I still have a 336 in 30-30 and one in 35 rem. I never carry the 30-30 any more. I have never been impressed with the cartridge. I can see it as a truck gun on a ranch to shoot a crippled or hopelessly sick cow in the head. Maybe use it to take out an armadillo or a possum. But for deer? Naaaa, the 35 just works better.
Someone in this thread called the 35 rem the most overrated cartridge of all times. LOL! It will never be that as long as the 30-30 is still out there. The deer I have shot with a 30-30 did die but it was like poking a hole in their lungs with a long number 2 pencil. Never had deer run so far and bleed so little despite being shot perfectly behind their shoulder in my life. My advice to new 30-30 hunters is wear a good pair of hiking shoes and bring a tracking dog and a ball peen hammer to finish the animal off with. Maybe the 30-30 is fine for northern states with snow on the ground during deer season. That white snow would make it more easy find the 4 drops of blood that will leak out of the pencil hole a 30-30 pokes in a deer. Those 4 drops are harder to spot in a southern briar thicket however.
But just to show I'm not all negative about the 30-30 I will say this. It is definitely an eat right up to the hole cartridge because it doesn't do enough damage to bloodshot any meat. So no wasted meat. Well unless you count the spot on their head were you have to hit them with the ball peen hammer.
