Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters WHY 30-30 NOT 308 Win?

the $14.00 box of cartridges at Walmart, the 15-100 yard deer you always see, the sound concept posted here so often that killing is easy, but opportunity to do so is scarce, the fact that muzzle blast is less and a good rifle can be had for much less than a shiny pot metal trigger guarded Browning Abort in 308.

It's a very under rated handgun cartridge. I have a Pachmayr Dominator in 30/30 that is big fun to shoot.

Brian.

It's not about the calibers used,but the bullets used..It is amazing how so many underestimate the powers of a Flat Point or Round Nosed bullet on game.

Some far surpass what we have to choose from now in killing power.


Jayco

Jayco,

Actually, by saying "oink, oink" efw was showing that he understood the inferrence in my last post wherein I typed "There's my "pearls of wisdom", so to speak. Before whom or "what" they are cast is debateable." That line refers to Christ's admonition to the apostles to not "cast your pearls before swine", or in other words, don't waste time preaching the gospel to those who would not accept it (specifically, the gentiles). The wink he added to the end of his post tells us he meant no flames, just having fun. At least I think so, anyway. Thank God for Paul, the apostle to the gentiles.

No, I don't have that 94 now. I traded it for a good old Remington M740 in caliber 30-06 because I could mount a scope on it and have a rifle with longer effective range. That 740 shot extremely well with my handloads. Actually, I wish I still had both rifles today, but you know how I am with rifles.

I've never been interested in still hunting. I like to stalk. (not claiming to be very good at it, mind you)

A lever 30-30 outfitted with a receiver sight is an excellent stalking rifle for Kentucky's terrain.

I also like the challenge of making a lever 30-30 *work*.

It takes a bit of load development to get accuracy out of the higher velocity loadings,..but that's what makes it fun.

A 6 lb lever rifle that can launch 150 grain bullets at 2400 fps and put them into 3 MOA is a nice tool for a lot of purposes.

I'm in the midst of a 30-30 jones right now,..although the 99 is a .243.

BLC2 and the 130 grain Speer FP makes the 30-30 a poor man's .243.

The .308 has it's place too.

Check out the "Plinking" bullet. Same item number, just in another category....same price, too...

Somebody mentioned earlier it's as much about the guns as the cartridge. That's absolutely true. There's a lot of fine hunting guns out there chambered in 30-30. No reason not to use them just because of a few hundred feet per second.

For scores of hunters the difference in power is meaningless because the shots taken just aren't long enough to matter either way. Dead is dead. I see hunters around here with 30-30's all the time and they do just fine with them. I guess they haven't been reading internet forums enough to know their rifles aren't adequate anymore .



I agree. I'm hunting with the close relative 7-30 Waters in a 14" Contender. Drops 'em plenty fast enough for me. Low recoil. Rimmed cartidge. Dirt cheap 30-30 brass. Long case life. Great accuracy. What more could you ask for?

Quit makin' sense.

Hint:

Those still flat f'kin' work.

Little blast, little recoil, great deer/hog bullets. What more could you ask for?




Inherited this one back from my Dad, My sister and I bought it for him for Christmas one year. Being from Indiana where you couldn't use a centerfire rifle to hunt deer he didn't have a deer rifle.

Mike

I need a 7/30 Waters somethin terrible. I've already got dies, brass and bullets. Now I just need a gun to shoot em out of.

Brian.

I wouldn't mind having a 7-30 waters, but there's not enough different types of flat point bullets available in 7mm to make it interesting.

..........Hint: I agree!.......As a short to moderate ranged brush and timber cartridge, the 30-30 works just fine.

I killed deer this past year with both. The .308 runs the same bullets 500 fps faster, and to me is more of a good, general purpose big game round for light rifles.

I'm sorta on a kick for smaller cartridges for deer, that still do an adequate job. The .30-30 fits that mold nicely, as it has for a long time. A single shot lets you use any bullet you want.

Now all that said, why isn't there a +P .30-30 load? The Contender is also chambered by TC in the .375 Winchester, which is the same head size as the .30-30, and much higher pressure. There's now Ruger #1's in the caliber, and other strong rifles, so it seems to me one could judiciously run the .30-30 a little hotter.

Besides, 30/30 sounds cool, 27/30 would be queer.

Yep.

The rifles chambered for the .30-30 make the cartridge.

The new lever Revolution rounds are real close to a .300 Savage which does everything I need a deer cartridge to do inside of 225 yds. I am OK with killing an elk with one also.

In a Savage 99E or F the .308 without a pad or a scope can be uncomfortable.

Everybody's zeroing in on the .30/30 as a hunting round. It also makes for a mighty fine target rifle, especially in a purpose-built heavy gun and fed cast bullets. In fact I can't think of any other current commercial round that equals it in that capacity. It's case capacity is nearly perfect for a cast bullet launcher IMO.