Emergency NM lever gun, .45LC or .30-30?

30-30.

Unless you already have a handgun in 45 Colt at the cabin.
Then match it with the rifle. That's always handy.

Otherwise, I go with the real rifle caliber.
No question in my mind, and I've owned both.
Better performance & better ballistics with the 30WCF.
Either cartridge gives you plenty of magazine capacity.

45 70 could be viable too, but you didnt mention having that handy lol.

I love my 30 30. Marlin. Very handy and quite accurate. Never had any issues with it at all and I think it would work well on any of the predators you mentioned.

If its an emergency gun, I would recommend a 12 ga, but this isnt "Shotgun Country"

30-30, Youll have no problem with anything listed above with it

Well, if it's for emergencies, not hunting, the .30-30 (IMHO) range advantage is moot. If you reload or a have a factory source for the 300 grain loads, I'd go with that. Should be faster to cycle and sectional density looks pretty good.

Between the two I'd go 30-30. If bear is a real consideration you might want to consider 35 Remington, 45-70, or even 44 mag as all would give better performance than the 45LC.

But if you are selecting between two guns you already own, then 30-30.

I would prefer the 30-30 as a cartridge.

I suspect that the 30-30 with the 20" barrel is easier to handle. For me, the ergonomics are the tipping point: Use the one that it easiest to handle or that you can shoot better.

no contest, 30-30

definately 30-30

TexAg,

Sounds like you reload for the .45 Colt? A lot of guys read only the ammo manufacturer's ballistics chart for the .45 Colt, and are not aware of what can be done with it when you handload. Since the range of your shots seem to be quite close, and you have the Vaquero in .45 Colt as well, I would be inclined to upgrade the .45 Colt levergun.

Don

The 45 Colt. aka 45 Long Colt, was not originally chambered in lever action rifles back in the 1800s because the rim is a little too narrow for positive extraction and the case does not have enough taper to seal black powder gases correctly. Thus the rifle would foul easily and then fail to extract.
This is now relieved by smokeless powder and the fact that ammo (brass) manufacturers now put a groove above the rim of the 45 Colt case to create more grab for the extractor. A result of the cowboy shooting craze.

Personally if I was going to use a pistol caliber lever action, ( I have a few) I would use a 44 mag in that situation. It has a larger rim and stronger brass.

But if it was a toss up between a 30-30 and 45 Colt I would go with the 30-30 as long as there is nothing friendly (neighbors) to worry about hitting within 500 yards or so.

Tom Horn used a 30-30 Winchester 1894 Rifle (not carbine) during the last part of his Range Detective career. Compared to his old 45-60 chambered 1876 Winchester, the 30-30 was a flat shooter, smokeless and fairly accurate.

The bullet design of the 30-30 also lends itself to penetrating things like car doors, body armor and other light cover, much better than a 45 Colt bullet.

Never owned a lever gun in .45 Colt, but did have one in .44 Mag- for a few days. Then I had a chance to try it on targets at over 100 yards...

I'd definitely choose the .30-30, given a choice between the two calibers. Being able to actually see the difference in trajectories of the two rounds taught me a lot about why the .30-30 was considered so revolutionary when it first appeared.

lpl

ants said:

30-30.

Unless you already have a handgun in 45 Colt at the cabin.
Then match it with the rifle. That's always handy.

Otherwise, I go with the real rifle caliber.
No question in my mind, and I've owned both.
Better performance & better ballistics with the 30WCF.
Either cartridge gives you plenty of magazine capacity.

Click to expand...

I would agree with this, with two additions:

1) Consider a lever gun in 454 Casull. That will shoot (safely) any 45 Colt load you care to put in it. There is only one I am aware of ... and is currently out of production. Puma/Rossi M92 clone
2) If you don't already, start reloading 45 Colt. It's a LOT cheaper than buying ammo for it, and you can produce ammo that you simply can't buy. 45 Colt loads can give you a vast range of power loadings, esp when fired from a rifle.

I see the primary benefit of pistol caliber lever-actions as ammunition commonality. If you already have one or more .45LC revolvers the .45LC rifle makes sense. A quick check of on-line ammo prices seems to indicate the prices for factory ammo are pretty similar (unless you reload). If you don't already shoot .45LC (or plan on doing so), then you might as well go with the better ballistics of the .30-30.

I'd go with the 30-30.

If you already have the 45LC gear then I would go with that. It will work for emergency and for getting food if it has too. If people can get close enough to shoot a deer with a bow I don't see why you would have a problem with the 45LC. That way you can keep a pair of guns on you and you can load the same ammo for both.

The .45Colt will do everything you want it to. The Marlin action is stronger than a Vaquero or Blackhawk so it can digest Ruger-only loads with ease and add 300-400fps. It will also be more fun to shoot, recoil considerably less and produce much less muzzle blast.

The thing about calling anything an emergency gun, is that you're not going to be the one deciding what kind of emergency it is.

I think the 30-30 is a more versatile cartridge, able to handle many more different situations than a .45 long colt.

As an emergency gun, you could consider a way to put a flashlight on it. It's not as hard as it sounds, it looks like you could put something like a GG&G offset flashlight mount on the XS lever rail, and still have it be underneath the sight line of the ghost ring.

If the situation runs the gamut from coyote and badger to intruders and black bears, there's nothing there the .45 can't handle with 250-300gr cast or jacketed bullets. Hell, there's nothing there a good .44Spl or .45Colt sixgun couldn't handle. The Marlin also has a fast 1-16" twist and with some tuning, can function with the heavyweights. Which makes it a bigger hammer than the .30-30, within its range. Yet still maintaining a broad load range, mice to moose. IMHO, folks put too much stock in muzzle energy figures.

It's not as hard as it sounds, it looks like you could put something like a GG&G offset flashlight mount on the XS lever rail, and still have it be underneath the sight line of the ghost ring.

Click to expand...

I'm not opposed to putting a light on anything that needs it but that would pose a couple of problems. One being that the light would have too much gun in front of it. It would severely limit how much of the target area was lit up and produce a large blind spot. Two, it would light up the front sight and that is a bad thing. You want the light on the target, not the sights. It would be better to use a clamp on the magazine and put it out towards the muzzle.

Only thing I haven't heard turned over is capacity. Does another 3 cartridges onboard matter to the OP? For the intended use, it might to me.

I totally agree with Float Pilot on the thin rim for the 45 LC. I have one balloon head 45 LC case, and it has hardly any rim.
So for the comparison between 30-30 and 45 LC, I am all for the 30-30.


Now if it was a comparison between 30-30 and 44 Mag, that might be a coin toss. I have never had any feeding/ejection problems with my 44 Mag M1894. That sucker hits very hard out at 100 yards. Busts welds on my gong target. And it takes 10 rounds.

30-30 - it is a rifle after all...