Reloading for 30-30 Winchester bullet question

[Coyotefurharvester]

My neighbor has back/neck issues, we recently loaded some Hornady 150 rn. We tried a mid range powder charge. Shot very well out of his Marlin 336, he said the reduced recoil vs a factory 170 is greatly appreciated. Hasn't went with his kids for a couple years, I told him he wasn't getting younger, might as well load something he could shoot.

 

[CaptainMal]

Already killed two deer with two shots from one of my 30-30's. Each went straight down. One did not even kick. The medicine???

160 gr. Hornady FTX backed by LeverRevolution powder.

Oh - First deer, the one that kicked for a few moments, was at 160 yards. The other one that nary kicked even a tiny bit that I could see ... 220 yards.

 

[Twicepop]

While you're considering what bullet to shoot, if you're loading loading these in a lever gun with an under barrel magazine, you need to consider a couple of other tidbits. These bullets need to have a cannelure to apply a good roll crimp (done after bullet seating). Another necessity is cases trimmed to the same length to be able to get consistent roll crimps. Too short the crimp may not be sufficient to hold the bullet, too long and the case will buckle/bulge right under the crimp and will not chamber. The crimp is necessary to keep the bullet in place under recoil and magazine spring pressure. Another reason is the 30-30 has very thin brass and does not give much neck tension to hold bullet and to promote better combustion (all smokeless powders work their best at or close to the pressure range they are designed to work in). If being used in a single shot or a rotary magazine, the crimp should still be applied for the better powder combustion, but not necessarily to hold the bullet.

 

[GotRDid]

To reduce recoil, you might consider the 130 gr Speer FNSP, and the 125 gr Sierra FNHP bullets.
Very accurate and deadly at a wide velocity spectrum.
Got-R-Did.

 

[OLeveraction]

For a lever gun;
Remove the Neck expander from your Sizing die.
Use a MDie for neck sizing and mouth expanding. That will give consistent neck tension.
Set the bullet and crimp in two operations.
A collet crimp die is less dependent on case length. Use the cannelure if there but it not required.
I use the Berry's 150 fn made for 30-30.
I set mine to just barley caming over.

This all if your shooting a lot and reloading like for competition silhouette and you have a concern for brass life.