"In Defense of the 30-30 Winchester"

[Sarge]

New article up over at the Sixgun Journal. I doubt anyone here will learn anything new, but I thought y'all might enjoy it all the same.

The lever-action 30-30′s virtues are many. New rifles are available at moderate prices and used specimens can be found at about a third the price of a really nice sporter. The more recent versions are capable of mounting a scope over the bore and even the old lever-actions are adaptable to receiver sights. The rifles are mechanically accurate enough for any sensible hunting chore. I have put many a Winchester or Marlin on paper at 100 yards, and the vast majority would place three shots in two inches or less with good sights or a low-powered scope. Many would hold close to one MOA and a couple have been scary accurate.

http://www.thesixgunjournal.net/in-defe ... inchester/

[1894c]

SARGE -- thank you for sharing...i re-discovered the 30/30 this year, started life with one and am glad that i returned...i think the round is 117 years old now (give or take a few)...i've decided to focus on it and do the majority of my big game hunting with it...again thank you for the post... :)

[oregon73]

I've always been a fan of the .30-30.

Rob

[Griff]

Another attempt at brain-washing. Reverse psychology at work.

[COSteve]

It took me some 36 years but I finally got a 30-30 levergun again. Seems that the tried and true calibers and platforms hold their appeal if we just stop to consider them.

[rjohns94]

Good article, great cartridge. I'm looking to hunting this year with my 1913, semi-deluxe Winchester 1894 takedown rifle in 30 WCF. Been a few years since I used "ugly duck" down in Texas to take two game animals.

[Booger Bill]

I have two. The first is a 94 I bought new when I was about 16 in 1957. I installed a pad for LOP and a williams foolproof. I shot a number of deer with it and the last one was the longest shot on a buck I made about 35 years ago, about 220 yards. The secound one is a 1952 model 64 safequeen. When I lucked into it, it appeared unfired. I have put less than a box through it. I probley will put it up for sale someday when we get pressed for money. Bought it about 40 years ago.

[rjohns94]

that 64 is a beaut!!

[KWK]

That Model 64 is one of the nicest looking '94 actioned rifles I've seen.

[Booger Bill]

Thanks guys.

[buckeyeshooter]

love the 64!!

[Booger Bill]

We had another 64 in our family in .32 special. Dad and I were deer hunting around 1956 in wisconsin. We met another hunter in the woods that was cussing out his 64 blameing it for missing a nice buck. Dad bought it from him for $50s! We also threw in a ride to his farm house about 4 miles away so he could pick up a shotgun to finish out the day.
Dad was in his late 80s when I went home to find out he traded that 64 for a new remington 30-06 in a 760 pump! I swallowed hard and said nothing. Dad did kill his last nice buck with it at about 86 years old. He had put a peep on it and a pad for LOP as dad was 6ft 5"s. After he died I put it in the safe and about forgot about it for almost 10 years. Then last year I pulled it out of the safe to try it off the bench. I got a pleasant surprise! It is very accurate and fast with that peep!

[3leggedturtle]

The best Defense is a good OFFENSE, 30/30 dont need no defending. It just keeps doing the job at
hand for the last 117 years or so

[6pt-sika]

YAWN

[Nath]

I am currently without a 30/30.

There are one or two dummy rounds lying around and they talk to me all the time!

N.

[6pt-sika]

I am currently without a 30/30.

There are one or two dummy rounds lying around and they talk to me all the time!

N.

I had 12 or 13 of them a couple years ago and now I am down to one old Winchester 1894 TD that was made around 1905 . And that ones not been fired in several years .

They are okay but they never really grabbed me so to speak so I say again !

YAWN

[6pt-sika]

The 32-40 and later the 32 Special talk to me !

Same can be said to a lesser degree for the 38-55 and 25-36 Marlin as well as the 375 WIN .

But the 30-30 is a big YAWNto me !

[piller]

6pt, to each his own.

[hfcable]

Excellent read, made my day! thanks.

[Booger Bill]

Ya know, we have uncountable calibers out there and I belive the truth is I think we could probley get along the same with less than 10 % of them. Some old standbys like the 7X57, 45-70 and 30-30 were the early leaders and are as good if not better today than when they first came out. I feel kind of the same way, YAWN about all the new whiz bang stuff that we dont need. But then I like the old classics in cars, motorcycles, airplanes, guns and women.

[6pt-sika]

But then I like old women.

Old is relative !

When I was 20 those over 30 were old and so on . Now that I'm 50 old is over 65 ish .

Hope for your sake you're not to old

[Booger Bill]

Well, my wife better not see this one. She is 17 years younger than me. I guess we cant always get what we want!

[Aussie Chris]

My first rifle was my '79 XTR 30-30. Bought it with my hard earned kmart pay for $595 when I was 18.

Some started with a .22, I started with the 30-30 no regrets

Still got that gun at the ripe old age of 27 And ill never get rid of it

Chris

[1894c]

YAWN

you know that's the same reaction i have when i start thinking about the 444...only kidding, kind-of...ok i really am... :)

[Canuck Bob]

YAWN

you know that's the same reaction i have when i start thinking about the 444...only kidding, kind-of...ok i really am...

Careful!!!

On our Canadian Gunutz forum the 30-30 debate has become a giant yawn (NOT the 30-30 even though it is not a 32 Special). The other great debate is whether the 303 Brit is still viable! I'm down to one gun that isn't chambered in at least a century old chambering, the 444. I must admit it is as much a reaction to modern trends as any other reason.

Today my never ending defence of the 30-30 or 303 Brit is about a changing hunting community. A community that isn't interested mostly. My greatest safety concern in most back country loafing is getting run over by a quad! I try and relive a time when sneaking around with a gun in the bush was a break from chores and an education in wildlife, not a ballistic experiment. I enjoy reloading and bullet tests as much as anyone but it is easy to have the gadgets get too important.

To me the lure of the 30-30 is to carry a rifle that requires a great deal from me, the hunter. In my youth it was an excellent moose rifle now we debate it as a deer rifle. Of course I was lucky to grow up in a family of moose hunters.

[Sarge]

I'm glad some of you enjoyed the article. I wrote the lions share of it about ten years ago, but I keep getting such good service from the old round, and the rifles that chamber it, that I just figured it needed its own chronicle. I've used the 30-30 for a long time and it's met my needs real well.

[6pt-sika]

I will admit to shooting around 1,500 rounds of 30-30 with cast bullets at metallic silhouettes and paper over the last 12 years but only 3 deer have fallen to the caliber when I was the one pulling the trigger .

[6pt-sika]

YAWN

you know that's the same reaction i have when i start thinking about the 444...only kidding, kind-of...ok i really am...

You know all jokes aside I've wasted alot of money on 444's, molds for them and just plain shooting them and to be honest the 444 is far from my favourite cartridge either !

[1894c]

YAWN

you know that's the same reaction i have when i start thinking about the 444...only kidding, kind-of...ok i really am... :)

You know all jokes aside I've wasted allot of money on 444's, molds for them and just plain shooting them and to be honest the 444 is far from my favorite cartridge either !

6pt-sika-- was only kidding...i once owned a 444 and found it to be an interesting round to shoot, i had to sell it when i was in grad-school (needed the money for books), but in the end i liked it better than the 45/70 that my friend owned...at this point in life i'm enjoying the 30/30...limitations and all... :)

6pt-sika--what is your favorite cartidge..?

[6pt-sika]

YAWN

you know that's the same reaction i have when i start thinking about the 444...only kidding, kind-of...ok i really am...

You know all jokes aside I've wasted allot of money on 444's, molds for them and just plain shooting them and to be honest the 444 is far from my favorite cartridge either !

6pt-sika-- was only kidding...i once owned a 444 and found it to be an interesting round to shoot, i had to sell it when i was in grad-school (needed the money for books), but in the end i liked it better than the 45/70 that my friend owned...at this point in life i'm enjoying the 30/30...limitations and all...

6pt-sika--what is your favorite cartidge..?

It would have to be something in the realm of 6.5mm or 7mm cartridges !

I actually think the 45-70 is a better cartridge then the 444 . The 444 intrests me mainly from the extent that I find it a fun cast bullet shooter on paper . And with the said cast bullets it's a very good deer and bear killer . I suspect if I ever go ahead and get a cow elk tag I'm gonna carry one of my old 444's loaded with the Ranch Dog 432-300GC just so i can say I killed a elk with one of my favourite home made bullets .

[rustyguns]

I guess I have as much right to put in my 2 cents as anybody. When I was growing up in the 60's and 70's the best hunter I knew was my Uncle he had mounts on the wall of every room in his house I think. And the only rifle he used was a 30-30, He told me "if you can't kill a deer with a 30-30 you don't need to be hunting them" Well, I would not tell someone that, but it always stuck in my head. My dad and other hunter I hunted with always put down the 30-30.as not enough gun. So I became a closet fan of the 30-30, I've killed deer with many different calibers but from now on is the 30-30 for me, and when I do kill a deer with it, it will be a vindication of what I believed as a young man, and of my uncles advice.