Probably. It does make the rifle top heavy, but as far as magnification I keep it dialed to the low end unless I'm at the range or evaluating a deer. The scope is the one variable that is the most likely culprit; I've not missed nearly as often with the other rifles in the safe.
I opened the thread to get a little psychological reinforcement for relying on the .30-30 as my primary. I have a safe full of quality bolt guns, and while I've taken probably half the game I've harvested over the last 10 years or so with any one of four .30-30's, it was usually as a backup to my primary rifles or while sitting a really short-shot blind. Walking or driving up pigs and the occasional doe and such. The .30-30 is always present in the front seat, so it gets grabbed for unexpected opportunistic shots and really racks up the kill count.
I have a good friend that owns and operates a trophy deer operation. I do not hunt his property other than one opportunity to cull some domestic whitetail, and he has pretty strict rules on caliber and cartridge. .243 and lighter cartridges are not allowed, and he includes the .30-30 in that. I would likely need special written dispensation to tote a 7mm 08. He even has his doubts about the .308, but he let me tote it with a stern talking too.
Now, while I obviously disagree with his minimums, it does plant a tiny seed of doubt that I should keep the more powerful bolt guns as primary. The only problem with that is, at the end of the day, I have had more success taking game with the lowly .30 WCF. It is one of those weird questions where carrying it is obviously the right answer for the game I hunt and the distances I shoot, but it still feels a bit like preferring the mustang in a street race with a corvette in the garage.
Let's here some more success stories!
