Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles The .30-30 Winchester. Love it or hate it?

I have a 1971 M94 top eject that I bought for $100 with a broken firing pin. Got that fixed for about another $35, used it around the ranch for just about everything. Works great when you have larger livestock that needs to be put down. I left the ranch but the rifles still there and Dad still uses it and he buys a box of 150 or 170's when he needs one.

My current .30-30 is M788 Remington, but it doesn't think it's a .30-30. I believe it thinks it's a varmint rifle. It wears a 2-7X32 Nikon Monarch UCC scope and it prints some seriously tiny groups. I haven't killed anything with it yet, but I think it might have to make a trip to the deer blind one of these days on the annual OK deer hunt.

Oh, I guess I love it!

I have a Marlin 1893 in .30-30, which I inherited. It has always done the job and has killed quite a lot of critters in the roughly 115 years since it was made. AFAIK animals haven't become any harder to kill. It isn't my only rifle, and that, and deference to its age means it doesn't go out with me all that often, but for the general run of deer or pig hunting, at the ranges I usually shoot them from, it is still perfectly capable.

It still shoots accurately too - five shots into under an inch and a half at a hundred yards, and sometimes a little better - aided by a decent peep sight and a 26" barrel.

FWIW on the safety while unloading thing, it is worth noting that as far back as 1893 Marlin had that sorted: the way the firing pin is designed the hammer can't drive the firing pin into a primer unless the cartridge is fully chambered and the action locked. All you have to do is work the action without completely closing it, and in very short order you have an empty rifle and a handful of cartridges. Of course, you'll always have it pointed in a safe direction too, but that's the case with any firearm. If you can't manage that, you really shouldn't be trusted with a rifle at all.

In other words, you can't answer how or why the 99 is supposedly "more safe" than the 94 or 336.

BTW - it's "written", not "wrote".

Like the 30-30 but the .35 Rem is better

I saw a 99 .30-30 just the other day in a little hole in the wall antique shop. Didn't bother to ask the price.

One's opinions are easily swayed when the mag on the bolt rifle is run dry at minus something, and there are seven up and ready in the lever gun.





And the 30-30 lever gun is a great combo regardless the need to pop caps on an otter loping through deep drifts , or dispatch a year's supply of meat when firing pins get sluggish. Lotsa BTDTs involved in developing my positive options of the round (in my M94s.)

The 30-30's no different than any other rifle. It has a limit to it's capabilities and it takes a competent shooter to use it correctly. It's no different than a boob thinking he can shoot a deer at 500 yds with a 7mm Mag but who isn't capable of doing it. Any rifle is a wounder if not used right.

Well said.

Love it, have three '94 Winchesters, the two carbines shoot 170 gr Hornadys around 2150 fps, the 26" octagon barreled rifle fires 170 gr Partitions at 2400 fps using a Lyman receiver peep, that rifle, so loaded, penetrates and kills better than most would believe.

Yeah, but is it scary and dangerous for women and children to operate, or were you able to find rifles with that extra handy cross bolt safety doo dad?

My Daughter's first deer hunt was with an M94 Winchester. Her choice.

We went over how to decock it several times, and she burned up quite a few rounds familiarizing herself with the rifle.

It's not my favorite but it will always have a special place in my heart. Dad gave me a M94 trapper (16" barrel) made in 1977 as my first hunting rifle. I still try to take it out at least once a year and pop a doe or two.

The ones in that day had iron receivers that were tough to get bluing to stick to. Dad had it nickel plated and IMO it looks really cool and unique.

It's a natural for treestand hunting





Seems like any deer that I get with it brings back a flood of feelings from hunting with dad from my childhood. Sadly, I lost dad in 1999 so his memories live on with me when I take the little trapper.

Adding some fuel to the fire.... not on the caliber, but the typical lever action rifle...

I volunteer for the MN dnr teaching youth firearms safety and found a statement where the MN dnr recommends not starting new hunters with a lever action because of the potential accidents. I dont think they would say that if they didnt have stats to support it.


I teach the "woods walk" section on field day where the students carry break action single shot shotguns and get graded on their handling and a lot of these students struggle with the hammer lowering and its warm when we do it.

The cheap bolt actions that flood market make selecting a new lever action a tough sell and I would recomend the marlin because of how they handle the cross bolt safety.

What's not to love...great for deer...bet it's taken its share of elk bear and moose...I don't use one much anymore but I should. 90 percent of the deer I have killed were well within 30-30 range..

There are 2 carteradges that just won't go away...22 hornet and the 30-30
They just seem to work.
Load up the 30-30 with 130 gr bullets and see how it does...

Pete53,

Where in the world in my post did I criticize you or anyone else for bringing up the safety issue as to older Winchester 94s? Answer: NOWHERE.

You raised the issue of a danger factor in unloading these rifles, and I explained 2 different methods for unloading that are 1000% safe.

And your comments have nothing to do with the .30-30 round anyway, since both Winchester and Marlin levers now come with a manual safety, which I personally like. I agree that youngsters and old folks are better off with the newer models with manual safeties.

Mannyrock

I would love to have a Savage 99 in .30-30. But they stopped making them in 1936 or so.

Try to find one in VG+ condition with a VG+ bore , and no cracks in the buttstock behind the receiver or in the wrist.

You are looking at $1,200 plus.

Too expensive for me.

Mannyrock

I have four .30-30s, three .32 Win. Spl. and a 35 Remington. I'll expose myself as a heretic now. While I like these cartridges and rifles and shoot them a lot, I don't hunt with them anymore. Now I stick to the 8x57, .30-'06, 350 Rem Mag., .308 Winchester, .300 Savage and the like. They are better.

Better than what?

Better for what?

I am not a "fan" of the .30-30.....nor am I a "hater". I am basically neutral about the chambering. The .30-30 is a sure killer and very effective out to 150 yards or so. It "can" be used at longer range but the open sighted lever rifles typically chambered in .30-30 are not up to the task in many cases.....and the shooters who can use open sights at longer ranges are even rarer.

It is the light, fast handling carbines that are chambered in .30-30 that make this round so useful. If you add a scoped sight to make the .30-30 useful at longer ranges, you lose much of the handling that make these carbines so great in the woods. True, you can use a .30-30 chambered rifle such as the Savage 99 or a bolt action that is better suited to longer range shooting, but why would you choose the .30-30 over something like the .308 in such rifles.

Changing land uses and timber cutting practices have made the likelihood of a 200 yard....or longer....shot more common than in years past. This makes it prudent to carry a rifle with more range than offered by the .30-30 in many cases. However, there are still some thickets and bottoms where you "know" the longest shots will be less than 150 yards....often MUCH less.

This is where the light, fast carbines chambered in .30-30 are at their best. These thick areas that limit ranges are also where you need a rifle that hits hard, kills quickly and leaves a great blood trail....and that, to me, means a larger bore rifle. The .30-30 works well....but other chamberings work better. I have tended to choose rifles such as the .35 Remington, .44 Magnum or .45-70 in those situations. Not that the .30-30 couldn't be used, but for me there are better chamberings available in the same light fast carbines that work even better.

That, to me, is the story of the .30-30......not a bad chambering, just not the "best" at anything. For longer range possibilities the .300 Savage, .308 or .30-06 are a much better choice.....and for close range work in the thickets I choose something bigger. The .30-30 gets left out. I'd certainly not feel unarmed or handicaped with a .30-30, but it's just never been a favorite.

Better than the three previously mentioned cartridges.

Better for recovering game I have shot at. It may be more of an issue of scope v. metallic sights.