Single shot 30-30 handload

[7mmVertigo]

Hey guys and gals Scott here with an issue I hope I can get advise on. I have 3 30-30's one is an older break action single shot topper rifle that I love shooting and decided to reload for and my choice of bullet is the spire point bt bullet from hornady. But her is my question, I measured out my oal for the this rifle and it sits at 2.895. NOW the saam max coal for the 30-30 is 2.550. Does anyone have experience pushing beyond th saami specs and if so what can be expected? Thank you for any input you may have.

 

[stool]

more volume in the case, less pressure/velocity per listed loads....so work up

 

[bheadboy]

depending on your target, try the Sierra 125 jhp, the are deadly on white tail

bob

 

[CaptainMal]

Long as it chambers and shoots without pressure, do it. In a single shot it should not be an issue.

I shoot a lot of 30-30 in different rifles. Seat those 160's out as far as the Marlin levers will operate. No issues and surely they would be longer than SAAMI OAL specs.

 

[2506]

The listed SAAM OAL is what will work through any action the round is loaded for. Most 30-30s are leaver actions so that OAL will work through them. Take note that the OAL listed is for round nose or flat nose bullets that can be used safely in tube fed rifles. In a single shot you can use any OAL you want to use. I would suggest that you leave at least a caliber diameter (.308") length of bullet in the case for good neck tension. If you are just punching targets then any bullet style is OK but if you are going to be hunting with this caliber then you need to pay attention to bullet construction. Most 150 gr and heaver spitzer type bullets are not meant to expand reliably at the lower velocities. The average muzzle velocity with 150 gr bullets from 30-30 Win rifles is around 2300 fps. If you are going to use 150s to hunt game like deer I would give the 150 Hornady A-Max or 155 Berger HUNTING VLD a try because of their thinner jackets that will expand well at these lower velocities. An other supper deer bullet is the 125 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip. You can get it going 2500 fps or so and it is a deer killer. I use it in my 30-30AI 14" barrel Contender pistol at 2670 fps muzzle velocity and it SMOKES deer and is VERY accurate.

 

[MrMajestic]

An other supper deer bullet is the 125 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip.

Supper, breakfast and lunch Deer bullet! I couldn't resist! ;D
It is a super Deer bullet though!

 

[Outrider27]

We loaded for a TC Contender, both 14" and 10" barrels in 30-30 for years for IHMSA metallic silhoutte. In all cases the bullet (RN for Chickens as it was a reduced powder charge load and that way there was no doubt which cartridges had the lower powder charge, SP or FMJ for the rest) the seating die was set so that the bullet made barest light contact with the rifling. Accuracy was great, as was performance of RN bullets loaded to full power (the pig/turkey/ram load) on deer sized game. Both the RN bullets and the FMJ (used when the softpoint bullet the gun liked was not available) were cannalured, and with the OAL used, the cannalure was well clear of the case mouth (about .125"). No problems loading 30-30 well over published OALs for a break action single shot, and accuracy was improved a bit in the case of our Contender barrels.

 

[7mmVertigo]

Wow this forum rocks! Thanks to y'all who gave me some info. This round will be used for PiGs mostly but I'm working up a different load for deer. My primary concern for this excess in oal was pressure changes especially since I, tinkering with a new powder by hodgdon I've never used and I can't find too much info on it yet. It's the extreme line leverevolution powder. So it's gonna be a work in progress. If y'all have any other bones to toss me I'd appreciate it. Once I get this load worked out ill post my results.

 

[Steve Ladino]

.010 off the lands , just touching the lands, and jamming .015 into the rifling all work well for me in my various rifles.

 

[jonbearman]

The only thing about mike turners article I cant understand is how you swage a primer flashole down in size.I wish I could wrap my head around the process.

 

[Timgunner]

I've got a Savage 99 in 30-30 and since it has a rotary mag instead of a tube mag I decided to try some pointed bullets. I got some of the hornady sp bt 165s that I think you are talking about. I loaded the rounds as long as I could but sadly had to keep pushing them back into the case to get the rifle to cycle reliably. They should do great in a single shot. If you haven't already tried BLC2 it is a great powder for the 30-30.

 

[Joe C]

depending on your target, try the Sierra 125 jhp, the are deadly on white tail

bob

+ 100 on this. I've shot many a nice deer out to 250 yards with this exact bullet and AA2520.