barrel travelling at a leisurely 2200 fps. For comparison I will use the traditional 170-grain load which is said to emerge from a 24-in. barrel at a velocity of 2400 feet-per-second (fps). Hornady says this pointy pill will leave the muzzle of a 24-in. Bullet runout checked with an RCBS CaseMaster averaged a low .002” just ahead of the crimp. We will have more to say about that later. Not visible in the loaded cartridge is the fact that the bullet is a boattail design. Overall length is, of course, comparable to traditional loads. 30-30 which requires that the cannelure be set high on the pointed bullet. The cartridge seems a bit stubby and this is due to the long neck of the. 30-30 at right, with two conventional rounds. The spitzer bullet is obvious, and it weighs 160 grains, which falls midway between the The LE is shown in the first picture with several conventional. 30-30 Winchester version of the LE ammo for the remainder of the discussion because that cartridge is my main interest and no doubt the one that will be used in greatest volume. LE ammo is offered for a variety of cartridges used in lever-action rifles, including some that are traditionally considered to be handgun cartridges. The bottom line is an efficient bullet traveling at higher velocity as compared to conventional.
This, in itself, would have been an improvement, but Hornady also worked with Hodgdon’s to develop an improved propellant. This was accomplished by using a bullet with a pointed polymer tip which is soft enough to avoid detonation of the cartridge in front of it when in the tubular magazine of a lever-action rifle. Briefly, LE was developed to allow spitzer bullets to be safely used in lever-action rifles. The LE ammo has been around for a while now and appears to be here to stay. Everything that has happened since has been evolutionary, including Hornady’s development of the LEVERevolution ammo and components, hereafter referred to simply as “LE.” It made effective breechloaders and repeaters possible in the late 19 th century. The development of the self-contained cartridge, that is, a center-primed brass case carrying the powder charge and bullet, was a revolution in firearms technology.