What is my 30-30 model 94 capable of taking?

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kd7nqb

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As I mentioned in THIS THREAD I recently inherited a pretty nice Winchester Model 94 in 30-30win.

This gun means more to me than just about anything else I own because it came from my father in law. I feel that he would rather see me use it than let it just be a safe queen.

So I know a little about the 30-30 ballistics and the history of the round, seems to be a great round for deer and black bear but I am not really sure what its limits are.

So I am looking for some input on what this gun is really suited for
Assuming these things
  • I know all rounds are capable of taking T-rex if you hit the brain stem perfectly, so I am not talking about a lucky shot I am talking about a reasonable pacific northwest hunting shot broadside
  • Lets assume a max range of 150yds or so
  • I am looking for a one shot drop if not a one shot kill
  • Most likely using factory ammo in the 150-170 grain range.

Using these parameters I can safely assume that deer is certainly good to hunt with the 30-30 and black bear is also ok

What about Elk? Is this too small for a healthy sized elk?

What about wild hogs? I know these things are notoriously tough but I also know that a lot of hogs get taken with .357mag and the like

Is it safe to assume that cougars and coyotes could also be safely dispatched with the 30-30win?
 
Load that sucker up with leverevolution ammo and you should be able to take anything from pronhorn to big pigs and black bear and your range becomes 250 yards instead of 150. Yes you can take cougars and coyotes with it as well as the largest of hogs. Elk shouldn't be problem either as long as the shot isn't much over 100 yards. Hornady also has a leverevolution load that has a similar design to the gmx line. The extra penetration from this load could come in handy.
 
A 170 grain bullet @ 2200 f/s stays within an 8" bull'seye from 0 to about 175 yards, if the .30-30 is zeroed to "on" at 150 yards. Limit your game to whitetail and black bear, and you should be fine at these ranges. As the game gets larger, the range must get smaller. If the weight of the game doubles, cut your maximum range by a factor of three. And practice assiduously to put 4 of 5 shots inside an 8" circle at 175 yards. Few can do it. Those who can are capable of doing anything the rifle can do.
 
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If you get "all married up" with it from practice (both live fire and dry fire) and are halfway-picky about your shots, it will kill most whatever you're likely to find in your area.

I've always figured that the outer limit, generally, is the distance at which you can hit the end of a beer can when shooting from a field rest position. Rifle (with or without scope), shotgun with a slug, or a handgun. Seems to me to be a fair rule of thumb...
 
I personally witnessed a young man (about 12 years old) take a nice Russian boar with his M94 .30-30 Win. The bullet was found under the hide on the far side. The husky, young man was as-tough-as a tank, dragging that dead critter all by himself over to his father.

The night before, the father and father's friend repeatedly called him "Little Man". It rubbed me the wrong way, but I bit my tongue. As the shootist dragged the trophy over to his father, the father and his friend tried to drag it. <<snicker>> Let's say they might better have let his husky son finish the job.

Then, and there, I observed, "Little Man?! Are you kidding?! What kinda name is that of him?! You see the way that man dragged that boar alone, and it took you two to do it?! Seems to me he deserves a man's nickname. Seems to me TANK would be fitting" The father and his friend were thrilled to say the least. "Little Man" became "Tank".

Hades yes, a .30-30 Win can do a good job. So can a 12-year-old Tank. :)

Geno
 
Mule deer all day everyday not even a hesitation. Elk is the same, stick a 170 gr or even a 150 gr bullet through the ribs of an elk and you'll have a nothing more than a big packing job on your hands. I'd limit my shots on elk to about a 150 yards or so.

A 150 gr Sierra flat point at 2200 FPS will give full broadside penetration on a big cow elk and stop under the offside hide. I've seen it done on two occasions now. The last one went about 60 yards and laid down. The other went about 400 yards but she was hit a bit back. And she left a four star blood trail.

Limit your range and the ole .30-30 is plenty of medicine for wapiti.
 
+1
Elk on down, no problem.

Your range is limited by the iron sights.
If you can keep all your shots on a 9" paper plate, at that range, you are good to go.

For most people, that will be inside 150 yards.
Probably more like 100 unless you practice enough to extend it.

I am looking for a one shot drop
No rifle caliber kills that way every time, or seldom ever, unless you hit the spine or brain.

A shot through the heart/lung area on anything will result in a dead animal within 50-150 yards of where it was shot. Doesn't matter what it is.

Just follow the blood trail and you will fine it piled up when it ran out of oxygen in the brain and realized it was dead on it's feet.

rc
 
336A THAT IS FREAKIN' SWEET!!! 30/30 is one of my all time favorite rounds but I always wondered about its ability to cleanly take anything bigger than a large pig. Now I have no doubts. I've taken a few deer with the 30/30 and they were all drt
 
As I mentioned in THIS THREAD I recently inherited a pretty nice Winchester Model 94 in 30-30win.

This gun means more to me than just about anything else I own because it came from my father in law. I feel that he would rather see me use it than let it just be a safe queen.

So I know a little about the 30-30 ballistics and the history of the round, seems to be a great round for deer and black bear but I am not really sure what its limits are.

So I am looking for some input on what this gun is really suited for
Assuming these things
  • I know all rounds are capable of taking T-rex if you hit the brain stem perfectly, so I am not talking about a lucky shot I am talking about a reasonable pacific northwest hunting shot broadside
  • Lets assume a max range of 150yds or so
  • I am looking for a one shot drop if not a one shot kill
  • Most likely using factory ammo in the 150-170 grain range.

Using these parameters I can safely assume that deer is certainly good to hunt with the 30-30 and black bear is also ok

What about Elk? Is this too small for a healthy sized elk?

What about wild hogs? I know these things are notoriously tough but I also know that a lot of hogs get taken with .357mag and the like

Is it safe to assume that cougars and coyotes could also be safely dispatched with the 30-30win?
This guy has even taken Brown Bear with the .30-30.........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6xZsgwPlLM0
 
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I knew an old fellow in our gun club that, after his service in WW2, had been an Indian agent in Alaska. He said, up there in the late 40s, the natives used .30-30 for everything including big bear and that they made many bear kills with the ol' 94. He said he had a .300 H&H to take on a bear hunt with them and they thought the cannon was funny. :D THAT, however, doesn't mean I'd chose it for a brown bear hunt.
 
^^^^right but the moose hunt video is pretty darn cool. I would rather have something different for something like that as well but it would still have a lever under it.
 
Partial to bolt guns, myself. I own one lever gun, a 92 Rossi, which is cool, but my bolt guns shoot 1/2 MOA to 1 MOA and that gives me confidence. To each his own. I've never really desired a 94 or a Marlin in .30-30. I used to shoot a Savage M340 (bolt gun) in the caliber and I have a 12" contender pistol in the caliber that has taken 5 deer. .30-30 is a fantastic pistol round. :D
 
I would wager that the 30-30 has taken more game than any two cartridges combined. for many years that was the go to round for N. American hunting. If you stay within a 100 yards and use a quality bullet you can take any thing on the continent.

Good luck with you new rifle.
 
I would wager that the 30-30 has taken more game than any two cartridges combined. for many years that was the go to round for N. American hunting. If you stay within a 100 yards and use a quality bullet you can take any thing on the continent.

Myself, if I took that wager, I'd put my money on the .22LR, that is, if we're eliminating shotguns. :D

Yeah, when I was a kid, the thuddy thuddy was the quintessential "deer rifle". But, all my grandpa's hunting buddys used bolt guns in other calibers. My uncle had several game rifles, too, only one was a lever gun, a Savage 99 in .300 Savage. He was partial to his pre-64 Winchester M70 featherweight in .308 Winchester. I just wasn't brought up in the ".30-30 culture", I guess. I've always respected the old horse for deer hunting and utility, though. For a long time, .30-30 was the cheapest factory ammo on the rack, probably attracted a lot of folks. I was broke in on handloading at age 10, though. I can count the number of deer I've shot with a factory load on one hand, out of the dozens of deer and hogs over a lifetime.
 
The round is fine as is the rifle for what lives around there. I used to hunt near there, Lake Kapowsin/Electron area and something with low power optics would have been helpful in the brush. I was muzzleloading elk and Wash regs said no scopes back then.
 
What everyone has said.

The first two elk that I ever killed were shot with a '94 30-30 160gr LEVERevolution. The bullets broke through the first shoulder and did quite a number on the vitals, but that's as far as it'd go. Won't punch through both shoulders like the .270s I've been hunting with ever since, but dead is dead.
 
Myself, if I took that wager, I'd put my money on the .22LR, that is, if we're eliminating shotguns.

Alright you got me on that, but I was not thinking about small game, and you are right I would think. I would bet that more than can be counted has been taken with a 22, and even some that should not have been taken. I have hers several stories of family member of long ago who have taken deer and what not with a 22.
 
It really helps to put a drop of white paint on the front sight if you have open sights on your rifle. It really helps the contrast and thus your aim, particularly if you're aiming at a black pig in the brush at dusk.
 
for elk if you can get it in within 100 yards I would be willing to wager that you could get a decent sized cow. big ole bulls might need a little extra power.
 
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