Cheapest effective 30-30 plinking ammo?

[chiral]

Looking to get into a 30-30 lever action but finding that ammo is somewhat more expensive than other rifle calibers. Cheapest I can find is prvi for 0.60 a round. Is that about the going rate or does any one have any recommendations for a vendor with more affordable ammo? Thanks!

[Duelist]

I don't usually plink with my .30-30, but when I do, it's with stuff I load.

[Robinson]

Yeah $.60 per round sounds about right for .30-30 ammo of that type. It's a hunting cartridge -- what exactly are you comparing it against?

[Hauptmann]

Anything that is outside the common military calibers used today will be in that price range. If you reload, then you'd probably pay around $.20 per shot for your reloaded ammo.

[chiral]

Yeah $.60 per round sounds about right for .30-30 ammo of that type. It's a hunting cartridge -- what exactly are you comparing it against?

Of course comparing it to other common rifle calibers like 556 and 308. Just wondering if it's out there at a lower price than 0.60 given that it's older, yet common, caliber. Was hoping for 0.40-0.50 but looks like that's not the norm. Thanks for the info everyone!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Al T.]

Cheapest I can find is prvi for 0.60 a round.

That's a very good price for around here. I've shot a fair amount of the 170 grain, it shoots very well in the two 336s I tried it in.

[Lost River]

If you roll your own you can get lead hard cast bullets like the Missouri Bullet Company 165 grain round nose flat point @ $29 per 250 plus shipping.

For practice shooting and general purpose stuff, that is going to be pretty tough to beat.

Plus depending on how you choose to load, you can run them at traditional speeds for and use them for things that a person normally would use a 30-30 for, or you can download them and make great small game loads.

In fact I have a box under my bench that have been sitting there for some time waiting to be loaded.

[SecondsCount]

If you roll your own you can get lead hard cast bullets like the Missouri Bullet Company 165 grain round nose flat point @ $29 per 250 plus shipping.

For practice shooting and general purpose stuff, that is going to be pretty tough to beat.

Plus depending on how you choose to load, you can run them at traditional speeds for and use them for things that a person normally would use a 30-30 for, or you can download them and make great small game loads.

In fact I have a box under my bench that have been sitting there for some time waiting to be loaded.

Sorry for the derail but what powder do you use for this load?

I really need to get my 30-30's out and have some fun with them.

[Lost River]

Unique or Trail Boss for the very lightweight loads. It has been a while since I have fiddled with them, but they are pretty fun short range grouse/rabbit kind of loads.

[okie john]

Of course comparing it to other common rifle calibers like 556 and 308. Just wondering if it's out there at a lower price than 0.60 given that it's older, yet common, caliber. Was hoping for 0.40-0.50 but looks like that's not the norm. Thanks for the info everyone!

There are a couple of reasons that you don't see 30-30 ammo marked down very often. First, it's already pretty cheap compared to 30/06, 270, and the like. Second, most people who shoot the 30-30 a lot handload for it rather than buying it in bulk, and most people who buy one box of ammo a year are willing to spend $15/box, so there's no reason to discount it. That said, keep an eye on the big box stores. They usually get a bunch right before hunting season, and they sometimes discount the stuff they didn't sell once the season ends. In Washington, that's around Thanksgiving, but it's probably different where you live.

There's a very strong case to be made for handloading for the 30-30. The 30-30 is dead simple to reload, and most factory ammo is underloaded by 150-200 fps because the ammo makers don't want to blow up an old rifle, so you can make significant improvements in power without super hot loads. You can generally improve accuracy, too. it makes a lot of sense to find out what kind of ammo your rifle prefers, shoot up 2-300 rounds of it over a year or so and save the brass, then start rolling your own.


Okie John

[coldcase1984]

Okie John and Lost River are right. I've not done cast with .30/30 but used to play with light jacketed bullets in my crusty old Trapper when my kids were still kids.

Get a Lee Loader for .30/30 and scour reloading stores for Speer 100-grain Plinkers. They're a very mild plinking load at 1,500 and can provide good visuals on vermin at 2,000+.

I found a new Marlin 336 after Dad died he'd that squirreled away in a closet and never fired. It's been sitting in my safe for near 4 years. May soon drop a small scope on it for a .22 Magnum substitute up at The Ranch.

[ranger]

Palmetto State Armory has Federal 30-30 for $9.99 per 20 today - deal of the day thing

[Wayne Dobbs]

Not a reloading article, but here's a great piece by C. E. "Ed" Harris on the .30/30. Harris' articles and insight are well founded as he was an industry technical insider for years and is extremely knowledgeable on all things firearms:

http://www.hensleygibbs.com/edharris/articles/3030assaultrifle.htm

[SeriousStudent]

Not a reloading article, but here's a great piece by C. E. "Ed" Harris on the .30/30. Harris' articles and insight are well founded as he was an industry technical insider for years and is extremely knowledgeable on all things firearms:

http://www.hensleygibbs.com/edharris/articles/3030assaultrifle.htm

Very neat article, thank you for sharing it.

[SeriousStudent]

Okie John and Lost River are right. I've not done cast with .30/30 but used to play with light jacketed bullets in my crusty old Trapper when my kids were still kids.

Get a Lee Loader for .30/30 and scour reloading stores for Speer 100-grain Plinkers. They're a very mild plinking load at 1,500 and can provide good visuals on vermin at 2,000+.

I found a new Marlin 336 after Dad died he'd that squirreled away in a closet and never fired. It's been sitting in my safe for near 4 years. May soon drop a small scope on it for a .22 Magnum substitute up at The Ranch.

So I found these at MidwayUSA, the previously mentioned Speer 100-grain plinker projectiles:

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/618190/speer-bullets-30-caliber-308-diameter-100-grain-plinker-round-nose-soft-point-box-of-100

I ordered 200 new cases and 300 projectiles to experiment with.

I'm thinking about using some Trail Boss as the powder. I'll see what I can find for load data, and share it with chiral.

[LtDave]

I've got several 30-30 rifles and have shot them in lever action silhouette matches at up to 200 yards. I've never fired a factory round out of mine. The load I shoot is a 150 gr Winchester Power Point with 28 grains of RL-7 and Remington 9.5 primer. In my primary Marlin match rifle it is a sub moa load. I've seen no reason to change or look for anything better accuracy wise.

[OlongJohnson]

I'm thinking about using some Trail Boss as the powder. I'll see what I can find for load data, and share it with chiral.

You probably know about this, but just in case...

https://www.hodgdon.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/h4895-reduced-rifle-loads.pdf

http://www.wwpowder.com/PDF/Youth%20Loads.pdf

Reports are that velocity is fairly linear within that recommended range.

Here's some Trail Boss stuff.

http://www.imrpowder.com/PDF/Trail-Boss-data.pdf

https://www.hodgdon.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/trail-boss-reduced-loads-r_p.pdf

[SeriousStudent]

I had not seen those, thank you very much for the links.

My presses should be here this weekend, and I'm going to do a lot of reading before I start touching powder and primers.

[Malamute]

The local walmart has Winchester Power Points in both 150 and 170 gr for $13.77/box. I was thinking of getting a little more brass and load up some extra reserve ammo, but I cant buy all the components including new brass for that price.

I liked the Speer 110 gr Varminter hollowpoint bullets. I haven't seen them in stock anywhere in a long time though. I got a box of the Sierra 125 gr hollwpoints to try. I think they will run 2600 fps without much drama.

I have a Lyman mold for 32 auto 77 gr RN bullet I want to try for light loads in 30-30. I later found it was listed in some old Ideal manuals as a suitable bullet for small game and close range practice loads.