30-30 accelerator

[kawie]

i was thinking about getting some of these for my son to shoot woodchucks with an get some practice with his new 30-30 .has anyone tried these in there 30-30,how do they work are they accurate.thanks Kawie

[trotterlg]

I've not had any luck with any of the sabotted rounds.  They do go fast, but I cannot get them to shoot straight.  Larry

[Jeff H]

If you handload, Sierra 110 grain hollow-points are a better option.  They have been very accurate for me in the '06, .308 and 30-30.  They worked very well for me out of a Savage 24V 30-30 a long time ago.

Jeff H

[Hairtrigger]

What are your needs/exceptations?
I have found they group about 3" @ 100 yards in mine. I have seen rifles shoot worse than that but not going to win any shooting matches either

[kawie]

i just want my son to get some practice with the rifle that he will use for deer hunting,an what better way than to shoot some woodchucks.im hoping that they would be accurrate enough to hit a woodchuck at 200 yards.thanks kawie

[yooper77]

Don't bet on the accelerator ammo being accurate enough for 200 yards.

I would use the same loads he hunts with, and shoot some woodchucks.

yooper77

[Hammerspur]

If you'd like to try loading your own 'accelerators', components (sabots) are available here:

http://jdcomponents.com/index.html

[kawie]

i would love to reload but im not set up for it right now.hopefuly sometime this summer i will pick up a press an some dies to start reloading with.is there any varmit loads that you guys use for the 30-30.can i use any .308 bullets out there or does the 30-30 not have enough volocity to push some of them.thanks Kawie

[jlwilliams]

A 223 barrel for your handi will do the job.

[LaOtto222]

If you do not reload, just think about 150 grain loads for your 30-30. I know the are blunt and do not have the best range, but they should be able to dispatch a woodchuck out to 200 yards, and it will give the practice he needs with the same bullets he will hunt with. If you decide to hand load, choose a 110 grain bullet, I think you will get much better accuracy than an accelerator round. I have had good luck with the Hornady brand 110 bullets. If you just want to load a few rounds a year, up to 100 or so, consider a Lee kit. They are still under $25 and all you need are your cases, primers, powder and bullets and you are in the reloading business. Then you can load pointy bullets for him for deer, like a 125 or 130 grain bullet, that could double duty for woodchucks. There is nothing like shooting the same bullets for varmints and then use the same load for deer. If you just do not want to dabble into reloading then shoot the standard 150 grain bullets for both, they should take both deer and woodchucks out to 200 yards. Good Luck and Good Shooting.

[tykempster]

I second LaOtto's idea.  30-30 shouldn't kick to god-awful, and you can always get the reduced recoil rounds.  He could use them and get used to the dismal trajectory, under 200 yards it shouldn't be to hard to hit a woodchuck even with the looping bullet.  If he can do that, he can take a deer at 200 yards.

[kawie]

thanks guys think im going to stay away from the accelerators.think for right now im going to stick with the winchester silver tips in 150gr,they seem to have shot well with the open sights so i will see what it does with a scope on it.i know the 30-30 is not a long range deal anyways,thats why i put a swift optics premere 1.5-4.5 on it.the recoil of the 150gr loads dont seem to bother my son at all so thats not a issue now.as for reloading are the Lee hand press reloaders any good.reason i ask is im not sure if i will like reloading on not an dont want to stick a ton of money into it an find out that its not for me.and plus i dont think i would load up more than 2-4 boxes of ammo a year.i like the idea that LaOtto had about loading up some 125-130gr bulletts an use them as a duel purpose round.thanks Kawie

[blind ear]

 A Lee Classic Loader is about $40 complete with what you need to load. just add powder and primers. One of the listed loads will probably shoot "good enough" for most people. The most accurate loads I have loaded have been with this set up, mind you I am not into bench rest or anything exotic, if I'm close to 1'' @ 100 yd, I'm good. eddie

[tykempster]

The hand press is a good deal but might be more suited to a more specialized reloader.  30-30 shouldn't take much force to size, so the cheapest Lee bench mounted setups would work well.  I have a Lee Classic Turret that I used for several years on all sorts of calibers and it worked fantastic.

[JPShelton]

As to the question of Accellerator ammo in the .30-30, I tried this a loooooooooong time ago in my Marlin .336 and accuracy wasn't there.  I quickly determined that my experiment with the ammo was a flop and that the ammo itself was pretty close to useless.

As for reloading, I've been using a Lee Hand Press for about 20 years and it is still going strong.  I think I paid about $20.00 for it way back when and I don't think they cost a whole lot more than that now.  I also use Lee's handheld priming tool, which is also pretty inexpensive.  I've been using that Lee priming tool for as many years as the hand press and it still works great.  I shoot three times a week, but don't shoot enough centerfire cartridge ammo to justify the cost of more elaborate relading gear, as I shoot rimfire and percussion blackpowder more than anything else.  So for me, this simple and inexpensive set up works great and has allowed me to make rounds that you can't buy, like 125 gr. Spitzer .30-30 rounds that shoot stellar out of my Marlin .336 and really help extend its utility.

-JP

[drbooth]

Keep in mind that the Lee classic resizes only the neck. If you plan on shooting any of your reloads in a lever gun you will need to resize full lenght. Lee's hand press will do the job or Lee's cheapest bench mount press will work for 30-30.

[petemi]

Why don't you try the Hornady Leverevolutions, for both woodchucks and deer, and once sighted in, you won't have to change them.

Pete

[LaOtto222]

Good Point Pete. I always forget about the Hornady rounds since I hand load, but for the folks that do not handload, they are a very good choice.