Mike, I have had good luck with the following, through my 1947 vintage Winchester Model 94....The gun is not drilled for a receiver sight, so all group sizes were shot with open sights. I was a lot younger then...in my 40's and still 20-20. The Lyman bullets were cast from wheel weights with just enough tin added to allow good mold fill out. Late in my experimentation, I found that Lee Liquid Alox swirl lubed helped to reduce leading and improve groups. Some of my best groups came from these Lyman bullets with only the LLA on them, ie. no regular lube in the lube grooves.
Like all lead alloy bullets, they need to be slightly over bore size, but I've yet to find a .30 caliber rifle that doesn't shoot well with bullets sized .310". For all of them I used minimal crimp, only enough to straighten out the case mouth belling necessary to seat a lead alloy bullet. Lyman's "M" die is good for expanding the case neck enough to seat a .310" dia. bullet. With that long .30-30 neck, these loads don't generate enough recoil to move the succeeding bullet in the case.
Crimping deeper opened groups, probably because it failed to open completely as the bullet started to move, and resulted in deforming the fairly soft alloy. I tried harder alloys, but WW's worked well up to 1700 fps, when double lubed with LLA, sized .310" and with a gas check seated...
The following loads worked well and were safe in my guns...as always you should check a good manual and work up slowly for your own gun.
While these are all lead alloy bullets, I've also had good luck with 152 gr military M2 bullets, spitzers, pulled from US .30-06 M2 rounds. Both steel jacket and cupro jacketed ones were tried, both shot well out to 100 yds. I don't have chrono data on them but suspect they were doing around 1500 fps. Single loaded of course...that 14.5 gr load of SR 4759 is a good one with them.
All of these need some elevation to get them on target...for me, with a 20" bbl'd M-94 carbine that shoots Remington 150's to pt of aim at 100 yds with the 2nd notch; I had to go up two notches to get the same impact...about 8-9" of elevation.
Best Regards, Rod
Lyman #311359gc weight about 120 gr's depending on alloy...Size .310", cast from wheel weights & lubed with 50/50 alox/beeswax. This is a spitzer bullet designed for the M1 Carbine. Single load or one in the chamber with one in the magzine.
Unique - 5.5 gr, Win Lg Pistol primers = 1" at 50 yds
SR 4759; 14.5 gr, Win Lg Rifle primers = 1-1/4" at 50 yds
Lyman # 311291gc...designed for the .30-30 I believe. About 175 grains when cast from wheel weights. Lube is 50/50. Size to .310". This is a round nose bullet suitable for the tubular magazine of the '94 and very accurate. It's also good in the .308, .30-06 and .30-40 Krag. IMR 4227 is also good with this bullet at the same charge weights.
SR 4759, 15.0-15.5 gr, Win Lg Rifle Primers = 1-1/4" at 50 yds
Bonus bullets (Missouri bullets makes the same bullet) 170 gr FP. Sized .310", comes lubed with blue commercial lube, but re-lubing with thinned Lee Liquid Alox improves performance and minimizes leading. The flat point on this bullet would make for a pretty good deer load at the following velocities.
SR 4759, 14.5 gr with Lg Rifle Primers gives 1.5" gps at 50 yds, velocity chrono'd at 1630 fps.
SR 4759, 15.5 gr, Lg Rifle Primers, 1.5" at 50 yds, velocity chrono'd 1700 fps
2400, 15.0 gr = 1.5" at 50 yds. Velocity chrono'd at 1630 fps
2400, 15.5 gr = 1.0" at 50 yds. Velocity chrono'd at 1700 fps