Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 30-30 misconceptions

I spent the day hunting with my cousin on a lease he shares with two other guys. As they were discussing which stand to place everybody in I was questioned on what I had brought to hunt with. I had grabed my Glenfield 30-30 that is currently wearing a fixed 4x.

They imediatley said well he needs to go down to the stand by the river. A ladder stand over looking a small greenfield about 75yds long. Now I was fine going where ever, but I thought I'd mention to them that I was comfortable out to 200-250yds with my rifle and load (160gr Hornady flex tips). If this short field was one of the better fields I didn't want to be the guest taking the best spot due to some missconception on range limitation.

You would have thought I'd said something like 500 or 600yds. Those guys really thought the 30-30 was a 100yd and under rifle.

After my recently shoulder injury at work I'm trying to stay away from my 30-06 for a while so I'm hunting the 30-30 100% of the time for the rest of the season. I don't feel that limited by it, but those guys sure thought it was a hinderance.

Anyone else run into situations like that?

They are thinking WRA 94 w/170 FPs. A Marlin w/a 4X and flextips is 200 yards on deer anyday. They wanna give you the best spot cause they iggerent take it !

If you think the .30-30 gives you a bad rap, take a .45-70 next time...

Ya, I have hunted with an 1895G a lot, but those 405gr beartooths would be well over my recoil limits right now!


Funny thing is, even with the standard 170gr fp load from hornady, sighted in at 100yd zero you are only going to be about 10" low at 200yds. That is still holding on hair for even our small Alabama whitetail.

Yep, about 99% of the time I mention a 223/223AI for deer hunting.

My dad , back years ago pulled some amazing shots with his old 30-30 , including a stepped off 478 yd shot at a standing deer, I read some years latter ( beware the man with only one gun , he will know how to use it ). Dad has long since past away but that old 30-30 was his standby for many years, even after I gave him a new Remington 30-06 that shot real good and he still hunted with the 30-30 with open sights and I know he never felt under gunned , Happy new Year jrhweldon

I have no qualms about using a .30-30, and on game bigger than deer.

And even with the 170 flatpoint load, 200 yards is very doable.

I hunted with a Marlin 336 this year. Mounted a fixed 4x like you mention and hunted with factory Remington 170 grain HP's. I took a couple with it, and then my son pestered me to swap rifles with him because he wanted to use it. That morning he bumped one off with it too.

More than likely, I'll hunt with it again. I was very impressed with the way the .30-30 works. That is, with low noise, and low recoil.

There are several new bullets available to handload now, and with the different powders becoming available, who knows what the old .30 WCF might grow into.

I'll say this though, if it never makes anything more than it is today, it is a very good whitetail cartridge.

My twin to the 30-30, the .32 Win Spl was reinvigorated with the LeverEvolution loads. Now the LeverEvolution powder is out on the shelves, coupled with the Hornady Flextips, and my old '94 is a true 250 yd deer getter.

Funny thing about the 30-30. For years it was touted that it was only a 100-150yd gun for deer. The minute they started making the TC single shots way back when they were suddenly 200yd deer hunting handguns! The ol 30/30 is good out to whatever you are confident at. Seems the gun industry just keeps going in circles every year lol.

javman

The .32 Special is a great hunting cartridge too. In reality, I know that folks out west get to stretch out more often than we do on this side of the Mississippi, but if I stay here, on my side, there is very little shooting that I can't take care of with a good .30-30 or .32 Spl.

Yes Matt, the .30-30 is under appreciated for sure. Great easy-recoiling cartridge & rifle. Best of luck on your hunt, and I hope that shoulder heals up soon, so you can start slinging .458" slugs downrange!

Merry Christmas! Guy

I think that the 30-30 is more than enough for the way I hunt. In fact, I just bought a used rifle in 30-30. A TC Contender G2. My buddies all laughed when I told them I bought a 30-30. They are all stuck in the 300 Mag group.

Dale

Forgive them, for they know not what they do.

30/30 you say here is an oldie it's my Grandads old .30 W.C.F. Winchester with a 26" half round/half octagon barrel. It has a Serial Number of 342xxx. It still puts a 150 Grain bullet were you point it.



The Rifle was given to my Grandad new by a cousin in Oregon. IT was originally purchased as a special order gun from Portland Hardware on Portland, Oregon. The cousin would buy ten or more rifles every year and gave them to family and friends.

My Grandad told me the story of how he had acquired the rifle but I didn't know the full story behind the rifle until a few years ago. I had met a hunting partner a few years ago and we got to talking and it turns out that it was his grandad who gave my grandad the rifle and he filled me in on the rest of the story. When we met neither one of us knew we were related in any way.

Years ago, I was stationed at Ellsworth AF Base, South Dakota. I invited some of the younger guys to go on an elk hunt to Colorado with me because I knew the area well. An assortment of bolt action rifles were evident but one young man from Tennessee uncased his new Winchester angle eject 30-30. His 4X Bushnell scope was mounted in high "see through" mounts. You would've felt badly to hear the unkind comments from these first time elk hunters.

To make a long story short: the Tennessse man kiled a fine 4 X 5 bull with two quick shots into the chest organs. Distance was approx 150 yards or so. His 170 grain bullets DID NOT bounce off!! Only one other guy downed a bull. I never fired a shot that trip. So it goes.

The old 30-30 is more popular than ever before. Want evidence? These makers build NEW 30-30 rifles:
- Winchester
- Marlin
- Mossberg
- Henry
- Rossi
- Thompson Center
- H & R

In summary, 30-30 is popular because its a well balanced cartridge that provides good performance with moderate recoil. Rifles are attractive and well balanced. New style ammo by Hornady has flattened trajectory considerably. Plain style ammo provides excellent penetration and expansion.

Sherwood

I think people's perspective of the .30-30 has been as much influenced by the rifles it's chambered in as the cartridge itself. 30 years ago, it seems to me that most people would say that bolt rifles tended to be a bit more accurate than levers. These days, my impression is that there is a growing preponderance of shooters whose attitude (and belief) is that "Bolt rifles are accurate. Pumps, levers, and semis are not. Period. And I must have a MOA rifle or I can't hunt". And yet every .30-30 I've had could shoot 1.5 MOA or better.
The longest shot I've seen with the .30-30 was about 20 years ago in Alberta. A friend of mine dropped a decent 10-point whitetail, DRT, in a fairly level field. The rifle was a Winchester 94 carbine with a Williams 5D peep sight. Ammo was factory fodder; Rem 170-grain CoreLokt. We paced the distance off at, as I recall, 257 paces. We figured an honest 210 yards.
The .30-30 will certainly get the job done at the hunting ranges I usually shoot at; I have yet to shoot any game animal beyond 175 yards, and don't really expect to.

i took an addax last month with my savage and flextips. 3030 works fine just point it right!

For thirty years I've used a .308 to kill 100+ whitetails. That said, only 6 of those deer were more than 100 yards away and a 30/30 would have worked just fine.

I've known people who've connected with the 30=30 out to 300 yards. The 30-30 was kind of the .257 weatherby of its day, I've seen custom rifles in 30-30 with folding sights that went all the way out to 500 yards.