Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Van Zwoll & 30-30 on elk

I have killed too many deer with a .30-30 to downplay it's abilities. Used within it's capability, it's a very good deer-killer. I have never used it on elk, but judging from what I have seen with deer, bear, pigs, etc., I wouldn't be afraid to. I have better-suited rifles, but if a .30WCF was all I had, I would have a go at it.

Sorta funny, everyone talking about energy and fps.
Hunting for meat took place for hundreds of years with nothing better than black powder and lead-lots of smoke, recoil, and veeeerrrryyyy slooowwww projectiles, but these were used, pretty commonly, and pretty effectively at ranges cited here.
If I recall correctly, most of the hoopla about the 30WCF was its flat trajectory-which, if compared to black n lead, was flat indeed. Pundits of the day were saying it was effective well past 200 yards.
Now, it may be possible that in a little over 100 years, Elk have begun donning kevlar, and can only be killed with super bullets and super velocity found in cutting edge bolt gun cartridges...then again, its also possible the Martians have landed.
The great thing about the 30WCF is that while a good bullet sure helps, its not the final word. Light weight, light recoil, power to drop game well beyond paper ballistics. These are why the 30WCF, and the carbines chambered for it, will always be popular.
Good luck, n good shootin.

Mak,

So is your choice of an open country elk rifle a 30-30? Of course people look at energy and fps. We are far more informed and educated about ballistics then people ever were back when it came out. Does a 30-30 work for elk? Absolutely. But it has limitations and we should know them, along with everything else we shoot. We know the 30-30 took tons of elk back in the day, but do you hear about the tons of elk that got away? Nope. Does it mean it didn't happen? Nope.

When you look at a caliber for your hunting, doesn't ballistics come into play? I imagine so.