Hunting with cast bullets and the 30/30

by Fowler, Saturday, February 01, 2014, 10:24 (3954 days ago)

So I picked up a very nice conditioned Win 94 30/30 and jacketed shockingly bullets are not available. I was able to pick up 2 lee molds, a 150gr and a 170gr bullet that both shoot pretty good in the gun. I have run a bunch of rounds through it that were basically gallery loads of 7.5gr of Red Dot that are a lot of fun but certainly not an all around deer load.

So before I bore you with the details I want to develope a suitable all around hunting load with a cast bullet in this rifle. What have you guys had good success in the field with for a cast bullet and the 30/30? I am thinking the RCBS 170gr flat nose bullet may be a better bullet in the long run for the rifle, bigger face and all but I my cheap Lee's seem to cast a pretty accurate bullet. I do have a variety of mid range powders to try H330, Leverlution, IMR4895, H4895, and some others.

What alloy should I be using as well? I know I asked Ashley Emerson this question and he said his alloy, it's harder than Lino without being brittle at 2300 but is this the answer?

I have no qualms about making this a dedicated cast bullet rifle, I will get to shoot it a lot more that way.

Just looking for experienced opinions and theories here on this cold snow day...