Yeah, that is me.  In fact I put a reference to that in my loading notebook as I was cooking up this load.   While I was there, I did a quick review of my loads over the years with the 30 WCF.  There as a flurry of loadings in 2002 as I got my Marlin 336.    Then a long string of experiments as I tried to figure out what was going wrong.  You can see where I gave up around 2005, and how I went back in 2008 and got Angus up and running for his first yute hunt.  I have variously vowed to send the Marlin off to be re-chambered for 307 WIN,  re-purposed to a coyote rifle,  or just sent to the back of the safe to await another generation.  Fact of the matter is, I can’t get that rifle out of my head.   I just like it.

There was absolutely no reason to be messing with 30-30 or the Marlin this year.  I’m just back to work after over 2 years on the bench.  We kept our head above water, but there is a lot of more important projects that got pushed aside.  I have a slew of deer guns that frankly do the job better.  I just can’t seem to get this rifle out of my head.

When Hornady announced their LeverEvolution ammo a few years ago, I was underwhelmed at the idea.  I had played with the 30-30 for some time.  Granted, my early experience with the cartridge was fluky to say the least.  However,  I could not see putting fancy rubber-tipped bullets over a fancy new powder as anything but putting lipstick on a pig, and a pretty anemic one at that.

Okay!  I agree! I should not be running down a cartridge that has probably killed more deer than any other. Don’t flame me, Bro!  I hear you.  You just have to look at the history.  30 WCF and I just have not gotten along all that well.  No, really!  Go back and look at the history.  Here’s a link. Start at the beginning and work your way back to the present.  Believe me, I’ve paid my dues with Thutty-Thutty:

  Category:  30-30 WIN

Here’s a quick description.

2002:  I sent three rounds of 150 grain Hornady into a doe standing less than 20 yards from my stand.  The doe acted like nothing happened and went back to eating despite missing a heart and  most of its rib cage.  It finally wandered off about 40 yards and keeled over.

2004:  Mooseboy dropped a doe at 80 yards with one round of 170 gr Hornady .  The doe got back up and ran away.  No deer. No sign.

2005:  Mooseboy finally nailed one, but  it requires a finishing shot– not my cup of tea.

Angus finally got the 30-30 to do what it was meant to do in 2008.  He put down a nice doe in 2008 in a way that convinced me our previous bad luck had been a fluke.  Also, along the way, I had seen a buck take 3 rounds of 35 Whelen and remain standing and nonplussed.  It wasn’t just 30-30.  By the time I got to thinking fondly of the Marlin again, I had finally gotten Moose to fess up and admit that early-on he had been closing his eyes when he pulled the trigger.

Then Hodgdon released LeverEvolution powder.  It got me thinking– not a lot at first.  I had a load that I finally liked with the 30-30.  150 grain Winchester Power-Points seemed to work just fine.  It wasn’t overwhelming performance.  I was never going to call a 30-30 a “Death Ray” or “DRT super-rifle,” but  I had at least made it work.  Still, getting an extra 200 fps out of a round. . . No!  I wasn’t going to go there.

I don’t really know what pushed me over the edge this summer.  I guess it was the idea that it had been going on 5 years without any serious load development.  It grated on me.  I could stomach the Ramen noodle diet.  I could deal with resorting to wearing two socks on each foot to make up for the fact both had holes in them.  I had learned to hang out in a sleeping bag on winter afternoons so I could keep the thermostat lower.  I had  just been away from the reloading bench too freakin’ long.  Know what I mean?

It felt like I was kicked in the stomach when I went into BassPro for a pound of powder. Yikes! $28 ?  You gotta be kidding me.  Of course BassPro has always had astronomical prices, but . . . Twenty-eight bucks?  Then I thought about driving all the way to where I’d seen LeverEvolution for only $21 and thought about  $3.65 a gallon for gas.  I bought a pound of powder and a brick of cheap .22 and walked out with a receipt showing a total just north of $50.

I’m made this trip to the bench count:  25 rounds of 30 WCF  of freshly annealed FC brass, lovingly cut down to minimum after full length resizing.  5 rounds loaded with 36 grains of individually- weighed  LeverEvolution powder and then .5 grain increments from 37 grains all the way up to the maximum of 38.5 grains.  Each one marked with a Sharpie marker to show their powder.    When it was done, I felt like I had really done something with my day.

If I can get find some time to get down to the farm now (work sucks, donnit?)  and can get away from Angus’ busy bagpiping schedule, I will set up the chronograph and start clocking how this load works.  I figure that if I can get 200 fps or so more out of this round it will put it more in the realm of where I feel comfortable shooting.