Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters WHY 30-30 NOT 308 Win?

I think that, in many cases, a cartridge's popularity over similar cartridges has more to do with the way the name rolls off the tongue than with any practical advantage.

'nother thing people are missing.

Consider what Joe Public sees when he looks at the gun racks in a store. Joe ain't a rifle loonie like most here, but just a semi-informed average citizen looking for a hunting rifle.

For not very much coin, with a lever action Joe Public gets what feels and looks like a complete rifle, iron sights to be sure, but complete.

For the same price he can get a bolt action, usually without sights, or if a complete scoped set up you get a rifle/scope combo conspicuously built cheap to meet a price point.

The fact that a great many lever actions end up wearing a similarly cheap scope is beside the point, the original purchase had been made.

I know because I followed this route, except that the scout scope set-up I have on order for my Marlin cost me more than the rifle did.

If sales of new lever actions are falling, the lever actions may be the victims of their own past success. I believe there is something like five million Winchester and three million Marlins .30-30 lever guns out there. Most get used once or twice a year if that, and consequently do not wear out.

My own Marlin 336 is 44 years old and still functions good as new. Lots of lever guns are like that, eight million mostly working examples still in circulation while the number of hunters nationally stays about level or even declines.

I believe .30-30 ammo will stay in wide circulation so long as it sells, as it apparently still does at present (contrary to those links posted, I can usually find .30-30 at least as commonly as .223 or .308).

If/when .30-30 usage does decline, I believe this will signal a fundamental change in the hunting demographic: A shift away from Joe Public and his low-cost hunting oppportunities towards more specialized rigs owned by those serious enough and with the means to spend on higher dollar trips/leases or the like. The way hunting seems to be going in very many places.

If or when we do lose Joe Public, it will not portend well for the future of hunting in this country.

Birdwatcher

That may be part of it,..but I suspect that many who have been involved with rifles and hunting have passed through their "Belted 8mm Webley Vickers AI" phase and found that those 6 lb 30-30 lever rifles that have been around forever carry much better, shoulder much better, are quicker with a second shot and will take that buck they shoot from their tree stand at 75 yards every year as well as a loudenboomer.

There's a lot to be said for simplicity.

Down this way "still hunting" is stalking. Describe your version...

http://www.petersenshunting.com/content/art-still-hunting

Well,...my personal version is to descend into a "holler" at daybreak and very quietly, very slowly, work my way along it,...facing the wind,..hugging close to the inside of any bends.

It's how I used to hunt the dry creekbeds with my .22 when I was a kid, and a mountain holler is much the same,..only on a larger scale.

You can get very close to game like that on occasion.

I've never turkey hunted like that, but there's been several times that I've gotten within 30 yards of a turkey before flushing them when stalking wild hogs down in the hollers.

These are single shots we're talking about not lever actions so any bullet can be used. The round still may not interesting but for many handgun hunters a 7-30 loaded with say 120gr Ballistics Tips is a formidable hunting arm.

When you can stalk to within a few yards of a turkey of small flock, then withdraw w/o them being aware, then you will have your doctorate in still hunting. JMO. Takes face net and general cammo cover, most of all it takes moving really slowly.

Been ragging a friend of mine to get his azz off the ladder stands and go after them for a year or so. He finally did that yesterday and though he did not see a deer, he did bust a coyote at about 20 yards. He says the .270 Win. is enough gun. Might downsize that and says he'll never sit in a stand again.

I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment of losing "Joe Public" not being good for hunting. They're in a sense "the silent majority". The millions of outdoorsman who spend their time hunting and fishing and not on the couch watching outdoor tv or playing grab-ass on the internet .

In terms of expensive and specialized equipment, I think that's mostly a marketing image. I see Cajuns all the time here in the swamps with nothing more than the most basic of equipment. In mind they're ten times the serious outdoorsman as the local range jockey with all the expensive gadgetry.

This is about the twentieth time in the last 40 years that I've heard Chicken Little cry out that the .30/30 is on the way out, yet it just keeps chugging along doing it's thing. I think it is a prime example of a cartridge designer getting it right the first time, along with, but not necessarily limited to, the .30/06, .308, .375 H&H, .222/.223, .300 Savage, etc.

It is, in its own way, efficient. I have been pleased at how this Contender barrel shoots, and will definitely experiment more with it in the future. Maybe I can justify that Ruger #1A in .30-30, after all.

Well I didn't get all the way through this thread and I added another member to the Ignore group. And it wasn't Logcutter.

Jim

Why do I have 3 .30-30's that I routinely hunt with as well as
shoot, and only 1 .308? I guess because the're 'task specific'
and I have more 'tasks' for the .30-30's. (Not to mention fun.)
(I'm concerned about wearing out my .30-30 dies. My .308 dies will probably live to be LNIB family heirlooms, despite the fact that I also reload for my boys in this caliber.)

For short range deer hunting, the 30-30 is great. The rifles (Winchester and Marlin) are light, easy to carry, accurate and VERY effective. 'Nuff said.

I just noticed it - there are 14 pages on this thread. Any cartridge that lives 116 years, is still popular and effective has proven its mettle.

Well after reading 14 pages of this I'm going to step into the pit with my .02 cents.

Alot of good things have been said, one of which the rifles have made the cartridge. The Marlin 1893's, 36's and now 336's are well built, good handling, tough little guns. Take into account the Winny 94 and you have about 10 million guns floating around, so is the 30-30 on its way out..NOT. Oh sorry, Henry and Mossberg(again) make them now too.

Now take the cartridge itself, it just gets the job done in about 95% of the situations it is used for. Here in New England and i'll go to include the Northeast(PA and NY) it is still widely used and again gets the job done(can't speak for other areas but suspect the same in the southeast, pacific NW, etc.). Is the 308 a better round??? Yes it is, Is the 30-06 better than the 308? Yes it is and both can be had in lever guns.

Other advantages, cheap ammo, low recoil, cheap to reload with adequate power and speed for deer and other med game within 150-200 yds..what is not to like.

Now back to the 308 and 30-06 lever guns. The Browning BLR, Savage 99 and Winny 1895, say what you want, are not as well balanced and handling as the Marlin 336 and Winny 94, except for maybe the 99 and there you can get it in the 30-30 also.

Yes, I do love the 30-30, first CF rifle I owned, 1st to take a deer for me. Do I use it anymore, on occassion as now my interest have gone to lightweight, fast handling bolt guns. In my last 10 yrs of hunting, I can only think of one shot I took where the 30-30 would not have worked.

"Well, my 30-30's a bolt action" (sung to the melody of "Neener, Neener, Neener"). I want to get another Marlin sometime soon.

My 'smith just sent me one of those "neener, neener, neener" emails w/ pics of his newly-purchased Model 54 in 30 WCF.

Hubba-freakin-hubba!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Made in 1929!?!?!?!? AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!

Mar336---

What 120 grain bullet were you loading in the 7-30 for deer? Hornady stopped producing the 140gr flat nose bullet. I made up a spare take-down barrel for my .303 99 Savage because I couldn't get .303 brass, and now I can't get 140 grain flat-nose bullets for the 7-30 barrel. I'm guessing that 120 gr bullets would be short enough to feed in the old style '99 receiver. I have plenty of brass, but have not seen loaded ammo for years.

I was at a gun show about 2-3 years ago, and Winchester or whoever bought them, were selling model 1895(I think)rifles in 30.06. How is that for power in a lever action?

I dont mean to be the bullseye in the middle of a back side but there might be 14 pages of converation that may or may have any bearing on my opinon. BECAUSE I CAN... why not .308vs7mm-08, .30-06vs.280Rem.vs.270Win. .35Rem vs .30-30 and many many others. Regardless of what one feels is better vs another Im just happy that we have so many options to play with and tinker with.