30-30 for moose

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I want all of you guys opinion on using a 30-30 m94 for moose. All my shots are up to 100yrds max. Will it drop it in tracks or i will track it for awhile like a crossbow. Have you guys used it ? Enuff power? Pros and cons. Would really appreciate good info.
 
Personally, I wouldn't try it. I can't imagine how bad it would feel to wound a big bull, lose it, and then all that meat going to waste. I'm not saying that it can't be done, but rather that the 30-30 doesn't send a projectile of adequate weight, at high enough velocity, to do enough damage to the vitals to drop him quickly. Risky business I think.

GS
 
A 30-30 at 50 yards will do exactly the same job as a 30-06 at 300. If you're shooting at close range, and place your shots it should do just fine. I have other options, and would prefer to use them. But if a 30-30 was what I had, I'd use it rather than stay home.
 
Yes you can with good shot placement, a broadside shot and the right bullet. I would go bigger rather than risk it myself. 35.5 grs Leverevolution 160 gr FTX will get you close to 2600 fps MV. That's about the same as the Swede (6.5x55) with a 160 gr RN at 100 yards or less. All the Swede fans will tell you the Scandos kill lots of moose with that combo every year. Of course Scandanavian moose are smaller than ours...

Having said that, I was ground hunting white tail in Southern VT last Fall with my Swede when a moose cow and her calf walked up the trail towards me. She had a good sniff of me, looked at me, smirked, and walked on by. All I could think was "I'm gonna need a bigger gun...."
 
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News flash! The 7mm Magnum isn't one-hundred years old. People have killed moose for decades with an.30-30.
A moose lung is about the size of a baby bed mattress.

Take some 170 Grain Nosler Partitions, or another bonded soft point in case you hit a bone.
I think you will be fine if you stay away from Hornady Neverlution type ammo. Also, how fast can you operate a lever gun? You could put three in a moose lung before you could spit.

Shoot straight. Happy hunting.
 
And news flash #2.

No rifle of any caliber will drop any animal in its tracks every time unless you make a brain or spine shot.

Otherwise, they are going to run a ways and drown in there own blood, or bleed out and die within recovering distance.
Just follow the double blood trails to the body.

A 30-30 will kill a moose just the same way any other rifle caliber will kill one.

rc
 
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I hunt with a .303 brit and it does the trick. Im looking at buying a pre'64 M94. Thick bush around here. Longest shot is around 100-150 yrds. So a 30-30 will do it within limits?
I use a crossbow too in bow only season.
 
on my side of the border-180 gr .303 has probably taken more moose than any other-150 gr for deer-you already have a ''one gun'' big game armory...
 
Discounting the extreme examples, such as cape buffalo with a .22 rimfire, nearly all cartridges will take most game, provided you know the limitations of the chosen cartridge and the resilience of the chosen game animal. the larger the animal and smaller the cartridge, the pickier you need to be about your shot. Subsistence hunters have killed untold millions of whitetail deer with the .22 at close range.

Select the best possible bullet for the .30-30, know the limits of both your own abilities and the capability of the cartridge on your game. Pass on questionable shots. You will likely find that your shots will be limited to tens of yards, not hundreds.

Just as an example, both the .30-30 and the .30-06 are common deer calibers. However, they have radically different capabilities due to velocity and available bullet weights.
 
I seen a Moose shot heart/lung with a 300 Win Mag. and didn't flinch. Bore clean through, spray of blood out exit. The bull acted like a mosquito bit him. Walked casually 30 yards chewing his cud and dropped. So..don't expect him to drop in his tracks. About the 30 30. I try to take more gun than needed. Don't like tracking and don't like suffering.
 
I've taken only one bull moose which does not make me an expert. But I'll share my experience. The animal was walking toward my guide and me through a tangle of willow trees. The moose was fooled by the calling and grunts made by my Cree guide. But it turned broadside to look around. My first shot was approx. 125 yards. My second shot was about the same distance. The bull trotted away. We waited about half hour and tracked it to where it lay dead. The moose travelled less than 100 yards from my first shot. Both shots tore through the chest organs.

I hunted with my .308 carbine loaded with 180 grain core-lokt ammo. The bullets did not exit but were discovered under the hide all balled up like the magazine pictures. Good performance!

My Cree guide hunts moose and caribou with an antique 35 Remington auto-loader rifle. He is an expert in my opinion. But he told me that 30-30 carbines are popular among his people and also 303 Enfield rifles. Obviously, a moose can be killed with lesser cartridges than current magnums.

Good hunting to you.
TR
 
Not an abundance of energy. Use a 160 partition bullet and place your shot well. Mighty big animal for that old round. Personally, I'd shoot my 7 mag with a partition and leave even my .308 at home. The big 7 is the best I've got for big animals, bought it with elk in mind, but never got to chase elk with it. I keep it around, though, even though I no longer hunt with it favoring lighter guns. Your .30-30 would do me well on pigs and whitetails. :D
 
No rifle of any caliber will drop any animal in its tracks every time unless you make a brain or spine shot.

Oh, sure it will. hit a whitetail in the shoulder with a 7mm 150 game king and it won't walk away on what's left of its shoulder. It MIGHT not be DRT, but it will fall right there and die. You lose some shoulder meat....woopie, you don't lose the deer.
 
If the 303 is an option, I would use that with a 200 gr bullet. At the ranges you are talking about, the 303 is an excellent choice for moose. Keep the 30-30 for white tail.
 
Shot placement is critical regardless, assuming you are shooting a reasonably powerful cartridge. I believe the .30-30 is enough. They are tough heavy skinned animals, so I would go with a tough heavy bullet. They will go down if properly hit, they won't if they are not. I've not hunted moose, but all the hunting shows I've seen, I don't believe I've seen one go down at the shot. They all wander around a bit.

My bigger concern would be getting within 100 yards of a dangerous animal. I am a huge fan of the .30-30, I have four of them. I harvest the vast majority of my deer and hogs with them. That said, if I'm moose or elk hunting, I will be fishing the 7mag out of the back of the safe. Not so much for power, but for distance.
 
Oh, sure it will. hit a whitetail in the shoulder with a 7mm 150 game king and it won't walk away on what's left of its shoulder. It MIGHT not be DRT, but it will fall right there and die. You lose some shoulder meat....woopie, you don't lose the deer.

+1. I take this shot almost exclusively on deer. My place is so thick, if they run at all they are going to be invisible and I am in for a long search. That said, I would not want to bet on a .30-30 having enough oomph to break a shoulder on a moose, and then have enough energy remaining to take out the respiratory goodies behind it. I think you have to go with a boiler room shot, and plan on tracking the animal. Since this comment is purely theoretical, I yield to those with actual experience hunting the big stuff.
 
My wife shot a Shiras moose (bull) at six yards in the lungs with a .280. It walked about 20 yards and bellowed, then lay down and died.

I would suggest borrowing a .30-06 from a friend, practice with it, and use that with Nosler 180 gr. Partition bullets.

Moose seem to die in slow-motion. An old "NDN" saying about moose: "He hurt a lot." Meaning that a serious wound seems to make them give up and die.
 
Keep in mind that you're not limited to non-pointed bullets. If you just load one in the chamber and only one in the magazine you'll be able to use Spitzer style bullets which will greatly increase your effective distances.
I've always gotten a kick out of the mantra that you always hear about pointed bullets in tube magazines limiting the 30-30. But with one in the chamber and another in the mag you can use what you want and have a quick follow up shot too.
 
Keep in mind that you're not limited to non-pointed bullets. If you just load one in the chamber and only one in the magazine you'll be able to use Spitzer style bullets which will greatly increase your effective distances.
I've always gotten a kick out of the mantra that you always hear about pointed bullets in tube magazines limiting the 30-30. But with one in the chamber and another in the mag you can use what you want and have a quick follow up shot too.

But, one should use a bullet with a crimp groove if loading in a tube magazine. Recoil can drive that bullet to a shorter OAL which will increase pressures. Such a practice also doesn't do much for the soft point on the spitzer bullet unless using a bullet like the Nosler BT which is not really appropriate for moose.

Or, you can go with factory Hornady Lever Evolution. But, they're more geared to thin skinned game, too, not moose.

On moose, stuck with shooting a .30-30, I'd go with the Nosler partition and take a good shot angle on him or let him walk. You have better options with a .338 Win Mag AND more range.
 
Moose and the 30-30

I shot a 600 pound cow with my dad's Model 94 a long time ago. It's not enough gun. I made a near perfect center mass lung hit at maybe 120 yards with a 160 gr silvertip old style bullet did not go through. The moose ran about 200 yards no blood trail at all. If it weren't for those big feet and the moose she was running with I probably never would have found her. There was no trauma at the site of the shot. The animal didn't act like it was shot

The 308 win is probably the smallest 30 caliber firearm I would hunt moose with. 30-06, 300 win mag I have a 338 federal I would not hesitate to use at the ranges you specify.

Good luck and shoot straight.

Bob
 
With good shot placement the .30-30 will do it's job as will the .303 British and many others. It would not be my first choice as moose tend to be pretty big animals, but if that's all you have and you're a good shot go for it.
 
From what I understand and have heard moose are too tough to die when their dead. You could blow a hole big enough through them to see daylight and they will do one of two things...stand there and look at you or open up a new logging trail running hell bent to where it ain't so noisy. Just too much capacity to absorb shock in all that muscle and the cardio-pulmonary system.

To answer your question...many...many moose get taken every year by the American and Canadian Indians with 30-30s. I bet with their great-grandfather's rifle. But most of them can track a moose back to where his momma nursed him. A 30-30 at a hundred yards in a 170 gr core-lokt will do it but DRT is not going to happen with anything including a .460 Weatherby. Dang things just don't get it.
 
I've shot/killed at least 25 moose, maybe more... At 100 yards or under, there isn't a moose alive that can't be shot/killed cleanly with a 30/30 with a LUNG SHOT!

I like the Nosler load too, but a lot of moose have been shot/killed with 170 Cor-loks too...

DM
 
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