Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting .30-30

Sugarfoot:

Take that 30-30 out next time for Bambi and let it bark. I bet the original owner and the fellow that refinished it would heartily approve...

Be safe
Patty

I plan on using it, paid 150.00 for it and is one gun I won't sell. Both people where special in there own way
Coop

Took my first deer with a .30-30; Marlin 336. In a fit of stupidity (teenager), I traded that rifle. And thus, the sickness began......

I have been deer hunting since 1976 and this past season was the first time I ever shot a deer with a 30/30 (owned the WIN M94 Carbine for years). Shot a doe in the heart at about 50 yards with the 160 Leverevolution load - deer ran about 75 yards before piling up dead.

The last time I hunted with a Marlin, 30-30, was back in 1970. Killed one buck in Maine with it and that was that. For some odd reason, I never hunted with it a gain or shot it again. I bought a 7mm RM Remington 700 for a hunt in 1971 and well I became a bolt action guy. I have been looking at the Marlin 308 in the lever evolution load and the rifle it comes in. Its a nice light package that I could really like, for the kind of hunting I do now.

Took two deer the same day in November '07. I've also loaned .30-30s on Youth Hunts in which I've acted as mentor/guide. Two of the youngsters I took last September filled their tags with the lowly .30-30--one with a Marlin 336 and the other with a NEF Handi-rifle of the same persuasion. .30-30s and deer hunting go together like peanut butter and jelly. (smile)

PC

I started big game hunting with a 30-30 and shot a number of deer with one in the 70's. I think the last deer would have been in 1975. Also got my first elk with my 336 in 1972 (or so).

ttpoz

I've killed quite a few deer with the .30-30. I have a Winchester M94 from 1948 with a Redfield aperture sight and a 1968 vintage Marlin 336C that wears an El Paso Weaver V4.5 variable scope. In the Missouri Ozark timber both knock down whitetails with zero trouble and are more than capable... as they've been for a long time now. I don't hunt with the .30-30 every year, but now and again I'll pull one out, check the sighting, and cruise the timber with it during the firearms season. Either of them also makes coyotes coming to the call in the brush country real sick - real fast.

I have never shot a deer with a 30-30 but i wouldnt hesitate to use one. Great cartridge that has killed train loads of deer and would work like a charm here in the east.

Killed a 7 pointer and doe with my BLR in .358 win this year and i must admit, i really like that combo.....

Why is it these .30-30 threads get me more fired up about deer hunting than any other caliber?

Because it just reeks of leaf mold, woodsmoke, and wet wool. It fairly defines "deer rifle" in our lexicon.

200# 9 pointer in Nov,07. 80 yard shot and the buck piled up after a 30 yard run. Mine is a late 40s/early 50's vintage 336 my Grand Dad gave me when I was 14. It won't ever leave here. I carry it at least a couple of days a year.

Killed my first deer in 1978 with my 94 in 30-30 and still use it. Took my last 30-30 deer with a Savage 1899A in 30-30 made in 1916. Deer was shot in Nov 2008. Have killed over 70% of my deer with various 30-30's over the years and all have died with one shot. But most of my shots are 50-75 yards or less. Makes it easier that way.

I remember as if it yesterday, it was 1968 I had turned 14 had killed bucks 2 years running with a old single shot 20 gauge. This year I had a 30-30!

Hunting with my uncle charlie he had pushed 3 does my way, they kept looking back down the trail, sure enough a six point buck was coming! That was my first buck with a centerfire, one shot broadside thru the heart. He ran down hill 40 yards and dropped!

The GUN, I can remember the day, the feeling and pride of having my own rifle. My mom (dad had passed away when I was 7) took me to a local gun shop and purchased a new Winchester 94 30-30. Money was tight and I had worked cutting grass, etc to pay half the rest was my Christmas gift. The price was $67.00 I handed over my half and home we went.

I hunted with that gun thru high school, college and the first couple of years while getting started in my career. It was replaced with a Ruger safety tang 30-06, put in the back of the closet until giving it to a friend for his cousins son. Another young man growing up without a dad...

Just 6 hours ago. Not a deer, but a pig.

Story here:
https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbth...owflat/Number/2809401/page/1#Post2809401

Works.

When I'm still hunting my 336 is my constant companion. On the stand either my 257 Bob or 270 is my choice.Can't beat the 336 for carrying though and its also my hog gun.

Thanks for sharing Ted, Great story.

I use a Marlin 336 in .30-30 or a Marlin 1894 in .44Mag for most of my deer hunting.
Killed a smallish doe this year with my 336Y, and a nice 6 pt buck last year with the same rifle.
Just counting on my hands, I can recall about 10 deer killed with a .30-30 since 1994.
I used to use Remington 170 grain CoreLokt factory cartridges, but I load my own now with a 170 grain Speer FP bullet.

1967....and I'm ashamed of myself. That needs correcting this fall.

A couple years I guess, but I watch a whole lot more that I shoot. The factory loads, with soft bullets at modest speeds, make the 30-30 perform perfectly for a .30 caliber bullet, at close range. Most of us prepare for 400 yrds., then shoot 'em at 40 anyhow.