62 and my first 30-30

[Woodsloafer2]

Well not really...I owned a 64 more than 30 years ago for a short time. Never handloaded for it. My lever guns have been 348's since I was very young. Some 308's in there as well in Winchester 88's. Recently delved into 35 Remington in a Marlin Glenfield. Great shooter. Just back from the range testing Winchester 748 and Speer 180's.

Saw a straight grip Marlin 336 of 1974 vintage that just looked great. Waiting for its arrival. Need to get some dies and have some questions. How is brass life? Anyone neck sizing only? I have read brass life is not as good as other cartridges. Thoughts on the 30-30 AI? Have read some good things about it here on the site. Appreciate any loading tips. i have been reloading for many different cartridges for many years but never the 30-30. Thanks in advance...

[Leverluver]

Brothers by another mother.
My first (over 50 yrs ago) rifle was a 64. One of the post 64 64s. I think they only made them for two years. Had a lot of fun with it learning reloading from hunting loads to high speed varmint loads and also cast.
Then my neighbor had a 1936 deluxe 71 for sale. The only reason I could afford it was because it was pretty rough. The story was it spent it's life in the wilds of Canada. The grip checkering was almost worn off but the rifle was a real shooter.
Then, as all young punks do, I needed more speed and power. I sold the 64 to a guy I worked with. He was a small dude 5'3"~125# and didn't want a heavy or hard kicking rifle. He was an elk assassin with that rifle in the oak brush country of western Colorado where shots are short anyway. I still own the 71 though, with a few more added through the years.
Only advise I have on case life is what I found on all rimmed cases; I load to the shoulder just like the loading of any rimless. I had (still have) some 30-30 cases that have fired 10 loadings. Loaded to the shoulder, I've never had issues with rimmed cases, 30-30 or 348. Only problem is they might not work on every rifle, especially in 348. So it's a one rifle fix.
I recently shot a friend's 94 and it's got the fire stoked again. I forgot the sweet but not excessive thump of the old 30-30. I might have to fix that. Gotta get through this hip replacement first.

[Griff]

With more .30-30s than makes good sense, I can say that even full-length sizing has not made a dramatic drop in case life.I generally get 10 or more loadings from each case, except for the ones fired thru my Numrich barrelled mdl 94. The chamber is so rough that with my full power loads I only get about 3 loadings before the neck area starts to split. I can shoot the same level of loads in any other of the 94s I have without any issues. I load to match factory velocity of the Federal 150 grain Power-Shock. This is advertised at 2390 fps. Out of my carbines it chronographs at 2290fps. Both it and my handloads have the same POI @ 100 yards. The Numrich barrelled mdl 94 only has Federal cases fired thru it. They are all sorted to have the same weight after trimming to my match length. I load them in a batch of 50, charge weights are trickled to exact weight, and I use identical weighed bullets (after being gas checked, lubed & sized). The other rifles & carbines are all Winchester factory barrels and are fed with whatever cases are not used and specifically culled to use as target loads. My stash of .30-30 cases have every known brand amongst them. Even some I know I've never purchased, or heard of before case prep. Somehow I end up with a variety of cases after most range session at most any public range. I even had a group of guys give me 20 boxes of empties they'd fired thru a couple of .30-30 during one range visit. They picked 'em up put them back in the factory boxes they brought with them and told me to enjoy. Heck if they have left them lay on the ground, I was making plans to sweep 'em up and cart 'em off with me. I know that I've only ever bought Winchester, Federal, & Remington .30-30 brass, I have Starline, Top Brass, CBC, Nosler, and several foreign brands as well. Once cleaned, sized & trimmed, they're dumped into my storage containers and loaded as they come up in rotation... last in, first out... There's a couple of full 1-½ gallon jugs that haven't been loaded since I moved here 30+ years ago. I probably have 4-500 loaded at any one time, and my casting can never keep up with demand, as I easily have another thousand to 15 hundred cases ready.

[Nath]

Brass lasts quite well, especially if you go to 3/4 strength loads.
My small game loads don't stretch the brass at all. ( Sub sonic)

[Kenworth71]

can one really have to many 30-30s! lol

[FLINT]

Welcome to the club. The 30-30 is my favorite deer cartridge, and if I could only have one deer rifle, it would be my marlin 336 30-30. It was my only rifle for years and has never let me down. I've never hunted anywhere I've needed to shoot over 100 yards, so I personally can't think of any reason to rechamber to AI. Seems like you'd only do that if you wanted to make things harder for yourself - but sometimes that can be fun too. I've always wondered if the people who consider the 30-30 underpowered have ever actually shot deer with it, because I have killed many and in my experience it does the job very very well indeed, and have never thought that I wish they could be a little more dead, or that I could have ruined a little more meat.

Enjoy your new gun. It's a good one!

[AJMD429]

.
I would have to look at my notes too name the precise year, but I am confident that I was at least over 50 years of age before I owned a 30-30, even though my first lever action rifle was a Marlin 1894 in my teens.

I actually started to worry that maybe I would get in some sort of legal jeopardy, because I wasn't sure if it was considered legal to live in the midwest without owning a 30-30. I knew that it was definitely a moral transgression, but I wasn't certain about the legal implications.

Even to this day, I only own two 30-30s, a Marlin 336, and a Marlin XLR. I haven't had enough time to see if the XLR could develop half minute of angle accuracy like I hope, but I believe it's possible. Certainly the 30-30 does not have any bad attributes other than it is not the most powerful or the most accurate or the most anything... other than maybe perhaps the most practical and useful...

Certainly there are other candidates, like the 35 Remington, 44 Magnum, 7.62x39, or 300 Blackout.

[AJMD429]

.
I would have to look at my notes to name the precise year, but I am confident that I was at least over 50 years of age before I owned a 30-30, even though my first lever action rifle was a Marlin 1894 in my teens.

I actually started to worry that maybe I would get in some sort of legal jeopardy, because I wasn't sure if it was considered legal to live in the midwest without owning a 30-30. I knew that it was definitely a moral transgression, but I wasn't certain about the legal implications.

Even to this day, I only own two 30-30s, a Marlin 336, and a Marlin XLR. I haven't had enough time to see if the XLR could develop half minute of angle accuracy like I hope, but I believe it's possible. Certainly the 30-30 does not have any bad attributes other than it is not the most powerful or the most accurate or the most anything... other than maybe perhaps the most practical and useful...

Certainly there are other candidates, like the 35 Remington, 44 Magnum, 7.62x39, or 300 Blackout.

[FLINT]

.
most practical and useful...

Certainly there are other candidates, 7.62x39, or 300 Blackout.

BLASPHEMY!!!!

[AJMD429]

.
most practical and useful...

Certainly there are other candidates, 7.62x39, or 300 Blackout.

BLASPHEMY!!!!

It's all matter of time...

1900 - 30-30 Winchester is state-of-the-art...

1950 - 7.62x39 is state-of-the-art...

2000 - 300 Blackout is state-of-the-art...


Anything that can deliver something around a 0.31" diameter projectile weighing between 110 and 220 grains at velocities from subsonic to twice that, in a handy carbine configuration, with a reasonable amount of accuracy, pretty much does most things needed...

Really it all boils down to projectile shape and velocity, with shape being influenced by diameter and length, and velocity dependent on diameter, length, and how heavy a firearm, and how much recoil, one wants to put up with.

This is a thread I put up a long time ago I'm using over the concept of how many firearms it takes to cover one's "needs"...

https://levergunscommunity.org/viewtopic.php?t=74967

Of course in the western world, particularly the United states, we are spoiled. We think of covering 'needs' with a 'gun collection', whereas throughout most of world history, a person would be lucky to have one firearm with a few rounds of ammunition on any given day....

[44shooter]

7.62x39 and it’s AR capable ballistic twin 300 Blackout (really Whisper) are neat little intermediate cartridges. But they are really only comparable to 30-30 in bullet diameter and having similar velocity with very different bullet weights. The former cannot push 170s nearly as fast. Like saying a 308 is like a 300 Win because they both shoot 30s at 2800 but with a 30-50 grain bullet difference