Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting more than a 30-30?

didn't say anything about a 270 at all

The 30-30 is a fine old deer killer. My Marlin 336 has worked its magic with 170 grain bullets many times. With that said, I have enjoyed reaching out with my 260, 270, & 7mm08 to distances (+150 yards) that I would not have chosen to shoot with the 336.
I guess we are all on the quest for the perfect deer rifle. I hope we never find it cause it would take away the fun of the quest.

30-30 is my woods rifle.... If it's further than about 100 yards I have plenty of other stuff that's much more suitable. Nothing wrong with a 30-30.... To me it's a "niche rifle".

It will kill just as well. Killed my first dozen deer with a 30-30. It’s location that kills. I kill a deer every year with my bow plus pigs. I killed a 200 lb Aoudad with a bow. He didn’t run 30 yards. Grandkids have killed deer-pigs with loaded down 243’s. It’s location of the projectile that kills.

Out of the fifty or so deer I have killed with a gun, perhaps half a dozen were farther than I would have been comfortable shooting at with a 30-30. Those shots were 200 to 250 yards plus one at 400.

I have been deer hunting here in the northeast for over 40 years. I can think of one deer that might have been iffy with a 30-30. All of the rest were close. Same with bear and moose.

doing all my hunting this year with my savage 99 in 3030

If faced with the proverbial "one gun for deer the rest of my life", please dear god let it be a .30-30 - in a quality bolt gun like a M54 Winchester or a Savage lever gun.

I would guess 80% of the deer I have shot I would have missed with a 30-30 with open sights. Now if I had a accurate single shot or bolt action 30-30 with a scope and spitzer bullets that number drops dramatically

Odd why would you shoot at all with a "80%" miss rate?

What?

30-30 is more than enough to get her done as has been proven well over the years. Personally Taken 2 deer at 300 yards plus with a 6mm Remington that I would not have trusted a 30-30. Recent years the bolt action 6.5 Grendel has become my go to cartridge of choice.

Have friends and relatives that have toyed with the 30-30 and served them well. I just have had diffrent cartridge preference and generally smaller caliber with a bit more velocity & a more efficient BC. So many good choices. I have grown up on the planes and the 30-30 has lacked appeal for this topography. iIn a forested area Ill better understand the 30-30 appeal.

Suspect the lower velocity 30-30 is a friendlier recipe in terms of saving meat.

I'm sure over 95% of my game could have been killed with the Marlin 30-30 I used decades ago.
The only change I would make on that old gun is putting a Skinner peep-sight on it, if it was still in my safe.
I once tried putting a 4-power scope on that gun, but just didn't like it and took it off. (just my bias)

With the proper rifle , load & scope the shots I made at 300-400 yards were very high percentage shots. Those same shots with an open sighted 30-30 would have been a stunt for ME.

This thread is interesting as to the different conditions we as deer hunters face in different geographical locations.

I tend to hunt deer in very open country and long shots are the norm

Most of the deer or goats that I have killed I would have been questionable with an open site 30-30.

With a scope would have changed some, I would hesitate with a 30-30 over 200 yards.

I could get by with a .30-30

I've taken a few in the 3-500 yard range that the .30-30 would not have been ideal for.

-Jake

If this season we all went to a .30-30, there would be a lot more game available during the next. Most here say they won’t tolerate a rilfle that isn’t at minimum moa capable, yet they are going to be happy with a short range .30-30? Makes no difference if most shoot game under 100, today we have better choices.

Okay, the water is getting a little muddy. I have a Marlin 336 WITH a scope that I am comfortable shooting deer out to 150 yards. You can zero the rifle at 100 and it is flat out to 150 requiring no holdover, and believe me, I need to keep things simple. I've shot at and killed coyotes further than that with a 30-06 but no deer, so yes, I could have used a 30-30 and not have changed the results of my hunting much. The round itself is plenty potent.

If we are talking using open sights, particularly the factory supplied shotgun bead sight on my 336, I would probably have to be restricted to just a little farther than bow range. Big difference.

30-30 was and still is a fine "woods rifle". Yes, the lower velocity at short range tears up less meat. Mine is probably MOA at 100 yards unless I screw up......for two consecutive shots. Then as the barrel warms the groups open up. Not a big deal because the rifle was/is designed to kill big game, not shoot tight groups.

Reality is I haven’t crossed paths with any using a .30-30 in at least 30 years. In fact not sure of the last time I have seen a lever rifle. Other than the couple days I may carry my Grandfathers .32WS. For the better part they have become little more than curiosity antiques.

Funny I still run into folks carrying .30-30's fairly regularly here in NY. I've had a bunch of Marlins and Winchesters chambered in .30-30. Marlins will almost universally group 3 shots under 2" at 100 yards, some will do sub MOA with favored loads. All the Winchesters I've owned would do better than 3" at 100 for 3 shots and some will do MOA with favored loads. This is all assuming scopes on the Marlins and a good receiver sight setup on the Winchesters with a good shot behind the buttplate. Anybody who can't take deer dependably out to 200 yards with a scoped Marlin or 150 with a Winchester wearing good sights is just not much of a marksman period. Many deer still fall to slug guns every year in areas where their use is required. I used one myself for alot of years when hunting in the slug zone here in NY. Truth is, a slug gun is a very effective deerslayer in the woods. A .30-30 is a death ray in comparison.