We're in that lull betwixt football and basketball at the school house, so I'm able to take a short break in the afternoons. It's like the calm before the storm, but I'll take it.
I've settled on my hunting loads for this year, but a thread over at one of the forums got me to wondering... We all know what a great cartridge the .30-30 is, and how much game it has accounted for over the years. I feel like a big part of that success is that the cartridge throws a big slow bullet at a reasonable velocity and the ammo companies have had many, many years to perfect that old bullet. Think Remington Core-Lokt, or Winchester Power-Point. For that matter, the likewise offerings from Speer, Sierra or Hornady. Those are great bullets. I wonder what would happen if I'd load some in the .308? Kept to moderate velocities, they should work just fine, and those bullets have a long bearing surface. I'm thinking 2200-2400 fps, those bullets, sighted 2" high at 100 yards, they'd be close to dead on at 150 and down just 4" at 200. That might make a dandy little deer load for youngsters.
Another think I've been thinking about is putting a Scout mount on one of my Winchester 94s and trying a forward-mounted scope. I know that it would take some gunsmithing, primarily some drilling and tapping, and I have the perfect candidate rifle for the experiment.
About 40 or so years ago one of the big scope/mount companies made a forward mount for the M94 Winchester. It was long before the terms "Scout Rifle" and "Scout Mount" were coined.. It clamped to the barrel and an adaptor for the rear sight dovetail and held a low power pistol scope. Worked like a champ, it did, but never really got popular. Dunno why. I had one on my M94 and loved it. Unfortunately, I loved my wife to be more and sold the rifle to pay for engagement and wedding rings. My current M94 has a Williams 5D receiver sight. It works even better than the forward mount scope did.
ReplyDeleteThinking that reduced 308 load is akin to the 300 savage, probably one of the most underrated deer cartridges ever.
ReplyDeleteHaven't the Winchesters went way up in value? I would think about that before altering one. I seem to recall someone making a scout mount for the Marlins which required no alteration if you happened to have access to one.
Ben
Will it spin fast enough to stabilize? Check the twist on your 30-30 barrel vs. the spin on the .308. If there's a difference you may have stability problems. Of course, the proof is in the shooting. Load up a few and try 'em.
ReplyDeleteMC
D,
ReplyDeleteI have some lite .308 loads exactly like that. A Remington 150gr RNSP 30-30 bullet over a moderate amount of H4895; not sure the exact amount off the top of my head, I'll email you with the recipe. It shoots a 1.5" group @ 100yds, MV of 2330 fps from a 18.5" barreled M600 Mohawk. My son killed a couple of 85-100lb hogs with them a year or so ago.
Will it spin fast enough to stabilize?
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