Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 30/30 Overkill?????

I have the family lever guns.
My 30-30 was reamed to UBER.
I last shot it in 1972.
It's my "go to" stick.
Thank you.

My only .30-30 is also a Savage 340. (I never liked lever guns.) Mine has an aperture receiver sight, and it is my cast-bullet rifle. Damn near the perfect cartridge for .30-caliber cast bullets: case capacity is not too big, not too small, that long neck was designed to cover grease grooves, and they've had more than a century to perfect bullet design for it. Fun, fun, fun.

Friend of mine in college back at Utah State hunted with an open sighted Savage 340 .30-30.

Preparations for hunting consisted of stopping by the sporting goods store to pick up a box of .30-30 shells on the way out to hunt. Then verify sight-in by shooting at a knot on a tree about 75-80 yards away after we pulled off the highway on the way in.

Took a deer as it ran up a slope opposite him at about 150 yards, put the bullet right between the shoulder blades and dropped it DRT.

He was about as far from being a rifle looney as you can get but he knew how to hunt and knew how to shoot.

I gotta try some cast bullets in mine. What powder and do you run a gas check on them or cast them hard?

I just happened to have some 125 NBT's on hand and said WTH I'll give them a try. Been in love with her ever since.

Have you shot any of those 190gr Buffalo Bore ammo in it?

Definitely agree on the cast bullet affinity. I'm shooting nothing but cast in my old 1955 Marlin 336 SC. The Lyman 31141 gets 2100 fps and will easily stay on an 8" ringer at 200 yards from the kneeling position - this with a 4X scope.

Although just for grins one day I took off the scope and used the issue open sights to whack a slighter bigger gong (about 12x16") 4 out of 4 shots at that same 200 yards. I'll admit here that was about half skill and half luck, but I wasn't going to tell that to the onlookers.


I believe Jack O'Connor was the fellow who quoted an Indian guide as saying "any gun good gun, shoot'em good".

Mine is an old Sauer, outside-hammer drilling with 28" barrels, and the long rifle barrel turns the old round into what might be called the .30-30 Overkill, since it's about 150 fps faster than 20" barreled carbines. It's taken deer and, with the 12-gauge barrels, Huns, sharptails and pheasants. It shoots 170-grain factory loads right to the iron sights at 100 yards--and there's not only an open rear but a folding peep in the tang of the stock.

Took my first deer with my dad's Marlin carbine, a muley doe the size of a Cape buffalo, and it dropped her instantly.

I have accomplished BOTH of those.

I have frequently killed deer between 200--390 yds with 'longer range' rifles. I've also killed deer from the base of the tree I was in--and 20 yds on out with those same rifles. I don't see 'longer range' cartridges being any handicap.

BTW I've also killed deer with 44 Mag handgun which is even shorter and 'handier'. (Pun intended) than any lever rifle.

Again, I'm not ranting, just stating preferences.

If I were ordered at gunpoint to limit myself to one rifle, it would be my M54 Winchester .30-30 bolt gun. It'll plunk ten 190 grain cast lead bullets into an inch all day long, with most going well under an inch, with 8x Unertl scope. Yank the scope and rely on the Lyman 48 and those same bullets will group respectably under 2", and make for a dandy woods deer hunting rig at 1850 fps muzzle velocity. Load it with 150 grain lead plain base bullets and a big pinch of Bullseye pistol powder, and the .30-30 makes for more plinking fun than should be allowed.

I never particularly cared for Winchester/Marlin lever guns, but the Savage 1899 is another story. Make mine a .30-30 or .303 Savage clone (oh, I did!) and again it is all a man could ask for unless pissed off Brown bears are in the offing.

The trick to reliable killing of bigger than life critters with a .30-30 is entirely in bullet selection- the heavier the better- and accurate bullet placement by a cool headed shot. Would a .30-30 or .303 savage be my first pick for a moose hunt? Probably not, but I wouldn't quake in my boots if that were the only thing available.

I'm tempted to throw the BS flag on that story. I'd have to see the bullet recovered from the vitals of the carcass to believe that it was the thutty-thutty that dropped that moose. They are known to stand there for several seconds, like nothing happened, even when hit properly with good bullets from plenty powerful cartridges, then all-of-a-sudden drop right in their tracks or keel over DRT.

I'd also want to know that the carcass was thoroughly checked to make sure it wasn't hit by both hunters before I'd put much credence in the thutty-thutty dropping it by itself.

Another thing, unless it was arranged ahead of time, if I was the other hunter, I'd have been royally pissed when ol' Roy opened up on the moose after my first shot, especially after the guide had said for ME to shoot it.

And I'm not a thutty-thutty hater, I've still got and still shoot my great-grandfather's Marlin Model 1893 take-down rifle. He carried it during the years he was an auxiliary Texas Ranger and it's documented that he killed a murderer with it that they tracked down and cornered in Arkansas, who decided to shoot it out with them. Bad decision on the murderer's part. Great-Granddaddy was known as an excellent shot with that rifle.

Back in late 20's and early 30's my Dad was killing moose with a 30-30 and that was with the commercial cartridge of the day! As to one shot kills I don't know as I was still just a twinkle in his eye. That old 30-30 put a lot of meat on the table. This happened in western Canada. Cheers NC

Keep an open mind. A few are worth owning.






And this poem from Recreation magazine in 1900 seems slightly relevant to the thread.

Yeah, I really like that 99, but would prefer another cartridge.

Sweet Rifle!

I have a few 30-30's in the stack. Couple of M94's, couple of M64's, a Marlin 336 and a Winchester M54 with factory installed receiver sight. All I shoot in them are my home cast bullets.
Someone comments that the shot 190 gr. cast in their rifle. A book if you can find it by Sam Fadala, "Winchester's 30-30, Model 94 is well worth the money. I met him once. Hell of a nice guy. Anywat he's very very fond of the 190 gr. Winchester Silvertip bullet for the .303 Sav. that "Big W" has never seen fit to sell to handloads and uses it only in one of the rare "seasonal" runs they do on that cartridge. He actually pays the uber high prices for the ammo, pulls the bullets, dumps the powder and sells the brass just to get those bullets. I've still got 100 rounds of that 303 Sav. ammo. Last I heard they were selling for around $50+ a box and probably a hell of a lot more these days. Anyway, I cast the RCBS #30-180-FN bullet for my 30-30 and in my alloy get a bullet right at 190 gr. I've taken two der with it so far but 15 others with the Lyman #311291, both bullets loaded in rge 1900 FPS range. I've always felt Winchester screwed up by not providing the 30-30 with that 190 gr. Silvertip or at least making it available to handloader. IIRC, factory .303 Sav. did about 1950 FPS from a 24" barrel and the Savage I had certainly dropped some fairly big Mule Deer quite rapidly.
I don't shoot the 30-30 much anymore as my poor old eyeballs can't properly focus on that front sight. I've since had caratract surgery so maybe the front sight will be more visible but just have not had the time to load up some ammt and go see. pun intended.
Paul B.

I've got a ratty old '94 .30-30 I bought from a biker years ago.

From the bench, it's nothing. Off hand, it's a killing mo-fo.

The thing is, with cast bullets you can duplicate factory ballistics, and in most instances exceed factory performance in a .30-30. The splatter of a flat nosed 190 soft cast bullet out of a .30-30 or .303 Savage is something to behold- and costs pennies to load- a not inconsequential benefit in this day and age of inflated ammo component costs. No bullets to be had? No problem, I'll go to the shop and cast up a big pile of them. The .30-30 is ideally suited to shooting lead because factory ballistics are within the realm of feasability in bullets made from that substance- not the case with larger cartridges. (Speaking in terms of bullets soft enough to expand reliably on game tissue, not hard-as-nails target bullets coaxed to higher velocity out of larger cases.) The .30-30 is pretty darn versatile, no matter where you get its bullets, and the fact it usually comes packaged in a light handy user-friendly package doesn't hurt either.

I'd hunt about anything in north America with one.

Yes.

One of my favorite 3030 vids.
The same guy did a shoulder through shoulder penetration vid w/a cow carcass but I can't find it. I think this guy knows 3030's!

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1E4abzmvio0

I agree! and the next to the last , and the third to the last......