.30-30 underpowered?

this is a great thread.......

My first deer hunt was with a borrowed sporterized military rifle, so long ago I have no idea what is was, I was 12. Then I used Grandpa's 243 or Dad's 308. Finally I bought my own a 30-06, it has killed a lot of deer for me over the years and did again last week.
Several years back I found a Winchester 94 in 30 W.C.F. at pawn shop in excellent shape with the right serial number to be made the year I was born. I have no idea what it did the first 40 some years of it;s life but it has taken a deer for me. Only took one shot and that deer was as dead as any I ever shot. Now days it just kinda hangs out in the safe and tells it's tales to the younger guns and brags to the older ones how good of shape it is in for it's age. It is a gun to play with at the range and to enjoy the fact I own it. 30-30's don't have the range of a '06 but they will for sure kill what's needed if you need it and have over 100 years now.

My dad exactly 50 years ago gave me a model 94 30-30. That hunting season I shot my first deer a 4 pointer right through the neck. It dropped like a sack of potatos. Although over the years I've bought and sold more expensive rifles I still hunt every so often with that old gun. I can still get nice groups at 100 yards with win. 150 grain. I guess I still take it in the field as it brings back sweet memories of hunting with my dad and brothers on those cold November days.

I've got several more powerful rifles but the one and only rifle that goes on black bear hunts with me is my Marlin 336 in .30-30 with open sights. I took a small (150 lb.) boar 3 years ago with it. One shot at 40 yards and he bled out within 50 yards.
Deer are what the .30-30 is made for. Quick shooting and deadly.

Most people use the .30-30 at my camp. The only exception is my uncle who uses a long bow, he hunts for both Black Bear and White Tail with it. Never saw a better shot with a bow. Any way the only time one of us had to travel considerably for a deer was my mothers buck last year, part of the bullet fragmented up into the spine and it ran about half a mile off of our west wire before it's lungs could fill with fluid.

Please don't tell the guys in Vermont that a 30-30 wont kill a deer. Otherwise they're going to think they've been eating live deer for the past 100 years.

The .30-30 is for many THE hunting cartridge it has been knocking game down for over a century.
For reasonable hunting ranges it does what it always has and that is put a .30 caliber hole in dinner or varmints both two and four legged.

What keeps it popular today is nostalgia that and the handiness of the firearms that chamber the round also the fact that there are so many .30-30s out there plus with the right bullet at the right range it just plain works.

Love the picture with the old Ford tractor and old Winchester.

Love the picture with the old Ford tractor and old Winchester.

Click to expand...

Thanks!

ditto on the GREAT picture of the 94 and the Ford/Ferguson.... i hope you dont mind, it's now my desktop backround? By the way C&L, can you give me details on that Ford? I've always wanted one.

No problem on the desktop background.

The tractor is a 1941 9N Ford with the Ferguson System 3-point hitch. The 9N's were made from 1939-41. These were the first tractors to introduce the 3-point hitch lift still in use today.

The 2N's were made from 1942-47. They are both very similar...just a few changes. Left rear brake and clutch controls on left side, right brake on right side. Parts are interchangeable between the 9N's and 2N's.

In 1948 the 8N Ford was introduced. It's the one known as the "Redbelly" because of it's paint colors. I think it was produced thru 1952...maybe a little longer? The 8N was more advanced (at least for the era). It had both right and left brake controls on the right side and clutch on the left.

All of the N tractors were flathead 4-bangers...many still in use today.

excellent!.... I'm bettin' those 4 cylinders were basically the old Model A engines? Anyway... I love the tractor as it's pictured..... and I have a 48 mod 94 to go with it! lol

I really like the image of the rifles with the Ford as well. Really takes me back to my childhood on the farm!

We had a '49 Ford 8N "redbelly" on the farm where I grew up. We had a much larger John Deere and a much smaller Satoh "beaver" but that 8N easily got the most use. We (Dad and I) did a total disassembly and rebuild in 1980 at about a bazillion hours on the engine and it's still pulling strong today (with basically daily use).

We had a scabbard mounted to one fender and typically either a browning .22LR or a beat to hell n back .30-30 levergun rode along for most of the farm chores. We thought the .30-30 was the "powerful" gun

I used to hunt with a 30-30 in New Mexico. I probably wouldn't go after Moose or Elk with one but for most hunts it's quite acceptable.

The first two elk that I ever killed were killed with a Winchester Model 94 30-30. No one told them what caliber I was hunting them with, so they died just as quickly. Sure, the 30-30 is low on horsepower, and there are plenty of rounds out there with more power, but it is plenty deadly guaranteed. If it doesn't die after getting shot with a 30-30, you weren't aiming in the right spot.

Thinking of rifles and tractors together took me back to my Grandpa. We still have his 1947 M series John Deere. He had a rough scabbard... it was indoor/outdoor carpet, upside turned inside... on the left side of the hood. Hey, it worked. This is where it gets off-topic though; instead of a '94 .30-30, he had a 1918 SMLE .303British which some folks also consider underpowered/obsolete/archaic/un-cool. Myself though, if I were packing a rifle every day about farm business, it'd be the rifle I shoot the most and that would by my Winchester .30-30... the one I usually post about as my do-it-all rifle.

30-30's can't kill todays deer. You must have a WSM or Rem Ultra mag!

Heh heh. Just imagine, dear will continue to evolve and one day even magnums won't be enough. Better break out the Barrett.

In 200 years we'll be using crew-served artillery.


-T.

This big muley never read magazines or watched TV hunting shows. He fell over from one shot at about 125 yards or so.
TR

I had an 8N early 40's model tractor; my brother has it now. Anyway, I liked the pictures too.

I have a Marlin 30 30 that used to be my dad's gun, and it has taken quite a few deer. I bought a Savage 25-06 a couple years ago and used it, but then I needed a reloading kit for my .41 mag so I decided I'd sell one of my rifles to fund it. I chose to keep the 30/30 over the 25-06 hands down. I love that gun. I've even killed a couple grouse with it-shot them in the neck.

When I first started hunting about fourty years ago, I heard the 30/30 was underpowered.

Funny, it still seems to be killing deer. I guess the deer don't read ballistic charts.

I'm confused...

The regular deer gun season started last Saturday (17 November) in Wisconsin. Or are you in a Herd Reduction Zone?

(Just got my buck in Sauk County yesterday morning, crappy rain/sleet/snow made me glad to get done early in the day!)