Best 30 cal 150gn - modest velocity

Gidday Folks

Maybe some of you recall the "short single shot 330-30" thread. Well mine is now up and running, it's a TC Contender with a 17" long 1:8 twist barrel.

I've worked up a load using Leverevolution powder and 150 Remmy corelocks, at 100M 3 shots well under an inch at a very snotty 2340 fps. That's fine for 99% of what this rifle would be expected to do 200M = stone dead if I do my part . . . But it's going to be a "pack rifle" for those trips where I'll be carrying a pack as it's now officially my lightest rifle at 3.1 kgs scoped and suppressed. As such it would be good if it could stretch to 300M shots when required.

The corelock is a spire point bullet but a pretty blunt one, so by 300 it's only doing 1500 fps . . . Not much snot there!

Has anyone got an idea of a 30 cal 150 gn that is both slippery and will reliably open at 1500-1600 fps?.

I'd try either Nosler ballistic tips, or possibly Sierra TMK's.

Or I'd download it even further and try something like a 190gr SubX at ~1600.

Speer 150 btsp hands down

150sst would go well. Very destructive
165 targex. I think I have a few if you want to try
168 eldm I also have you can try. These were my favorite in a 308 out to 650 yards on goats. Be good in your fast twist.

Love the Thomson single shots. Very handy rifles

Agree speer I'm normally a Sierra fan but these things... ..

150g Nosler Ballistic Tips

Attachment 239850

Im another speer 150gr btsp fan. Dropped plenty of deer with them over the last year. And they are well priced which is a bonus!

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Originally Posted by Tentman

Gidday Folks

Maybe some of you recall the "short single shot 330-30" thread. Well mine is now up and running, it's a TC Contender with a 17" long 1:8 twist barrel.

I've worked up a load using Leverevolution powder and 150 Remmy corelocks, at 100M 3 shots well under an inch at a very snotty 2340 fps. That's fine for 99% of what this rifle would be expected to do 200M = stone dead if I do my part . . . But it's going to be a "pack rifle" for those trips where I'll be carrying a pack as it's now officially my lightest rifle at 3.1 kgs scoped and suppressed. As such it would be good if it could stretch to 300M shots when required.

The corelock is a spire point bullet but a pretty blunt one, so by 300 it's only doing 1500 fps . . . Not much snot there!

Has anyone got an idea of a 30 cal 150 gn that is both slippery and will reliably open at 1500-1600 fps?.

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Yum! Photos?

Speer spbt, sierra spbt (game king?) or Nosler BT. A SST possibly. These would be the soft 150s in .308 cal. All similiar., pick what shoots best and you can get hold of.


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aparently roberts 151cast hollow points are pretty effective around that speed if you wanted a low cost option

Speer used to be softer than Sierra. I was disappointed with 165 Sierra boattails on goats. They didn’t kill well, I was told to switch to Speer as they were softer.
The Speer definitely killed the goats quicker. Then I switched to Speer 130gr HP, they were murder on goats!

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Originally Posted by 7mmsaum

150g Nosler Ballistic Tips

Attachment 239850

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Green tips.
A few yrs ago,i had a guest from overseas who was a ballistic software engineer for the defence force of his own country but working in NZ now.He updates software and designes new stuff.He s got his own collection of rifles and reckns the green tips were the best tips in the world.Interesting comment.

Speer BTSP, no question.

Soft, reliable expansion, beautiful mushrooms, good BC.

Close range shots might not exit a good sized deer, but the shock transfer flattens the animal DRT.

Has accounted for hundreds of cull animals for me the past few years. The primary attraction when I switched to the BTSP was the $40 / 100 price tag. They’ve gone up since then of course.

As soon as I’ve used up all the leftover 150gr NBTs, AMax, GameKing, I’ll be loading the 150gr BTSP for my BLR. Not even considering anything else.

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Originally Posted by Bill999

aparently roberts 151cast hollow points are pretty effective around that speed if you wanted a low cost option

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yes they open well at 1300 and punch thru to the skin and hold together

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Originally Posted by Martin358

yes they open well at 1300 and punch thru to the skin and hold together

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I wouldn't want to mix lubed lead and cast bullets in the same fast twist 30 cal barrel

The tiniest bit of lead fouling could dramatically effect the jacketed bullet accuracy.
I have successfully mixed Cast Lead Powder Coated gas check bullets with jacketed bullets in one of my 30-30s but these cast lead ones are essentially a jacked bullet because the PC never strips and leaves lead in the bore

NBT have been faultless performers in my stumpy 308 from point-blank to 400m.

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Originally Posted by Hunty1

NBT have been faultless performers in my stumpy 308 from point-blank to 400m.

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I'm about to load some up in my 16" .308 with 2206h.

Bloody good!

Hard to go passed speer 150btsp but would happily recommend 168eldms esp at slower speeds

Speer BTSP are fine.

Just one thing though: they are not even close to the BC that is advertised.

I suggested Hornady 150 RN bullets to @Tentmam

Recently I shot my the first deer with one of my vintage projects.
Winchester 1885 30-40 US Govt
Hornady 180 RN at 170m and a clean one shot kill.
When I was skinning the off side the were a couple of copper shards in the exit hole and they seemed very thin.
Yesterday I trimmed all the meat for Christmas gifts and found another copper shard in some shoulder meat.
It measured 1.5 thou

Attachment 240078

So I sectioned a bullet nose in the mill and the jacket thickens from 1.5 to 3 thou in the length of the ogive

Attachment 240079

Then I measured the diameter of the exposed lead RN and compared with an exposed lead Spire Point.
5mm vs 3.5mm and with the volume of a circle the RN is slightly more than twice the exposed bare lead frontal area.

My conclusion based on a data set of only one animal killed with the 180 / 30-40 / modest velocity is that the 308 150 RN at typically modest 30-30 speeds would be very effective

So looking forward to Tentman sorting through the options and load development and feeding me all his data

I run two single shot 30-30s and know of plenty more

I'm sure someone smarter than me can compare the ballistics of the RN and SP bullets and I don't expect the trajectory difference will be worth worrying about inside 250m