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

just proper handloading in general does that

No reason other than a want, but I have always had the urge for an inexpensive single shot 30-30.

I have a custom 336 done by DRC and David Henry.
Barrel cut to 17", HD mag tube and spring/ follower, trigger and action job, metal melted down, wood thinned and reblued to 650 grit polish... Probably 1600 into it without the Leupold 1.75-6.
You'd better belive it gets hunted.

My experience with the .30/30 has all been with the Winchester 94 carbine and I love them as much as the cartridge. This is one of my .30/30's, a 1952 '94 carbine.



This was the next day -




The next picture doesn't show much, it's the last one I shot with a .30/30.

This one is a 1970's Winchester, which was a good vintage for '94's too I reckon.



Here is another one: it's also from 1970's, and is pretty much mint. It is the most accurate '94 carbine I have used. With 170 grain bullet I get 2120fps and with 150's I get 2231fps. At 100 metres with factory sights it will shoot five rounds into 1.5 inches of both loads. (As well as the only brand of factory ammo I tried in it.)
This is good, but the others have all shoot two 2.5 inch groups at 100. I have had four '94 carbines and they all shot well, never had one that didn't, and all with factory open sights.
I shoot very well with the bead and round rear sight on a winchester, and no less well than with the Lyman or Williams receiver sights, which I no longer use as I think for a hunting rifle the open sights with a bead is better.

Love those pics CH! Makes me want to dust off my '94 which hasn't been in the woods for a decade.

JDK - "...inexpensive single shot 30-30. " Do they still make the H&R/NEF Handi-Rifle in .30/30? Can they be found? Neat little rifles...have an H&R in .357 Magnum now rechambered to .357 Maximum for grins and have a blast with it. Homesteader

remington shut H&R down sometime back.
there are lots of firearms to be had, but
no new production from remington. i have
a suspicion they'll shut marlin down too.

For a long time our local shops had all sorts of them on the racks. Usually for pretty short $$. Now I hardly ever see them.

I have heard that Henry is (or will be) making a single shot in the near future.

I had a pair of H&R 158 Topper mannlichers in 22 Hornet and 30-30 in the mid-1980s. They were reasonably well balanced, shot OK, and were fun to shoot woods loafing rifles, but the triggers were crappy.

That won't happen. They just completely retooled Marlin.

I inherited a 30-30 that my dad bought for a deer hunt in Alabama back in the early '90s. It killed it's first deer this year, my son's first buck!


He handles it well enough and the property lays out such that I'm seriously second guessing getting him a bolt action 243 this year...

Most excellent pointer. I've learned to not fix anything that ain't broke.

My first cf rifle given to me was a Marlin 336c in 30-30 for my 12th Christmas. My dad worked for Marlin back in the 50;s and 60's and smoothed the action for me and had friends at Marlin restock it in some nice wood and checkered. Shot my first deer with it and a rifle I will never get rid of, even though I have been offered good money for it. It takes an occasional walk in the woods every year, really should use it more.

Over the years I have owned a few Marlins, a couple of Winchesters and all shot well for the majority of hunting here in the Northeast(would work for 90% of shots presented). Just went to LW bolt actions about 15 years ago and never looked back.

I have handloaded the 170 partitions and would have confidence in shooting most game animals with them but for deer hunting, factory ammo is cheap and at 2000-2200 fps the C&C bullets work just fine.

I have a 336BL sitting in the safe never shot from the North Haven factory and asking myself whether I should set it up and shoot it or sell and pass it to someone to put to good use.

As for a pump gun, the Savage 170 has a loyal following and looking for one at the right price to play with.

JDK - "No reason other than a want, but I have always had the urge for an inexpensive single shot 30-30." Have 2 Marlin 336's but still purchased a new H&R Handi-Rifle in .30/30 a few years back...great fun. Nowday's I understand H&R's are no longer available. Progress I guess. Homesteader

Carried one every fall in AK for moose until 2 years ago. Had some issues with irons and not being able to see between the sticks and stems to make a clean shot.

I use 30-30 rifles and a contender now and again, because I want to.

Yes I have needed one with more range once... but it wasn't that big of a deal really.. just didn't shoot that one.

When I'm in a situation that I feel the need to kill regardless I bring a much bigger stick that has some extra range to it.

I don't often have that situation anymore.

If you can, try to get the seller to let you run a few cartridges through it to insure that it will extract and eject, before you buy a Savage 170. GPC still has the extractor parts, but they are pricey, and although I looked, I couldn't find anyone who had the ejector parts.

I know this because last year I ended up buying three Savage 170s so that I could borrow parts from one to make the other two fully functional.

When we were teens my buddy hunted with a Savage 170 30/30. That gun had a great feel to it although the trigger was really stiff. Still, I'd probably snag one if one came my way. Same way I feel about a Glenfield 30 with the half magazine.

For a rattly tinny el-cheapo pump gun, the 170's I've been exposed to were rather accurate shooters. One kid comported himself well with one 35+ years ago at the Cast Bullet Assoc. National Matches, production class.