Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Buying a 30-30 was a crazy idea.

Great looking rifle, Roundoak. That was obviously a nice piece of Black Walnut that whittled that stock out of.

I remember in our neck of the woods the poor boys shot M94's and the rich kids had 336's with some sort of scope on see thru mounts. The 94's were available at the local discount store for $99 dollars and you knew deer season was coming because everyone started to grow beards. Phone lines at work would be tied up with everyone calling in on opening day to report results. Guy down the road bought 1 box of 30/30's to make sure his scope was on and then used the rest to hunt deer. Wasn't much of a shooter but that box lasted for years and he always had deer meat.

Nothing crazy about picking up a good .30-30. My hunting buddy and I call it "lever action satisfaction". Nothing quite like it.

As a kid I grew up in the '60's shooting an Ithaca Model 49 .22 single shot. It got away from me in '69. Decades later I spent several years looking for one in good shape top replace it. Finally found this one in 2011.


Back in the '80's Dad gave me a Browning B92 in .44 Mag. I still love to shoot that rifle and it has accompanied me as a backup on many a hunt. For years I made it a practice to carry it at least one day every elk/deer hunt.

My first Marlin was a Marlin 375 chambered for .375 Winchester, a .30-30 case blown out to .375. Picked that up in 2001. That rifle jus twhetted my appetite for more Marlins and in 2002 I picked up a pristine 1895 in .45-70. Talk about a fun gun! I've developed more loads for the .45-70 than most any other three or four rifles put together, from low cost, low velocity, low recoil plinkers to elk loads to what I call my "Rhino Blasters", a 460g chunk of hardcast going 1812fps that kills on both ends. (Took me years to shoot one of those with the scope attached.) Then in 2005 I found a 336CS in near perfect condition at a price I couldn't walk away from. That .30-30 has been wonderful fun for all that have shot it.

From top to bottom:
Marlin 1895, .45-70
Marlin 375, .375 Win
Marlin 336cS, .30-30
Browning B92, .44 Mag


Crazy? No, crazy would have been to not acquire them.

Nice collection of fun guns there coyote hunter.

Nothing quite like shooting a lever gun, offhand.

At rocks in the air...

I don't have a lever action right now but I am always looking for a Marlin Model 30TK to replace the one I sold several years ago.

Picked this one up 2 weeks ago because I had the Redfield receiver sight in need of a rifle. Appears someone split coke on the RH side of receiver so it was cheap! Good sound carbine! Born in '53.

The old 30-30 has been made in a lot of models. Here's a few.
Doc

The Sixgun Journal In Defense of the 30-30 Winchester

Never got the scout rifle craze. It is a poor solution to a need that winchester and Marlin addressed 100 years ago.

From utilitarian to just plain beautiful right there! That G1 Contender looks slick. What barrel length?

One of the Campfire Tennessee hunts.

Inherited this one that my sister and I bought my Dad many years ago.

Mike

If I had to do it all over again , I most likely would have went with a 30-30 lever for my deer and bear gun. Really hard pressed to think ya need more for Wisconsin bear and deer. We way under estimate the killing power of them.

Good to see that you are using your Dad's gun.

The third rifle from the left looks like a Winchester 54, the least common of the 30-30 bolt actions that I'm aware of.

Remington 788
Savage 40 & 45 Super Sporters
Savage 340 series is dozens of styles/models/brands
Winchester 54

Nice find!

Cool dog!

You know what they say? Sometimes it is not too late to start over again.

We were living in Calgary at the time (2004 - 2009) and my three son's then spread between 10 and 18 queried why I did not own a M94. "Every gun nut should". So I looked for a bit and on the Canadian Gunnutz forum, that I was very active on, came across a mint 1959 M94 at a very fair price. It was bought and imported back to the US and sits in my safe. It shoots very well and is one that I need to take out and throttle something with.

Thanks guys. I think Dad shot 1 doe with that rifle and that was it. I took the scope off and added XS peep and blade sights.

That dog was the camp/lodge dog she followed me around and then after FVA and I whacked our hogs and posed for pics came over and threw her leg on that hog like she had something to do with it

Mike