what large animals can you hunt with a 30/30 and 243?

[butcherboy]

i am a new hunter ( 3 years) and was wondering what large animals you can hunt with the 243 and 30/30 within there working yardage? ( 30/30 1ooyards, 243 200yds.)

by large i mean : elk, antelope, all bear, pronghorn, deer, moose.

thanks

 

[NOLAEMT]

30-30 has taken all of those...

ideally the 30-30 would be perfect for everything up to blackbear. I would use something larger for the big bears, as well as moose and elk, but it is capable I suppose

 

[Roughneck08]

They sure have all been taken by the use of the venerable 30-30. My father has a friend who hunts elk with a .243. Sure it can take one, but at the end of the day it is what is ethical by your standards and what can humanely kill an animal. For elk and moose I would suggest a larger round over .270. It is all up to you in making an ethical humane kill. Antelope and pronghorn are the same animal.

 

[UpTheIrons]

I'd suggest looking into some of the newer ammo, too. I've been real impressed (at the range) with Hornady's LeverEvolution FTX bullet in .30-30 (160 grain). How it will do this fall is an open question yet but I think it will do fine, and it has easily added 50 yards to my comfort zone for Texas whitetails. Not that the Remington Core-Lokt loading is bad, the Hornady is just better.

 

[Roughneck08]

Agreed. I have shot two boxes of the 160 grain leverevolution through my 336. They extended the range. I was very impressed with them on the occasional hog and armadillo lol. Never did get to bag a deer with the hornady before I traded my marlin. Corelokt are reliable as well but for range the hornady is a great choice.

 

[Art Eatman]

I'd not select a .243 as a primary elk rifle, although if one is very picky about shot placement and limits the range, it's quite doable. Same for black bear.

I wouldn't even put .30-30 and .243 into the same sentence as "big bear", however--except to say, "Don't!"

 

[CoRoMo]

Killed my first couple elk with a 30-30. All the others have fallen to the 130gr .270 bullets from one of my .270 rifles. Dad killed a big bull elk, his first, last October with one shot through the shoulders from his .25-06. I don't have a larger rifle, and as of yet, haven't found a reason to have one. I don't honestly see that I'll ever need a reason to use anything larger than a 130gr .270 projectile, as I don't believe I'll ever get a chance to hunt anything bigger than a moose. Anyway, Dad and I will head back out there in a few weeks, with our puny rifles, and try to put more meat in the freezer.

 

[Cosmoline]

With 170 grain partitions there's no reason a .30-30 couldn't take a moose inside of 100 or 75 yards. Most shots are that close anyway, and they're not too difficult to kill. Huge heart and lung area to aim at. Takes them a minute to die no matter what you shoot them with. Don't know about elk.

The .30-30 was considered excellent griz medicine when it first came out and killed a lot of them. Not that it was a good idea.

 

[336A]

I do not hold the .30WCF and the .243 remotely in the same class. Furthermore the .30WCF is capable of cleanly taking game beyond 100yd easily. I have no worries using 150gr bullets on deer sized game out to 200yd. I've seen some 170gr examples that don't appear as they want to expand much and save them for 150yd and closer and for larger game. As others have said the new Hornady LeverEvolution takes the .30WCF into a whole new heights. Providing that your rifle shoots this ammo well 300yd is not out of the question. Hornady has specificaly engineered this bullet/ammo to perform to that distance.

Here is good read of someone that has used the .30WCF to harvest both moose and grizzly lately. Though I'd personally not suggest using the .30WCF for grizz. However the point is if the person behind the trigger knows what he's doing the .30WCF will bring home the meat.

http://www.marlinowners.com/forums/index.php/topic,71302.0.html

 

[Sheepdog1968]

I've got a Marlin 30-30 with a 16.75" barrel and a 2.5X Scout scope. At a local range I have shot it using Hornady's LeverEvolution ammo at 100, 200, 300 yards. I can keep a 6" group out to 200 yards (where I zero'd it). At 100 yards (with a 200 yard zero), the point of aim, point of impact was within my 3" group size. There was a much bigger drop at 300 yards (8+ inches) but I didn't measure it carefully as I don't feel I shoot accurately enought to ethically take a shot that far. I know I can hit what I see at 200 yards. To ensure I get a clean hit, I probably wouldn't shoot past 150 yards myself.

 

[Cosmoline]

Providing that your rifle shoots this ammo well 300yd is not out of the question. Hornady has specificaly engineered this bullet/ammo to perform to that distance.

Sure, but also remember the energy loss. You don't have much to spare with the .30 WCF. I think folks get themselves into trouble with that round precisely when they try to reach out too far to take big game.

 

[336A]

Cosmoline, folks have chronoed this load out of they're Marlin carbines at over 2300fps. This is still enough velocity to ensure expansion and effect a good harvest on deer sized game. I wouldn't recommend this ammunition for game larger than deer at this distance.

There is plenty of evidence on Hornady's website in the scrap book how effective this ammo has been at these distances. IIRC there is a pic of a Hornady staff member who took a antelope past 300yd.

Sheepdog I personally don't consider 3" 100yd groups from a scoped Marlin lever action good groups. My 2002 vintage 336A produces on average 1.30" 3 shot groups at 100yd with the Hornady LE ammo.

 

[Mamertine]

I hunt deer with a .243 and it does a good job there. I have also used a .243 to shoot antelope and prairie dogs. I would be a little uncomfortable hunting black bear with it as I understand bear bones are more dense then deer and it would have a harder time penetrating, also I have never been attacked by a deer but I gather bears are a bit more aggressive when shot.

I would not be comfortable shooting an elk or moose with a .243. I just don't feel that it has enough mass to take out an elk or moose humanly. In a survival situation it could easily be done, but for sport I would recomend something bigger.

 

[788Ham]

My Pop hunted elk with a .243 for several years, 2 bulls and 3 cows were taken with it. One bull took 3 shots to put him down, all behind the front shoulder @ 100 yds. The others were neck shots at less than 100 yds, how much more humanely can that be? I know this will probably cause a ruckus, however... My grandpa had a .250 Savage for about 40 some years, he killed elk, deer and black bear with it all of that time, using 87 and 100 grain bullets, that was all the weights they made then. Like someone mentioned about moose not knowing they're dead after a good shot, dead is dead, no matter the cartridge, when they go hooves up, they're done!

 

[chains1240]

My Pop hunted elk with a .243 for several years, 2 bulls and 3 cows were taken with it. The others were neck shots at less than 100 yds, how much more humanely can that be?

My dad lives in Colorado. And his friend has lived there all his life on 6600 acres of land. Dad uses a 30-06 for everything out there, his friend uses a .243. Antelope, deer, elk, they all get sniped in the head. Shot placement, shot placement, shot placement. But I am of course talking about a man who has been shooting at long ranges his whole life.

 

[B-LazyS]

I've hunted with an old .30-30 my whole life. Inside 150 yards or so, I'd be confident taking a shot at just about anything smaller than a grizzly, especially with a tough 170-grain bullet.

I saw a good-sized cow elk go down to a .243 at a shade under 200 yards in Arizona a couple of years ago. The bullet punched through a rib and left a small, clean hole in the heart. It didn't exit, but we couldn't find any of it. She took about a dozen steps and laid down quietly. She was dead by the time we walked up to her.

So, the .243 will work if you place your shot just right, but it wouldn't be my first choice. I suspect we would have had a very unpleasant night tracking a wounded elk if there had been a less talented marksman behind the rifle.

 

[avs11054]

IMO, 30-30 for anything within 100 yards. I have one, and unfortunately, have never seen anything when I've hunted with it. And that has been for 10 years.

My .243 I've hunted everthing from praire dogs to deer. Although, people have posted on this thread, there are people who use a .243 for elk, I'm just not confident enough in my own abilities for that. For anything deer and smaller though, the only gun I even think about grabbing is my Winchester Model 70 .243