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Never killed an elk with a 30-30, but not for lack of trying. As a kid I carried a Marlin 336 most always , no matter what I was hunting. In fact my only Couse deer and longhorn fell to it. At 12 I guess I didn't know anybetter, but sure had a lot of fun. Was never able to put the elk, me and hunting season all together in those days. I would gladly hunt elk again with the Marlin, and I am sure it will do the job if all the rest comes together.

You'll never see a deer from 300 yards where I hunt. I've killed over 80 deer with my .30-30's and never had one go more than 75 yards after the shot yet. Most go down in less than 50 yards and while I've rarely needed a blood trail, the few times I did it was always there. If I need/want one to drop right there, I shoot high shoulder, neck or head. That is regardless of what cartridge the rifle in my hands is chambered for because I've seen plenty run after being shot through the lungs with everything from a .22 mag. to a 338.

My grandfather shot mountain goats with a 30-30 and sold them to the tavern in the Alaskan Gold Rush.

My copy of this newspaper is so yellow that it is orange
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/...95060032/00279526144/1911092301/0331.pdf

My grandfather is mentioned in the story. That story grew for 100 years until we read the paper.

^ ^ ^ ^ this ^ ^ ^ ^

The myth that a 30/30 runs out of steam at 100 yards
and turns down into the ground gets repeated and
recycled every year and every time a new hunter picks
up a magazine or watches a video.
The people killing animals with 30/30's are usually
busy cutting them up and getting them in the freezer
rather than posting them on their farcebook page.
I don't feel handicapped with one

I own a 30-30. It's a 336 Marlin. And I am not a new hunter. I am 55 years old and have been hunting whitetails here in Alabama since I was a child. Not sure how many I have killed but well over a hundred. Killed them with a recurve and a compound bow. Killed them with muzzleloaders. Killed them with buckshot back in the dog hunting days. Killed them with a 243, 25-06, 7mm-08, 30-30, 35 Rem, 7.62x54R, 8mm Mauser, 45-70, 30-06, and a 7mm Mag.

And my opinion of the 30-30's performance on deer is a resounding, meh. They die, eventually. Often a 100 yards away out through a briar thicket where you have to locate them with a flashlight and a scant or non existant blood trail in the dark.

Maybe this is the problem for me. My personal Marlin 336 will not group any 150 grain bullets worth a flip. It will however shoot 170 grain Winchester power points well enough. Nothing to brag about but more than adequate for a 150 yard cartridge. Our Alabama bucks typically weigh about 170 pounds and the does considerably less than that. Maybe these 170 gran 30-30 bullets at such a low velocity just don't expand very well on our deer. Because my experience has been caliber size exit holes and long sparce blood trails.

To me even a 243 leaves the 30-30 in the dust when it comes to deer. Never understood the love for the cartridge outside of nostalgia for using the same lever action rifle that grandpappy used to own. Whenever I carry a lever gun in the woods now I take my 45-70. A slow bullet doesn't need to expand as much when it starts out 15 calibers larger. LOL!

Try some different bullets or ditch that .30-30. It doesn't seem it shoots very well from your description. My own 336 consistently shoots sub MOA 3 shot groups at 100 yards. I too have killed a lot of deer. Well over 200 in total and with several different cartridges. My experience with the .30-30 has been very positive as told in my post above. I have not seen that the big bores I've used put them on the ground any quicker than the .30-30 either. That would include many killed with 12 gauge slugs, 44 magnum, .50 caliber muzzleloader and .35 Remington. I also have a .243 and have killed several deer with that cartridge over the years. In no way has it proven more effective for me than the .30-30. In fact I am more comfortable at woods ranges with a .30-30 as I have gotten more consistent exits and consequently more consistent blood trails with the .30-30 than with the .243. All of this is on NY deer which I would think would average heavier than your Alabama deer. If the .30-30 didn't work completely satisfactorily for me, my .308 and .30-06 would have spent more time in the woods than they have.

You'll never see a deer from 300 yards where I hunt. I've killed over 80 deer with my .30-30's and never had one go more than 75 yards after the shot yet. Most go down in less than 50 yards and while I've rarely needed a blood trail, the few times I did it was always there. If I need/want one to drop right there, I shoot high shoulder, neck or head. That is regardless of what cartridge the rifle in my hands is chambered for because I've seen plenty run after being shot through the lungs with everything from a .22 mag. to a 338.


i buck hunt near the Canadian border in Minnesota deep in a huge Tamarac WET swamp that i have cut 2 - 300 yard shooting lanes by hand with chainsaw and hand saw, the only way to get a bigger buck out of this nasty Tamarac swamp is with a J8 Bombardier track machine that most people have never even seen ,rode in and probably have no ideal how to use or drive, i have dragged bucks out by hand alone when i was young but not anymore. its no place for a 30-30 or a place to shoot little deer ,its cold, wet, snow, many times below zero and its best to kill the buck quickly and get the Bombardier ! but if you just wanna shoot a deer a 30-30 is fine, i no longer hunt just any deer when i go to the Tamarac swamp to hunt, i like a bigger cartridge to kill a bigger buck sometimes those old bucks die hard. i also won`t brag on how many deer,bucks or what cartridges or bow i have used or post pictures, i am just a hunter who stated my reason for not using a 30-30 i have nothing to prove but my 257 Weatherby mag. will kill
bigger bucks dang hard and farther away too than a 30-30 ever will , its a free world use what ever you want bow or rifle, i hate long blood trails at night and during the day when i should be waiting and watching for a nice buck. good luck to all,Pete53
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Well we ain't allowed to cut 300 yard shooting lanes through our State forests and wilderness areas here. Neither are we allowed to drag them out with ATV's. I've killed some darn big bucks back in those woods with my .30-30's and brought them out by hand. I don't hunt from stands much and I'll be damned if I'm hauling around a magnum rifle with a pole vault of a barrel just to shoot a deer at 50 yards.

Within parameters there's nothing wrong with the 30-30.

I killed my first moose with a 336. I'd still have it if it wasn't sleeping with the fishes. I killed my first deer with a 94, in 1966. Nothing with it since, but I still have it, and use it for a walkabout rifle up here.

I should probably kill something with it again. It's majorly pouting.

As said, most of us prefer something upslope to the 30-30 for hunting, especially in more open country.

Actually, I used the 94 for caribou hunting last fall, opening day. Killed a wounded cow that came by us from up-valley at 294 yards with the .260 my son was carrying. Swapped the 94 out the next day for M70 in 7x57, and killed another caribou at 15 yards.

It's under consideration again for 2021... I know where I'll sit if I take the 94 for a 100 yard or so shot {aperture sight) at passing caribou.. There is a cave a few hundred yards away to spend the night before in, if I wish.

And the big guy is watching.

The Merriam's Elk was hunted to extinction and many were shot with 30-30s. This became a favorite cartridge of professional meat hunters shortly after it was introduced.

I like the 30-30 for deer and hogs and think it is just about ideal for a walking/stalking type rifle. It is effective all out of proportion compared to it's paper ballistics.

As JB points out in an article on the .30-30, it was considered a high velocity round when it was introduced....suspect as people doubted those little high velocity bullets could be effective. It may not be a .257 WBY, but it's no .44-40 either.

Back when we were young, a friend of mine acquired a 92 Winchester that had been altered to .44 Magnum. He thought that he really had something powerful until we compared its data to that of my 94 in .30-30.

Your milage may vary but a 243 with a 100 grain bullet has significantly more foot pounds of energy at any distance than a 30-30 with a 150 grain bullet does and has more foot pounds of energy at 400 yards than the 30-30 does at 150 yards. I know that energy levels aren't the only factor but the level of impact energy a bullet strikes with does directly affect things like bullet expansion and tissue trauma. More internal damage to lungs, heart and major blood vessels tend to cause more rapid death. Not to mention the 243 having a way flatter trajectory.

i own the land, so i can cut lanes i want and these bucks have a chance to grow bigger including the smaller deer ,i see no reason for me to shoot little deer anymore i let the ladies and kids take a few smaller deer.in my family. but i will always use my one shot Magnum no track`em rifle back in the Tamarack swamp. ATV`S can`t get back in my Tamarack swamp need a track machine like a J8 Bombardier and muck boots on to get a nice buck out. another thing big Whitetail bucks are dang sneaky and very nervous so stand hunting many times works best up here in the North/snow country. glad you shot some nice bucks,Pete53

A flatter trajectory doesn't count for squat in these woods. A .30-30 does plenty of damage to internal organs for quick, reliable kills and typical 170 grain .30-30 bullets reliably exit, even when put through both shoulders or at steep quartering angles. I can't say the same for ordinary 100 grain cup and core .243 bullets at typical woods ranges. I'm sure better/more reliable penetration could be attained with a mono metal or premium bullet from a .243 but I get plenty with ordinary core lokts or similar from my .30-30. In fact, the only 170 grain .30-30 bullet I ever recovered out of dozens of deer taken was from a lengthwise shot and it still nearly went through.

IMO & for my purpose that ^^^ is the most important
difference for the 243 and faster cartridges.

After all Elk & Moose have been killed with the 30-30
& other pipsqueek cartridges.

Now before ‘someone’ says..”learn how to hunt”,
I’ve killed deer from 12’ (feet) and nearly all other
distances out to 400 yds.

Slow bullets are not flat shooters.

Jerry

I agree jwall ! give me the flat fast cartridge like my 257 Weatherby mag. shoots 100 grain Nosler Partition 3800 fps, i have killed a nice buck out too 700 yards and that buck was witness by 2 VIET NAM Marine vets and one of them hunted with Carlos Hathcock in NAM too. i have killed many decent bucks 200-400 yards. the thing about this rifle 30 feet to 400 yards there is no guess work and very little tracking many times the buck just goes down dead . i am and have always been in good shape by hunting season so a heavier magnum rifle is no problem to carry many miles for me even at my age of 67 .

as was posted >> slow bullets are not flat shooters , Speed Kills , Pete53

I like the point early in this thread about the bowhunter kills. Many thousands of hunters kill elk with their bows and arrows every year (and I have been blessed to be one of them), and I bet there are very few of them that would not have been better served with a 30-30 loaded with a Nosler 170 Partition than their arrow. And how many more of them would have killed the elk they either lost or declined to even shoot had they been carrying the 30-30 instead? Thinking back, I can recall half a dozen fine bulls I would almost certainly have put in the freezer had I held my M-94 in my hands rather than my longbow.
This is just a thought game but it points out that in the hands of careful hunters being choosy about their shots, the 30-30 has all it takes.

Cheers,
Rex

I've killed enough deer with enough different cartridges to know this much is fact. If you have trouble killing deer at woods ranges with a .30-30, it ain't the cartridges fault.

Agreed and just like the bow...within its range.

Jerry