30-30, brush, and LEVERevolution

[Yellowtail3]

bdg146 - I'm thinking that if you're hunting in the woods, there's not advantage in going to Hornady's pointy ammo.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

The NRA tests were similar, except that the NRA used a "thicket" of dowels of different sizes, so buttets stood a high chance of impacting more than one dowel. They also had a series of baffels behind the target, allowing each bullet to be traced and it's attitude recorded at each baffle.

The NRA test was more severe, and showed much more deflection.

 

[Saiga39]

Cabela's has a scope with a BDC reticule designed for the 30-30 LEVERevolution.

I might try that combo next year.

 

[saturno_v]

Sledhead76

All the major ammo manufacturers (Remchesteral for example) 30-30 ballistic data assume 24" barrels, not only Hornady.

As far as I know, only Grizzly Cartridge numbers assume 20" barrels, incidentally that load is the toughest commercial 30 WCF out there (170 gr. partition flat nose at 2400 fps), we are still waiting for Buffalo Bore 190 gr. Heavy 30-30 load (along the lines of their 220 gr. Heavy 35 Remington offering).

However, because the 30-30 is not a high intensity cartridge/high capacity case, the 4 inch of less barrel length doesn't impact the ballistic performance that much (compared, let's say to a 300 Win Mag going from 24" to 20")

In the 30-30 class, the loss of velocity from a barrel shorter than 24" should be no more than 10-15 fps per inch max.

 

[sledhead76]

Saturno,
Thank you, I was unaware of that. I've been all over the Fusion website trying to find a test barrel length, but to no avail. Like you said, it doesn't impact the ballistic performance much, but it still seems deceptive to put out numbers that don't correspond to what rifles most shooters out there are using.

 

[saturno_v]

Sledhead

Unfortunately, 24" is pretty much the most common test barrel for any cartridge (there are exceptions)
Some magnum published numbers assume 26" pipes.

Personally I been looking for a 24" Marlin 30-30 for long time but when I come across couple of them the price was out of this world...eventually I settled for the usual 20" carbine.


I think the reason why the 30-30 rifle offering is "centered" around 20" carbines is because, as we said before, 4" of barrel length doesn't change much the ballistic performance in that particular cartridge but the shorter pipe and the weight reduction help enormously in a brush environment, the "natural" setting for the 30 WCF.

However, Marlin now offers 24" 30-30 (and other chambering) rifles in their XLR line, specifically to take advantage of the Hornady Leverevolution loadings.