auriga3 wrote:Do the cases have to be full length sized every reload?
Possibly, but not necessarily. The usual anecdote "you have to always fl resize levers, ars ,semis blah blah blah" preach you see on every blog and forum is usually unsubstantiated heresay - it simply boils down down to whether or not your handload will reliably cycle, which is rather easy to test with a few indicative primerless dummy rounds. A lot of it has to do with how hot you ran your
last load - run em cool and they don't fireform as tightly, and you'll probably be fine with a couple of neck-sized loads before a fl. I just suggest testing a few dummies
thoroughly before going ahead and rolling up a stack of handloads on a whim. Otherwise you might end up having to pull a stack of cartridges...
auriga3 wrote:Do the round have to be crimped because of the tubular mag
Again, possibly, but not necessarily. It depends on how hot your loads are. If it's a 94 bucking a blazing-hot load like a bronc, then yeah, you probably should crimp em. Run em cooler in a heavier marlin (with good neck tension), set-back is a bit of a myth. If you're worried, just measure the length of the incoming rounds in the mag once you've fired some, just to make sure the oals are good. Be aware, a crimpless lever load will be reliant on neck-tension alone, which relates to your choice of die. It seems you need decent tension for reliable ignition in the 30/30.
FWIW I rely a on the tight-neck tension (probably incidentally) provided by a Hornady die - I have a Lee die and neck tension is looser. As a result, when using the lee die (and no crimp) accuracy suffers. That is unless I crimp - if I crimp the lee-die loads, groups tighten up a bit again. But generally I'm not really a fan of relying on crimp for improving ignition.
I'd like to quote Paco Kelly here also because it's very true "
Gaining accuracy in a leveraction rifle is really not much different than doing it in a bolt action. The principles are the same. There is no mystery, it is just that most folks take if for granted that 3 to 5 inches at 100 yards is normal and you have to live with it. That is utter nonsense….first of all on today’s market there is not one brand of lever action, one style, or one make that won’t generally shoot into less than 2 inches with the right ammo. Some few individual guns (lemons) may go into larger groups…but bolt actions have the same problems with the unusual stinker in a group.”
If you're looking for accuracy, check out the Berry's plated bullets. Exceptionally accurate in all my 30/30s. Not a hunting bullet.