I haven't messed with the concept in 30-30 but I have a box a Speer 235 grain spitzers to try in my .375 Winchester. Will it be worth the trouble and make it flat enough for far enough to justify? I don't know but if I can develop a zero that will let me hold center mass to 200+ yards I'll consider it a success. Hornady just won't make any of the good levergun ammo in this caliber. I understand why, but it's still frustrating!
I've crawled all around the ballistics and convinced myself that the Barnes TAC-TX 120gr is an optimum solution for a pointy version of the cartridge, especially in a lightweight, compact single shot like a Contender carbine. It has a decent BC. The speed that a .30-30 can drive it to, especially a .30-30 AI, is a really good match for its expansion characteristics, and its reliable expansion down to 1350 or so FPS gives an effective range to the .30-30 that gets into the ranges where the trajectory makes putting shots on game sketchy.
At the same time, I compared it to other options like 7-30 Waters and 7mm TCU, and the fact that no similar bullet exists for them makes the TAC-TX .30-30 a clear winner for hunting, at least on paper. Plenty of meat has been stacked with those others, but when you look at the numbers and are honest about expansion threshold, the Ol' Reliable comes out as more capable. The fact that you're not limited to your snowflake custom ammo in a pinch is also worth considering.
If you're just ballistics-curious, you can probably work up a surrogate reduced load in a .308 and test it on meat before committing to the Contender barrel project.
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The Tac-Tx 110-120 for .300BO should work excellent in a .30-30 over longer ranges.
I don't know about heavier .308" bullets but I mean anything pointy should start to mimic .308/.300BO.
The 120 has an advertised BC of .358 vs. .289 for the 110. In .300 BLK, the 120 eats enough of the limited case volume that the velocity falls off excessively, and by the time it appears better, they are both in rainbow land. The consensus is that the 110 is actually a better choice within the ranges where .300 BLK is a reasonable choice.Originally Posted by RevolverRob
On the other hand, the .30-30 with a 20-22 inch barrel can drive the 120 to the top end of its designed expansion window, a couple hundred FPS faster than the 110 out of a .300 BLK. So it's definitely a step up in ballistics from the little AR cartridge, flatter shooting to longer ranges and staying above the 2300-ish FPS threshold discussed by Federal engineers when talking about the difference between rifle and pistol terminal ballistics for a longer short-range window.
One problem is that many/most factory Contender .30-30 barrels came with six lands and six grooves of equal width. This increases pressures because the bullet has to be swaged down into a smaller cross sectional area. So if you want to safely get the most from the cartridge, you need to wait for one of the hard-to-find factory barrels with narrower lands and wider grooves (still rolling the dice on whether the person who chambered it was having a good or bad day), or have something custom made.
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