Home Forums Lever Action Central Big Bore Levers .307 winchester

I know Winchester marketed the model 94 in .307 Winchester as a Big Bore.What is the general consenus on the .307,should it be considered a big bore since it basically shoots the same bullet as the 30-30 at higher velocities.I own a 94 in .307 Win. and have thought about this question many times.My opinion is no but would like to hear others.It is a really versatlile caliber and I wonder why it never caught on.

I have allways looked at Winchesters term Big Bore as a description of the rifle. The increased power of the rifle cartridge combination if you will.

I have all of the Winchester Big Bores and the .307 is my favortie of the lot. I have had more "one shot dropped in its tracks" kills on deer with the .307 than any of the others.
Initialy my problems with the .356 were bullets that were too tough for the game I was hunting. I was using the 220 Speer and our little West Texas deer did not offer enough resistance. Switching to the 200 grain bullets changed my results.
The .375 is a quick killer using the 200 grain Sierra bullet.
Still the .307 with the speer 170 grain bullet is the champ. This bullet driven at 2350 to 2400 fps has good penetration and the bullet holds together very well.
I have never been really happy with the 150 grain bullets in my rifle. The 130 grain Speer is very accurate and a quick killer on broad side shots. I have not tried this light bullet on deer in motion. The 130 grain bullet is a good coyote killer.
Until recently my most accurate shooting from the bench was with the 130 grain bullets. Recently I have equaled and slightly reduced my group soxes using the Barnes X 150 grain bullet and Alliant Reloader 15. Hodgdon Varget works well with the Barnes bullet as well.
I have always felt the gunwriters killed the Winchester Big Bore rifles and cartridges. Still there were a few champions out there. Rick Jamison had some good words, Layne Simpson stood right up and told everyone who would listen that "the .307 Winchester is the best cartridge ever developed for a tubular magtazine lever action rifle". Ken Waters followed right behind with similar words. Al Miller wrote several articles championing the .356. But in general everytime a gunwriter mentioned the cartridges they always found a way to add a discouraging word about blunt bullets and lack of accuracy. I also have a .444 and a .45-70.
The only area the .307 lags behind the rest is with cast bullets. I shoot paper patched bullets in mine with excellent results.