I own ten model 94 Winchesters and eight of them are chambered for the .30 - 30 round. Four of the eight are pre - 64 rifles. In my opinion I don’t believe there’s been a better rifle built for its intended purpose. I’ve also killed a number of deer with the round. That said you have to respect the limitations of the round which IMO is not further than 200 yards. Past 200 yards the issue isn’t so much the question of power but shot placement. Past the 200 yard range, with iron sights, your point of reference is pretty much the entire deer as the front sight pretty much sub-tends the entire animal at longer ranges making accurate shot placement an extremely iffy proposition. Even with a scoped rifle I would not bust a cap on a deer out past 200 yards as the residual energy of the round starts trailing off significantly. Past 300 yards...never. Now I will be the first one to admit that if the round hit a vital spot out past 300 yards that it would kill a deer. For that matter if a 22 long rifle bullet hit a deer in exactly the right spot at a distance of a mile I’m sure it would kill a deer also. But I sure wouldn’t recommend shooting at deer at this distance with a 22 because there are any number of other rounds that are more powerful, flatter shooting and much better suited to the task and so it is with the 30 - 30 IMO.