guys get those 30-30's out this year and get some deer!

I confirmed zero on a buddies 30-30 Saturday. Mine stays down at the farm as a “just in case” rifle but I’m normally fairly prepared otherwise.

Most of my life the 30-30 was viewed as “so-so” but now that less powerful “AR” rounds are acceptable, the 30-30 is a powerhouse and using a 30-06 is pretty much the same as using a 50 BMG....

On our family’s old ranch in Bandera County, Tx. it was either an open-sighted Savage 1920 in .250 Savage, a Win 94 in .30-30 or a scoped Rem 721 .257 Roberts that took deer every year.

They all killed them dead equally.

Like any tool, pick the one that best fits the job you intend to do and have at it.... be it a Glenfield .30-30 or be it a Mark V .300 Weatherby.

Stay safe.

You don't need a 30-30....I got mine a little early....2016 Kawasaki Versys at about 40mph.

His video is not hard to get through if you understand where it is from - it is from another time. Think about how peaceful he is, relaxed, slow, calm, “happy” - simple and easy. His mind is not racing, he is not checking his iPhone every 30 seconds to see what others checking their iPhones are doing. He is not twitching and jerking and nervous, he is not “the victim” blaming others for his plight, he is not scared, he is not preaching gloom and doom if not elected; he is peaceful. He is sitting in the quiet with his dog and his rifles on a sun bleached deck talking about simple things in a simple way - this man has figured it out - a very rare thing to see today, he is peaceful and happy, he made it.
The 30-30 lever action is a great deer rifle.

Steve S. said:

He is not twitching and jerking and nervous; he is peaceful.

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Well you know what they say, “Senility is bliss!”.

But you’re right - it IS from another time. Another time when propagating lies and half-truths as facts went undisputed because folks didn’t have the means to find information for themselves. Another time when it was just accepted that “age meant sage,” so listening to unidentified silliness and lies from elders wasn’t calibrated against real world facts. Another time when a guy sitting on a porch talking for a half hour about his own (extremely limited) experiences seemed like infallible words of wisdom, because the world was only as big as your feet could travel.

I’m grateful that particular time is over.

An important point some people may have missed is that he strictly "still hunts" in dense woods.
That style of hunting is different from hunting from a hide or tree stand. Walking quietly through woods for several hours places more importance on rifle portability & weight and I have to agree with him that an iron sighted Model 94 is much easier to carry all day in dense woods than a scoped bolt action.

There were two separate issues in his video & I think where he went wrong is that he did not address them separately & clearly.
The first is what type of rifle is best suited for still hunting in dense woods. In his opinion it is an iron sighted lever gun. I don't necessarily disagree with that.
The second is which lever gun caliber is best suited for white tail deer. In his opinion it's the 30-30. I don't necessarily disagree with that either.

I have a 30-30 but rarely hunt with it because the range is too limited. But I mostly hunt in southwest Idaho and eastern Oregon, in a mix of timber and open country, so I'm an idiot who hunts with a scoped bolt gun and will take long shots on occasion. Even with the aid of a scope a 30-30 is pushing it at 200 yards, and that's on deer not elk. It's a capable cartridge within it's window and I like my 30-30 a lot, so I'm not trying to be down on it - I'd use it on deer before I'd use a 223.

I have the winchester 94 and use it but recently I've shot more with a shotgun, just luck of which gun I'm toting the day they come out.

Didn't watch the video but I think I gathered enough from everyone's responses!

I always wanted a 30-30 but never could justify one because Ohio is cartridge limited for deer season. Now that I'm pretty settled in my deer hunting ways of hunting tight woods, I'm more than OK with a .357 mag lever action. Personally, I've never shot a deer further than 30 yards away and I have recently decided that I like having a red dot on my hunting gun.

Not gonna lie though, I'm often tempted to just go back to my 12 ga with 1oz sluggers! They were punishing to practice with but that's a hell of a load for deer at close ranges.

I hunt both rifle and shotgun zones, both of which are also open to handguns. Usually alternate between whatever's legal for the area I'll be in. Been using the Marlin 30-30 a lot lately in some of the thicker woods in a rifle zone. Although it's nice having several deer rifles that can reach out beyond 30-30 range, when I'm in the deer woods it's usually with a 30-30 because it would be almost unheard of to shoot much past 100 yards. Got enough handloads ready to last me through practice and hunting this fall. If I'm in the right place at the right time this fall I'll post a picture of the 30-30 posing with some venison on the hoof.

Varminterror said:

Well you know what they say, “Senility is bliss!”.

But you’re right - it IS from another time. Another time when propagating lies and half-truths as facts went undisputed because folks didn’t have the means to find information for themselves. Another time when it was just accepted that “age meant sage,” so listening to unidentified silliness and lies from elders wasn’t calibrated against real world facts. Another time when a guy sitting on a porch talking for a half hour about his own (extremely limited) experiences seemed like infallible words of wisdom, because the world was only as big as your feet could travel.

I’m grateful that particular time is over.

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I tried to watch the video but couldn’t get through more than a couple of minutes. I tend to agree with Dennis Miller who said, “Never have lives less lived been more chronicled”. I think of his quote every time I go to YouTube, Facebook, etc.