Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting what has killed more deer...

… the 30-30 or the 30-06? I would expect the 30-30, but don't know? capt david

I’ve read the 30-30

I've long pondered this. I'm certain that when I began hunting thirty some years ago the 30-30 was in the lead but now? I think there's a strong possibility the 30-06 has now passed it. Some folks like to throw the 44-40 into the mix because it was popular in the days before the turn of the century and they say there was more deer then. But the deer here in the east had become scarce by the Civil War and the 38-40 was a much bigger thing around here than the 44-40. Even the 32-20 was more popular. The 44-40 was a big seller out west.

AKA - "Most Iconic Deer Cartridge" -- REDUX

The kids start with the .30-30's, but when they grow up they get a .30-06. That is how it was in my family. .30-30 is a great whitetail cartridge, but in a darn unsafe early lever action M94 or M336. Everything needs to go through the action to unload it and that hammer is back during the process. They were inexpensive and light weight, so lots of first time shooters have them. When one of our guy guys loaned out a rifle to a new guy, it was a .30-30. Ill advised in retrospect. I remember the time we caught a new guy with the .30-30 still loaded in the car with him saying it was too much trouble to unload it.

The .30-30 has killed more at my house. I started with a .30-30 M94. Killed a few deer with it then went to a Marlin 336 in .35 Rem., . then bolt actions in .30-06, 7x57, 243, and back to the .30-30. Still have a safe full of bolt actions but NONE are better or one bit deadlier in the woods where I do my hunting than the old .30-30 and the short, well balanced, slim receivered lever guns carry better than any bolt action.

Considering that deer were almost non-existent in the early through mid part of the 20th century, I'd put my money on the 06.

My best guess would be the .30-06 has killed more deer at this point. As best I recall, the .30-30 was #1 in ammo sales up until about 1960 when the .30-06 finally overtook it. The .30-06 then remained in the top position until about 10 years ago when the .308 displaced it as #1 in the "big game hunting" cartridge category. {the .223 beats them all in CF rifle ammo sales but most of that is probably shot at targets and varmints}. Since there were more deer and more generous bag limits after 1960 than before it is probably more likely that the .30-06 has killed more deer than the .30-30.

I remember when I got mine as a first centerfire way back when, it (a .30-30) was touted as short-ranged and ineffective. The '06 was a logical choice, and the .270 was a strong contender.

The shift from levers to "other" actions was in full swing, with a surprising amount of Remington 742s and 760s being seen.

Based on my personal observations, I'm with the '06.

I still went ahead and chose the Model 94 Winchester, though a Model 70 in .243 was was screaming to go home with me. I handled both in the store, and the little carbine just handled so good.

It proved to be a good choice.

I think the 30-06

I'd say 30-06 and ford f series

I think I read somewhere several years back that the 30-06 had taken over the #1 spot from the 30-30......Hb

Another go-around:

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/6808061/1

I started hunting deer in 1966.During that time period and prior,many rifles that were used were open sights.Shotguns with slugs and buckshot were also used a lot too.Most of the deer were shot at 100yds or less and a 30-30 fit the bill for those shots about as well as any.There were also a lot of cheap old military rifles that could be purchased from Sears or Montgomery Wards.Those rifles were also equipped with open sights and most were not even drilled and tapped for scope mounts.So the old 30-30 had an advantage as a great deer rifle in it's time because you didn't shoot that far and you could shoot follow up shots much quicker if needed and it often was.Optics for the most part,were very poor quality,but it did have an advantage.You could hit better and farther than you could with open sights.By the late 1960's,scopes were getting more common,30-30 started losing it's popularity to flatter shooting rounds like the 30-06 and 270 as well as a whole host of new cartridges.The popularity of deer hunting also began to rise around the late 1960's and I'd say the scope was one of the main reasons for it.I think the 30-30 probably killed more deer than any cartridge prior to 1970.Since 1970,I think the old,ever popular 30-06,has far exceeded the number killed by any cartridge,probably followed closely by the old and ever popular 270 Win.

You might just have something there. Having lived in high Deer population areas I count myself
very fortunate.

I’ve come close on a few occasions. ON Halloween Day, 2011 I was going hunting early before dawn. I saw 2 deer, 1 was antlered buck. The other one I thot was a Doe. BANG into R side of my F 150. Being dark I didn’t even stop.
I knew exactly where I was. About 11 AM I came back stopped and looked. Found dead deer at bottom of embankment.
SPIKE, 1 was broken short >>on my truck door.

A diff year I was riding my Mcy and a doe came out of shadows and I BRAKED as hard as possible w/o sliding out.
My front tire clipped her R hind leg. My handle bars shook slightly.
She was bumped enuff to ANGLE her departure ! Neither deer nor I were injured just shook up.

With a Chevy as a close second........

It would make sense. Deer hunters seem to have this Ol Timey fixation. However, when you think about it, the 30-30 had only a few years' head-start on the 30-06 (1895 vs. 1906) and people were hunting deer with Ought-Sixes long before WWII. Additionally, there weren't all THAT many deer around "back in the day." Deer were well-nigh extirpated from the Eastern US before 1910, and there was generally a moratorium on whitetail deer hunting until the modern seasons were instituted.

Here in KY, they had to import them from MI to start the modern herd. In my county, back in the 60's, the sighting of a deer would have been big news.

I’ve killed one deer with a M94,(my first centerfire) then moved on to several other cartridges including .243, 30-06, and .270. I finally arrived at the best, the 7mm-08. Nationwide, I don’t have a clue what has killed more.

Extirpated! I like that word😄

Only thing I can add is that in a lot of areas of the south, hunters would use buckshot loaded shotguns to hunt deer "back in the day", standing on dirt roads and open areas waiting for a bunch of hounds to chase the deer out of a swamp so they could hopefully get a shot, and as I recall, the seasons were very short. This was the traditional way to hunt since colonial times.

I remember as a little kid my Dad talking about one of his co workers hunting deer by "climbing a tree and waiting because the deer don't look up" as if it were a new thing. This was probably around 1972 and by that time guys could pick from the same group of cartridges most people do today. I would not be surprised if the .270, .308, '06 as well as the 12 gauge has taken more deer than the 30-30 in these parts since the population recovered. People would buy 30-30's for their kids because they were cheap but if the kid stuck with hunting he would eventually get something else. No real need to in most cases, but most people think bigger is better, plus a lot of people put stands on big fields and I guess some of the others would be a better choice for that and still work in the woods.

I think the reason the 30-30 is "iconic" is because while there were few deer around up until the mid 20th century or later, where there were deer were places like the big woods of New England, the Adirondacks or maybe the upper midwest, Minnesota, Michigan, etc. Likely the traditional way of hunting was still hunting and a Model 94 or 336 was and is hard to beat for that. Photos were taken and prints and ad copies in magazines were made showing these old Yankees around the fire or the meat pole in their plaid jackets with their lever guns. These images stuck in everybody's head and became "iconic".