is the 30-30 cartidge inaccurate?

[hillbillydruggist]

I had always heard that the 30-30 wasn't very accurate, was this line of thinking due more to the lever action rifles than the cartridge? I was contemplating buying a quality single shot and reloading pointed bullets, but if the cartridge isn't up to par, I will go another direction.

thanks

 

[ebb]

No 30/30 can be accurate. There is a guy named Turner on this site and Benchrest Central that shoots short range benchrest with one and it is competitive as he loads it.

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

Nope! Not inaccurate at all. Michael Turner shoots a 30-30 in BR and does quite well with it. You might do a search on here or over on brc. He does a fair amount of brass prep but it shoots.
Found a link.
http://benchrest.com/showthread.php?95849-Why-I-Shoot-the-30-30-in-Benchrest

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

No 30/30 can be accurate. There is a guy named Turner on this site and Benchrest Central that shoots short range benchrest with one and it is competitive as he loads it.

Ya beat me to it

 

[ebb]

Yea you gotta love a guy that can make his own action, chamber a barrel for it, stock the rifle, pick the most unlikely cartridge and then win with it.

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

Yea you gotta love a guy that can make his own action, chamber a barrel for it, stock the rifle, pick the most unlikely cartridge and then win with it.

...and is just a super nice guy, to boot.

 

[alintx]

Michael turner is who your looking for. Cloud Croft New Mexico.I owned a hunter class 700 he built. No shortage of accuracy there! 115 bib at 3000 FPS. Worked great for hunting too! I can get you his info if you pm me

 

[Tommie]

Short answer: No.

 

[Bart B.]

I had always heard that the 30-30 wasn't very accurate, was this line of thinking due more to the lever action rifles than the cartridge?

Yes. As were other rimmed bottleneck cartridges.

It'll shoot 1/3 MOA at 100 in a good bolt action rifle

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

Yes. As were other rimmed bottleneck cartridges.

It'll shoot 1/3 MOA at 100 in a good bolt action rifle

Michael Turner's is doing MUCH better than 1/3 MOA! He's winning matches with his...against PPCs and all

 

[Ggmac]

Single shot break open rifles can be iffy . Not because of the cartridge but because of inconsistant forend pressure . I've got a few and the nicest is an old savage 219 with a 26" barrel . Excellent older hunting set up .
But the bolt action rifles are the way to go . You can turn the rim of the 30/30 to fir the 308 (473) bolt face . I've got a few 30 Ardvarks , basically a 30/30 Ackley with a few alterations . Accurate , easy to load for and economical .

 

[Tommie]

Yes. As were other rimmed bottleneck cartridges.

It'll shoot 1/3 MOA at 100 in a good bolt action rifle

Both my bone stock 30-30 788’s nearly do that and it didn’t take a tremendous amount of load development to get there. The old “durty thurdy” is a very well balanced cartridge that gets no respect.

 

[Barlow]

I got my old Savage 219, 30-30 going this fall. I have an old Bushnell Scopechief 2x8 on it, and put 3, 130gr Speers hp's into .372 at 95yards a couple weeks ago. Also took a spike buck at 170 yards a few day ago, same load. May carry it some this winter on some coyote hunts. Barlow

 

[Bart B.]

The old “durty thurdy” is a very well balanced cartridge that gets no respect.

Its bigger brother, the 32-40, was a popular Schutzen rifle cartridge. Seating lead bullets through a false muzzle down into the loaded cases shot MOA at 200 yards.

 

[Outrider27]

Until I graduated to an XP100 in 7BR for IHMSA unlimited class, I shot a 14" barreled TC Contender in 30-30, and it was a sub MOA pistol. The 10" barrel I shot in production class was also right around MOA. Both of them got there after a little tinkering with powder charge and seating depth (just touched the lands). Both barrels won or put me on the podium enough that I can say that with the right type of firearm, the accuracy is there when I lived up to the gun's expectations.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Take any extreme shallow angle neck cartridge (30deg and under) and they always shoot good. Many people have learned this over the years and tend to gravitate to lesser angle shoulders. Think of how good a 375 h&h and 300 h&h shoots, how good a ppc shoots, how good a 6br shoots. The 30-30 is one of those very good shooters, the only issue being the host gun most times