Game possibilities for .30-30 Contender

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Back when Steve Herrett was playing around with the Contender and rifle rounds in it he designed the .30 Herrett off of the 30-30 case. He found it worked quite well on deer and pronghorn. When he started to look at hunting elk with it he necked the 30 Herrett up to 357 for the ability to shoot larger sectional area bullets.

The 30-30 out of a 14" barrel you can expect velocities around 1900 fps with a 150 grain bullet and dropping down to around 1800 fps with a 170 grain one. One of the best powers that I have found for it is W748, this is the powder that I use in my 7-30 Waters out of a 12" barrel.

With factory loads you'll have a considerable amount of un-burned powder since they are designed for longer barrels than what you have with the Contender. This is where you really need to load your own rounds for this cartridge and use powders that are suitable for the shorter barrel of the Contender.

While I don't have a 30-30 barrel I do have a 30 Herrett, 357 Herrett, 7-30 Waters, and a 44 mag barrel for it. I have taken deer and elk with all 4 with the best results on deer being the 7-30 Waters. I was skeptical with elk and the .30 Herrett but it worked alright on a cow, but the 357 Herrett worked a lot better on a bull.

@JimP
Did you try Benchmark. Slightly faster than 748 and should work well in the shorter barrel.
Bob

 

[JimP]

@JimP
Did you try Benchmark. Slightly faster than 748 and should work well in the shorter barrel.
Bob

Never did.

I have been lucky in picking my loads to load up. I usually decide on the velocity that I want and then start working with a single powder. If I reach that goal I call it good and like it even better if I am below max with the powder that I'm using.

Now back in my younger days, all I wanted was speed..I loaded up some Sierra 180 grain hollow cavities for my 44 mag. I can't remember how many grains of 2400 it was but I was getting over 1700 fps with them out of my Ruger Super Blackhawk.