[Pustic]

What's the difference between a .30-30 Winchester and the .30/30 Ackley Improved? Can a Winchester .30-30 shoot the .30/30 Ackley Improved?

 

[Hawg]

Ackley removed most of the case taper and increased shoulder angle. No a standard 30-30 will not chamber Ackley Improved but standard 30-30 will work in an Ackley Improved, however it will fire form the cases to Ackley Improved.

 

[pdkfishing]

What Hawg said.

 

[Grizzly2]

Are you thinking of having one converted? I was tempted years ago with a long 26" commemorative but since Illinois never approved them for deer, I never did.

As I remember when shooting alot of 30-30 you had to watch for the brass flow down by the rim where that line would form which weakened the brass and shortened case life. A true AI chamber cutting and possible barrel set back to do it right - which seems to raise alot of discussion on the forums - is supposed to greatly increase case life in addition to the added performance and versatility. It seems some only ream the throat area which is not a true AI and seems to be debated as to whether it can still shoot standard 30-30. Something to research first with a knowledgeable gunsmith.

 

[Arteest]

I rechambered my Marlin 336C .30-30 Win to AI. I bought the reamer and had a gunsmith do the job. Early on I failed a lot of brass until I found out I needed to set my resized die to not push the shoulder back more than .002” from the fire formed position. Also, annealing the brass is very important. Now case life has returned and even when pushing a 130gr Speer FN to 2700 f/s. Still working on load development but slow going with all the shortages. Want to work with the Sierra 125 FNHP next.

 

[Pustic]

Ackley removed most of the case taper and increased shoulder angle. No a standard 30-30 will not chamber Ackley Improved but standard 30-30 will work in an Ackley Improved, however it will fire form the cases to Ackley Improved.

Hey Hawg. I didn't know the difference, and neither did Chief Ten Beers, now I we do. Almost like a copy and paste. Almost like I've seen this somewhere else.

 

[Hawg]

Hey Hawg. I didn't know the difference, and neither did Chief Ten Beers, now I we do. Almost like a copy and paste. Almost like I've seen this somewhere else.

Perchance thou hast.

 

[T.R.]

Years ago, I owned a Savage model 219 in 30-30. This was a break open single shot rifle discontinued several decades ago. I had a smith fabricate a scope mount and bore the chamber to 30-30 Improved for improved velocity from the 26 inch barrel. But I had no access to chronograph gear. Accuracy was quite good shooting 125 grain Sierra pointed bullets and every deer that I shot with this outfit was downed within feet of impact. But I traded it away for a 99 Savage .308 and never looked back.

TR

 

[accident]

I've often thought about reloading some spitzer bullets up for one of my 30-30's and loading them single in my tubular magazine. I'm curious how much more I can squeeze out of the venerable old 30-30. I'd love to have either a single shot or a Savage bolt rifle chambered in 30-30. I've long been a fan of that chambering.

 

[Arteest]

A Remington 788 in 30-30 always sounded like fun but never got one and now it’s good luck on that.

 

[polishshooter]

Accident, Try the Hornady FTX flex tip bullets. I’m impressed with what it did for my 336 .35 REM, first 3 out of a cold barrel shoot into 3/4” at 100 from a bench every time. And you can use the full mag loaded with them. I load mine with leverevolution powder and I duplicate factory ballistics.

 

[Krong of Belsnarf]

How much gain in velocity is obtained by improving a 30/30?

 

[Arteest]

The velocity is directly related to pressure. AI 30-30’s will see more velocity increase than one would expect from the volume increase because different powders get used that produce higher pressure. Since the case shape is improved it also results in less force applied to the bolt face letting “daring” individuals like me to push limits a bit. You will see reported increases as high as 300 but that’s far more “courageous” than me.

 

[polishshooter]

Before you ream it out to AI, seriously, try loading some FTX and shooting them through it. Keeping them at even the same pressure as standard factory .30-30 you will see accuracy that will astound you. It will take the 150-200 deer rifle and turn it into one with enough accuracy and power left due to the pointed bullet not shedding velocity enough that it will become your 250-275 yd rifle, with enough power and manageable drop to be a viable 300 yd rifle on a standing deer sized target. You may not even want to ream it then, just tweak the load 😉

 

[Grizzly2]

I had a Rem 788 in 30-30 given to me by a friend who was in the Coast Guard up in Alaska and then stayed to work the fishing boats. He said it wasn't powerful enough for up there. The accuracy for me was about 1 1/2 or so. The problem was the detachable magazine iirr. You were limited on bullet length and could not load long spitzers. I can't remember how long the throat was though. I seem to remember the magazine being blocked and shortened. I never tried to modify it. Never did try a 308 magazine to see if it would work either.

I remember a long barrel 30-30 Marlin with a short magazine tube did have a short throat and would not accept spitzers loaded singly. I think the throat was the problem. Something stopped them though. I traded it for a 26" Winchester Canadian Centennial and that would allow a long spitzer to be loaded singly. I can't remember if I ever tried loading one in the tube to see if one singly loaded would feed. iirr, if I'd ever wanted to hunt with it, I seem to remember the second shots would have to be with blunt. Been a while. I remember loading some warm 165 gr Hornady spitzers and my gunsmith told me not to load past specs as I might stretch the frame and mess us headspace. I was trying to knock down a steel buffalo that they made to shoot along with a set of steel silhouette targets at a local buffalo shoot for rimmed cartridges. They were all set at 200 yards and we took five shots from 4 shooting positions. Had lots of fun there. I loved shooting the 8" chicken from the standing position with that 26" octagonal barrel and a receiver sight. That was probably when I was tempted to have it chambered for the AI. It took a 30-40 Krag or a .303 British to knock that heavy steel buffalo over if you didn't have a 45-70 or something similar. One time I had my hottest loads and went there early for a few practice shots. I had those 165s loaded pretty warm and aimed high on the hump. The darn thing went over and I was in my glory knowing I'd do real well that day. Then I looked down the range and a group of guys were all holding their bellies and laughing. Turns out, one of them shot at my target just as I did with their 45-70. Shucky dern.