I have a 30-30 AI 14" Contender barrel coming within the week. I have heard over and over that you need to either just shoot factory shells, or start with virgin 30-30 brass for your fire forming. How important is that? I have five boxes of Remington once fired brass from my old Model 94. The empties are about five years old. Can I use those, or should I go and buy factory shells or new brass. Thanks in advance for the advise.

abner , I have (3) 30-30 AckImp barrels. I have done case forming 3 ways. Fire factory, reloading range brass, and loading new brass. ALL worked well with only one case splitting upon firing ,a reload w/AA5744 powder. Oops ,I forgot that I've pulled bullets from factory 7-30 Waters. Then the decapping stem from AckImp sizing die is removed to save factory primer & reloaded same weight 30 cal bullets w/factory powder charge. works great also. Enjoy your AI. My 1st AI cases (less one) are almost 20 years old & fired MANY times !

I am in agreement with cont35bb. My brother has a 30-30AI Contender barrel. We have fire formed lots of once fired brass in it with 100% success so far. He killed a deer with a fire forming load a couple years ago. New factory loads or once fired reloads should work pretty much equally well.
We have also used 30-30 range brass to form 7x30 Waters brass. Again we have not lost a case so far.

Bob

Thanks guys for the good news. I'm like a kid at Christmas right now waiting for the new barrel to get here. It should be here Tues. and you can bet I will be shooting it on Wed. I just picked up a box of 125gr. Nosler Ballistic tips.