Not in my book; my 30-30 hasn't been out of the vault in about 2 years, I've been having a blast with the Blackout this hunting season but each to his own.
Well, my .30-30 is a pistol, but I've been hunting with a black powder lately. I really like front stuffers, big 385 grain 50 caliber chunk of lead takes no prisoers.
I just find it comical that everyone plays with these short little pop gun rounds because they fit in ARs and they call them hunting rounds because they shoot bigger bullets than .22. I mean, if you just HAVE to have a 20 round mag and a pistol grip on your rifle, they do make .308 ARs called AR10s. What's wrong with the .308....okay, 7.62x51 NATO for the tacticool? But, that's blasphemy for some reason. Seems it has to be direct impingement, no gas pistons or such. I really don't get it, but I'm old and not in to video games and ARs.
Now, I LOVE the .30 Carbine! I don't like the round so much as the rifle. The Lieutenant in the 60s TV show "Combat" carried one and, when I was a kid, I just thought that was the sexiest rifle in the world. I wanted a .22 caliber version, never got it, but have a new Chiappa M1-22 now that i'm in to. .22 is so much more useful than .30 carbine! .30 carbine is one of those rounds that's too little for anything big and too big for anything little. It made ultimate sense as a light weapon in WW2 for tankers, officers, logistics support, etc that didn't need to be totin' a big ol' Garand around, but needed something better than a 1911 with more range and easier to shoot. I'd still like to get one just to have it, but I wouldn't choose it over my hunting rifles for hunting, no way.
But, I'm sort of a WW2 history nut, too. Half my family and most of the men I knew as a kid were vets of that war. They were my heroes, still are, and I still read books about that war. BUT, I don't even own a carbine or a garand. Go figure. You know, the little Carbines are very handy things. There are companies out there that will rebarrel one to .357 magnum or 9x23 or something. I've often thought that'd make the thing a little more useful. I suppose that's similar to all the beowulfs and Grendels and blackouts and such for the AR, really. So, I guess if you just like the rifle because it's light and handy, I can semi understand. But, I'll keep my 7 mag and my .308 and my .257 Roberts for bigger game. Don't really like ARs to the point I'm willing to compromise on a chambering