Jump to content
308AR.com Community
  • Visit Aero Precision
  • Visit Brownells
  • Visit EuroOptic
  • Visit Site
  • Visit Beachin Tactical
  • Visit Rainier Arms
  • Visit Ballistic Advantage
  • Visit Palmetto State Armory
  • Visit Cabelas
  • Visit Sportsmans Guide

Sleuthing the .30-30 FTX


seasprite

Recommended Posts

Any lever lovers out there ?  <thumbsup>

 

I haven't tried the FTX bullet yet in my Winchester 94ae so I thought I would develop a load for it and see how it shoots in my rifle. I decided to start off by buying a box of Hornady's Lever Evolution ammo and de-milling it to see what the factory loading for this cartridge is. post-12828-0-59549100-1421012435_thumb.j so lets get started shall we. :banana:

 

I started by weighing all the cartridges and the weight was pretty uniform for this box of 20 with a variance of only 2.3 gr and an avg. weight of 329.0 gr.

 

Length: (base to ogive)  2.091"

with only 2 cartridges not measuring the same and they were 2.093" and 2.089"

             (  COL  ) : 2.533" - 2.545" varied quite a bit because of the soft tips. It was hard not to compress the tip a little while measuring.  

 

Runout : worst : .0025" best: .0001

 

Crimp : .006"

 

Powder : 33.25 gr.

The powder in the factory ammo looks just like the LeverEvolution powder you buy over the counter. post-12828-0-23682400-1421014180_thumb.j Case fill is the same post-12828-0-18976400-1421014234_thumb.j and volume, grain structure and density all seem to be the same.post-12828-0-78968300-1421014236_thumb.j (left canister, right factory) I know people want to believe that bulk powder for the factory is different than the canister powder we buy and is probably true in some or most cases I just don't think so with this loading. I would suspect some LOT differences but that would be it. 

 

Bullet : Hornady FTX 160gr .30-30 

            Weight variation : .8 gr

            Length : .6825 (base to ogive )

 

Primer : post-12828-0-88602200-1421015614_thumb.j (left pulled primers right WLR primers) I'm going to swag it and say there using Winchester large Rifle.  <dontknow>

 

Case: Hornady 

          Weight : 130.5 gr 

          Variance : 2.1 gr.

          Trim: 2.029"

 

So there you have it fellas this how Hornady loads there FTX .30-30 cartridges. Now I need some good weather to go and try them out and see my gun likes them and if not can they be tuned for my rifle so stay tuned more to come.

 

On a side note I was at the gun show a few weeks ago looking for some FTX bullets for the .30-30 and was sold the .308 Marlin Express bullet instead so I plan on trying to load them for my .30-30 but the ogive is totally different but I think it can be done and I'll start another thread when I do.

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...