What charge of Leverevolution are you using? What have been your results? Looking to stretch the range up to 200 yards for whitetail deer.

I am in the same boat. I find it interested the hornady manual and hogdgon have different max loads. I here some good things around the 34.5 area but your miles may vary. I need to get mine to the range soon

Not unusual for different resources to give different max charges. Case capacity between cases vary, chamber dimensions vary, barrel dimensions vary. All those plus other things are made to +/- spec dimensions those dimensions if on the small side will yield higher pressures. In other words the guns/brass/bullets are not likely the exact same for what the published data was derived from. That is why you start low and work your way up. Chances are what is most accurate in my gun may not be what is most accurate in your gun. Max load for my gun might not be for your gun or could be over max.

Oh yeah. Just the difference as rather larger I thought. Like 35 vs 37.5...

I noticed on the Hodgdon website that the starting load was 32 grains and the max was 35.5 grains with a 160 grain bullet. Guess I will start small and go from there.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ this right here! ! ! ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Reloading manuals often disagree on max load and the pressure re one grain increment can make some loads spooky. I often cross reference them to get differing opinions. Even though the loads have been tested prior to publishing, I get narrow minded about jumping too far out.

x2

also, what bullet and what brass are you using?
I use FTX bullet (160gr) and am re-loading Hornady brass (which is slightly different length than reg 30-30 brass).
My reloads pretty much match the factory loads, and do fill the brass.

I can assure you the ftx bullet (160gr) does the magic for the 30-30;
My blind is only 80yds from the feeder, so I never thought I needed any more than standard 30-30 loads, but the one shot I got to take on a nice buck was at 197 yards (he wouldn't come any closer).
Sooooo glad I had the FTX loads - 1-shot and he dropped DRT, exactly where I was aiming (and had sighted in).
I would never have dreamed of taking that shot with regular loads.

Veryyy happy with ballistics on the FTX for 30-30!!

If I see some of the 140 ftx I will buy those. Otherwise I am sticking with the 160 and leveroution powder


I am curious how it gets so much velocity advantage of other powders

Hello- I’m new here, just moved to Euless from Birmingham, Alabama. But it just so happens I did some testing with LR powder and the 160 FTX bullet just this past Saturday. Nothing fancy with the setup, just an F1 chrony at 10 feet:



I had done some testing with this bullet using the data on the pdf Hornady put out before LR powder was available, and keeping to that data, velocities were underwhelming from my 22” NEF .30-30.

We’ve all seen Hornady’s claims- and I like Hornady stuff, don’t get me wrong. But I have noticed they are a bit optimistic with velocity figures in their advertising, and the numbers they used when they rolled out the Leverevolution ammo was for a 24” barrel. Even the data in the Hornady load manual is tame in comparison:



So, what will this bullet and powder combination actually –do- in a 20” barreled levergun?

This is what it did in mine Saturday morning- and I’m addling a couple of other loads that were tested, for comparison- The test at 37.0 gr was done this past January on a 45 degree day in Alabama as opposed to the August Texas heat from this week so it’s not exactly a direct comparison, but this is what I measured from my Marlin:



There are some interesting things here- First of all, it would have been better to use the same manufacture of brass for all the loads. Normally I’d do that, but a lot of my stuff is still in boxes from the move and I haven’t found it all yet! Also, I had used WLR primers in my first loads with this powder but ran out and switched to CCI 200- so this could be a better test, but I just wanted to see what I could come up with, given what I had on hand.

Notes:

1. All brass was trimmed to uniform length with the same seating depth, crimp, and same C.O.L. of 2.612”- which is what the rounds measured with the bullet seated to the center of the cannelure.
2. Federal brass was all once-fired, Remington brass had been loaded three times prior.

Notice that 37.0 gr load- Hornady lists this as the maximum load of LR powder for a velocity of 2300 fps. Look at what it actually did in my Marlin. That is not a typo. I knew right away that was a hot load, from the recoil and the sound, but I thought my chronograph had to be wrong. One more shot of that produced exactly the same velocity and a cratered primer, and that was the last of those I shot. I took the remaining 3 rounds home, pulled the bullets, and recovered the powder.

Notice also what happens when going from 35.5 to 36.0 grains—the velocity actually decreased, but again, that was changing from Federal to Remington brass. My assumption there is Federal brass may have slightly smaller internal dimensions than Remington (or at least R-P brass that has been fired and sized 3 times already).
Also note the difference in velocity measured between the 36.0 gr and 37.0 load. I don’t usually see 139 fps difference with the increase of 1 grain of powder, but that could be right on the cusp of the upper pressure limit, and that was with two different primers- so it’s not apples to apples there, but it is a very interesting measurement.

So, have I found a great extended range hunting load for my Marlin?

Unfortunately, no. While the velocity is impressive enough, the accuracy was not. The smallest group I was able to get off the bench at 100 yds with these handloads was 3 ½”, and they range up to just over 5 inches. Considering the Blue Box Federals consistently group under an inch with this rifle and the 2x7 Leupold, I know this rifle is capable of fine accuracy. I did get 1.2” with the Hornady 150 gr round nose and I could work up a load with that to speed it up a bit- but the numbers fall off pretty quickly with that bullet at the 200 yard mark.



But—although I have been a handloader for over 30 years now and do what I can do improve performance (within safe limits) of my rifles… I’m also practical. If my carefully weighed and crafted handloads are beaten hands-down by cheap stuff you can get off the shelf I’m going with the Blue Box.

But I’m not giving up on it just yet. I’m not sure when I’ll be able to get back out to the range, but I have another set of test loads ready to go- I’ll retest that 35.5 and 36.0 velocity and will give 36.5 a try. So far this Marlin doesn’t seem to like these bullets but we’ll see how it goes.

By the way, though I am not a big fan of Nosler Ballistic Tips after seeing what they have done on some deer over the years from rifles in the .30-06 class, I am a BIG fan of the 125 Ballistic Tip in a .30-30 single shot. At 2675 fps that is an excellent deer bullet, but I’ll save that for another discussion.

Rick

EXCELLENT 1st post, RickC.


And

i did a couple at 34 grains just to run it through and got 2150ish on the velocity with CCI primers... i was a bit underwhelmed. I am going to hopefully fab up some other ammo to test with soon

Thanks, TTH!

Cleric, I'd be real interested in seeing what you come up with. Work has been so crazy I didn't even know until last night that Labor Day was -this- weekend, but I may be able to get back out Monday for a bit. I have some WW .30-30 brass here somewhere and I'm wondering how the three makes of brass would do with identical loads.

RickC - I'm surprised you inch your way up on the powder (0.5gr), then JUMP a full grain on the last increment to the max load, while changing components at same time. Sounds like a recipe for disaster to me.

Nonetheless- didn't hear anything about bullet-seating and x thousands off the lands; that may help you to find the accuracy you're looking for. I've loaded some up like this (but more carefully), and got excellent accuracy.

However, I did use Hornady brass (was re-loading brass from LeverE. factory loads previously fired in my gun) and ALSO only neck-sized the brass, and used a Lee Factory Crimp. I also completely measured a fresh factory load, and mimicked the bullet seating to match the factory loads (which shoot very well in my gun). I did notice (the well publicized fact) that the Hornady factory LE brass is slightly different length than other brass that I had (federal and Remington) - make sure you're accounting for this too (your C.O.L. of 2.612 is a good bit over the Hornady published 2.535 right there in your own pic)!
My final result was loads that essentially match the factory loads, but were even more accurate, as the brass was already perfectly formed to my chamber.

ALSO, be sure you got the RIGHT 160gr FTX bullets (specifically for the 30-30, hornady part #30395; seen fellers all the time use the 308 ones and screw it up).

YMMV - but good luck on your endeavor . . . be safe . . .

Old Oak,

Thanks, and what I was going to mention in my next range report is I did bite the bullet and decide to sacrifice some brass just for these loads. So the next batch of testing has the brass trimmed to 2.029" and COL of 2.535"-- In Hornady's original load data for this bullet they listed 2.550" as the maximum COL, you may have seen that. I saw no ill pressure effects from 2.612".

But it'll be interesting to see what difference (if any) in accuracy there is with this Marlin. This bullet was fairly accurate in my NEF Handi, but I had better hunting loads for it already so I didn't do much testing with it in that rifle.

And yes, these are the #30395. I can understand the confusion though- given that Hornady has two different FTX bullets in .308, and that even though the boxes I got from Midsouth Shooter Supply cleary have #30395 (.30-30) printed on the label, the picture on the box was for the .308 bullet! I thought I had messed up and ordered the wrong ones this time, but no.

Except for my bolt actions, I quit neck sizing rounds intended for hunting. Long story, lessons learned.

I don't concern myself with thousandths off the lands with loads that have to be crimped. Granted, I don't load many such rounds these days. The cannelures are where they are, and though I have a Lee Factory Crimp die, I don't trust the claim that no cannelure is needed. In a tubular magazine, I'm crimping in the cannelure. For my bolt guns and single shots where there is more leeway for bullet seating? Sure.

But I'm glad these bullets work well for you. What rifle are you shooting with them?

Rick

Marlin 336

I crimp in the cannelure , but there is a bit of leeway therewithin.

A bit, yeah.

I'll let you know what happens with the next round of testing. If the accuracy improves dramatically, then the COL/bullet seating was likely the culprit.

Related to the load questions in this thread-- how has the terminal performance of this bullet been at different ranges compared to the usual 150/170 RN or FN? I have taken several deer with my .30-30 single shot, but with:

Hornady 130 Spire
Nosler 125 Ballistic Tip
Speer 150 BTSP

So I can't speak to the performance of this bullet when the bullet hits the bone.

What have you observed with it?

This morning I was able to get back out to the range and do further testing. As I posted earlier, all brass was full length sized and trimmed to the shorter length mentioned by Hornady --COL was set to 2.535".

Chronograph results are in the table below, combined with the results from the first test, in ascending order of powder charge for ease of comparison between makes of brass. WLR primers were used in all loads in the second tests:



37.0 gr charges were loaded but not tested, after experiencing sticky extraction and flattened primers with the 36.5 gr loads in Federal brass.

Overall, there was no significant difference in these and earlier tests, neither in velocities nor accuracy.

Before leaving I shot a group with my 150 RN Hornady handloads, and they shot within 1.5” with a very warm barrel.