Mossberg 30-30 lever action. Ammo jamming

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C

Clevy

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Hey guys

I picked up a couple of rifles this week. An sks and a mossberg lever action 30-30 win.
I've run 3 boxes of federan120 grain hollow point thru it so far and a box of fusion 170 grain and there's a slight catch to the bullets loading up into the barrel and ejection.
The brass at the base is showing a bit of a defect on every round almost as though it's too big and catching on the load and release.
Does anyone have one of these and if so what ammo are you using.
It's not loading and ejecting clean I guess you could say.
I love the gun as a whole. The lever action is very smooth and at 100 yards I haven't missed a bottle or can yet.
My vision isn't what it once was and 100 yards is as far as I can see clearly,for bottles and cans anyway.
So I'm looking for ammo that loads and ejects clean without marking up the brass on the bottom. It's taking a little chunk out.
I re-load my brass so I'm looking for a decent round I can use more than once.
I'm also looking for a scope. At cabellas I only saw one for this rifle. Is there anything else. I want something that's going to be good for 300 yards.
It's a great gun. I'm happy with it. Just not happy with the ammo.

And the sks is cheap and fun as heck. It's too bad there isn't a scope for these things. Ammo is cheap from China. Corrosive primers but I clean my rifles after every day shooting. And you can't beat 250 for 1500 rounds. Here in Canada anyways.
If anyone knows a mod to mount a scope on an sks LMK please.
Tia
 
There are plenty of scope mounts for sks rifles. I'm not sure what's available in Canada, but if you look online you'll find plenty of sites you can order one from, maybe even Amazon. Most replace the receiver top cover and cost around $20 or so. Too bad we can't get that nice Chinese ammo in the U.S., it's just too "evil" for us Yanks to have imported!
cry.gif
We're only allowed to have everything else made in China.
sick.gif


The Mossberg, have you contacted them regarding it? Hard to deduce the prob without seeing it.
 
Originally Posted By: umungus1122
There are plenty of scope mounts for sks rifles. I'm not sure what's available in Canada, but if you look online you'll find plenty of sites you can order one from, maybe even Amazon. Most replace the receiver top cover and cost around $20 or so. Too bad we can't get that nice Chinese ammo in the U.S., it's just too "evil" for us Yanks to have imported!
cry.gif
We're only allowed to have everything else made in China.
sick.gif


The Mossberg, have you contacted them regarding it? Hard to deduce the prob without seeing it.


Thanks.

The sks only has 1 scope and mount available at cabellas and the comments say it sucks. I really like the gun though.

And after doing some digging I found that federal ammo the end is 0.005 too big,which is why it's catching on feed and ejection.
I just went to cabellas to read reviews and saw the comments on the ammo.
I'm going to try lever action specific ammo this weekend and see how it works out.
Found a scope for the 30-30 too but 150 grain is the max bullet I can fire with it.
Thank you for the heads up though. I'll keep digging for a decent sks mount and scope.
The Chinese ammo isn't bad. Corrosive primers and copper cases,but copper is over 2 bucks a pound right now at the recycler,so that brings my bullet costs down a bit too.
Hehehe
 
Can't help you on the SKS. But on the Marlin mine (older model) has never had any sort of trouble with any ammo I've run through it. I prefer Winchester or federal 170gr myself. If yours is messing up with that prob time to see a gunsmith. They are great guns.
 
Are they actually copper cases, or copper coated steel? That's what a lot of the Russian milsurp stuff is for my Mosin anyway. But that's off topic!
 
Originally Posted By: NateDN10
Are they actually copper cases, or copper coated steel? That's what a lot of the Russian milsurp stuff is for my Mosin anyway. But that's off topic!


They might be copper coated.
I've fired off half the box so far. It shoots straight at 100 yards but I can't see any further than that.

Originally Posted By: HosteenJorje
.30-.30 at 300 yards? You have to be kidding.


Why would I be kidding. My uncles hunt moose with theirs and with 170 g ammo,and a lung shot he took down a black bear.
Heck back when I was a kid that same uncle would hunt deer with a 22.
Thanks for your input though.
 
Do you have a pic of the damage to the case?

Quote:
I'm going to try lever action specific ammo this weekend and see how it works out.


I've never heard of any other factory .30-30 ammo.
 
Originally Posted By: hatt
Do you have a pic of the damage to the case?

Quote:
I'm going to try lever action specific ammo this weekend and see how it works out.


I've never heard of any other factory .30-30 ammo.


Don't know how to post pics.

I saw at cabellas the box of ammo said specifically for lever action rifles.
Not sure of brand. I'm going down tomorrow to get the scopes I bought installed so I'll buy some and report back.

I was cruising YouTube and apparently this is a common issue with the guns themselves and may not be ammo related however I shot off another 20 tonight and not a single case got hung up.
I found that the lever needs to go all the way forward til it hits the end of its travel,then as you return the lever you need to push kinda upwards towards the gun itself.
It's not a top of the line rifle so I wasn't expecting perfection anyways. But the more I use it the better the action seems to get so maybe it needs a few hundred rounds run thru it before it's broken in or something.
My 30-06 is a bolt action and my 22 is a rimfire semi,this is my first lever action.
I think if I buy another I'm just going to spend the extra 400 bucks and. Up the Henry. It was beautifully carved and the action was perfect right off the rack.
I like this rifle. It's a great brush gun and I think it's a perfect hand me down for my boy once he's old enough.
So I'll update once I get back from the farm tomorrow. That's where we go to shoot. We've got targets paced out and a trail that we have various targets set up behind trees and brush so it more closely mimics what we encounter hunting.
I'm heading up mid next week to hunt whitetail at our cabin so I want to work the bugs out now and not get up there and blow a shot. It might be the only one I get.

Thanks all for your input.
 
The gun may have had a couple rough surfaces that needed to smooth out. The .30-30 "specifically designed for lever actions" is some interesting marketing since all major brand .30-30 ammo is specifically designed for lever actions. The scheme probably works.
 
Originally Posted By: FastGame
Maybe Clevy is talking about Hornady LEVERevolution ammunition ?

http://www.hornady.com/store/leverevolution


That's it.

Thanks fast game. I wasn't sure exactly what it was called because I only glanced at it.

Was out this morning. Shot 80 rounds. No hang up with the federal which was hanging up before and the hornady rounds worked great too,abeit 8 bucks more for a box.
I am going to assume the gun needed to break in. Not that I've ever heard of that before however the action is now smooth as silk.
My scope is junk though. The optics came loose inside after 2 boxes ofmammo. I'm not impressed however I guess I wasn't expecting much from a 120 dollar scope.
So I ordered a different one made for lever action rifles. Hopefully this one cares a bit better.

Thanks for the input everyone
 
You need to start dealing with Sportsman Guide. I am sure they ship to Canada. You can get a multitude of scopes and mounts for that SKS, as well as scopes for the 30-30s plus ammo galore.
 
I have a Marlin 336 in 30-30. I have added an XS rail for a 2-7X pistol scope mounted forward for a "scout rifle" concept. I decided to use a pistol scope for the long eye relief. Has the rifle done the same thing to different ammo brands? Some rifles like different ammo. If you could post a picture of the empties it would make it easier to diagnose.
Have you contacted Mossburg about this issue? They may have a recall on, or offer to send you a redesigned part. I had to call Marlin (Remington) about a loose stock. They asked for the serial #, said it was a known issue, and sent me a stock for free.
Since you're going to reload, I'd like to recommend Hodgdon Leverevolution powder for your full power loads, and H4895 for reduced plinking/varmint loads.
 
Thanks 2cool.


K. The rifle was hanging up for the first 3-4 boxes of ammo I ran thru it. Today none hung up.
It's strange. I'm thinking maybe that marinecote finish might have been too thick so the rounds hung up on discharge however now after running a few hundred thru it it's smooth as silk.
The action wasn't smooth either at first,and the bolt was stiff sliding however now I can see where the marinecote finish has worn off and everything moves beautifully.
With the sks I bought a scope with a dust cover mount. Scope works alright. The Chinese rounds are ok to 150 yards. Got a 3" group consistently til the rifle got too hot to touch,then they started landing independently and not quite where I wanted.
Had to do some custom filing though to make the new dust cover fit. But it's tight and the action is smooth.
I tried a box of Remington 150grain today and federal 125 hollow and no issues.
The new scope is great.
Going out again tomorrow. Ran out of light today. I want to see how good these guns are at longer range.
I figure you could catch them with a baseball glove at 300 yards so I'm going to try my luck.

Don't know how to post pics or I would of the old rounds that we're getting caught up. Sorry.
But thanks for the info. I'll see if cabellas has that powder.

Thanks guys
 
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