125 grain bullets for 30-30. Why?

[epijunkie67]

I was looking at ballistics data today on 30-30 rounds and compared the 125 vs 150 grain ammo and got a little confused. It looks like they load the 125 gn stuff to have about the same velocity as the 150 gn stuff, which means less energy. So what's the point of the lighter round? Less recoil? It's a 30-30. It doesn't have much recoil to begin with. That's like making a lower recoiling .223 or something. There doesn't seem to be a point.

I've never hunted with the 125 grain 30-30 hollow points before. What are they effective on? Could you hunt hogs with them? What's the largest critter you'd take on with a factory loaded 125 grain 30-30 round? What if you hand loaded them at the upper levels of safe pressure?

Bottom line. 125 grain 30-30 ammo. Good? Bad? Why?

 

[Jackal]

My guess would be as a coyote round.

 

[roscoe]

It is a cowboy action load, I believe. It might also be useful if you had to use the rifle for home defense indoors at closer ranges.

 

[Crosshair]

Plus lighter bullets are cheaper in some cases.

 

[iamkris]

Reduced recoil

 

[critter]

l reload 125 Nosler BT's in my 30-30 Contender super 14" and use it for deer hunting. I find it to be a VERY effective round and have killed several deer with it. They WILL put a deer down and RIGHT NOW. They give plenty of penetratiion, very good expansion nd in my gun are under 3/4" at 100 yds! That kind of accuracy gives a lot of confidence when the time comes to squeeze the trigger.

 

[Byron]

A friend reloads the Sierra 125 HP in his trapper. Older Sierra manuals show an increase in velocity. He deer hunts in the N GA mountains and has yet to loose a deer. Byron

 

[BIGJACK]

a 125 GR bullet in the right place will kill anything on the North American continet.