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

After reading the thread on which caliber have you killed the most medium sized game with, I was struck by how many have used this great, old caliber for most of your kills.
1. Are you still using the 30/30?
2. I suppose that you own more rifles than a 30/30, so why do you continue to use it? Nostalgia? Love the rifle? Easy to carry? Etc.?
3. Do you hunt in thick country where long shots are pretty much non-existent?
4. Have you ever needed a rifle while hunting that had more range?
5. Feel free to answer any other question I should have asked...lol.

My reasoning for the questions is, it has been many years (25+) since I have seen anyone in the field with an old Winchester or Marlin lever action. When I was a kid (late 60's-70's), it was rare when we would get together and go hunting with friends/family that there was not at least 1 30/30 in the bunch. I would just like to hear from some of you if you don't mind.

for some reason, there has grown a misconception
that when a bullet fired from a 30/30 reaches
100 yards, it makes a 90 degree turn into the dirt.
i think it's because so many these days read too
many "hunting" magazines, and maybe also that too
many spend too much time playing with a chronograph.
i think too many also spend too much time trying
to justify taking a marginal shot at game when they
should let whatever walk and wait for a better shot.
i've never been anywhere in this state where i
couldn't take game cleanly with a 30/30 with a
reasonable shot being presented. maybe a nilgai.
they'd probably need something a little stouter.

Well stated.

Look at the trajectories of the old cartridges, 44-40, 38-40, 45-70, 45-90, etc. and of course a round ball 45 or 50 cal.

Hunters and market hunters wiped out deer, elk, turkeys, buffalo, and bears in many states with those cartridges.

30-30 is a speedster compared to those obsolete cartridges that decimated game populations before conservation practices came into place.

Most of my deer hunting is northern NY western adirondacks. There are lots of 30/30s still in use, some as only rifles, some alternated.

My choices are a pre-war savage 99 featherweight in 30/30 with a Redfield receiver sight and a scoped .308 (kimber montana). Which one I use depends more on weather and mood than anything else.

Any deer I've taken with the .308 could have been killed with the 30/30 too, but some might have been tough shots because of the sights, not the cartridge.

I have an uncle and a brother that use 30/30s only (savage and winchester), several more cousins that use 32 win special model 94s part time. The problem is as these great old rifles age sometimes they just have to be retired, and there really isn't much for reasonably priced replacements unless you switch to other calibers and actions. For some unknown reason I've never seen anyone hunting with a marlin or Henry lever action.

An iron sighted savage 99 or winchester 94 make just about the best walking deer rifles. Comfortable to carry, quick to shoulder, plenty accurate, and fast follow-up shots when needed.

Come to think about it, I've taken running deer with my iron sighted 30/30 lever that I don't think I could have made the second (or 3rd) shot with a bolt action.

I wouldn't feel too handicapped with a 30/30 out in the country especially with the 190 grain Buffalo Bore load. In close, it will do.

One of my mentors killed a lot of grizzlies with a 30/30 in close with the heavier round nose loads.

Easy to carry and I kind of like that nostalgia.
They can be really accurate too.... this is from a $250 used Marlin I bought... with my 2-7 Burris ballistic Plex on top I can actually ring the gong at 300 pretty easy... brass is easy to find its cheap to load for.

I had a 30-30 M36 when I was in my 20s and in the USMC. I would use it when I came home on leave. I killed a handful of deer with it, as well as a lot of rabbits and coyotes. It was fun.
I sold it and regretted doing so.

2 years ago I talked a friend out of his 336 rifle with a 24" barrel. I put a Lyman peep sight on it and I use 29.2 Gr. of AA 2230 and a 170 Gr Speer flat point. I am very pleases with it's accuracy. I have only killed one deer with it so far, but it's fun to carry and hunt with.

I am old not and I can't see as well as I could when I was a young man, but I carry the 30-30 when I feel like it, and it brings back a lot of found memories.

1. Are you still using the 30/30?

No. Downloaded 308 bolt gun the last couple seasons because my 30/30 has been borrowed.

2. I suppose that you own more rifles than a 30/30, so why do you continue to use it?

I would because I'm used to it. Ain't broke, don't fix.

3. Do you hunt in thick country where long shots are pretty much non-existent?

Yes. Pretty much hunting at bow range.

4. Have you ever needed a rifle while hunting that had more range?

No. Visibility runs out before the 30/30 would be out-ranged.

I like that it's a little quieter and gentler than a .30-06 or such.

Though I used a 308 Win to kill over a 100 whitetails, only six were more the 100 yards away. A 30-30 would have worked just fine.

1. Yes, every year.
2. Nostalgia, and a way of remembering my Father.
3. For the most part, yes.
4. I've pretty much avoided hunting an area that would allow a shot much past 200 yards. I did catch a bunch right at the end of legal shooting hours coming out and took one at 236 yards, about as far as I feel comfortable with. I routinely shoot that rifle to 200 yards at 8" targets, so the deer was pretty easy. It even stood sideways, so it was a classic "Field and Stream" shot. It went 20 yards and tipped over...

My grandfather had two rifles (pre-1900 1894 win 30/30 and a colt lightning 38-40), and six sons. My father and uncles all learned to hunt sharing that 38-40. Some of my older cousins used it too. It's still in the family, but worn out. It got to where it was just tumbling bullets.

It feels more like hunting when I'm carrying a .30/30. It's more fulfilling to me. That's all I hunted with in 2016. I have two. One scoped and one open sighted.

1. I really enjoy using my old 30/30. That said I like all my levers, 30/30, 35 Rem, 375 Win, 45/70.
2. Short, they point good, quick and handy.
3. Most of my shots are from 10-75yds, very rare I reach over 100yds.
4. No
5. Reloading is cheap and easy, factory ammo is about $13 a box if you don't want to reload.

1. Are you still using the 30/30?
Not for several years because where i've been hunting of late shots over 200 yards are probable.

2. I suppose that you own more rifles than a 30/30, so why do you continue to use it? Nostalgia? Love the rifle? Easy to carry? Etc.?
Grew up loving leverguns and still do.. Nothing feels as good in my hands - nothing.

3. Do you hunt in thick country where long shots are pretty much non-existent?
Yes and no, often in the space of minutes rather than hours or days. Being prepared for anything when you are far from your camp or truck means carrying a rifle that is capable of doing whatever you might need it to do.

4. Have you ever needed a rifle while hunting that had more range?
Sure. More than once, but no regrets.


5. Feel free to answer any other question I should have asked...lol.
Ammo questions?
Effectiveness on game?
Types of game taken?

I know, those are more questions, not answers.

Thanks men. I have never owned one. My brother got my uncle's hand me down M94 30/30 and I got his Bulova watch that I put in a drawer...lol. Guess who he loved more than me? But it's been a while since my buddy who owns a gun/pawn shop has called me with an oddball caliber or Ruger that I would want and noticed the other day he has a couple of Winchester lever actions-a 30/30 and a 32. I had already decided if he got in a Marlin in a 35 Rem. I would take it off his hands, but after reading your comments, I might make a trip over there next week and see if one is still on the shelf. They are getting harder and harder to find so there's no time like the present. I do have a lever action, but it is a Win. 88 in 308, so it is a different kind of animal.

It is almost un-American not to own a lever-action .30-30.

If you do get one, strongly consider a receiver sight of some flavor.

I have found that style of sight much superior to the semi-buckhorn, and as I went through my 40s, that superiority increased.

And be prepared to be surprised at the effectiveness if you pay too close of attention to paper ballistics. Used within its' performance window, the lever rifle/.30-30 combo is capable of cleanly taking big game.

Hell, I even have a pistol in .30-30, but I'm not confident in my accuracy with that platform, but I'm quite confident of the round's ability to take game.

I've never really been much of a pistol shot, and I must subconsciously be proud of it because I don't seem to be getting much better.....

I dodged the 30-30 for a long time. I considered it obsolete, slow, boring, blah, blah, blah. A few years ago when my niece and nephew started expressing interest in shooting / hunting, I realized I had a dilemma.

I went to a now deceased campfire member, gunsmith, and all-around great guy, Mickey Coleman, with a simple question. What gun and caliber should I start these kids with? He said that's easy. Let 'em shoot your 30-30. I was almost too embarrassed to tell him I didn't even have one.

Now I have a 30-30 that hardly ever leaves the truck. When I go to the woods, it is automatic that this gun is going. I'm still not real sure how I ever got by without one.

RIP Mickey