Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Questions for the 30/30 crowd

Yes, I have three 94 Winchesters in 30-30, they are all loaded with 170 gr Partitions and RL-15, reason being, shots are often close at fleeting deer and pigs, shot placement angle may be anything from a front on chest shot at 50 yards, or a shot through a ham to get up into the vitals for a quick clean kill.

Believe me, the 170 NPT's never disappoint, it is an amazing penetrator.

I have more hunts behind me than ahead of me and never owned a 30-30, so a couple years ago I thought I better get one.

Around here you can find ammo in an amazing amount of retail stores. Gas stations, hardware stores, grocery stores, bait shops, big box stores, sporting goods stores and gun shops.

Good ammo is so cheap I don't think I will start reloading for it.

Oh and it kills good size Wisconsin and UP-Michigan Whitetails.

(circa) 1969 Marlin 336C

As others have said in several ways...........


what seems to be lost on most hunters/shooters today is that the largest, heaviest, and some of the greatest trophys to grace a man-cave were taken with cartridges that are considered 'Pedestrian' when compared to todays offerings.

While there may be a niche that only the 'hyper-sonic-earggenshplittenloudenboomer' will fill, the reality is that 'most' big-game is taken in about the same conditions as they were a 100yrs ago, maybe a little more distant, but on average probably not much...

Bottom line, the 30-30 worked then, and it works today........

I like the .30/30 that much that I killed a large Bull Moose with mine.

I was on the porch of the cabin we hunt out of and I had my old marlin 30-30 loaded with Win 170 gr Power Points and we have a metal target at 300 yards maybe 3 ft by 2 ft and all the younger teenagers that hunt there had their 7 mags and 30-06 with them and I told them I bet I could kill a deer with this open sight 30-30 about as far as they could with their rifles and the laugh and said I would be lucky to kill one at 50 yards. I said you really think that. I picked up the 30-30 and shot five times at the 300 yard target and rung it four out of five shots of hand with open sights. The look on their faces was priceless. I told them the 30-30 leaver action was killing deer long before the magnums was even invented. They all now have a different opinion of the 30-30.

My son heckled me about my little .30-30 pop gun the first year he deer hunted with me. He had to have a .270 as his first deer rifle because it was much faster, flatter and "more powerful" than my slow, old, under powered {his words} .30-30. Long story short we both killed bucks that morning. As it happened they were near twin 6 pointers of near equal size. His ran 75 yards after taking a 130 grain core lokt through the lungs. Mine went 20 yards after taking a 170 grain Silvertip through the lungs. He never picked on my pop gun again after that.

i've been told that a bunch, and i always laugh when they say it.
i've killed deer and pigs with a "slow" arrow at less than 300FPS
and with old obsolete muzzleloaders that probably won't make too
much over 1000-1200FPS, and they all bled profusely and ended up
in freezer bags. i think too many these days try low pecentage
"hail mary" shots and think that dollars spent on equipment will
somehow make up for poor marksmanship and lack of practice time.

I have a top eject Winchester that is mostly used with mild powder and cast bullets. It's my porcupine defense gun when I take the dogs for a walk. It is nearly as handy as a handgun, and considerably more accurate for me.

Never have used it for deer, but carry it more than any other rifle I own.

I have shot several, and never lost any, deer with the 30-30.
Winchester's new and old, Marlins old and older. In hemlock thick woods or overgrown farm land, if I remember to hold the trigger back as I cock it, so as to avoid the click, I've never had an issue. I once spooked a nice 6-8 point in a snow stilled wood lot with that click. It was about 20 yards away and an older deer I'd hunted for two years prior. I missed it one year with a side lock and wised it up about that hammer click.

After seeing and reading what people are trying to come up with for first deer rifles or beginners or children's guns I've come to think that an economical, simple bolt action rifle with a little stock adjustability chambered in 30/30 would have a niche. Birch or synthetic stock, maybe removable spacers for butt length, about a 20 in barrel, sights!, with receiver sight option. Add a scope later once they get the fundamentals of marksmanship. The 30/30 would provide a moderate recoil with the capability to take medium game out to reasonable ranges for new hunters.

If ever really outgrown, it would still make a good truck or cabin gun, or set aside for the next generation.

Savage? Ruger? Anyone interested?

Well the Savage 340 was a good seller in .30/30 for a number of years. Then people lost interest in the Trienta-Trienta in a cheap bolt gun.

1. Yes.
2. All of the reason you mention in addition to not needing anything more for where I use it. I have neither need nor desire for anything "more" for whitetails within 200 yards.
3. Point blank to 200 is no problem and that's where I use it. Contrary to what the fire'd have you believe, 95+% of deer are killed closer than 200.
4. I've never had it in hand and wished I'd have had another in its place at the time.
5. The 170 cor lokt out of a 30-30 @ 2100 fps/muzzle is what inspired my most recent project: 7-08 dedicated to 162 Hormadys which'll do 2700 @ the muzzle with far superior slipperiness. Knowing the range and effectiveness of the former really brought to mind just how effective (and with minimal recoil) the latter could be at extended ranges.

Got me a nice dink this year with my Sav 99 in 30 WCF or was it 30 smokeless...?

When I used to get two deer a season, I always used a .30-30 for the doe tag. I still like my .30-30 for walking when getting a deer or not is not a big deal. The funny thing is for most shots it is enough. With a scope I felt comfortable with .30-30 to 200 yards. I no longer have a scope on my .30-30 though...I carry it it, with ghost ring peeps, when I want a handy, easy to carry rifle. I feel comfortable with those sights out to 100 yards, but further than that it just covers up too much deer for me.
One of the posters noted that an open sighted .30-30 lever action is almost as handy as a handgun. I'll second that. With a thin receiver you can wrap your hand comfortably around, a short 20" barrel, and great balance with a magazine full of cartridges, it is far handier than a scoped bolt action, but far easier to shoot accurately than a handgun (for me anyway).

1. Yes, I am still occasionally shooting rifles chambered in 30/30 or 30 WCF.
2. I own a lot of rifles, but like the Marlin 336, Mossberg 472/479, and Savage 1899, 99, 170, and 340 series.
3. I hunt, mostly, harvested grain fields with pockets of thick cover along creek-bottoms and over-grown Osage Orange fence row boundaries. Regardless of what I hunt with, I hunt within the capability of myself and my equipment. When I carry a 30/30 I probably limit myself to 200+/- yards with a scoped rifle and 100+/- yards with rifle that isn't equipped with optical sights.
4. Needed, no. Wanted, yes.
5. I think that the 30/30 is a very capable cartridge when used within its performance envelope.

A 30/30 is always a good choice for a camp/farm/ranch/truck gun because you can buy factory ammo everywhere I've traveled in the U.S. and Canada. When I was in high school, one of my friends didn't come from a hunting family and used to tag along with me. Neither he, nor anyone in his immediate family owned a CF "deer" rifle, so I loaned him a complete kit, including a Marlin 336SC in 30/30. He liked so much that he ended up trading work, probably cutting, splitting, and stacking firewood, with my Father for it after I'd left home. Just recently, I was texting with him and he told me that he had taken 28 deer with it over the past 40 years, which isn't a bad record of success for a guy who only hunts deer in VT.

I use my .30-30's often for target and varmints.. Haven't shot any big game with them for a while.. Probably the last was antelope.. 7 or 8 years ago shot a nice 4 x 4 mulie with my Marlin.... Very capable caliber.. I prefer it to the .243 for my hunting under 200 yards...

I like my old Marlin, it's smooth, light enough, and a lot of fun. It puts the "huntin'" back in deer hunting.

Whacking deer with a .270 is fun, too, but after awhile, you wanna get back to basics, slipping around the woods with a handy and light rifle.

Frankly, an old Winchester 94 is more fun to carry, though my eyes won't let me use the irons worth a damn any more.

I don't even have to load for it, factory stuff is "good enough" and cheap, too.

I simply enjoy hunting with a lever gun, in .30-30, more than a bolt gun. This is especially true in the mountain region of my state. It just handles better than a bolt gun IMHO. Here in N.C., my longest shot is about 180 yards, making the
30-30 ideal.

Nostalgia is a certainly a factor, in that my .30-30 was originally my Grandpa's. You can imagine how humbled that I will be when each of my kids take their first deer with their Great Grandpa's rifle. Don't get much better than that!

My .30-30 will be my primary hunting rifle until I am gone. Simple as that.

Thanks to all of you.

One gentleman mentioned he thought there was a niche for a 30/30 in a bolt action. Has anyone other than Rem. in the 788 ever chambered one in a bolt gun? I would see a greater chance of one being chambered in a pump, but given today's climate for gun manufacturers I doubt it happening...but what do I know.

Given my duty to be a patriotic American, I do see the need to get one. I will try to take care of that sooner rather than later.

The .30-30 came in the Winchester model 54, Savage 340, and Stevens 325. There was also a Springfield labeled Savage but I forget the model.