Action strength

[DirtyDan]

How does the Savage 340 bolt stack up against the Win 94 and Marlin 336? I'm working up a load for my 340 (30-30)and I'm worried it is too hot, shows way over max in all but one reloading manual. The load is 38.5g of 748 under the 150g Hornady RN. I substituted a 150g Norma FP. Give me some opinions if you would. I know there's a world of experience here. Thanks, DD

[R.W.Dale]

I bought one of these rifles thinking a bolt 30-30 would allow you to bump up the preformance well I was WRONG. I soon fount out 2 major sticking points. First off the magazine on these rifles is just barely long enough to fit standard round nose 30-30 loads so spitzers were ruled out.
 Secondly these rifles have only one locking lug on the bolt. So any spicy loads would cause terrible case streching as well as turn you're groups into patterns.
 The good news is that with "normal" 30-30 loads my rifle was very accurate 1.5 to 2 inch groups were easy to achieve.
 So If I were you I'd pull the bullets on those handloads and tone them down a notch or two.

[Lawdog]

I too had one years ago.  I found that the only way to use the longer spitzer type bullets was to seat them a bit deeper in the case until they would work in the magazine.  I wasn't happy with the accuracy so I traded it off for a Win. M94 in .32 Win. Sp.  Still have the .32.  Lawdog
 

[SuperstitionCoues]

Dan,

Oddly enough, I have used the same load with a Federal primer in my Marlin 336.  And yes, I came to the same conclusion - it's too hot for my firearm and my tastes.  

The only manual that I found the load in was Hornadys.  Follow your instincts - it it's beating you up or making your cases "flow" against the bolt head, ditch it.  It ain't worth the problems of a exploded gun and the resulting long-term hospital stays.  

I say this with some associated experience.  My 336 didn't blow, but last year I had a disc partially removed from my back at L5-S1.  In a week, I have to have an operation to repair my diaphragm, take my stomach and
large intestine and move them out of my chest cavity, putting them back where they belong.  How does this factor in?

About three weeks ago I said to hell with everything, and sighted in my .30-06 and tried to sight in my 336 30-30 with a Williams sight.
Short answer is that the .30-30 with those loads beat me up more than the .30-06 and it's own hot Hornady load did.  I also found signs of overpressure on the case heads and primers.  I now look forward to the job of pulling all of the loads apart - after I'm off the pain killers, of course.

Moral of the story:  If one manual disagrees with the rest, look closely at why and then follow your own good judgement.  Getting that extra "oomph" out of a load isn't worth the pain and trouble.

One more thing...the Williams FP sight didn't work worth a darn.  I'm switching it back to a Lyman. :grin:

[DirtyDan]

Thanks for the responses fellers. I was afraid of the answers ya'll gave. I was going for accuracy and have never been one for screemer loads. I got this load from accuratereloading.com and the guy that posted it said he got .75 inch groups at 100 out of either a Marlin or Winchester. Anyway I got to checking and everything I had showed 3 -4 gns less. My books are pretty old, but thought I'd better ask. Thanks again. DD