Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters A real writing on the 30-30

I always thought the 30-30 was relatively high on the highest selling reloading die list.

Whelen wrote similar wise words.

Dr. Henry Stebbins was pretty straight forward in his appraisal of the .30-30 and the .35 Remington in his books How to Select and Use Your Big Game Rifle and in Rifles A Modern Encyclopedia.
FcC. News in Practical Dope on the Big Bores gave both cartridges a careful look.

Nah, I don't have any proof of that.

I will say that there are times when I have to wade through waist high stag scat to get to the end of some posts.



I'm still waiting to get my 30-303 back from the gunsmith. It's beginning to worry me.

I'm playing with a 6x45mm rifle I built on a Savage action.

I'm trying to put up two radio antennas before the bad weather hits, and hunting season goes into high gear.

And as always, there's the marriage thing that throws a wrench into my plans. After 34 years, she hasn't learned a thing...

Steve, thanks for the reply and I understand the wading.

SO, the 30-303 will be like a 30-30 "stout". (30-30 magnum?)

Also understand the marriage thing, mine is moving (for work) again. 3rd time in 5 years or so. Probably gonna impact hunting season again. Oh well, gotta love 'em.

Enjoy the rest of 2016 and enjoy the rifle when it's done.

Geno

Townsend Whelen wrote of lever action rifles and the .30-30 in The Hunting Rifle, 1940,

Pg. 66: Nevertheless I do think that for the average sportsman who uses the rifle only for deer in the forested country of Eastern and North Eastern America, the lever action is the preferable weapon - that is he have better success with it.


Pg 253: Most of the deer I have shot with the .30-30 cartridge did not go 10 feet from where they were hit.



When we think of older subsistence hunters and men who hunted over long periods on foot or horseback we tend to forget they did not consider “Camp Meat” as game killed.
S. R. Truesdell wrote the Book: The Rifle And Its Development For Big Game hunting. This book compiles what the great hunters used, how long they used it and gives some thoughts on how they used them.

Here is the “Money Quote” for Steve:

Pg 254: I have always thought that the experiences of any one man, no matter how much he had hunted, were too short, and not varied enough to permit him to safely form an opinion from his experience alone that would be a reliable guide.

I think that ones own experience should be supplemented with the experiences as laid down in good books to be most useful of all, because the writer of a book usually has had very extended experience, while the writer of a magazine article may be merely a youngster just breaking into print after having killed his first deer and moose, and he often lacks the background and experiences of our older and greater hunters, men who have killed, not one or two, but hundreds of animals, we are struck by certain facts. The more experience a man has the more liable he is to use a cartridge which records shows to have an absolutely adequate killing power. We do not find experienced hunters using inadequate arms, nor do we find them using extremely powerful ones.

It would be interesting to try the Barnes 110gr TTSX in the .30-30. They are designed for the .300 Blackout and would be fairly speedy in the old round. Of course, not for tubular magazines.

Not saying these would somehow be better than a .30-40, or .308, but might extend the usefulness of a particular rifle.

Re. the 35 Remington vs 30/30. My uncle hunted a lot with a 35 (Remington Model 8) and it killed just fine but this on whitetails. It didn't seem to kill any better than a 30/30 and was not in the same class as my 303 or my other uncle's 30/06.
I've been messing with a 30/30 in a Ruger No. 1A over the last couple of weeks. If it was mine, I would AI it but it actually does pretty well the way it is. 150 spitzers at 2500+ makes it a different cartridge.
I also think the Winchester Model 64 is one of the best-porportioned rifles ever made. They are one where just carrying it makes for a good hunt whether or not you shoot at anything. GD

bangeye,

.30-30 dies sell pretty well because there are millions upon millions of .30-30's out there, but the percentage of .30-30 owners who handload is low--the reason .30-30 factory ammo is also way up there on the best-seller list, even though very few people use the cartridge for target or varmint shooting.

They're not all gun writer's but your post has generated some pretty interesting posts on the .30-30 so far.

Yeah, I was thinking that for a cartridge well over 120 years old it still generates a lot of talk – 89 posts so far.

My gunsmith has not answered my calls or emails. I hope he is well or on vacation.

I have another thread about the 30-303. It's the same as a 308. 2500 fps with a 180 gr. bullet. I was tired of using different diameter bullets. A 308 is merely a rimless 303.