The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - 30-30 Winchester for deer

Rimfire5 · October 10, 2013, 09:09 AM

In my Marlin XLR with LeveRevolution powder the Hornady 160 FTX and 140 GTX shoot much more accurately than any round nose or flat nose bullet I have tried, either factory loads or hand loads.

After I changed the trigger to a Wild West Guns trigger and dropped the trigger pull from 7 lbs to 2.5 lbs, the results got really good, especially with hand loads.
The average group size dropped from just over 2 inches to just over 1 inch for the average of all loads shot.

With the LR powder and 160 grain FTX bullets I managed to get three hand loads to average under 1 inch at 100 yards and one load to average under just under 0.7. I got the best results close to the factory velocities.
The 140 GTX loads had one average under 1 inch and 1 average under 0.6 inches. Three averaged just under 1.3 inches.

By the way, the LR powder isn't quite the same as the powder loaded in Hornady factory ammo. It is close but Hornady says they tune the mixture slightly for individual calibers. The LR powder sold for reloading is a more general mixture that covers multiple calibers.
Slower velocity loads averaged above 1.1 inch so Hornady must have figured out what works for their FTX and GTX bullets.

All round nose and flat nose 150 grain bullet loads were hard pressed to average under 1.8 inches and nothing got close to the flex tip velocities, even with the LR powder.

Just like any other powder, it is up to the loader to find a powder charge that works best in a particular rifle.

October 10, 2013, 09:09 AM	#35
Rimfire5 Senior Member Join Date: January 2, 2009 Location: Northern Virginia Posts: 922	In my Marlin XLR with LeveRevolution powder the Hornady 160 FTX and 140 GTX shoot much more accurately than any round nose or flat nose bullet I have tried, either factory loads or hand loads. After I changed the trigger to a Wild West Guns trigger and dropped the trigger pull from 7 lbs to 2.5 lbs, the results got really good, especially with hand loads. The average group size dropped from just over 2 inches to just over 1 inch for the average of all loads shot. With the LR powder and 160 grain FTX bullets I managed to get three hand loads to average under 1 inch at 100 yards and one load to average under just under 0.7. I got the best results close to the factory velocities. The 140 GTX loads had one average under 1 inch and 1 average under 0.6 inches. Three averaged just under 1.3 inches. By the way, the LR powder isn't quite the same as the powder loaded in Hornady factory ammo. It is close but Hornady says they tune the mixture slightly for individual calibers. The LR powder sold for reloading is a more general mixture that covers multiple calibers. Slower velocity loads averaged above 1.1 inch so Hornady must have figured out what works for their FTX and GTX bullets. All round nose and flat nose 150 grain bullet loads were hard pressed to average under 1.8 inches and nothing got close to the flex tip velocities, even with the LR powder. Just like any other powder, it is up to the loader to find a powder charge that works best in a particular rifle.