Why Do some guys bad mouth the .30-30?

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The 338wm? It sits and collects dust. I have shot it a few times and just do not like it one bit. If it weren't a Factory Custom Shop rifle, I probably would have sold it by now.
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Wow, don't do that! Even though I hardly ever fire my Grandpa's old .257 Roberts anymore, I'd turn down a million dollars for that thing. Well, I don't know, thinking about it I might have to sell for a million, would help my retirement income, but you get my drift, ROFL!

There's just too much sentiment in that old rifle to sell it. It helps that it's my most accurate rifle, too. But, I shot my first deer at age 11 with it. I can still see the pride in my grandpa's face when we got back to the camp house and he was telling the other guys on the lease about it. He was so proud of me. Every time I look at that old rifle it brings back such memories. Nope, ain't for sale, sorry, go elsewhere, you can't afford the price, trust me.
 
IF you remember the limitations of the .30-30 in a lever-gun, you will be OK.

F'rinstance, using a Marlin 336/Winny 94 to try to ring the gong at 500 Yds, well that just "ain't happening".

But for putting Bambi in the freezer, out to about 150-175 Yds...good choice. My longest shot was a laser-measured 176 Yds. One solid hit in the boiler room, Bambi just sort of stood there wagging his tail, then fell over sideway, DRT.
 
quote by razorburn:
It's not cheap anymore, due to it's declining popularity.
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I dont know about that RB, Remington .30-30 ammo is right around 11 bucks a box locally at Academy. Thats far cheaper than most other major sporting calibers. Heck, .30-06 and .270 START at about 16 bucks a box !:eek:

It isnt dropping in popularity either. This from Les Jones Interesting BATF Facts :

Marlin was first in rifle sales at 258,383. Ruger was a close second at 242,166.
link to the site here:
http://www.lesjones.com/posts/000524.shtml

That was from just 5 years ago. In 2004 Marlin produced 228,092 firearms(source BATF :http://www.atf.treas.gov/firearms/stats/index.htm) . Tho Im sure many of those were other guns such as the Model 60, we all know Marlins bread and butter is the 336. Id say Marlins relationship with mega-retailers such as Academy and Le'Mart De Wal has helped the .30-30's popularity tremandously by bringing an affordable, handy, and quite handsome hunting rifle to people. There was a flyer in yesterdays paper that had the 336 with scope for $325.00. At that price, its easy to see why the gun and caliber have been and will be around for a long time.;)
 
IMO the .30-30 has killed more LEGAL deer than any other catridge. I don't have the stats to prove it, but I think the .22LR has killed more deer than anything else.

Anyway, I think people badmouth the .30-30 because it is old, and does not do 3500 fps with a 180 grain bullet like some of the new loudenboomer magnums. It is old, but it has been putting meat in the freezer (or the ice box, or the smokehouse :)) the entire time.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr
 
Allthough if you are a leftie, the marlin is deff better for ejection.
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As a lefty, I feel qualified to declare humbrage at this statement.

The Win94 Top-Eject is probably the best left-handed non "custom" rifle out there for us southpaws. The Angle-Eject model is probably #2, IMO.

Marlins are terrible for lefties.

Consider this: When you work the lever, do you tilt the rifle at all so the top of it leans in toward the center of your body? Most folks I watch with a lever gun do this.

With the winchester, since the bolt opens from the top, it is impossible to drop the cartridge in the dirt during feed. With the marlin, the bolt opens from the right side of the frame. A lefty will lean the rifle to the right during action cycle. This drops a shell in the dirt unless deliberate care is taken to not lean the rifle.

My top-eject flings shells over my left shoulder all day. The angle-eject puts them over my right shoulder, about 3" from my right eye (wear glasses!).
 
Whenever it does get bad mouthed, it's usually because it's not the end-all-be-all perfect in every scenario all around cartridge. The universal answer when someone is getting a deer rifle is to get a 30-06 or some similar round so that you can hunt "anything on the continent short of the big bears".

If you are content not to shoot past 150-200 yds or so and are going after deer sized game or smaller, you can't go wrong with a 30-30. I bought a .270 nearly 20 years ago and have killed dozens of deer with it, but I can't remember taking even one that I could not have shot with a 30-30. Most shots are under 100 yds.

Now, with the new Hornady Leverlution(?) ammo it has more reach and power. I know it's heresy, but, I'd put a low power variable or fixed scope on it if it were me and hunt like crazy with it. I say scope it because for low light conditions (when the big boys like to come out) a good scope beats iron sights any day of the week.

My 30-30 does wear irons, but I use it strictly as a hog gun, plus it is a top eject and I don't want some goofy side mount on it.
 
:) NEF SB2 SS-30-30 good for left or right handed shooters. Very accurate ...a hand loaders dream..will take pointed bullets...Win brass, F210 primer, 33 grains W748 and a CT Ballistics Tip 150 grain bullet..Accuracy out to 200 yards no problem.....
 
Tradition would'nt count for squat if the cartridge did'nt work. Not too many hunters reaching for the ol .44 WCF these days. I think the 30-30 is still in like the top 5 in ammo sales and Federal Hi-Shok could be had for 8 bucks a box this year. I'd say that the 30-30 is suitable for at least 95% of the deer-hunting situations in my area, especially with the new Hornady ammo.
 
I think some of it is the generation gap. If you look at the turn of the century through WWII, you had the blunt nosed "obsolete" .30WCF (.30-30) vs. the "modern" .30-06 that could be made soft point, FMJ, AP, ect. Starting with WWI until the adoption of the M-16, the .30-06 was the military round that manufacturers could easily trasnlate to a civilian market. Even now, the .30-06 is continued in the civilian market just due to the following. My father has a 1928 Model 94 that is stamped .30WCF and it'll tear a ragged hole in a target at 100 yards. It's all in what you grow up with.

...And to give my 2 cents on the ballistics argument, if a .223 has better ballistics than a .22, then why keep the .22 or 7.62x54R over the 7.62x39 or 12 ga over the 16 ga, ect.
 
I don't like the scout stuff. LER scopes normally don't gather light worth a toot. I've taken deer as the light was dimming when I couldn't have seen irons or the crosshairs of an LER scope, but could through my 40mm. I have a 44mm Weatherby scope that turns moonlight into day. It's awesome at twilight. I don't really understand the rage of the scout rifle. It's out of its element in MY deer stand. It might be a better set up for sill hunting or spot and stalk, but stand hunting, you need a BRIGHT scope. Down here, stand hunting is about the only thing that works. The cover is usually too thick for still hunting to work.
 
Heh, you guys get some good prices on it, but I admit I haven't looked so hard for deals in .30-30. I checked around here and I see 30-30 priced between .308 and .30-06... not that cheap or expensive. 7.62x39 is pretty similar in ballistics, and I think I'd still take that over a 30-30 simply for the ability to plink with mil surplus.
 
7.62x39 is pretty similar in ballistics, and I think I'd still take that over a 30-30 simply for the ability to plink with mil surplus.
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On paper the 7.62x39 stuff is pretty close to .30-30. It can't handle a 170 grain bullet, though, and the Nosler partition is what I'd like to use if I were after heavy hogs. But, the 7.62x39 will do the job and I have a sporterized SKS that shoots pretty well.

I tried to find some of that 154 grain wolf soft point stuff in 7.62x39, but where I checked, they didn't stock it. I have two more local options I'm going to check before I resort to mail order or the net. I wanna try that stuff. I don't really trust the wolf 123 grain hollow point, haven't shot game with it, yet, but I just don't know if it'll open up or if it's enough bullet weight. I used to handload the 135 grain Sierra Pro Hunter for my rifle. It was accurate, though it shot low compared to the milsurp ammo. It sure worked on deer, but Sierra discontinued the bullet.

I might try handloading a Nosler balliistic tip. Not sure I can get much out of it what with the length of the bullet and intrusion into the little case when I seat it, though, but it works GREAT in my 12" .30-30 Contender. The .30-30 has more case volume to work with and makes things a lot easier for the heavy stuff. Advantage .30-30.
 
+1 rangerruck.

(I'm hardly a historian,) Remember when the 30-30 was introduced, there were very few .30 smokeless options. I believe the 30-40 Krag came out after in a bolt rifle. It came from the very beginning of the evolution of what we now call the high-powered rifle, everything else hadn't been invented yet.

It's not that I have anything at all against it, I've just never needed a saddle rifle. I can replicate the ballistics a lot cheaper with the 7.62x39.

My dad traded his lever 30-30 for a Remington 760 in 257 Roberts about 45 years ago, which he still carries. (He never needed a saddle rifle either.)
 
It's probably more complaining about the platforms than anything. The vast majority of 30/30s are lever actions. If you don't like levers,likely you don't like the 30/30.
Myself,I'm not a big fan of the 30/30. My only 30/30 isn't anywhere near as accurate as my bolt guns. It's an annoying cartridge to reload for (brass has poor life to it and requires frequent trimming). I use my treasured Win94 almost exclusively with home cast lead bullets now,so in my mind it's more like my cap and ball pistols: relatively useful and fun to play around with,but not my first choice for most shooting tasks.
 
Why Do some guys bad mouth the 30-30?

My Dad used a bolt-action .308 for many years in East Texas but finally traded it for a 30-30. It worked fine for the shots he took--most of them under 100 yards. In fact, the longest shot he ever took was 125 yards and the shortest was about 40 yards--he said the average worked out to 75 yards.

I guess I'm not as smart as my Dad because, at 65 years of age, I just bought my first 30-30--a Winchester 94 built in 1976. Tried it the other day with the iron sights and my eyes just aren't up to that. So, I'm gonna put a Williams peep sight on it and see how that works.

Tequila Jake
 
I went hunting with a friend who had an old Winchester 94. I had a .30-06 with a 24" barrel and a scope.

When we looked across canyons with our binoculars, I was glad to have my rifle. When we pushed our way through brush, I wished I had his.

Different tools for different applications.
 
My main issue with 30-30 is being a young, without a career yet (anyone looking for just out of college engineers?) I need versatility. 50 yards to 300 yards are typical ranges out here. I do not think the 30-30 is up for it . My 308 will do it easily and has better ballistics and a better bullet selection.


Different tools for different uses is true but the 308/30-06 overlap the 30-30's territory so much , except for the lever action. Unless you get a magazine fed BLR or use leverevolution bullets in a 308.

But like I always say, different strokes for different folks.
 
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