I have always felt the 30-30 was the 2nd most over rated cartridge, right behind the 35 Rem. Both have killed a lot of game, wounded a lot of game too. The 6.5X55 and 7X57 predate the 30-30 by several years, are much better with about the same recoil and have been used to take every animal on the planet. Both the 30-30 and 35 Rem were a step backwards in cartridge development. The 30-30 is mostly an American thing and owes most of its popularity to the "Cowboy" movies that were so popular from the 1920's-1960's rather than actual performance on game.
For the record I own about a dozen levers, mostly in 30-30 because I like em. But I'm also a realist.
