My brother got a 30-30AI carbine barrel a while back, and we have not gotten past fire form loads with it so far.

I just ordered him an MGM Contender Pistol barrel in 30-30AI to go with it for Christmas. I went long at 15.875" and I will probably finish it up with a Three Gill Muzzle Brake. This will be used for Range Shooting and Tree Stand Deer Hunting at <150 yards. Twist is 1 in 12 for 110 - 170's.

I would like to hear of your experiences with a 30-30AI hunting, what bullets work well, and any load data you might share.

I have 125BT Noslers, as well as the Sierra 125 grain 30-30 Bullets. I am pretty sure that the Sierra's will work OK to 150 yards.

Bob R

One of my favorite contender cartridges! I have a factory super 14 that was a special run yrs ago. I bought it new from eds contenders in oklahoma. Extremely accurate!
You should probably start with IMR 4198 with those 125?s. .......and if i was a betting man......

I can give you the load chart i compiled from various barrels and sources if you like? Its been around for years and you may have seen it already.

As far as hunting shots, i used a 130gr hornady single shot bullet on deer and one fox. 50-125 yrds on those and worked fine.

Ive fireformed several hundred of each, remington and winchester brass. Ive used pre fired and new. I would prefer new.

Awesome contender cartridge imo.

I am running 125gr SST through my 13? MGM barrel with 34.0gr H4198 for 2,550 fps.

Accuracy has been excellent and terminal performance on deer out to 200 yards has been satisfactory.

I am surprised that more have not had experience with a 30-30AI on this site as popular as it is.
I would guess that most are seating the bullets LONG.
I need to get a dummy round or two put together, and in the mail to MGM shortly.
I wish someone had experience with the Sierra 125 grain 30-30 bullets. They have the BC of a Brick, but should have enough exposed lead to expand well. With a maximum range of around 130 yards in my brothers tree stand the low BC should not be as big an issue as on longer range shots.

Bob R

Every time the 30-30AI is mentioned, I start packing my 30-30 barrel for shipment! It just seems to be a perfect round for a Contender, with great ballistics and ability to use factory rounds. Does the factory ammo suffer any in the AI chamber?

X2

Then I remember how well the barnes 110 and 120 gn black tips work. They will do everything I need and more on MN deer at ranges well past my comfort level.

I still consider it every time, but at this point I've got enough other distractions.

I have two loads that shoot well through my 14 inch Contender barrel. Hornady 130gr SP, 40.5gr IMR 8208, and a Fed 210 for a velocity of 2622 fps. The second uses the Nosler 125gr BT, 33.0gr H4198, and a CCI BR2 primer for 2530 fps. The bullets are seated about .025 inch off of the lands. Accuracy for both of these loads is less than an inch at 100 yards for 5 shots. I haven't shot any animals with these yet, but expansion in water jugs at 100 yards was very good. I think you're going to like it.

I haven't posted anything on this site for a while now. I picked up a 14 inch factory barrel on gunbroker some years back and have been in love ever since. My barrel truly shoots well with varget and 125 nos bt or 130 Barnes ttsx. The Barnes has taken a few muleys from 85 to 130 yards but expansion has not been great. The nosler bt I feel is going to produce better results with the velocity it's running. I will say with slightly compressed loads both bullets shoot almost the same point of impact and will go 5 rounds in a half inch off sand bags at 100 yards no matter the weather conditions. I have not been able to put enough powder in the case to get the usual signs of excessive pressure, and have 2 inch less drop at 200 yards then my 30/30 lever action with lever evolution factory ammo. I've bought and sold a lot of guns but never will I let go of this contender set up with the 30/30 AI.

I traded the box of 125 grain Sierra 30-30 bullets back in for a box of Hornady 135 grain FTX bullets also designed for the 30-30. They look to have a much better BC.

I picked up a second bag of Winchester 30-30 brass last week.
I loaded 51 rounds with 170 grain FP Sierra bullets today to fire form with. I ended up using AA2015BR powder for the fire forming loads. Mainly because I have some 2015BR on hand that I really do not use a lot of.

My plan is to fire form all remaining brass in the Contender Carbine barrel tomorrow, and get the brass ready to load.

MGM just sent notification that the barrel was now 10 days out. I guess it slipped a little. It was Two Weeks Out on 19 December.

When I get all the brass fire formed I can start working up some loads for it.

KYODE I have seen your load data while doing a search. Looks like you did a pretty good job on your work up with it.

Mike Russell "Legacy Gun Case" has been a little under the weather. I have an order in with him for a case to fit it. Hopefully he will get to feeling better soon.

We have a new 2-7 Burris Ballistic Plex scope and Zee Rings waiting on the barrel to arrive.

Mech8 I believe yours is the first 8208 load data I have seen.
I need to order a copy of Quick Load to see how some newer non-traditional powders might work out. I have some 4007SC I would have liked to have burned up in fire form loads, but Zero data using it.

Bob R

I thought you may have bob. Its been around a long time. ?Shortgun? was the major contributor to that. ?Sdhandgunner?(i miss him RIP) added some also, and i just combined it all into the chart.
Actually anyone can easily start from any regular 30-30 data and work up.

I have been recently tempted to order an mgm 30-30AI like the one you have coming. Im curious IF i could use a riflescope with that wearing a muzzle brake. I would have it made to wear a rifle length forearm also. Please report more as you go.
It?s not a sickness to ?need? more than one of a cartridge is it? 🤦🏻‍♂️

BOB: ALWAYS APPRECIATE YOUR REPORTS

KYODE as soon as the barrel comes in I will have it threaded, and the HLR Brake fitted. I have not picked the brake up yet. I am considering the 4 Gill version like I had installed on my 7.62X53R. I had a 3 Gill installed on my 35 Bullberry barrel. It really helped, but the 4 gill seemed to work better.

I may have Brakes installed on my Scout 357 Maximum, and my 6.5X30JDJ barrels at the same time.
I am not going to shoot any of them without hearing protection, so the added noise is not a factor. It is really nice to be able to have one hand on the grip, and the other hand on the rear bag without worry about the gun getting away from you.
My first Brake was on a 375JDJ barrel twenty some years ago. I was not all that impressed with it. The gun still recoiled hard, and the brake just made it loud.

I got all seventy some rounds of fire form ammo fired this afternoon at the range. I fired a couple at 100 then moved back to 200. Then I used the Heavy Plex Transition Point of the reticle held on the top of the plate at 250 with the light bullet loads. When I got to the last 51 rounds loaded with the 170 FP bullets I had to hold about 6 inches higher. The plate had a big gray elongated ball in the center when done. I was stringing them up and down a little.
I now have 96 rounds of formed brass to work with. The remaining 5 rounds are no doubt in my brothers hunting gear in an ammo wallet from his last season hunting with a rifle. I have had him handgun hunting for four years now. I will probably run across them in the shop sooner or later.

I am looking forward to seeing what the Hornady 135 FTX bullets will do. I may need to build another Fackler Water Box to check bullet penetration depth and expansion.

Bob R

RE MOUNTING MUZZLE BRAKES ON 30-30 AND 357 MAX CONTENDER BARRELS, A VIABLE ALTERNATIVE IS A GEORGE FAERBER TYPE "QUAD PORT" BY MAGNA-NA-PORT. I DID A QUAD-PORT ON A 12 INCH 357 MAX CONTENDER BARREL AND A 15 INCH .308 ENCORE BARREL AND IT WAS ALL I NEEDED, AND I AM VERY RECOIL SENSITIVE WITH CONTENDERS AND ENCORES.

45MAN I have a good friend who is a gunsmith. I am getting the 3 and 4 Gill HLR Breaks installed much cheaper than the normal customer cost.

Bob R

I got the barrel in from MGM. As normal it looks great.
I will have to wait a few days to get the brake installed. Inventory at the hardware store is cutting into my free time for a few days.
I should be able to get the brakes picked up next week.

Bob R