30-30 150 or 170?

I just started shooting some 160FTX reloads and those seem to shoot really well out of my old model 94. I have never hunted with the 30-30 but was always a fun round to shoot with my grandfather.
 
I have a Mossberg 464 that can shoot either grain weights but cloverleafs the 170gr.
I have dropped deer with both 150gr and 170gr. in factory ammo. It really likes the Winchester ammo.
I don't reload
No real difference I found.
 
I've used both , they worked well on the White Tails I shot with them . I have found that the heavier bullets were noticeably more accurate in my rifles . YMMV . As others have said , use what ever weight bullet groups better in your rifle .
 
Maybe is helpful to read up on 30-30 on Wikipedia - perhaps a 200 yard deer rifle (?). With flat nose or round nose bullets, does not meet minimum energy requirements for moose hunting in Finland, Norway or Sweden, although "legal" to use in Canada, I think. From "somewhere", I think that I read that original 30-30 were loaded with 160 grain bullets. No doubt gazillion of deer and moose taken with them over the years.

With a single shot - like break action or falling block - have the option to load pointed Spitzer type bullets - say 165 grain. From UBER common Win 94 or Marlin 336 with tubular magazines - can load a pointy one into chamber, then last one in tubular magazine as pointed (first one loaded in there) - I read some guys use their lever action rifles as a "two shot" - one pointy in the chamber and one pointy in the magazine. Was always mentioned to NEVER use pointy bullets against a primer in a tubular magazine.
 
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As above... without the constraints of 30-30 anemic pressures, or the requirement for round nose bullets, 140 to 160 grain bullets could certainly be loaded to some decent speeds.

R.
 
If "speed" is important, then shooter probably wants an elder 30-30 - used to be made with 24" or 26" barrels. I think the popularity was always the handy dandy one-hand carry lever action rifles with 20" barrels - no doubt, there is "faster" and "slower" rounds from 20" barrel. Some people are taken with the various "Trapper" models - with even shorter barrels. I happen to load Speer 110 grain "Varmint" hollow point bullets in a 94 Winchester that is chambered for 30-30 - for blasting away at gophers - sometimes I can even hit one. I recently received some cast lead 115 grain flat nose bullets for the same purpose - to be tried yet. There is a couple boxes of 170 grain Flat Nose .308" Sierra here, if I wanted the 30-30 for "serious work", but is too many other choices here - a Ruger Compact in 243 Win (16.5" barrel) and a Husqvarna 4100 7x57 (20" barrel) and so on - that would be just as short and likely as effective.

But for much of Canada, I think 30-30 is very popular - likely not really about the cartridge merits, but about the handy dandy little lever guns that were made to use that cartridge. If you are not carrying a lever gun, not sure why you would chose a 30-30 cartridge?? I was under the impression that 7.62x39 can be loaded with 150 grain soft point bullets, and get very similar performance to a 30-30, at least on deer.
 
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naktabar72 said:
Price and availibility.
Sights: I was leaning toward the 150's but when I shot them at 100 yards, they were shooting a bit high.
I tried the 170's and they were bang On .
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I am curious - why not adjust the sights so that your preferred ammo is "on"? Is common here for my various hunting rifles to strike the target circa 2" or 3" high at 100 yards - 150 grain 7x57, 165 grain 308 Win, 225 grain 338 Win Mag, and lately the 250 grain 9.3x62.
 
Potashminer said:
Maybe is helpful to read up on 30-30 on Wikipedia - perhaps a 200 yard deer rifle (?). With flat nose or round nose bullets, does not meet minimum energy requirements for moose hunting in Finland, Norway or Sweden, although "legal" to use in Canada, I think. From "somewhere", I think that I read that original 30-30 were loaded with 160 grain bullets. No doubt gazillion of deer and moose taken with them over the years.

With a single shot - like break action or falling block - have the option to load pointed Spitzer type bullets - say 165 grain. From UBER common Win 94 or Marlin 336 with tubular magazines - can load a pointy one into chamber, then last one in tubular magazine as pointed (first one loaded in there) - I read some guys use their lever action rifles as a "two shot" - one pointy in the chamber and one pointy in the magazine. Was always mentioned to NEVER use pointy bullets against a primer in a tubular magazine.
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I think any muzzle energy requirement is pretty much bs. The 30/30 in the hands of a good shot will kill any soft skinned game. The 220 Swift has more muzzle energy then the old 405 grain 45/70 load. Which one would you whack a moose with?
 
If you plan on shooting merely typical deer with it, there's not much reason to go over 150 grains unless your rifle or carbine shoots better with such & such bullet.
And as others have stated here, I too discovered the 150 grain RN bullet drops deer a bit faster. And if you have the skills to push distance limits to the utmost of your gear & capacities you will find 150 gn RN a bit more forgiving on a broadside deer that's unaware of the danger.
 
Potashminer said:
Go here: https://www.face.eu/sites/default/files/sweden_en.pdf Scroll down to about page 7 - energy requirement is defined at 100 meters impact, not at the muzzle.
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funny you mentionned Sweden. we went on a hunt there and a guy used his 30-30 for roe deer and i do not know where the bullet hit but destroyed the two front shoulders like it was a magnum shot at 2 meters.

in the same token 222 was legal in france for red deer ... but i do like scandinavic and finland rules for hunting. nowadays the 308 win is the hype caliber there. but still know some guys using 9.3x62 for bear and moose with sucess and they do love oryx and the lapua copper bullets.
 
Potashminer said:
Go here: https://www.face.eu/sites/default/files/sweden_en.pdf Scroll down to about page 7 - energy requirement is defined at 100 meters impact, not at the muzzle.
Click to expand...

I meant energy ingeneral terms. E=MV squared automatically slanted to higher velocity and little importance attached to projectile mass or configuration. Great for physics problems requiring kinetic energy. For a terminal ballistics yardstick, somewhat flawed.
 
With handloads the most accurate for me have been 32gr of Win 748/mag primer/Win or Fed brass and a 170gr bullet 34.5gr Win 748 for the 150gr same components. The 170 gr will do a yard of moose and the 150gr is death on deer.
 
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