Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Hunting with the .30-30, how fast does it drop them

There is nothing wrong with the big bores, but as I pas 50 I think more about what kicks less than what kicks more, FYI.........

I've found that on heart/lung shots it's not unusual for a deer to go 25 to 100 yards no matter what cartridge is used. Neck, spine or taking out 2 legs is the only consistent DRT's I've seen. The 30-30 kills just as fast on vital shots as anything, it just doesn't have the range that more powerful cartridges do.

And, truthfully, a nice 30-30 (or 303 Savage) carbine carries very well.

That's basically my experience as well. Once shot a mule deer doe with a 200-grain .300 Winchester Magnum load at about 100 yards as she stood quartering away. Bullet was pretty much perfectly placed, and she made it 80 of my paces before falling. Hard to blame that one on not enough gun.

Killed my first deer with a neck-shot from a Marlin.30-30 48 years ago, and killed my last animal of this year, a Texas pig, with a heart from a Model 94. Both times the .30-30 worked--and has every time in between as well!

+2, put the bullet in the right spot and deer die, no matter what cartridge you are using, within reason.

I still love the 30-30 though I hunt with it very little now. The 170's always worked well for me. As for the big bore leverguns, in my younger years I decided a 444 Marlin was the way to go and would be better than the 30-30. Gun shot great with the 265 Hornady's I was loading but did not kill deer any faster. My shoulder after shooting 15-20 rounds at the range was hurtin though.

The biggest thing I have observed over the years as to a deer's reaction is the state the deer is in when shot. If the deer is being pushed and full of adreline, they usually go farther with a good lung shot than a deer unspooked and just moving along naturally, and there are even exceptions to that rule.

I'd have to check my notes to be sure, but I have taken 2 or 3 whitetails with the 30 WCF and none took a step. I took one more with a shot directly through the center of the shoulder, that went approximately 50 yards.

The difference? On all the bang flops, I used factory ammunition. Remington 170 grain Core Lokt Hollow Points. Many moons ago, VAnimrod pointed me in the direction of that ammunition, and I have to say he was absolutely right.

The deer I drilled through the shoulder was with a 170 grain Hornady SP Interlock, using one of my handloads.

Henceforth, if I hunt with a 30-30, I'll be shooting the 170 grain Corelokt HP.

Good luck!

Crimson Tide,

Nice to read your reference to the Remington 30-30 170 gr hollow points. I just picked up 200 of these bullets to hand load for my Marlin 30-30. The bullets were packed in Remington "Red" boxes.

Doc

My friend, you have 200 pieces of pure deer cyanide in your possession.

Cheers!

For the terrain in which you want to hunt, the 30-30 will leave you speachless it's so good and especially with those 170 grainers you have.

I dig the Marlin 336 and there are so many smooth, good shooting ones around my way there are days I wonder why I even screw around with bolt guns.

For the New England ridges and swamp basins I spend most of my time hunting in I could toss a nice fixed 4x leupold on a 336 and not worry in the least.

I currently do not own a 30-30 and I feel like I committed a crime when I sold my 336 many years ago. I need another! My friend ChipM has a sweet 336 that his father gave him with a small vaiable leupold. That rifle is a shooting SOB...

I have killed quite a few deer with a 336 in 30-30. Like a 30-06 or 308, behind the shoulder lung shots result in a 30-50 yard recovery. Shoulder and neck shots drop them in their tracks. Out to about 125 yards or so, it's really all you need.

I love my 30-30! I've got other calibers and hunt with them also but the 30-30 seems to do the job very well with little recoil. Both my boys killed their first deer with 30-30's this year. One deer dropped in his tracks at 45yds the other ran about 40yds (that shot was close to 90yds). Both were one shot kills.

Glad to see that there are so few who say the .30-30 is not a sure killer.....because it is at any reasonable range. The larger bore rifles will NOT kill any quicker or better than the .30-30.

As to the claims of DRT shooting with the .30-30 (or any other chambering for that matter), I'd never doubt your results....BUT....sooner or later (with any chambering) you WILL have one run. Maybe not far (25-75 yards) but far enough to cause a difficult tracking job in really thick brush.

I don't know what the "thick brush" other posters hunt but in the "Big Thicket" area of East Texas it means being able to see maybe 20 yards at best (less in many spots).There are other areas just as thick (in the swamp country of the deep south, mesquite thickets of South Texas, and I gather in some of the heavy thickets in the northwest...although I've never personally seen these). I'm not talking about "killing" (that's a given with any decent shot placement), but with "finding" after the shot.

The bigger bores WILL NOT kill any better and probably not kill any quicker (if they do it's too small to reliably measure), but they do typically leave a better blood trail. I never learned to love the .30-30 as some do....probably because I started at an early age hunting with the .35 Remington and .44 Magnum and always saw the .30-30 as a step backwards.

I've killed a few (maybe a half-dozen) with the .30-30 and never found it lacking......but never any evidence that would make me give up the bigger bore rifles either.

If you can track well or if your idea of "thick brush" is such that a run of 25-75 yards isn't a problem....the .30-30 will be deadly. It's all a matter of perspective.

It is not the "Big bores" that stop deer faster, it is the cartridges with more velocity. A few years ago I used a 30-30 to hunt with for the first time. I have owned plenty over the years, I just never hunted with one. It was a classic double lung shot with 170Gr Rem Corlokt (I swear by Corlokts). It took off throwing blood and headed for a deep ravine. I was really getting worried following it. It wound around and distance is hard to judge, but it seemed a heck of a lot farther than 50 yards to me. I honestly believe that was the farthest I ever followed a deer that was hit right. I have used what I call "Medium" rounds(.260, 7x57,6.5x55) and with lung hits there are pieces of lung laying where the deer was hit. I also use cartridges like the 7.62x39(With Corlokts), but usually head, neck, or shoulder shoot them if I have to anchor them on the spot. Nothing wrong with the 30-30, but as others stated, shot placement is everything for a short run. I realized it was a low pressure round, I just was not thinking at the time.

Big bores have not impressed me at all.

I run a 50 beowulf.. bought it for swamp hunting.... have yet to drop a deer with it.

Over all the years, even going to 300 wtby, the round that dropped the most deer, was my 243 and 80 grain bullets. The next one has been my buddies use of 257 wtby, while I have not dropped one yet with mine, except an accidental spine shot at about 350ish yards, they don't go far.

IMHO you have to have speed and lots of it, to get enough shock to try to drop em on the spot.

Its that or shot placement.

Go with that high shoulder that so many like for some reaosn, and you should break the spine every time or at least shock it enough to hopefully bleed out before the shock wears off.

I have used a lot of different rounds in 30-30.. the last being a 150 barnes... and its still been a typical shoot, run 50-100 yards and fall over round if shot through the lungs. Nothing wrong with that either, at least for me.

And any time you decide to use the most or more frangible bullet your odds go way up of closer to bang flops, but that makes sense, since you have multiple projectiles and do more damage. The trade off is how much meat loss? Some don't care, others do.

My next try is probably going to be shooting 80 ttsx in the 257 wtby. But as much as I've fallen in love with the 300/221 suppressed... I may rarely if ever pull the trigger on game with anything else unless I just really want to. Like New Years day... its set aside for the 32-20 if anything comes around...

Jeff,

I've been using the .257 Weatherby for a while now, and while I've seen impressive bang-flops with TSX's on pure rib shots, have also seen animals go a ways. One of those, however, was a pronghorn where the bullet apparently didn't open up much, if at all, and the buck went around 250 yards before falling. Lately have been using the 120 Partition at 3300, which so far seems to drop them quicker, but of course requires careful placement to avoid losing lots of meat.

By far the highest percentage of animals dropped with rib shots have been with Berger VLD's, from various cartridges at 2800-3100 fps. But even then an animal will travel a ways now and then, just like they will with any cartridge/bullet combination. Which is why I'm always skeptical when hearing about any magic combo, especially when the evidence is only 2-3 deer.

I killed probably 15 mule deer bucks with my very first rifle I acquired when I was 11 yrs old, a Marlin 336 30-30 and 165gr Core Lokts. That was up until 1976 or so when I realized the 30-30 was too slow and not flat shooting enough to be a good mule deer cartridge.

To calculate how far a deer will run when shot with a certain cartridge, subtract the normal powder charge from 100. The remainder is the distance a deer will run when shot with that cartridge. The 30/30 for example for example uses about 35 grains of powder, so a deer will run 65 yards. Some 338/378 Weatherby loads use 118 grains of powder, so they will actually knock a deer backwards 18 yards.
I know there were a couple studies done in Europe showing little difference in how far moose ran after being shot with cartridges from the 6.5X55 up to the 375 H&H but my own experience on three deer, one elk and a goat (he looked just like a bear, swear to gawd), I think my formula is more relevant.

Royce, my deer run slightly further, I use 29.5 grains of 3031, but if you add 30 and 31 together, it comes up to 61, so that may explain why some don't run as far as others...

Add 29.5 to that, and that explains why I had a bang-flop. But the moon and Jupiter had to be aligned, with the proper relative humidity.

My BIL killed his first elk with a 30-30, because that's the only gun he had. Wouldn't be my choice, but was impressed he didn't have to chase it across the county. I've hunted elk a couple times but never killed one. AS I recall shot was not very far but it did the job. Deer should be no problem with a decent bullet and shot placement. Never owned a 30-30, closest thing I have is a 35 rem. and never killed anything with it.

Damn near anything will drop a deer instantly with a pure lung shot once in awhile. I've done it with a .222, .243, .30-06, .30-30, 12 gauge slug and a .490" patched ball. It ain't anything that can be counted on with anything though and most will run a ways. Truthfully, I've found VERY LITTLE difference in how far the average death run will be with anything from .222 - .30-06 and the .30-30 does about as good a job of killing deer as anything .

Never shot a vld that fast.

On the 257, between a buddy and I we've probably shot close to 20 deer with it now, all same bullet, thinking MV was just barely over 3400 IIRC.

Don't leave lots of blood trails, never had failed to expand.

Can't recall one making more than about 50 steps, and lots of them can be seen from where they were standing once you walk up there, 20-30 yards away. Couple of bang flops. They are by far, for only abuot 20 deer so far, the round that the deer go the shortest distance that I've ever shot, but I have yet to experience the DRT.

The most DRTs still goes to my 243 and 80 grain bullets. Moved up to 100s and it fell way off.

As the caveat I"ve never been one to shoot bone if I could avoid it.