monster moose with a 30-30...

[DunRanull]

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.

Chalk up another one for the 8mm Mauser! Vastly under-rated and under-loaded in the USA.. European 7.92 Mauser will rip ya a new one.. (Sellier & Belliot)- whereas USA-made 8mm is downloaded to @.30-30 specs... Everywhere but the US 7,92 Mauser is considered on a par with .30-06...

 

[scrub buck]

The 30-30 may have been the it back in the day, but it's still just a 100 -150 yd deer gun with marginal killing power.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

Not trying to be argumentative...Just wondering how a cartridge that "may have been it back in the day"
Has turned into a "deer gun with marginal killing power"?

Deer have not grown armor since the 1890's and dead is dead...so I am not following your line of thought very well...
The .30-30 has worked for many people for hunting for over a hundred years...its still used today for the same reasons...usually a light rifle at shorter ranges for the hunting of big game.

No its not the "Be all , End all" of cartridge development... (No cartridge is ) ...And like any cartridge it has it limitations..but the .30-30 is still a useful hunting cartridge...as shown in the Link in the OP..and the hunters who use it today...
Again not trying argue....
Andy

 

[osprey]

The 30-30 may have been the it back in the day, but it's still just a 100 -150 yd deer gun with marginal killing power.

Dead is dead and many families have eaten on those margins. Any cartridge has its limitations and it is up to the ethical hunter to stay within those limitations as well as their own limitations.

 

[scrub buck]

Not arguing either guys. Everyone's entitled to their opinion. Mine is posted above. Nostalgia aside, IMO it's a slow and low energy round. For comparison... A .308 Win certainly is anything but a hotrod, but it carries more energy (977lbs) at 400 yds than the 30-30 (935lbs) does at 200 yds with the same 150 gr bullet.
Those are factory Winchester ammo numbers.
It still has it's following and it'll still feed ya... all i'm saying is there are much better mouse traps.

 

[Koda]

Nostalgia aside, IMO it's a slow and low energy round. For comparison... A .308 Win certainly is anything but a hotrod, but it carries more energy (977lbs) at 400 yds than the 30-30 (935lbs) does at 200 yds with the same 150 gr bullet.

agree the 30-30 doesn't have the greatest ballistics, but nobody's using it at 400yds because it was never designed for long range shooting.

 

[The Heretic]

agree the 30-30 doesn't have the greatest ballistics, but nobody's using it at 400yds because it was never designed for long range shooting.

As I mentioned (IIRC), the last deer I shot was at 10 yards.

I have it because I like lever action carbines and .30-30 is a very popular cartridge that works well for almost everything I would use it for.

That said, yesterday I purchased a Browning BLR in .308 and I like it too. I have to say, that although it does not have quite the classic looks of a Marlin or Winchester (it is missing that tube), it handles almost as well, and the fact that it is a stainless take down from the factory, shoots 7.62x51 with pointy bullets, and has a removable magazine are some advantages you won't get from a factory Marlin or Winchester.

 

[djharteloo]

30-30 in all reality probably has filled more tags and protected more miners/trappers/campers then any cartridge of the last 100 years.I read an article last week in Field and Stream? About a trapper in Wyoming that used a Winchester 94 in 25-35 to kill a large grizzly bear at about 30 yards in a charge.

Old cartridges have worked for a long time for the simple reason that they work.

 

[orygun]

when I hunted, it was never about the kill, it was rather about the hunt itself.

I'll tell you what, I always tried my hardest to fill my tag. But the memories of where I went, what I did and what I saw even when I didn't fill my tag are wonderful. The desire to fill a tag has prompted me to take off and explore areas I otherwise wouldn't.

Old cartridges have worked for a long time for the simple reason that they work.

Some old cartridges are dead for a reason, but the 30-30 is alive because it does work well. No, it's not a long distance shooter, but keep it reasonable and the 30 WCF will do it's part if you do your's.