30/30 revisited

[Zoer]

I recently bought a 30/30 marlin, throughly enjoyed sighting it do to the lack of blast and recoil. Shot a whitetail with it on a hunt from about 100 yards. Did a fine job with a good wound channel. Makes me wonder why I mess with anything bigger for deer

 

[Booger66]

I'm sure I'll be called a fudd again, but I agree with you 100% a 44 does everything I need it to do and Is the rifle I pick up when I need something done. My other rifles are for fun, just sitting waiting for plinking.

As for being a "fudd" I believe an American citizen should be able to buy whatever the hell they want without government infringement.

 

[3Crows]

I love me some .30-30:



If there is a deer or pig inside 250 yards this little critter will do the job on it:

 

[Zoer]

I’d much rather shoot inside 250 yards anyway

 

[dh1633pm]

I just traded a Remington 700 ADL for one. I do like my levers.

 

[DMW1116]

I do love a 30-30 but I download them a fair bit when shooting for fun. For some reason the recoil I get from a full power 160-grain LEVERevolution load is worse than my 308. Can’t say they don’t work though.

 

[PapaG]

My all time favorite center fire cartridge. Wish I could use it for something other than varmints and target here in Illinistan.

 

[351 WINCHESTER]

The tried and true .30-30 in a Marlin or Winny makes about the best deer combo ever for distances up to about 125-150 yds.

 

[Stevel]

Love the 30-30. Practically speaking 90% of hunters would be well served with only a 30-30. I consider it a 150yd gun with traditional bullets, maybe 200 if yours fires the pointy ones well.

Powerwise for Moose or Brown Bear I'd want something bigger. Western Sheep being the other exception due to longer distances.

 

[Charlie98]

The tried and true .30-30 in a Marlin or Winny

You are forgetting the Savage 99...!

.308 99F on the left, .30-30 99NB on the right...

 

[Risky buisness]

Personally, I, for my everyday around the homestead have a 30-30 laying around nearby.
The cartridge and rifle combo has been with me hunting elk, and deer. And when I finally figgured out that IMR powders wouldn't get close to the SAMI 40,000 lb rating for the cartridge, switched off and now with a wee bit better sighting system on board have a great 2800fps load with Speer 130s that antelope have came home with us too.
The utility of this cartridge was told to me by my Grandfather, he owned 1 rifle, and 3 bullet molds.
Everything from rabbits to 2100 lb bulls, 1rifle, just tailored the ammunition. Congratulations on finding a great rifle and authentic American cartridge. Sure, there are plenty of " better " cartridges........ define better.

 

[Seedy Character]

Personally, I, for my everyday around the homestead have a 30-30 laying around nearby.
The cartridge and rifle combo has been with me hunting elk, and deer. And when I finally figgured out that IMR powders wouldn't get close to the SAMI 40,000 lb rating for the cartridge, switched off and now with a wee bit better sighting system on board have a great 2800fps load with Speer 130s that antelope have came home with us too.
The utility of this cartridge was told to me by my Grandfather, he owned 1 rifle, and 3 bullet molds.
Everything from rabbits to 2100 lb bulls, 1rifle, just tailored the ammunition. Congratulations on finding a great rifle and authentic American cartridge. Sure, there are plenty of " better " cartridges........ define better.

I have enjoyed the .30-30 much more, since loading 120 gr bullets. They put the .30-30 into .25-06 ballistics and extend usable range to 200 yards, while reducing recoil considerably.

 

[Zoer]

I do love a 30-30 but I download them a fair bit when shooting for fun. For some reason the recoil I get from a full power 160-grain LEVERevolution load is worse than my 308. Can’t say they don’t work though.

i agree the 160 LVR seems to kick more the standard rounds

 

[Zoer]

Personally, I, for my everyday around the homestead have a 30-30 laying around nearby.
The cartridge and rifle combo has been with me hunting elk, and deer. And when I finally figgured out that IMR powders wouldn't get close to the SAMI 40,000 lb rating for the cartridge, switched off and now with a wee bit better sighting system on board have a great 2800fps load with Speer 130s that antelope have came home with us too.
The utility of this cartridge was told to me by my Grandfather, he owned 1 rifle, and 3 bullet molds.
Everything from rabbits to 2100 lb bulls, 1rifle, just tailored the ammunition. Congratulations on finding a great rifle and authentic American cartridge. Sure, there are plenty of " better " cartridges........ define better.

i plan on working up some 170 Nosler Partitions for Elk and keep the shots within 150 yards ,, dont see a reason that they wont assuming its a good shot angle

 

[GooseGestapo]

The biggest disservice to the .30-30 over the last Century is the ammunition manufacturers (Winchester and Remington) publishing ballistic tables showing 100yd zero’s for the .30-30.

Zero’d for 170yds, the typical 170gr factory load bullet is down 3” at 200yds. (+3” @ 100yds)
(Assuming an actual 2,150fps m/v from a 20”bbl).

https://www.hornady.com/team-hornady/ballistic-calculators/#!/

At 200yds, the velocity is down to 1,600fps which is the typical lower velocity threshold for expansion.
A 200yd +/- point blank rage (point and click!) is no real handicap in most hunting situations.

I’ve got 3 .30-30’s. Two Winchester’94’s and a Marlin (Glenfield M30 Carbine-half magazine).
The Marlin of course wears a 4x scope, the two Winnys have receiver sights.
(One belonged to my older brother, RIP) other is an XTR with gloss finish and checkering on fancy walnut. A realbeauty!
Unfortunately they play 5th fiddle to a .35Rem M336, two .338ME (.338MX, MXLR), a .308MXLR and a BLR-81 in .358Win.

Of course the purpose of the ballistic charts was to help sell the current “darling” cartridge and rifles.

 

[DMW1116]

i agree the 160 LVR seems to kick more the standard rounds

What really made me look for a lighter load was testing LVR with 150-grain round nose bullets. It might have been the cold or I was getting sick, but I loaded 6 sets of 4 rounds and had to split them into two range trips.

 

[Varminterror]

I have enjoyed the .30-30 much more, since loading 120 gr bullets. They put the .30-30 into .25-06 ballistics and extend usable range to 200 yards, while reducing recoil considerably.

Gotta raise your expectations for .30-30. Even with 170’s, it’ll connect on target way past 200, even taking deer very confidently to 250-300.

 

[DMW1116]

The biggest disservice to the .30-30 over the last Century is the ammunition manufacturers (Winchester and Remington) publishing ballistic tables showing 100yd zero’s for the .30-30.

Zero’d for 170yds, the typical 170gr factory load bullet is down 3” at 200yds. (+3” @ 100yds)
(Assuming an actual 2,150fps m/v from a 20”bbl).

https://www.hornady.com/team-hornady/ballistic-calculators/#!/

At 200yds, the velocity is down to 1,600fps which is the typical lower velocity threshold for expansion.
A 200yd +/- point blank rage (point and click!) is no real handicap in most hunting situations.

I’ve got 3 .30-30’s. Two Winchester’94’s and a Marlin (Glenfield M30 Carbine-half magazine).
The Marlin of course wears a 4x scope, the two Winnys have receiver sights.
(One belonged to my older brother, RIP) other is an XTR with gloss finish and checkering on fancy walnut. A realbeauty!
Unfortunately they play 5th fiddle to a .35Rem M336, two .338ME (.338MX, MXLR), a .308MXLR and a BLR-81 in .358Win.

Of course the purpose of the ballistic charts was to help sell the current “darling” cartridge and rifles.

For full power loads, I generally zero mine for 3" high at 100 yards. With the FTX bullets I think that's in the ballpark of what you're saying above. I haven't actually shot any of those in a while. Might be time for another cowboy zombie shoot with my daughter. Lever guns and single action revolvers with leftover Halloween zombie targets.

I know the 150-grain round nose will expand at whatever velocity I push them. I hit a push pin/thumbtack when testing them and it expanded between the head of the push pin and the cardboard and blew a 1" hole through the cardboard. It also melted the plastic head of the push pin and sprayed it onto the cardboard. Very impressive for an old workhorse.

 

[GooseGestapo]

I’ve always preferred the 150’s and lighter. Especially the 125gr Sierra JHP.
A LOT of misinformation has been bandied around regarding bullet integrity.
In my early days, a jacket separation wasn’t considered a “failure”. A bullet breaking up on bone, neither.
We didn’t consider forelimbs prime meat either. A bullet that breaks and shatters bones and throws bone shards creating large exit wounds was desirable! a large deer is 180lbs, so a deep penetrating bullet isn’t really necessary. Out of 35 or-so deer I’ve shot with 125 or 150gr bullets from a .30-30, I’ve only recovered 2 bullets. Both were shot straight on or nearly so. One is a beautiful classic “deadliest mushroom in the woods” Remington 150gr Corlokt loaded to 2,400fps over RL15. Other was a factory Winchester 150gr Open Point- my favorite! Expanded bullet shed part of the nose and remaining 110gr looks like a wadcutter with pealed back jacket. Both were ~120lb does that dropped at the shot...

I’m real fond of the Nosler 150gr Ballistic Silver Tip.
Also, the Speer 130gr FN.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

You are forgetting the Savage 99...!

.308 99F on the left, .30-30 99NB on the right...

View attachment 1120355

 

[Gerd33]

A 30-30 is about the perfect rifle for the woods where we hunt since generally we can't see to shoot anything over about 75yrds thanks to all the brush.

This old 1952 Marlin 336SC 30-30 took yet another deer, a large spike buck, this year at my father's hands.
I was just happy my father could get out to hunt at all, since he had one of his knees replaced back in August

 

[Scooter22]

Who would want a 30-30??? (I have 5).

 

[EIB0879]

I have killed a lot of deer with the Marlin 336 in 30-30. The 160 gr Leverevolution round was a game changer IMHO.

With that said I have shots over 150 yards where I hunt and started using a .308 AR a couple of years ago. Since I hunt on a small tract of land I need a little more knock down power.

 

[Zoer]

Anybody have any experience taking elk with a 30/30?

 

[ECVMatt]

View attachment 1120464

US- That might be my dream rifle!

WOW is all I can say.