Marlin 30-30 lever action accurization ?

H

Howard Nguyen

New member
My neighbor just acquired a Marlin 30-30 model 30AS and he was really proud of it until we took it to the range last Sat. The best group it made with Hornady Leverevolution was 4". Before we took it to the range I cleaned the bore with Sweet 7.62 and Hoppe No.9. It was squeaky clean and shiny and rifling looked near perfect. I also checked to make sure scope base and rings were all tight. Scope was a Weaver 2-10x40.

Question here is: is 4" group a norm with this rifle? He believes it could do at least 2" groups. I do not have any experience with Marlin 30-30, but looking at the two-piece stock and the barrel band I just do not think that is possible. Is there anything to do to improve its accuracy?
 
No, 4" isn't the norm for a Marlin 30-30. You should be able to tattoo a target at 100 yards (less than 2").

Try the normal Remington Green Box stuff and see what you shoot (the heavy ones, I think they are 170gr). Also, Marlin triggers were so heavy I thought the safety was on a few times. Measure the trigger pull. I know Midway sells a trigger/sear for it that brings it a little under four.

Oh yeah, one more thing: it is possible to over clean a barrel. Especially a factory barrel. Some of the copper actually helps smooth out some of the imperfections left by the tooling in the barrel. Try shooting at least a box through it.

Keep us posted.
 
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I get 1.5" with my 336xlr at 100 yards with lever revolution. Try the other weight they make for the 30-30

All my wv buddies get 2" or better on some fairly old and well worn guns.

Check the scope...
I did this once with a new gun. Spend 100$ on new ammo to find what it liked, to no avail. then figured out the scope was broken by click testing it on a known rifle. Sent it in for repair (luepold) turns out the gun was a shooter and ate everything I fed it really nicely.

The nice folks at luepold asked me not to put so much weight on the lead sled in the future.....
 
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Originally Posted By: Yoteless in OhioI get 1.5" with my 336xlr at 100 yards with lever revolution. Try the other weight they make for the 30-30

All my wv buddies get 2" or better on some fairly old and well worn guns.

Check the scope...
I did this once with a new gun. Spend 100$ on new ammo to find what it liked, to no avail. then figured out the scope was broken by click testing it on a known rifle. Sent it in for repair (luepold) turns out the gun was a shooter and ate everything I fed it really nicely.

The nice folks at luepold asked me not to put so much weight on the lead sled in the future.....

I would go to a "regular" ammunition, like PMC 170gr, and shot a bunch through it and see how the groups go after checking the scope. I had one that was a shooter, then went to the range and the accuracy went squirrely on me. Turns out that the recoil had broken the scope, finally. New scope, rifle shot fine again.

While the LeveRevolution ammo is noce, it may not be the best choice for your particular rifle. My 336s likes it, but I have seen others that don't.
 
Originally Posted By: berger-kingi thought everybodys 30-30 shot 1/4 @ 500.... and knock down deer at 700 with open sights.... out of the box....hmmmm

Nope, just Mine.
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Chupa
 
Try Federal Fusion 170gr. Do not tighten the barrel band screws too much. Most 336's shoot better with them just snug. Let the barrel cool between shots when shooting groups.Point of impact really moves around on these things as the barrel heats up. That old lever gun may just surprise you.
 
I have a 788 Remington 30-30. It didn't like the 150 grain leverevolution ammo. Same results as you, about 4". Also tried rem 150 grain core-loks, same results. I then shot some reloads from a buddy that were 170 grain and it stacked them in a nice tight little group. Just guessing it doesn't care for the lighter bullets.
 
Personally, I would make sure everything is tight first. Scope, rings, etc, etc.

Of course, we have to start with the aussumption that whomever is behind the stock is actually capeable of hitting a bull in the [beeep] with a handful of rice. If your friend or you cannot shoot to save your lives, then no amount of advice here is going to help. Bottom line, can either of you shoot a sub-1 inch 100 yd group with ANY rifle?

Hopefully you can, but one cannot assume. In the past few years, I've helped 2 people at the gun club. Same story, both complaining that the gun was just bad, buddy said to buy Brand X and they did and the [beeep] thing doesn't shoot for sh!t, blah, blah, blame Obama, the Chinese, whatever.

So I ask if I can run a few rounds through it. Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. Wow, lookie there. 5 shots in a golfball with factory ammo. Now you try. Mmmmmm. Not good. 5 shots that you couldn't cover with a paper plate. Hmmmm, I'm forming a theory here. . .

But I digress. I'd start shooting at 50 yards first. Accuracy = consistency. If you're seeing just a random scatter of bullets around the aiming point, some high, some low, some left, some right then the rifle is not capeable of being consistent. Either mechanically something's wrong, or it's just plain the best it can do. Some process of elimination usually yields the answer. Generally, assuming everything's tight, the scope is my first suspect.

The problem with a used rifle is you generally won't know how many rounds were run through it. It's possible that it's just a bad gun, it could have been owned by a cowboy action shooter that ran 50,000 rounds through it doing old west demo shooting. You just never know.

Grouse
 
Try 'nother scope first, and also make sure your rest and hold are consistent and quality - no offense, and I know nothing of your shooting background or ability. Many here can shoot WAY better than me, so I'd take advise from them. Leverevolution ammo isn't cheap, but seems to be consistently accurate for everybody. Might wanna try a few rounds. I've had tight scope bases and rings that still had issues from being dropped, and when replaced, the gun shot to it's old ability. Make sure the stock bolt in the rear is tight too. Just random thoughts I've seen be issues........
 
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Any decent older model Marlin with ammo it likes should easily go under 2" @ 100 yards off the bench. Most will do considerably better than that.
 
I have 2 Marlin 30-30's, 1949 336RC and 1990 336CS, The older gun does not like the Leverevelution ammo, whereas the newer gun shoots it real nice. The newer gun will group all 5 shots of 170 grain Federal or Fusion ammo, and 160 grain Leverevelution touching at 100 yards. I would look at scope and mounts first. The 30AS is the economy model that Marlin put out, but it should shot better than 4" groups at 100 yards. If all else fails go buy 1 box of all 30-30 ammo you can find and see if the gun likes one brand better than the other. Good Luck----Riflemann
 
When my boys started to deer hunt i bought them both Marlin 30/30's. My oldest got the model 30a, that gun was fussy about what bullet to run thru. Finally got a 150 grain Hornady Interlock and could do the 1.5" at hundred yards. My other son i got a Marlin 336C and he can put any 150 grain bullet down the barrel and it would pattern. I can't remember what powder we ended up with. Would have to look on the boxes loaded by my bench tonight.
 
Thanks you all for your suggestions/feedback. Here are a few things I need to list:

a) Scope and mount are not the problem. I used loctite on all screws. Scope is a Weaver, which he previously had on his Winchester Model 70 in 30-06. He had no problem making 1.5" groups with this combo.

b) We both are not bench rest shooters by any measure, but we are not novices either. With my AR in 6.8SPC I have no problem keeping 1" groups at 100 yards.

c) We used three types of ammo. Remington 150 grains flat nose, Remington 170 grains round nose, and Hornady Leverevolution. The Hornady did the best. All groups mostly string horizontally. The 170 grainer was the worst one.

d) This AS model has only one band on the muzzle end. It has an end cap on the forearm. I was hoping this configuration would allow for better accuracy than the 336, which has two bands on the barrel.

I am thinking about taking the forearm and the magazine tube off the rifle. Rest the rifle on the receiver and test fire for groups. Is this possible? I have never taken a lever action apart and am not sure if it would work this way.
I have not yet checked on the stock bolts to ensure no wobbling exists, but I remember last weekend the stock was quite sturdy.

Anything else I might have missed?
 
Definitely try different ammo for there seems to more .30-30 lever actions that don't like the leverevolution stuff than do. IME, .30-30's can be very ammo picky. There's a good chance that if you dig around enough you'll find an ammo that will shoot much better. Warn you though, it really may be only one.

Don't go shooting from a bench like you would a bolt gun. Many lever actions do better in ones hands than on a rest or bag.

Other than that go over to http://www.levergunscommunity.com/. They can be a bunch of help although some tend to think only from the aspect reloading cast bullets and not of factory ammo and jacketed bullets. But still there are guys over there that can just plain make a lever gun shoot.

But in general it can be hard to fix an ill shooting lever gun. Unlike bolt actions which can be easy to tweak I learned to try my best to find the best ammo for that gun and let the gun be what it is. I owned one that would do 1 1/4" groups with a receiver sight and a twin that had trouble shooting 3-4" groups with a scope no matter what load I stuck in it or what I did to the gun. Takes a better man than me to tweak a lever gun.

CB
 
Horizontal stringing? Check for a loose or springing forearm - you might be onto something with the mag tube thing, or the bands. Try the front rest under the receiver as it is if you can. Also, a fellow here just put a wedge of some sort in between the barrels of a combo gun to check for barrel whipping - something like that between the mag tube and the bbl. may offer a clue?? Just thoughts.
 


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