Anyone shoot a 30-30

I always thought the 30-30 in a Mdl 94 wiht a hard buttplate had hard "felt" recoil. Or more recoil than a little cartridge like the 30-30 should have...

It's an absolute pussycat in this bolt action frifle I bought- feels lieka 223
 
I have a Steyr 8x56R and have yet to shoot full military rounds in there, I figure that will be bad.

As for the 30-30, just make sure everything is tight, clean the gun and play with it to figure out what is best, both of mine shoot nicely and there is nothing like a lever gun to carry through the woods.
 
Gatehouse said:
I always thought the 30-30 in a Mdl 94 wiht a hard buttplate had hard "felt" recoil. Or more recoil than a little cartridge like the 30-30 should have...

It's an absolute pussycat in this bolt action frifle I bought- feels lieka 223

You've mentioned it twice now, what model is it? I'm hazarding a guess it's NOT a 340 Savage. Although there's nothing wrong with that.
 
How you rest the rifle is important. I find that if you place the front sand bag too far forward it can screw up groups. Hold it tight to your shoulder, front rest near the receiver. Levers have a habit of canting to the side watch for that. Is front sight bead or post? Try a six o'clock hold. Target sitting on top of sight, if you try covering target with bead you will possibly loose some precision. Just some ideas. Usually my 94 give me 1 1/2 to 2 at 100 yds with 170 gr.
 
MD said:
I was at the range today to check the sighting on my 300 Winchester and brought my 1974 era Winchester 94 in 30-30 too.


300 is fine, but that 30-30 vexes me.

I"ve put a reciever sight on it. I tried some Remington ammo, handloads and old Imperial rounds too, all 170 gr. bullets.

The best I can get is about a 2-inch group at 50 yards with the Imperials, and I tried the Remington loads at 100. I got two shots about 4 inches apart, but a third one was way off, by about 5 inches away from the next one. Coulda been me.

I'm just curious though, have you shot 150 grain bullets in your 30-30 Winchester? Do they group better than 170 gr. bullets?


I think that 2 inches at 50 yards and 4 inches at 100 yards might be typical for many but not all old 30-30s. So much game has been harvested that such short yardage that many have never questioned the fact that these old game getters were not designed as tack drivers.
 
I recently acquired a 30-30 Savage 340 bolt gun. With a scope, I haven't been able to get anything better than about 2" at 50 yards, though I haven't done any real load development. Those were just 'plinker' loads with speer and hornady half-jacket 100 grain bullets and a pinch of surplus powder.

Still - it's a 30-30 fer cryin out loud. Why do you think you need much better than about 6" accuracy at 100 yards? Past that you run out of steam anyway. I don't think there's anything wrong with your rifle, it's performing adequately within the limits of it's intended usage
 
Workin Man said:
You've mentioned it twice now, what model is it? I'm hazarding a guess it's NOT a 340 Savage. Although there's nothing wrong with that.

AFAIK, the only factory 30-30 bolt actions out there are Savage 340/Stevens 325's and the remington 788's. The latter are quite rare. Also, I think at one time, it was popular to convert some of the swiss schmidt-rubin straight pull milsurps to 30-30
 
i have two mod 94s rifle and a carbine pre 64s not hard to get 2inches at 100 yds with iron sights i use 170 seirras and rl15 works good in my guns, what i like is i still have a lot of deer left to eat when i hunt with a 30 wcf doesnt blow big holes but kills them just the same, i find it a novelty after my 257 weatherby
 
prosper said:
I recently acquired a 30-30 Savage 340 bolt gun. With a scope, I haven't been able to get anything better than about 2" at 50 yards, though I haven't done any real load development. Those were just 'plinker' loads with speer and hornady half-jacket 100 grain bullets and a pinch of surplus powder.

Still - it's a 30-30 fer cryin out loud. Why do you think you need much better than about 6" accuracy at 100 yards? Past that you run out of steam anyway. I don't think there's anything wrong with your rifle, it's performing adequately within the limits of it's intended usage

I just picked up the same rifle- Although it's under the CIL name...Stripped and refinished the stock, and reblued it last night...

Hmm...mayeb I shoudl have shot it first to see if it was worth the effort!:evil:
 
well, they DO have a reputation for accuracy. I'm sure I'll be able to find a decent load for it when I really get motivated. Someday.

Hoping that it might be an ideal candidate for the 130gr TSX (I can't really think of any other lightweight ultra-premiums at the moment)
 
prosper said:
AFAIK, the only factory 30-30 bolt actions out there are Savage 340/Stevens 325's and the remington 788's. The latter are quite rare. Also, I think at one time, it was popular to convert some of the swiss schmidt-rubin straight pull milsurps to 30-30

I was actually guessing he had the Schmidt-Rubin, just couldn't think of the name at the time. I have a 340 in 222Rem, my dad shoots a 340 in 30-30 for deer.
 
One of these days, I have to buy another 340, hopefully in 22 hornet. The 30-30's a great little gun. I haven't weighed it, but it seems lighter than my Stevens 200 which is certainly on the light side, and handles great. And this is despite that massive side-attached scope mount. It's a fun little gun, and I'm looking forward to playing around with it some more, and trying to see just how much accuracy I can squeeze out of it.

As I mentioned, these guns seem to have a reputation for accuracy. Although, I've recently heard that the POI shifts with ambient temperature quite a bit on scoped 340's. Something to do with the mount being made of sheet metal (although mine appears to be machined, and is quite thick) and mounted to one side of the action only.
 
The mount on mine appears to be thickish aluminum (Weaver) and pretty sturdy. I don't see that moving much, but i gotta wonder about the barrel band and how it connects to the stock- I could see that moving POI if wet..:popCorn:
 
Here it is....

IMG_0906-copy.jpg
 
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