30-30 bullet selection

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gm42

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Hey Guys,

Is there any noticeable difference between the 150 and 170 gr. bullets shoot out of a 30-30?

What are the pros and con of each?

Does the selection of either round really make a difference?

Thanks,

Geoff
 
Well in my book the one that shoots the most accurately is always my first choice. You can make up for a lot of other shortcomings by hitting game in the right spot so accurate is always my primary criteria followed by reliability
 
Try both and see what your gun likes, but for hunting use I generally try and go with the heaviest bullet I can get away with.
 
I like the 150 SPs. Slightly higher velocity and flatter trajectory. They easily penetrate through and through on every deer I've dropped.

It all depends on what you are shooting and where you are shooting. If you are shooting in the thick brush or hunting larger game, the bullet selection may change.

I also agree that you should use whatever shoots best in your rifle. It won't matter much either way. The 30/30 is perfect whitetail medicine no matter which you choose.
 
The 150's are a little flatter shooting, the 170's hit a little harder at short range.

The new flex tip Hornady bullets are worth a look too. 140's are available to reload and 160's in the loaded cartridge offerings.

I shoot Whitetails with the 150's as they are a bit more accurate at short range in my gun. I doubt the deer can tell any difference between the two with good shot placement. The Hornady flex tips, especially the 160's, probably give you another 50 yards or so of range.
 
This is a favorite discussion among .30-30 devotes. I've used both and both work fine in my rifles. I think it's more important to discover which bullet your rifle prefers...at least for deer sized critters. The .30-30 has been around long enough that bullet manufacturers have the formula down pretty well. Standard cup and core bullets designed for this cartridge are pretty dependable. Hornady's Lever evolution stuff ups the ante in both propellant and projectiles. Some rifles dote on the new load. Others, not so much. No way to find out except spending time on the range.

PC
 
Either weight works well on deer sized game. Pick a load that is readily available in your area, functionally reliable in your gun, and reasonably accurate as well, (accuracy being relative - kill zone accuracy inside of 200 yards being normally sufficient). Animals the size of deer or even the average black bear (including caribou) can, and have, been taken cleanly for years with either weight.

If I were to hunt for heavier game such as elk or moose with the .30-30 (both of which have been very successfully in the past) I'd much prefer the heaviest bullets I could reasonably use, (with something like a Nosler 170 Partition being much preferred). Another good example of such success is the .303 Savage cartridge (very much like the .30-30) which earned a highly regarded status as a "big game" cartridge in its heyday with its 190 grain bullets.

Regardless of the bullet you choose (in that weight range) they will work well if placed properly!
 
Thanks Guys,

I read an article last night from a fairly well known gun writer that said the 150 grain bullet is made softer for more rapid expansion and the 170 grain bullet was made for harder for deeper penetration with slower expansion.

What do you know about this?

Thanks,

Geoff
 
The 170's may ot neccesarily be "harder", but two things affect how they perform, one, they are slightly lower velocity, that affects how a bullet expands, and two, they are simply heavier, and will penetrate deeper in general from that.

One of the guys on leverguns forum (86'er I think) that's a guide at a ranch in Texas made a post about his results trying various 30-30 bullets. I may be mistaken, but his assesment was that the best overall performer was the Speer 170 gr, compared to other makes, and the leverevolution bullets. He felt the leverevolution's worked OK, but didnt hold together as well as he liked. The Speers seemed to perform about how you'd expect the Nosler Partitions to perform, and at far less cost. I don't recall what difference he noted betwen 150's or 170's.
 
In my experience, any design bullet will get game, its primarily placement hats the deciding factor... that and whether you want it DRT or don't mind tracking a little blood. Ever since i started reading and then moved into casting, I've pretty much just worked up loads for several styles if bullets and found the one the gun prefers. My old winchester for example loves a hard cast - soft tip 170gr gc, and i am comfortable with it out to 100yds or so with just irons or a 4x. I've played with 150 nosler and others and had great success with accuracy and game getting but not sensible to use spire points with slow single shot follow ups. My general rule... Large meplat and weight gives you blood loss and knock down.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using Tapatalk
 
Heavy bullets in the brush, lighter bullets in the open....be sure where each one shoots, the point of impact may change, particularly at longer ranges.

Haven't shot a 30-30 much for years, but will be playing with different loads, now that I ordered a 30-30 barrel for my latest H&R Handi Rifle.....platform build...shoud be here in 4 weeks or so.

Should be able to give you more infor then.
 
PeterCartwright said:
This is a favorite discussion among .30-30 devotes. I've used both and both work fine in my rifles. I think it's more important to discover which bullet your rifle prefers...at least for deer sized critters. The .30-30 has been around long enough that bullet manufacturers have the formula down pretty well. Standard cup and core bullets designed for this cartridge are pretty dependable. Hornady's Lever evolution stuff ups the ante in both propellant and projectiles. Some rifles dote on the new load. Others, not so much. No way to find out except spending time on the range.

PC
Click to expand...

Those hornandy's are sweet i have there critical defense loads for 9mm and .38...the lever loads should do the trick....
 
I live in Alaska and have killed dozens of deer with a Win 94 30-30 using iron sights. The 30-30 is considered by many to be a low performance close range round. However it's very popular because rifles are cheap and it gets the job done. Bullet placement trumps all other factors combined so try them all and go with the most accurate for your gun then stick with that bullet. Some companies make special bullets for 30-30 which expand properly for that velocity and they work well. I like 150gr flat nose or hollow points. There is a huge myth about brush guns. Any bullet will be deflected by a weed or branch. Last fall I shot at a Sitka Blacktail deer on Kodiak at 30 yards with my .308 and missed because it hit a 4ft tall weed. Got him on a follow up shot however. The best advice I can give is to practice shooting as much as you can even if it's with an airgun.

Neil
 
Not much difference...

gm42 said:
Hey Guys,

Is there any noticeable difference between the 150 and 170 gr. bullets shoot out of a 30-30?

What are the pros and con of each?

Does the selection of either round really make a difference?

Thanks,

Geoff
Click to expand...

At typical whitetail ranges for the northwoods, 50 yards or less...
there really isn't any difference in performance or ballistics between the 150 gr. and the 170 gr. bullets. So I usually go with the 170 gr. load.

For bear, I'd take my Marlin 336 chambered in .35 Remington...or my Marlin guide gun in 45-70.

Just my .02,
Regards, Tom
 
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gm42 said:
Is there any noticeable difference between the 150 and 170 gr. bullets shoot out of a 30-30?
Click to expand...
I would say that generally the 150gr is plenty good for deer and deer sized game. The 170 provides a bit more penetration and power, that may be nice to have for larger game like bear, elk or moose. Of course, as some others said, sometimes a particular gun will shoot one or the other more accurately, and if so that's probably more important than any minor differences in terminal performance of the bullet.

gm42 said:
I read an article last night from a fairly well known gun writer that said the 150 grain bullet is made softer for more rapid expansion and the 170 grain bullet was made for harder for deeper penetration with slower expansion.
Click to expand...
Its hard to generalize like that, because every manufacturer is different. The same weight bullet may be harder or softer, or otherwise designed to expand rapidly or retain weight more, depending on who makes it.
 
If you hunt just deer and antelope do yourself a favor and try the 130gr Speer(flat point). They can be loaded fast, shoot flat and kill deer quick. I use H-335 and BLC-2 powder. A manual is your friend and read Paco Kelly's aritcles on the ole 30-30, it'll do far more than given credit for nowdays.
 
At 100 yards, 150 grain and 170 grain bullets both shoot the same out of my Model 94 Winchester. Reports indicate that 150 grain bullets exhibit a higher percentage of weight retention and are flatter shooting. I loaded up some 150grain Sierra's today over a charge of 4895 and they pretty much duplicate factory loadings. I like the '94 carbine. It's easy to carry, accurate and plenty potent for deer.
 
Malamute said:
I looked up the tests that 86er did with various 30-30 bullets, if anyone is interested. It's a 4 part series, I just copied the link to the last page. One could search the other parts if they wanted. He was shooting cows in fairly controlled conditions to try to gt decent comparisons of bullet performance.


[url]http://www.levergunscommunity.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=29569&start=0&hilit=cows&sid=4769b2f74a2afb0699f2f8b504ed3541[/URL]
Click to expand...

I don't remember off hand if I ever used that particular Speer bullet (170 grain .308) or not in the past. I know I used quite a number of the HotCor bullets in different caliber/cartridges and was particularly fond of their 250 grain bullet in .358. It probably was my favorite load for the wife's Savage 99-358 when we lived in Alaska. They were loaded in the 2200-2300fps range and with six in the magazine/chamber of that Savage 99 either my wife or I felt comfortable any where in Alaska. (Those same 250 HotCor's loaded a little faster saw a lot of use in either of my .35 Whelens as well.) I also liked the 200 grain, .308 HotCor in my Remington Carbine 760 chambered in .30-06, (in lieu of the 220 grain factory load) when hunting moose in heavy cover. It was the rifle usually in the pickup so it did a lot of duty on "day hunts" through the work week, (when time and circumstance allowed). My longer weekend and/or weekend+ hunts usually found me carrying a .338 Win. Mag. in an all weather Stainless Ruger loaded with 250 grain Nosler Partitions.

Suffice to say, I like and generally trust the HotCor bullets (particularly when used below typical Magnum velocities)!:)
 
I reload the Remington PP's in 150gr now and nothing else. I caught them on sale one year from Midway and purchased 3000. I have used the 170 (dont remember the maker of those) and did not see any diffrence on game. The common wisdom is as pointed out by GM42 is the 170 will penatrate better. I would say that will vary with manufarturer because my bet is all 30-30 bullets are made specificaly for deer sized game at this time. I would just use the round (or bullet if you reload) your gun likes best and you can get the best deal on.
 
150's print about 3" higher at 100 yards than 170's in my Marlins. Haven't tried the Hornady Leverevolution ammo in that caliber.

A friend of mine's dad has lived in Alaska since before it was a state. He's only had one rifle that whole time, a 30/30 Winchester 94. He's taken everything with it including at least two Grizz that I know about. Moose too. He doesn't buy any meat.

In my own 30-30 I use a 170 grain cast bullet for general work (targets-varmints-homeland defense), a 150 grain JSP for hunting Deer and 115 grain (Lee "soup can") at subsonic velocities for plinking and Grouse. Out to 50 yards those loads will overlap into a 2" group so the POI is virtually the same. Individually they'll all do sub 1" at that range. The jacketed 150 and the 170 cast will nearly do that at 100.
 
I like the federal 125gr.hp at 2500fps.killed many deer with this load.There getting hard to find.
 
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