Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting .30-30

2002

Here's the story:

Ode to a 30-30


Mooseboy used that Marlin for a few years and then traded up to my M1 Garand for deer hunting. It stayed in the safe for quite a while. KYHillChick shot it a bit just for plinking. Finally Angus came to an age when he was ready for his first deer. He bagged a nice doe with the Marlin this past Fall.

My plans for the Marlin is to retire it from service on deer either this year or next. Angus wants to use a Mosin Nagant next Fall. The Marlin will be repurposed to coyote with lighter bullets.

I never have.
But that is very likely to change this year.
I actually won a super clean Marlin 336 yesterday on a Gunbroker auction.
Comes with sling swivels,hammer extention,and Leupold rings and base.
Pre safety model to boot.
Now to find a decent scope to put on it.
Cant wait to get it!!
Still find it hard to believe i got it so cheaply without some guy out bidding me.
Must be the economy.

Must have been 2004 or so the last time I shot a deer with my 30-30 Marlin 336. I carried it a few times that season and smacked a 7pt at 50 yards with a handload of 150 Rem CL, 32grns H4895, WLR, and R+P brass.

I've taken several nice bucks with that 30-30 and when I think back nearly all of them were DRTs. I shot a heck of an 8pt that scored 136 in the mid 90s. Never forget that one, it was late and I ended up hittin a tree 10 feet my side of the buck, the CL blew through the 1.5" sapling and dropped the buck on the spot. It's a wonder it didn't deflect, but I guess you get lucky once in a while

loder

Just this past fall. Doe, 30 yards, broadside and oblivious. It worked just fine...she ran about 25 yards and that was that.

in 1988 i was 13 and i shot a small doe near my house(my first deer). it was when federal first started loading 150gr. partitions. the bullet passed through both lungs and out the other side. i think since then deer have evolved into a near bullet proof animal needing a minimum of a 30cal. w/180 gr. bullets going at least 3000fps. i still have that 30-30 and shoot it often but i have not had it hunting in about 3 years.

An intersting thread. I would bet it has been since about 1991 or 1992 since I have shot something with a 30-30. I have carried one off and on over the years though. The high light over the past five years was being able to carry my great-grandfathers 1894 Winny, 1895 production, with the 26" octogon barrel in 30 WCF. The only reason I haven't carried one more, especially as of late, is because my Remington 7600 carbine in 35 Remington is getting used almost exclusively.

A friend and I were talking about rifles today and we both wondered why a person needs anything more than a 30-30. One could shoot the Hornady Leverevolution for some extra range if needed. Top it off with quality optics and a guy really could be set. Granted, there are many different hunting scenarios, but for many hunters, why use more?

Back in the early 80's I killed a few deer with 180gr. cast bullets at around 1800fps. Soft lead at that velocity, properly placed in the boiler room, made for some no-fooling-around kills. Certainly on a par with factory stuff.

Fast forward to 2005 'til I killed another one with a .30/30. Savage 99, W-W 170gr. Silvertip. Hit high in the shoulder, smashed spinal column. Bang-flop, needless to say.

Probably the most spectacular shot made with a .30/30 wasn't on a deer. 1992, swung on a running fox at around 75-100 yds in an open field. First shot hit about 2 feet behind him. Second shot at Br'er Fox was probably 50 yds. further on with him now in overdrive. Couldn't tell you how much I led him, but the shot took him through the right eyeball. Talk about luck.

I have killed a mountain of deer and hogs with a Marlin 336 30-30, but though I own five 336's, I haven't carried one afield in a couple of years.

Must have been back in ought-five.

Still hunting into the wind led to snoozing into the wind on a sunny hill side with my 336.

A bit of crunching on the trail behind me stirred me. Slowly I turned my head and there he was...My partner Larry.

I got up off the ground and walked over to the trail for a BS session, BSing into the wind, of course.

It was day 2 or three and none of the four of us had pulled the trigger. It was darn warm and no snow and the deer didnt seem to be moving much, at least not close enough to wake me.

Then in the draw beside us there came a crashing through the down fall(gramp says deer never even walk down there). A doe on the run.

I whistled and she stopped to look at us. Bang, kick, jump. She was hit good and we heard her crash then stop.

"Larry, I shot a deer"

"Whats that noise?!"

"Its the buck!! Whistle whistle whistle..."


The Buck stopped to my whistle and before Larry even saw it the little marlin barked again. I was still whistling when I pulled the trigger. So was Larry. Kick, jump, crash, over the hill and down he went.

"Larry, I shot a Buck"

Both deer took two or three bounds before crashing, which put them both within feet of the logging trail on the other side of the hill.


That story is known in camp as "BSing into the wind". Larry and I often take time to hunt together and some of my best hunting memorys will always be of deer shot by him or me when we hunt side by side.

I killed my first deer, which is still my best racked deer, with my Great Grandad's Win model 94(1927 production) in the 30-30 improved: 32 Win Special. I also used it to put down a wounded hog that my buddy hit too high and back. I must say the pucker factor was high, and I was glad to have the short, quick handling, and fast shooting rifle in my hands over my Kimber 8400 270 WSM.

1974 was the last time I carried a 30-30.

I like that

Last deer shot with 30-30 was in 1985. Now I mostly fireform 30-30 cases to straight case and seat a .379 cast bullet. Can't say it's better than a 30-30, just different.

Norm

Would have been about 2003. My pet Win.M64 " Deer Hunter's Special" 170 gr. silvertip. The year before I aced one with grand dads 1927 vintage M94. Now my eyes are too old even for the receiver sight on the m64, I can't guarantee a quick humane kill, so I went to modern telescopic sights for everything...Da*#! LOVED to hunt with that Model 64!

I have only killed one deer with a Enfield Model 31 30-30. A hundred yard broadside shot to a three point Blacktail. The deer bucked and ran off. Found him 50 yards away with a chest filled with destroyed lung tissue. I have seen three other deer killed by 30-30's. Two of them (lung shot) ran off and died less then 50 yards away. The other dropped in his tracks with a neck shot.

I have never shot a deer with a .30 WCF. I don't even own one right now. There is a .32 special in the safe though, and if the hunting is better next year than it was this year, I may drag it out and try to take one with it.

Never havehunted with one but bought a beat up 336 built 1952, from a dealer friend, I didnt need it; he needed the business. I had another friend refinish and reblue. look's good now and will have to hunt with it.
Coop

I have taken a whitetail every year with my 1953 vintage 336 Marlin since 1996. You just can't improve on that gun. I am a little biased since it was a gift from my Grandpa. He actually handed me the gun and it is my most prised possession. I shoot the new Hornady LE ammo and it does a great job. Both of my kids will use the gun when they are old enough to hunt and I will be proud to hand it down to them!!!!

My only kill with a 30-30 is a "No Shooting" poster at Orange County Public Landfill, Spring 1979.

(Yeah, I know. But teenagers are stupid).

BMT

My 30-30 hold's a special spot to me. The man I bought it from was fighting Lou Gehrig's disease whitch he lost.
The Friend who refinished it is a 84 yr old gunsmith served three yrs with Patton before he had to leave and 1952 happen's to be the year I was born, a lot of memories in a rifle I havent used
Coop