Anyone use the Hornaday LeveRevolution in Winchester 94?

[Clayman357]

New to the group, recently acquired a Winchester 94 from a co-worker. Have the standard Remington and Winchester soft point cartridges you can find at any store. Recently noticed the Hornaday LeveRevolution rounds at Fleet Farm and picked up a few boxes. Wondering what type of performance you all have experienced using these? Going to use this rifle during whitetail deer season coming up in WI. TIA!

[oldmanFCSA]

I re-chambered a Marlin 336 in 30-30 to 307 WIN and reloaded it with 41.0 grains of /LeverEvolution powder under Hornady 160FTX for great results.
I tried as much as 42.0 grains in same cartridge/bullet selection but ran into some pressure problems with cartridge length issues and lever "kick-open" upon firing.
So far extremely happy with my conversion and velocity gains - accuracy improved also at 250 yards.
Y.M.M.V.

[Pumpkin]

My cousin shots it out of his pre 64 M94 and an old 340 Savage. No worries, I’m pretty sure it’s loaded to standard pressures.

[Ricklin]

Be sure to take that 94 to the range first. Reports on the ammunition have been mixed.
Polymer tip designed for tubular magazines allows a superior bullet shape W/O the possibility of them going bang in the magazine.
I've an old bolt action 30.30 for which I can load most any bullet that is suitable, not a whole lot of suitable out there.

[jmr40]

I shot one box at the range, didn't kill anything. They shoot well enough, and they are usually priced about the same. I'd gladly use them if I were hunting with them. If they shoot well in your rifle there are no downsides. I wouldn't pay significantly more for them over traditional bullets though.

Hornady uses some smoke and mirrors to make it appear that they shoot flatter than traditional RN bullets. They are loaded a little faster, and Hornady uses a 250 yard zero to show very little drop out to 300 yards. They show their traditional RN bullets zeroed at 50 yards which gives significantly more drop at 300.

If you were to load a RN bullet to the same speed and zero them at 250 yards the 300-yard trajectory would be very close to the same.

What the pointed bullets do is give you more speed at impact at longer ranges. While the trajectory isn't that much better having a bullet impact 100-150 fps faster at 200 yards could make a difference.

[bamaranger]

This won't be popular, but I see little need for the entire LeveRolution line as offered in the pistol and rimmed rifle cartridges, with perhaps the exception for the 45-70. Hornady's gimmicky trajectory claims support my theory that the only purpose for the LeveRolution line is for Hornady to sell more ammo to the unsuspecting.

Hey, I like a number of Hornady projectiles, can find locate theirbullets as components much easier than other brands, shoot a lot of them and find them accurate and effective. But claiming to improve lever/pistol cartridges with a tipped bullet is like putting lipstick on a pig. Consider that the magnum pistol cartridge lever carbines, and the .30-30/ .35Rem family lever carbines are primarily deer /hog rifles. I'd go so far as to say mostly deer, specifically mostly whitetails. Whitetails are typically shot in cover and under 100 yds. I'd go so far as to say that MOST whitetails killed with a lever carbine, especially one in a mag pistol carbine, are taken UNDER 100 yds, and I'm betting well under. At the distances the lever carbines are employed against it's most common target, you just don't need a tipped bullet.

If you are a beanfield/ big foodplot/cutover/ROW hunter.....you really need to just think about another rifle if one wants to increase their reach. Even scoped and zeroed a couple of inches high at 100 yds, the .30/.35 become problematic past 200 yds. Don't even think about it with a magnum pistol cartridge. Finding another rifle these days, with the advent of the price point polystocked bolt rifles that all seem too shoot lights out, is a pretty simple matter.

Now.., don't condemn me as being a lever carbine hater, or hung up on bolt rifles and high intensity cartridges. Excluding the years I hunted with an hierloom lever .308 (which was the only "deer rifle" I owned), I have killed more whitetails with a semi Ruger .44 than any other rifle/ctg combo I own.
I can count on one hand, with fingers to spare, the number of whitetails I've killed or even shot at passed 150 yds, and can likely claim 90% of my rifle kills well under 100yds. This is due to the nature of the beast, both the quarry and me. For all of that, a traditional lever carbine would have sufficed.....with plain old flat nosed bullets.

[Paul B.]

I guess I must be a bit old fashioned. When I found out many long year ago that a proper cast lead bullet would kill a deer just as well, I never went back. I load the 175 gr. Lyman #311291 to about 1900-1950 FPS and went out and killed deer. These days I just use the 30-30 to kill paper with that same cast bullet load.
Paul B.

[Clayman357]

Thanks for all the great replies. The main reason I was asking is the area I hunt most shots will be within 200yds. However the neighbor lets us hunt his farm, and there are some pretty wide open fields that I may be hunting as well. So was just seeking some info on if anyone had any luck on those longer distances with the Hornaday rounds.

[stagpanther]

I've used leverlution on a number of cartridges that it is recommended for--for some reason I've never attained very good consistency with it though it does give a noticeable extra boost of speed at lower pressures over comparably common-used powders.

[JohnMoses]

If you are a reloader, the main reason to stay away from the leverEvolution is Hornady trims their cases well below minimum specs to allow for the tip
Range Scrounger

[FrankenMauser]

The OP is talking about factory ammo, not reloading. But even if he was...

The shorter neck length doesn't matter if you reload it with Hornady FTX bullets, or any other bullet that can be crimped in that location without causing a COAL feed/function problem.

However(!), it doe not even apply to a couple cartridges, including .30-30. Hornady LE/FTX .30-30 brass is standard length.

[44 AMP]

Take YOUR rifle, the ammo you plan to hunt with, and set up targets at the longest range you consider an ethical shot.

Shoot at that distance and from field positions, so you see what your real world results are. You may find something a bit different from what books and the internet tell you. You may not. But you won't know, until you test it, yourself, with your gun.

There are two things that limit the useful range of EVERY cartridge. First, is how far you can see, and second is the shooter.

What limits useful range most is shooter ability.

Drop is a constant, on Earth. It is acceleration due to gravity. And while bullet drop, referenced to point of aim is different for every bullet and speed, it is constant for each bullet and speed. Meaning, it does not change.

Looking in the book, it says the standard Hornady .30 cal 150gr RN, at 2400fps, sighted for 100yds drops 7.9" at 200 and 30.0" at 300yds.

Change the bullet, the drop numbers change. Change the speed, the drop numbers change. What ever the drop is, it can be learned, if the shooter has the desire to. But there is a bit more to it, than that. The other part of the needed skill is being able to accurately know how far away your target is, and be able to compensate for the amount of drop that matches the distance.

Can you, personally see 8 inches at 200 yards. in order to shift your point of aim, enough, but not too much?? 30 inchs at 300??

Not a lot of people can. And almost no one who does not practice, can.

Knowing what your round does at every distance is the half the key, and being able to correctly compensate for the drop is the other half.

And, before that "key" can fit the "lock" you have to have the distance correct, or your results will be off. How much that matters depends on what you are shooting and how far off your distance estimate is.

This is the advantage to high velocity rounds, a bit of mis-estimation of the range doesn't change the drop as much as it can with slower rounds. That same 150gr RN at 2400 drops 2.5" by the time it gets to 150yds, but its 8" low at 200. And almost 17" low at 250yds.

The longer the range the more critical correct range estimation is, and more so with lower speed rounds than high speed ones.

IF you learn what your drop is shooting LeveRevolution ammo, then you learn what it is, from your gun. And you learn, what you can, and can't do in your hands. If it makes a difference in your hands, then its worth using. If not, why bother??

[Bosshoff]

Well, how did you do?

[44caliberkid]

Clayman 357, are you using a scope or iron sights, just my own curiosity. I shoot a 94 made in the mid-70’s, with a receiver mounted peep sight. I don’t hunt with it (not Iowa legal) so 95% is from the bench at 100 yards, just to see how well I can do. I’ve tried a dozen different factory loads, mostly Remington, Winchester, and Hornady deer ammo in 150 - 170 grain loadings. My clusters for 5 rounds run from 3 1/2 to 7 inches. The Leverevolution ammo performs in the smaller end of that range. So, yes, a little better than average in my rifle.