the gun. Actual velocity was 23 something, just under 2400. I don't have any of the notes for that gun, gave 'em to my uncle with the dies, then later got the contender and had to buy new dies. LOL

I'm shooting a .30-30 contender and get 2049 fps from it using 3031 and a Nosler 150 BT and that's out of a 12" barrel. The contender is no where near as strong as a good bolt action and I don't wanna push anything with it. I'm well within the book on it and the book limits to SAAMI for lever guns and such. Of course, the Savage isn't the pillar of strength either with one locking lug.

I got the load out of the old Speer #8 manual, btw. I notice that they show 2407 or something like that for 34 grains of IMR3031. I looked in my number 11 and they show no load for 3031 in the 150, but show 29 grains as a max for a 170 grai bullet. The number 8 shows 31 grains as a max for the 170 grain bullet, so the Speer manual got 2 grains more conservative from the number 8 to the number 11 manuals. I had no problems with pressure with the load, though.
 
I got the load out of the old Speer #8 manual, btw. I notice that they show 2407 or something like that for 34 grains of IMR3031.

Big difference between then and now. According to hodgon's webpage they show a max of 30.5grains of IMR3031 giving 2192 fps @ 36,000 CUP indicating your load as being a 10% overload. Probably more than that if you take into account deep seating the spitzer bullets to fit in a savage 340's magazine

Perhaps the CZ is freebored a little better and has more magazine length?

It is, on the CZ and Mauser I can load 7.62x39 to a COL of 2.310 and with the Savage 340 I can load to a COL of 2.620

so I can load the case that is almost 1/2" shorter to an overall length that just over 1/4" shorter than the 30-30. essentally giving me another 1/4 of an inch to seat the bullets outside the case on the 7.62x39


Anyway, all this is moot unless you handload.

Not really when you take into account how laughably underloaded factory 30-30 ammo is. I chronographed a box of 170grn Remington ammo that didn't even break 1900fps
 
Well, the primer looked good and the bolt acted freely and that's published ballistics back then for lever guns. All you can do is go by the books. Just looking at that #8 manual again, they used a 94 winchester to test with 20" barrel. To quote,

"Because of the reliatively small case capacity, factory ballistics cannot be greatly improved. It is a medium pressure job, as pressures should be held to under 40,000 PSI with Winchester and Marlin lever action rifles."

According to the #11 manual,

The loads shown do not exceed the industry maximum pressure of 38,000 CUP

CUP and PSI are not identical, but I'm guessing they lowered the pressure levels in the #11 just to be on the safe side of ever threatening liability laws. They don't show the working pressure of each load.

I'd love to have a strain gauge on an Ohler someday to play with. I still have my 20+ year old Chrony, but it's still accurate.
 
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