I recently went from not owning any hunting rifles to suddenly owning two Winchester 94s and a Marlin 336. I'm thinking about taking my pre64 Winchester 94 in 30-30 deer hunting this year. I want to buy 100-200 rounds of suitable 30-30 ammo, enough to allow a safe margin for me to zero the awful buckhorn sights and have enough to confirm zero every year and of course have some left over for hunting. Up until I acquired these rifles, my plan was to use Tula soft points in my suppressed AK SBR.

Anyway, I see that TargetSports has Remington Corelokt ammo in 150 grain and 170 grain, along with Hornady Interlock round nose, Federal Powershock and Winchester power point ammo, all for pretty much the same price ($1.20 a round). What are the benefits of the various bullet weights? In a 30-30, do any of these bullets have a massive difference in performance? Where I hunt, I lased my maximum possible shot to around 125 yards, so I'm not exactly that concerned about having the flattest possible trajectory.

Shoot both 150gr and 170gr and the Leverevolution before you commit. I had two Marlin 336 30-30’s. One will only shoot 170gr. Brand dosent matter,170’s shoot great.150’s are terrible, like a buckshot pattern, and leverevolution wasn't much better. The other rifle I used to have shot everything well but nothing really great. As far as performance at the normal 30-30 range I doubt there is much difference. I put a small 2-7x32 on extra low mounts on mine and it makes for a fun rifle. Killed two deer with the Federal blue box stuff. Put them both down quick.

Try the PMC hollow points and the Hornady Leverevolution as mentioned above. Both work very well in my 1954 Model 94. Consider a Marbles #1 tang mounted peep sight. Effectively doubles the sight radius and makes for potentially more accurate shooting if you're able to take advantage of the sight.

Years ago we used a 150 grain Spire point Boat tail bullet loaded into the chamber with regular flat nosed rounds in the magazine. It gave us a better energy and flight path out to about 200 yards. Rarely ever shot them at that distance but inside 150 yards the retained energy was significant, at least on paper. Did the deer ever notice the distance? I doubt it, but it gave one a little more confidence in things.

Another vote for the Marbles peep sight, it's a lot more accurate than the vintage buckhorn sights.  Bullet weight, either 150 or 170 for the distances you listed will do the job.  I'd go with the 170's, I've had good luck with them.
Here's a picture of the Marbles peep, no gunsmithing involved, just changing the tang screws.  This is not a 30-30 it's a .32 win. spec.

I always liked Remington Core-Lokt in 150-grain. I know it's old school but so am I. The new stuff is a tad more accurate than the old, though it's still mainstream factory hunting ammo and not for tack-driving.

I shoot my 30-30 out of a Savage 340 bolt-action carbine with a 2x Weaver scope on it.

I'm not sure I like the idea of the gang mounted rear sight, since this is such a sleek and handy rifle as is, but I also noticed they advertise fiber optic front sights and other rear leaf sights. I think I would have a much easier time with a red fiber optic front and a flat rear sight closer to what one would find on a Mauser. I'm totally opposed to doing any permanent modifications to the gun due to the collectors value, but am not opposed to doing useful, reversible improvements.

The sight lays down when not being used.

The 336's I had years ago liked 150 and 170 gr. Core Lokts over IMR4895.

Now I've been going down the rabbit hole of aftermarket sights, and stumbled across this.

I know it kind of defeats the purpose of using a rifle as old as my grandma for deer hunting, but this would certainly be easy to use!

My pre-64 model 94 shoots 170's best.
I handload Remington 170 round nose.

In all honesty, it won't much matter.

Hornady's flextip is a good idea if you want to stretch the 30-30' legs.   You can gain some range, but this doesn't seem to be an issue for you.  So its moot.

If you are shooting deer at ranges under 150 yards, it makes no difference.  Buy what you can find.   I've found that Winchester and Federal and Hornady are all good while Remington, as a brand, is my absolutely bottom rung ammo of absolute last choice....   But that's based on experience with the brand over all, not any failing in the 30-30 loading itself.

General pointed soft points like A 150 grain Remington Corelokt Soft point, or a 180 Winchester Powerpoint are "generic".  The same bullet is loaded into everything from 308 Win, 30-06, 300 Win Mag thru to oddities like 300 Savage and 300 H&H Mag.  As a result, the bullet is a "compromise" designed to work "okay" across a whole range of impact speeds.  As a result, some bullets work better in one cartridge than in another...  Example, a Barnes TTSX 180 grain .308" dia bullet works really really well in 300 WM.  In 308 Win, not so much.  And a 150 Nosler ballistic tip is fantastic in 300 Savage or 308 win, but its a hard fail in your 300 WSM.

30-30 ammo has an "advantage":  150 and 170 grain flat point bullets are used only in one cartridge, that being the 30-30 Winchester.  Therefore, the bullet jacket, skiving, core hardness and lead exposure are all designed to open reliably at 30-30 impact speeds.  Therefore, the bullets work really well.  Actually, the bullet are so well balanced to the cartridge that 30-30 seems to punch above its weight...

Don't worry too much over brand. Buy whatever you can find.  Or whatever shoots best.  While both 150 and 170 work well, I prefer 170's.  But that's been a hunt camp argument without a definitive answer for over a century.  The real answer is, of course, .35 Remington......

Fro

Buy several and see what the rifle likes. I’m a marlin guy, shoot the FTX Hornady and run Skinner sights on mine though.

I have a 336Y.

The only ammo I found that shot well was the 170 Core-Lokt and the 170 Win power point.

Everything else was almost a pattern. I went through like 10-12 different factory loads

Any 150-170gr load will work.!

I shoot the Remington Core lokts or Federal Powershok 150s.  The Federal are $22 a box at Walmart and the Remington are $28. They both group the same, so I just buy whatever's cheapest or in stock.

The 150 grain Barnes TSX-FN is an absolute hammer

I’ve had best luck with either federal or Winchester 170 grain. The Remington never shot as well in any of my lever actions. And that rubber tip hornady stuff never grouped well either

My 336 shoots 125 grain Federal the best.
I don't know if they still offer them, as I picked up alot when Walmart had them on clearance.

New to hunting and used my Marlin 30/30 on opening day to score a 6 pt. Lots of ammo to choose from. My choice was 170 gr FSP PPU Rifle line ammo. Rifle is zeroed at 100 yards and shoots about 3/4" low at 50 yards. Does it's part if you do yours. Deer ran about 30 yards into the woods. Now, I don't know if it was the ammo or what....but we did not see a blood trail at all. Round went clean thru.

Two Points:

PPU is budget ammo.  It can be inconsistent.

Blood trails are not automatic.  its dependent on the cartridge, the bullet and the position of the impact.  A low hit with a high speed bullet that produces a large exit will generate a blood trail almost immediately, and a noticeable one at that.  I've seen a heart shot doe hot with a 150 ballistic tip out of a 308 leave a blood trail a blind man could see from 50 feet.   A high on the body hit, particularly with a modest speed bullet won't generate any appreciable blood trail:  The bullet isn't violent enough or energetic enough to get a really big exit, and the body cavity pretty much needs to fill with blood before it starts leaking....

+++++++++

PPU was the best price I could find during the Covid BS. I am consistently shooting a cold bore 1" group (or less) at 100 yards with a 53 year old Marlin using that ammo. Budget or not, it performs flawlessly. And remember, shot placement is key. Those 2 combined = venison in the freezer. Thx for your input on blood trails as I am new to whitetail hunting.

Any of the 150 to 170gr loads will work. Try several and shoot whatever is most accurate.

Model 94 my grandpa bought off a guy in Canada in the 60s. I shot the heaviest Core Lokt rounds available for a few years. Killed lots of deer with it.
Sights weren't an issue but I was in the tight north woods of MN.
In fact, I never had a deer run after being hit with that rifle.

I hope my nephew gets to kill stuff with it someday.

170gr RN anything.

Top dog for 30-30 at any distance the past 120 years.

Still works.