Thought I would share with you my experience with a Marlin 30-30.
The rifle is a Marlin 30TK, 18.5" barrel, half mag, straight stock.
The rifle also sports a Leupold 1-4X20.

Factory ammo performance was marginal.

Remington 150gr. 2256 fps. 2.4" average @ 100 yds
Winchester 150gr. 2267 fps. 2.0" average @ 100 yds

Best handloads were a good deal better.

Speer 150gr. FN, 36 gr. RL-15 2317 fps. 1.1" average @ 100 yds.

After reaming to the improved chamber and fireforming brass things really got interesting.
This is the best load of what I shot today.

Speer 150gr. FN 38.0 gr. RL-15 2457 fps. 0.5" group

Now I just need to load some more of these to make sure that group wasn't a fluke. :D

Nice shooting Ted!

I just finished putting toegether some loads on my formed brass this evening. Same bullet and powder as you, but at a lower charge level to start.

Keep us posted on how the load works out for you.

Good shooting!
Many of us have speculated on the short barrel .30-30AI. I am excited about your project!
I know ENGLANDER will be watching closely as his short barrel .30-30 is marginal - by law - in Scotland.
It will be very interesting to see 130 grain data from your short barrel.
Dont forget to enter some load data in the Load swap section!

How much does it cost to have a 30-30 reamed to the AI version?

How much does it cost to have a 30-30 reamed to the AI version?
For me it will be the cost of the reamer minus what I get for it when I sell it.
Don't know what a gunsmith would charge.

Where you guys finding load data... I never bought the Ackley books.

Where you guys finding load data... I never bought the Ackley books.

Ranch Dog, keep in mind the Ackley data for the .30-30AI in the Handbook For Shooters and Reloaders was developed by Robert Hutton in a long barreled Mauser rifle and is not appropriate for lever action rifles.


Ted
“Factory ammo performance was marginal.
Remington 150gr. 2256 fps. 2.4" average @ 100 yds
Winchester 150gr. 2267 fps. 2.0" average @ 100 yds”


My 20” Marlin 336 averaged 2200 fps firing Winchester 150 grain factory ammo in the Improved chamber. This is roughly 2” ammo in my rifles too.

If you get the opportunity, fireform some Hornady Lever-evolution in your Improved chamber. I tried five rounds in my Marlin and it did not work well at all. At fifty yards the bullets were unstable and two of the five bullets struck sideways. The plastic tip is stiff enough to form a point going through the paper sideways. The Lever-evolution chronographed 2212 fps the first time I tried this and 2223 fps the second time.


”Speer 150gr. FN, 36 gr. RL-15 2317 fps. 1.1" average @ 100 yds.”

It looks like about 15 fps difference between my 20” Winchester and your 18.5 “ barrel Marlin with this load.

”Speer 150gr. FN 38.0 gr. RL-15 2457 fps. 0.5" group “

This load chronographed 2471 fps in the Winchester for 14 fps difference. I believe you are going to answer a lot of questions for us! So far, I like the answers!

Looks like I won't be doing much more with this project in the near future. We took a beating in the storms that barreled through here yesterday. Had baseball size hail and several tornados around us. Have heard of 10 dead here in Missouri, though not any in this immediate area that I know of. Got a lot of clean-up/repairs to do :(

Thats a tough shot. I have been there. Had all the North side windows knocked out and two rooms filled with sauser size hail. That was a big clean up! Dont get in a hurry. Just repair it once!

Thought I would share with you my experience with a Marlin 30-30.
The rifle is a Marlin 30TK, 18.5" barrel, half mag, straight stock.
The rifle also sports a Leupold 1-4X20.

Factory ammo performance was marginal.

Remington 150gr. 2256 fps. 2.4" average @ 100 yds
Winchester 150gr. 2267 fps. 2.0" average @ 100 yds

Best handloads were a good deal better.

Speer 150gr. FN, 36 gr. RL-15 2317 fps. 1.1" average @ 100 yds.

After reaming to the improved chamber and fireforming brass things really got interesting.
This is the best load of what I shot today.

Speer 150gr. FN 38.0 gr. RL-15 2457 fps. 0.5" group

Now I just need to load some more of these to make sure that group wasn't a fluke. :D
The ackley conversion really shines in single shot and bolt action rifles where you can use spitzer bullets!!

Where you guys finding load data... I never bought the Ackley books.
I thought you folks might like to know, that Sam Fadala has a book out on the 30-30, and he did alot of work with the ackely improved in the book. He says he took some 303 Savage ammo he had, and pulled the 190gr silver tipped bullets (Winchester ammo) from the 303, and loaded them into his 30-30 ackely improved, and used it to knock off prong horns at a fair distance. What I understand the ackely conversion on his Win 94, and the 190gr silver tips turned the 30-30 into quite a thumper. The book should be easy to order through Waldens Books, or any other big book seller. Just thought you folks would like to know. He might have a web site at SamFadala.com, I'm not sure check it out and see.

Ted,
This got too long for a private message so I thought I would post it here.
Your experience with Reloder 15 and 150 grain bullets in the .30-30AI where group size opened up at the highest velocities is not something we encountered. Our experience indicates Hodgdon Varget is probably the most accurate powder for the cartridge with either the 150 or 170 grain bullets. Alliant Reloder 15 will achieve higher velocities with either bullet weight but group size will be larger by ¼” to 1/2“than those delivered by Varget. The exact size of the average group sizes at 100 yards over a series of shooting sessions is hard to figure but I can say with confidence that Varget will shoot smaller groups on any given day. Our experience with Reloder 15 is it will deliver uniform accuracy from starting loads to maximum loads.
You have probably read of our velocity goals for each bullet weight in other Beartooth Forum threads on the .30-30AI. While we have loaded above these velocities for several reasons we have come to the conclusion that the 150 grain bullet at 2,500 fps is enough for us. Just as with the .307 Winchester we have found our best accuracy with 130 bullets at 2,700 fps and 170 grain bullets at 2,300 fps. Both bullet weights will shoot smaller groups for us on any given day. There is always an exception and the 150-grain Barnes-X is the exception. The Barnes-X may be the most accurate bullet we have fired in the .307 and .30-30AI, with the 130-grain Speer flat nose close on its heels.
We have found Hodgdon 4895 and 335 to be interchangeable in the .30-30AI for all bullet weights. Velocity and accuracy between the two powders is very close from start to maximum loads. You could settle on either powder for use with all bullet weights and be very happy with the velocity and accuracy. Both powders easily met our velocity goals and did not give us any surprises on the hottest days.

I said I would hunt for an accuracy load for our rifles using these two powders:
Using 150 grain bulk Remington bullets loaded to a COAL of 2.540” in both the 336 Marlin and Winchester M-94AE, 38.0 grains of Hodgdon 4895 have us 2,461 fps. This was with Winchester cases and primers. This load met our two goals of 30% efficiency (by Ken Howells formula) and 60 fps per grain of powder – this load actually delivering 65 fps per grain of powder in the 20” barrels.
38.0 grains of Hodgdon 335 behind the 150-grain Remington bullet delivered 2,502 fps using R-P cases and Federal 210 primers. Our best accuracy using the Remington bullets has come at a COAL of 2.540”

Using the 150 grain Sierra bullet ahead of 38.0 grains of Alliant Reloder 15 we got just about equal accuracy at 2,471 fps – again 30% efficient and 65 fps per grain of powder. This load used Winchester cases and CCI primers. The Sierra bullet preferred a COAL of 2.550”.

I don’t like Winchester 748 but 40.0 grains behind the 150 grain Remington bullet gave us 2,508 fps and accuracy equal to any other 150-grain load. This load is 29% efficient and delivers 63 fps per grain of powder.

Shooting small groups from the bench with lever-action rifles is a challenge for me. I find canting to be my biggest problem. Handling recoil the same every time is my second. I have shot my smallest groups while wearing a Past type pad and not touching the rifle at all. I allow the rifle to free recoil about an inch back to my shoulder. The comb of the stock rises and gives my check a little slap with each shot. I use my thumb and index finger to squeeze the trigger. I remove the rear sling swivel to prevent it interfering with the stock sliding back on the bags.
Your eyes are probably a little better than mine as I have trouble with orange targets in some light. The further out I go the more trouble I have with orange – this using low power scopes. To prevent canting I use big (6 to 8”) black squares on white paper. I aim for the corners and align the cross hairs with the straight sides of the black square. This allows me to shoot pretty small groups with the thick cross hairs of low power scopes.

Choosing a powder is quite a chore sometimes. I look forward to your posts on the short barrel.

Thanks for all the information, it will be most helpful.
I got up with the chickens this morning and snuck out to the range. Shot some loads with Remington bulk 150's. 38.0 grains of Reloder15 did not have the accuracy of the same load with the Speer bullet. However at 39.0 grains the Remington bullet grouped into less than an inch at slightly more than 2500 fps. I will try repeating this and if the accuracy remains constant I may just settle on that load. I would like to experiement with the Speer 130s and 170s, but I think for my needs a 150 gr. bullet at 2500 fps will be about perfect.

I am grinning for ear to ear thinking about an 18.5" barrel giving these 150 grain bullet 2500 fps with that level of accuracy.
Not a bad conversion. What overall length are you using?

I've just been seating to the crimp groove so far. 2.540" for the Speer and 2.500" for the Remington.

I think part of the reason for the good velocities is that this is just a "fast" barrel too. I have compared velocities with a couple other 30-30's with 20" barrels with the same factory ammo and this 18.5" Marlin always beat them both. Maybe they are just slow barrels.

I surely have no regrets with the conversion at this point. The only problem, and it is a small one, is the fact that it does not feed as smoothly now with the improved case. It still functions fine, just requires a bit more effort to push the cartridges from ramp to chamber. Maybe a very slight radius to the bottom portion of the chamber mouth would help.