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

Bullschit. It's a TRAINING issue, not a design flaw.

Hell, even your own "young people/old people" line is faulty. Why? Because of the mechanics of a lever in the first place. If a person has smaller hands and/or less hand/arm strength, it's EASIER for them to manipulate the lever action with the fingers out of the trigger guard completely (i.e., in the rear loop of the lever) than otherwise. If you understand the concept of a lever, or actually use one, this makes sense.

Oh, and not to mention that both the 94 and 336 have that little mechanism under the lever that requires you to actually have the lever all the way closed and "squeezed" up against the stock before the sear can be engaged. You have to do that in order to fire the rifle, but... guess what... you DON'T have to do that in order to cycle the action and eject shells. So, you can run the action, even with your finger where it ought not be, and still not trip the trigger unless you slam the lever all the way home and depress that mechanism, which you don't have to do. Again, training is the issue (as well as using at least a modicum of sense).

The way to make things safer is to better train and educate shooters and hunters, not to put superfluous crap on/in firearms. To do otherwise (put unneeded crap in firearms and not focus on training and education) is very foolish.

I hate knocking the 30-30 WIN. It has such a loyal following, I feel like I'm kicking Santa Claus or something. I know a lot of my problems with it were flukes. However, 30 WCF is just not my first choice for whitetails.

I own a Marlin 336. I happen to like the extra safety, but I only engage it when I'm unloading the magazine. The rest of the time, I either have a cold chamber or rely on the half-cock. Functionally, it was perfect for bringing my sons online. The Marlin 336 was easy for me to look down and see the condition of the rifle. It was easy to teach good form to the kids.

Performance? Look, I'm not going to kid you. After one year of hunting with the 30-30 myself, I went out and bought a Savage 99 in .308 WIN. I have never regretted it. After a couple of years on the 30-30, my sons all switched out to 30-06, and never had problems. Could we all have stuck with the Marlin? Yes. Did we have better luck with bigger 30's? Yes.

Around our ridge, you often hear someone emptying a 30-30 lever magazine at deer on the Opener. You can tell the shooter ain't bringing home any venison. Is it the rifle? No. You can just listen to the stories and you can see what's going on.

1) Everyone thinks they can take a hand-held shot at 100 yards without practice.
2) Everyone thinks a 300 yard shot is duck soup.
3) Everyone thinks they can sight in dead-on at 50 and be good out to. . . nobody knows how to really judge distance around here, so it really does not matter.

I'd be the first to say it is the Indian and not the bow that is at fault. On the other hand, when I'm up in a tree on the Opener, I have had much better luck and greater confidence at 80 yards with a slightly downloaded 308 WIN than I ever had with a hot 30-30. At the other end of the spectrum, when I'm trying to fill the freezer at the end of season, I can put a 30-06 on a doe out all the way to the back of the pasture without trying to judge range. It can be 75 yards or 220 yards, and I can put the crosshairs on the chest and be sure I'll have a dead deer.

My first rifle was a Marlin 336 I think I was 10 yrs old. I'v taken several whitetails with it, also wounded my share. I think it goes back to what someone else said earlier I didn't do enough shooting to be proficient with it, nothing wrong with the cal.

Back in the 80's, 788's in .30-30 were the hot ticket for many cast bullet bench rest shooters in Production Class, Cast Bullet Association. 'Nuff said.

I would blush to tell you how small the groups sometimes are with my 54 Winchester shooting certain cast bullet loads, when I have my 10X Fecker target scope clamped to it. When using the Lyman receiver sight it'll still often do ten cast bullets in 1½-1¾ @ 100. (Off the bench, not the hind legs- but clay birds aren't safe at 100 off the hind legs.)

The problem I have seen hunters have with 94s isnt in unloading them, it is getting them loaded to hunt with a round in the chamber, and lowering the hammer to half cock. There is no way to lower the hammer without pulling the trigger, safety or no safety. Pair this with a youthful hunter, or a one weekend a year hunter and bad things can happen.

Our state tracked deer season injuries by action type a few years ago and a disproportionatly high number were lever actions.

A fella can unload the magazine in a Model 94 by depressing the load gate fully and catching the round when the spring pushes it out. One at a time of course, but it alleviates the need to ratch'n klatchit. Quieter as well. Leaves you with one stroke of the lever to clear the chamber.

Thought everyone knew that, apparently not?

What are these hammers and loading gates of which y'all speak? I thought God and Arthur Savage ordained .30-30 lever guns to be hammerless with rotary magazines!

yep the savage 99 is by far a much better and safer lever gun and more accurate too. wished I would have met Arthur savage and somehow owned every caliber in a savage 99. that is one heck of a lever gun ! and I am still looking for a 30-30 in a savage 99 ?

Okay, riddle us as to how the 99 (great rifle, btw) is "safer" than the 94 or 336. The 99 lacks the transfer bar safety on all pre-mil versions and unloading is quite often done by racking rounds through the action. Fingers can still quite easily be in the trigger guard and hit the trigger.

Indeed, but as stated earlier, only a dweeb would fully chamber a round in any lever action when cycling them while unloading. Just lever the bolt far enough forward so the extractor engages the cartridge fully and then reverse. By doing so with the Savage, if you look at the sear engagement as it's happening you'll notice that said engagement is a healthy ½" or so making it impossible for things to slip and discharge a cartridge halfway into the chamber. The sear engagement doesn't drop down to a RCH until the bolt is fully seated forward. Of course if one "slip closes" a pre-mil 99 on a live cartridge then the firing pin is resting in the fired position squarely up against the primer, but with nothing inside the action that could whack the pin and cause a discharge (the 99 pin and hammer are one piece, driven by a heavy spring inside the bolt). I would definitely rate the 99 (pre-mil) as being safer than the average vintage hammer gun in the hands of a newbie. It still boils down to being totally familiar with one's gun to ensure safe handling.

I like it, but it is all about the package it comes in. Nothing against Savage 340s (although I think this makes a great youth gun in .30-30, especially if you reload), Remington 788s or Winchester 54s, but I have no interest in a bolt action .30-30. My Winchester 70 .308 is my go to hunting rifle, and I think the .30-30 is a big enough step backwards in the same package as to make it not worthwhile. Of course many .30-06 or magnum shooters would say the same about my .308.

However, my 94 Trapper makes the .30-30 worthwhile to me. It is light, slick and handy. It fits in my daypack for hiking, and carries nicely in a scabbard in my Jeep. The handy factor means it's a rifle I nearly always have at hand. That makes the .30-30 a very good cartridge in my eyes. The ballistics match the rifle, which is plenty good for me. If I lived back east, it would probably see more serious hunting use, but where I hunt, I want 200 yards to be a chip shot, not an achievement. I also want 300 yards doable. I'm not a long range hunter by any means, just a bit farther than .30-30 territory.

I am a bow hunter and use to killing with sharp pointy sticks. Give me a M94 30-30 and it's like giving a cave man a Zippo lighter. I have killed so much game with my 30-30 that I really don't need another long gun. It makes you be a better hunter. If you can't get closer to kill than what a 30-30 was designed for, then you need to work on your hunting skills and not your shooting skills. Optimally, I want to set up for a shot under 150 yards with any rifle caliber. That's just how I hunt. It is what I grab when I want to run up on the Mountain. Low tech and just works.

I like it as well but will use a 260, 270... first. I had a Savage 340 in 30-30 that I shot a buck with right behind the front right shoulder but the bullet must of clipped a bone somewhere. The bullet went in and then made a left hand turn at Albuquerque and went straight down the middle before coming out the bottom of the deer near the stomach. Did not hit the stomach but it did clip the heart and of course one lung. I shot it in a field and the buck took off into the woods and of course it was a half hour before dark. So, I went in after the buck and heard him get up and run so I backed out until the next day.

The next day I went in after him and found a large blood spot marking where the deer laid down before I pushed him. I then followed the trail out to another field owned by a huge insurance company and there laid my buck about a hundred yards from the tree line. Unfortunately, for me a dog or a coyote got part of one of the hams during the night.

My one unfortunate incident is just that, unfortunate. My brother in law and nephew have killed many deer with the 30-30 with one shot and the deer was DRT!

This describes me pretty much.

very well wrote and posted on this site,glad someone else knows how to use a savage 99 ! got any extra 99`s for sale ?

Love it, but both of mine, a 1951 vintage Marlin Carbine and a 1947 94 are in 32 Special. Can I play?

Lucky dog on the .32 Specials. I have .30-30 and a .35 a Remington, both Marlins of 1951 vintage. The .32 Special will complete the modest collection. Of course you can play.... Any of the three are a blast to hunt with.

Love my .30-30. And all my lever guns, for that matter.

Top to bottom, Marlins in .45-70, .375 Win, and .30-30, with a Browning B92 .44 Mag.

I love the 30-30. It's probably a sentimental thing. My folks bought me a Marlin 336 in 1977 (I think) when they realized I had caught the deer hunting bug. I've used it with the original sights, peep sights and a variety of scopes. I still take it out for a walk every season. It's also pleasant to shoot compared to most of my other deer rifles.

Jury is still out... I bought a marlin 336a 3030 with a 24 inch barrelvand Monte Carlo stock and put a leupold 1-4 shotgun scope on it. It makes little 1 inch groups with hornady le rounds at 100 yards.

I shot a buck at 220 yards that went a ways. Not a perfect shot so I can't blame the cartridge yet.., but I switched to my 3006 because shots were a little long for the 3030...and flattened two deer drt. Noticeable difference.

So I will practice more with it at longer ranges an learn to love it within its limits. The bad part is the cost of the hornady le ammo is worth it, but a lot more than basic 3006 ammo.