Can you shoot a 30-30 bullet through a 30-06?

[F2I5L]

I am new to reloading and I got my reloader kit and my bullets today. I de-primed them all and re-sized them. Then I was just looking at the bullets that came because everything else is on back order. I figured I would waste a bullet and practice putting one in a brass case with nothing else in it. Well to make a short story long It didn't work to well so I looked at my box of bullets and it says Hornady FTX 30 cal. .308" but in small print on the back it says (30-30).

So my question is will the Hornady FTX 30 cal. .308" bullets work for my 30-06?

sorry I rambled but anyone's help would be appreciated.

[frogsaw]

The short answer is yes. I use them to make sub-sonic loads for my 308 and ocassionally for my 30-06.

[Doodlebugger45]

Sure they will work. A .308 bullet will work in either a 30-30 case or a 30-06 case. The FTX bullets have the soft tip on them specifically to use in tubular magazines like the Winchester 94. They won't set off the round in front of them. But they will also load into a 30-06 case just fine.

The only thing is I believe Hornady specifically engineered the FTX to expand properly at 30-30 velocities rather than the higher 30-06 velocities. Or so they say anyway. But if that's what you have, they can certainly be used.

It sounds like you have a good bit of learning and experimenting to do. I would say that just about any shooting store can sell you some cheaper .308 bullets to get started with. Those things are thicker than fleas even these days.

[F2I5L]

Frogsaw,

You have used these, so do i press them down to the crimped ring or just a good fit?

[frogsaw]

The "ring" that you speak of must be the canilure. Bullets that are used in cartridges that are intended to be crimped are manufactured with this feature. The rule of thumb is canilure=crimp and no canilure=no crimp, this rule applies to both rifle and pistol bullets. This crimp in the case of 30-30 rounds prevents the bulet from being pushed further back in the case mouth when loaded in a tubular fed magazine that is common to rifles that fire this round.

When seating bullets with a canilure, I seat the bullet to a depth that allows the case mouth to cover about 1/2 of the canilure, and then I crimp it. It will be important for all of you brass to be trimmed to the same length to provide the most consistant crimps and results.

PM me anytime with your questions, and I will get you pointed in the right direction when I can.

I hope this helps.

[F2I5L]

Thanks.

[SKULLANDCROSSBONES65]

G'day and welcome. As others have already answered your question I won't. I will however ask you a few.
What printed data do you have for these projectiles?
What printed data do you have for the 30-06?
What other data have you looked up for your intended load?

[F2I5L]

Well my reload kit came with a book of different powders to use and what bullet grains go with each bullet weight. I ordered some hodgdens H4350 powder and fed #210 primers. As for my 30-06, it's a Savage model 110. Real nice has the accutrigger that is well worth the extra cash.

Thats kinda why I am asking these questions because I really don't want to mess up my gun it was pretty expensive.

[SKULLANDCROSSBONES65]

G'day. Most here will tell you that you need to get a reloading manual. Then, read it several times. My advise will be to follow the data supplied by the projectile manufacturer.
I look for at least 2 different lots of data for the specific load I am considering. For me that will be Sierra for their projectile, then Hodgdon (ADI) as that is the powder I will use. If there is any variation, then more research is a must.
TFL has provided a huge amount of information. Some of which was wrong. I've even discovered discrepancies with some of the Sierra data. An E-mail To them has cleared everything up. My point is if you don't understand then ask and re-ask until you are satisfied.
You are your own quality control. If you want the best ammo you need to develop your own procedures and follow them all the time. Many here will tell you of bad loads that they track back to not following their procedures.

Have fun and stay safe.

[rudy270]

they will work in a savage 300 anything that takes a 308 size them 30-30 ftx i am going to use in the 300 savage

[GeauxTide]

Crimping is unneccesary in a stacked mag rifle. Resizing will give the requisite neck tension.

[steelman762]

You can get load data on line from the powder manufacturers as well as bullet. You need a micrometer,bullets that are 30cal are not always .308. They can be .307,.310. 7.62 is the metric equil. .310 you will find in russian ammo 7.62x39 and 7.62x54.

[Tom Matiska]

A word of caution on case volume.

Typical 30-30 bullets have more volume "below the water line" than their pointed cousins and that displaces powder volume. Even more so with Hornady's FTX offerings. Hornady doesn't list 3006 loads for that bullet, but their FTX load notes for 30-30 and 307 Win are several grains short of data commonly published for conventional 30-30 bullets.

http://www.hornady.com/support/downloads/load-data

It was good to experiment with a dud, but what didn't work well? The FTX does have more olgive and you may have freebore issues at conventional 3006 lenghts. Or did you have feeding problems.?

If you have to seat closer to the 30-30 line to solve your problem be more cautious working up from min and expect to quit well below max.