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When my dad was growing up in Alaska in the late 50s and early 60s, he hunted moose with a 30-30....then the firing pin froze when he was facing a bull and he had to run for his life until his brother could shoot it with a custom 8x57 mauser.

thats a cool story.
 
That was a great shot!! It kinda looked like he hit it in the heart by the way the moose moved and then buckled.

thats what Im thinkin but that bullet would have to penetrate that shoulder which has got to be over 12" thick of meat? Unless he threaded the shot perfectly behind the shoulder at just the right angle but he was using open sights. Im assuming the distance was within 100yds.
 
The 30-30 was a very powerful cartridge in its day continuing to modern times. My dad and grandfather liked the 30 Remington, a rimless twin to the 30-30. The only thing the 30-06 has on it is range. The next step up is the 300 Savage that was the parent to the 308/7.62X51. A soft round nose 30-30 bullet within 150 yards driven at 2300 FPS is devastating. My dad and granddad always tried for head shots, it waisted the least meat (they were total meat hunters) they would trade off, one carrying the 30 Remington M14 (that we still have) and the other carrying the Winchester single shot 22 that we also still have. Most shooting was within 50 yards. I killed my first elk with that Remington M14. My grandfather was a WW1 vet and considered things like a bolt action 30-06 to be an "army rifle" and off little interest to an Idaho meat hunter. When I load for my Savage 2400 308/12ga I want consistent one shot clean kills, I load 170 grain flat point 30-30 bullets at about 2500 FPS. I have shot many deer and a few elk with it. None took 1 step. The 30-30 has about identical ballistics to the 7.62X39, the reason I have a CZ 527 bolt gun in that caliber.
 
The .30-30 Winchester has probably accounted for more head of game killed in this Country than any other cartridge. I know my Grandad wore out one as a Government Hunter during the Depression. He had a hand in feeding an entire town in NW MN.:)
 
this guy takes a huge bull moose with a 30-30. The video is kinda long but if you jump to 24:45 mark you can see the kill shot and the moose buckle then only takes a few final steps.
What I didn't see or hear, is where would you place the shot for a quick kill like this with a 30-30?

article:
Open-Sighted 30-30 Winchester Takes Down a Trophy Bull Moose

Youtube video:
Trophy Quest Hunts Moose In Alaska With 30-30: Episode 1160

He hit him in the right shoulder - you could see that the moose could not lift his right leg. I have not read the article yet, but my bet is that it was probably a good penetrating bullet. They mentioned Buffalo Bore in the vid

Also, not sure how quick the kill was - you can see after the moose went down that it is still alive and breathing.
 
Game animals are not armor plated...if folks were to actually hunt and not just shoot game..they might be less surprised that these 100 year or older cartridges do indeed work well.*

TR talks of using the then new .30-30 cartridge on a antelope hunt and was amazed at its "high velocity" and "flat shooting" capabilities at long distance....Granted He lived and hunted at a time when muzzle loaders and blackpowder cartridges were on the wan....
But even so...deer , elk , bear , moose etc... are still the same animals now that they were then...folks have hunted them for hundreds of years with blackpower arms and early smokeless arms...and haven't all starved to death.

Whatever rifle and cartridge you use to hunt...learn the rifle , learn the cartridge , learn to hunt....learn all of these in any and all weather and terrain you will hunt in...learn them so as to be "second nature" , so to speak...and you will do fine even with a old gun or cartridge.
These old cartridges and the game we hunt are deserving of that level of respect.
Andy
*Please note that I am not taking a "shot" or being snarky to anyone on this thread or forum...I am just against the general idea that these old cartridges and guns are of no use in hunting any more , due to being old.
 
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I have hunted with a .30-30 - the same one my father and grandfather used.

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That said, for elk on up, I would use my .45-70 instead. But if all I had were a .30-30 and I could get within range and I had the right ammo and I could take my time, I would take just about any animal on the continent with it.

My brother has the old model '94 now - with its long heavy octagon barrel, but I am next in line when he decides to hand it down.

Meanwhile I really like my youth model Marlin .30-30 - better than any Winchester I have owned - but I want my grandfather's rifle; it has a lot of history behind it. The story goes he bought it from a Trask Native American for $5 and a bottle of whiskey.
 
learn the rifle , learn the cartridge , learn to hunt
I agree - unfortunately these elements have been replaced with things like hyper velocity rifles and cartridges (to over come distances) and the perception 'hunting' is being able to sit in a comfortable blind with a bench and the game just walking around in the open, oblivious to what is about to happen. We were commenting on just this the other day at work while watching some hunting show on the big screen where this was what was happening. I didn't catch what the scenario was but most likely a big game 'ranch' where animals are shot rather than hunted.
 

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