Pointed bullets in a .30-30 Winchester

1

19calJeff

New member
A friend asked me if I could load him some pointed bullets for his .30WCF. It is a bolt rifle so the pointed loads are no problem. So I thought. Seems as though the pointed bullets I have tried need to be seated too deep in the case in order to feed through the magazine. Seat the bullets where they need to be and you can not get a good "grip" on the bullet.
I thought about trimming the cases back to make them a little shorter so I could maybe reduce the AOL, but I donno know.
Any suggestions?
Jeff
 
i do not understand, "Seat the bullets where they need to be and you can not get a good "grip" on the bullet." what do you mean by where they need to be? if you trim the case you will have less grip on the bullet. have you tried the smoked bullet technique to determine C.O.A.L.

i would load them as long as possible and still function in the magizine. you may be surprised at the accuracy. this is a hunting rifle not a hole puncher. 2" @ 100 is good enough for me with a hunting rifle. i try for better but have killed 28 deer with a pump 30/30 that shoots 2" on a good day, one at 137 yards. that said i have a tc contender carbine, i developed a load for it that shoots .75 with 150 grain nosler bt.

arky65
 
Arky,
The magazine on this rifle was designed for the factory .30WCF cartridges. the pointed bullets would be too long and not function through the magazine. This guy does not want to use the rifle as a single shot. the ogive of the bullets does not allow them to be seated with enough friction from the case.
Jeff
 
I think I'd either set them deep or just go back to standard round nose slugs. At the typical range of a 30-30 I doubt that your friend will gain much from pointed bullets.
 
I'll agree with bigdog2. The difference in trajectory at .30-30 speeds will amount to a whopping 1/10 of an inch @ 100 yards. also most spire point bullets are designed to expand at a little faster velocity than the .30-30 can give.
 
Thanks for the info guys. i pretty much knew the answer, but just wanted to check. This guy has heard somewhere pointed bullets are the way to go. I believe he is trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.
jeff
 
Hey Jeff, What kind of 30-30 is this. A model 788 possible. Just curious. I am wondering, and I realize you have decided to go back to the round nose, Is the bullet needing to be seated too far out or too far in to get cycle action through the magazine. I have a mean little 130 ballistic tip load for a 30-30. It has devastating results on Coyotes, and has taken several deer. Bang Flops from a 30-30 are really fun to experience.
 
Ok that is what I thought from the original post, so when you seat the bullets to fit the box magazine, your necks are up on the ogive part and hanging in the fed ramp. Not much you can do with that. You can try another brand with a more sloped radius, but other than that I dont see what can be done.
 
30-30 bullets are designed to perform optimally at 30-30 velocities. They are not pointed, nor IMHO interchangeable with other 30 cal bullets as most other 30 cal cartridges are. As Bigdog stated, not only will your friend not gain much, but IMHO, will actually lose something, as I believe the flat or round-nosed bullets in this particular cartridge would have a greater killing effect. In other words, if it's not broken, don't try to fix it. This caliber has been dropping deer for a long, long, time--2MG
 
The articles I've seen which promote spitzers in the 30-30 use loads for lever actions, which handle a longer OAL. The drill is to chamber a round, then load ONE more in the magazine. It seemed like a lot of work for little benefit to me. Todd
 
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