30/30 Marlins and Winchesters

sealhunter

sealhunter

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In todays world of the high velocity, super accurate rifles, the 30/30 is often looked over. Not too many people are going into the gunshop and buying a 30/30 as their first rifle. It seems more people who once owned them are buying them again, maybe from nostalgia... and a select few buying them because they know what they want, and it's a 30/30

What are your thoughts on this cartridge. Not in comparison to a 300wsm, but on it's own, by itself, ...

I have used a 30/30 Marlin for many years and it is my go to gun. I have bang flopped many animals with it and have never lost a big game animal while using it.

I strongly believe that a 30/30 is a great first gun, beginners gun and all round hunter for anyone.

God bless the 30/30
 
It has it's places where it will exceed the .300 WSM. Nothing is as comfortable to carry as a lever and nothing feels more natural on a crisp Fall morning. I look at it this way, archers have the technology available to them to outfit their bows into true 100 yard rigs. Stabilizers, fibre optic sights, floating and low drag rests, trigger releases, carbon fibre arrows and built in electronic range finders. Their bows are capable of 80%+ let off and made of the most hi tech materials available.

Meanwhile the connosoirs if you will choose to limit themselves, handi cap if you will by shooting traditional equipment. Warm, soft wood, a flemish string and a handcrafted cedar arrow are all that he needs. His range is reduced, and generally his accuracy cannot compete, even after years of experiance with even the most green compound shooter. However he has everything that he requires to keep him satisfied.

The .30-30 cartridge in a lever action rifle is about as perfect as you can get in terms of hunting rifle evolution. It's quite sophisticated in design, yet classic and full of history. If your idea of a hunts success is measured by the kill and nothing more, you'll probably want to carry somthing a little different. Any high velocity modern rifle will do. But if your idea of success is measured more by the experiance, you probably can't go wrong with my favorite little popper.


By the way, this is my rifle and this is my bow. ;)
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A ok

There's nothing wrong with a 30-30 in my opinion. I have several other rifles, some in magnums but I still like my Win 94 in 30-30. I have friends who use them exclusively for Moose hunting, all three of them (two brothers and their father). The 30-30 seems to kill OK in their hands, must be the Winchester 170 cheap ammo they buy.

I liked my 30-30 so much I purchased it a shorter friend, a 44 Mag trapper. Bother are nice and light to carry in the bush and come to the shoulder very naturally. Some of the very few guns I own that do not have a scope mounted on them.
 
My win 94 in 30/30 is more often then not the dog that comes along for the truck ride into rural areas.

About all I would do to it now is add a front firesight to match my Williams receiver sight, and possible chamber it out to 30/30 AI.

Other then that it's a keeper.
 
Brainwashed by media. Need Super Magnums!!! Have to shoot 500 yds !!! When did they take hunt out of hunting ? I love my 30/30 . I have shot deer out to 250 yds with the plain jane 170 gr stuff . I just took off my scope and installed a tang sight . Going to sight it in for 200 and buckhorns for 100. Try the lever evolution stuff in handloads. :) My rifle of choice is the Marlin 336 .
 
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An old friend gave me his 1956 Winchester Model 94 in March.

I took the barrel mounted leaf sight off and put a Williams receiver sight on and out of three shots at 100 yards, got two in the same hole.

This is the best '94 I've got. My 1927 and 1974 models don't shoot like that.

I'm waiting for a Williams fire sight front sight for my old Marlin 336 and I'm going to try that with a peep sight too.
 
I'm not a big fan of lever guns, but some call to me. I just bought a Mdl94 in 45 Colt trapper with a short barrel .

I have a 30-30, but it' s a bolt action Mdl 788. I hav 2 detach mags for it so I can switch between 130grTSX and 165gr subsonic cast bullets. I have no use for a lever action 30-30 at all...But they are damn good at what they do!
:)
 
I own a win 94 and a marlin in 30-30 and have taken both deer and bear with them. The 30-30 is an excellent caliber for what it is intended and with handloads is very versatile. I will not be giving up this caliber anytime soon and the more history i hear about this caliber the more i like it....... Just my two cents.
 
I love my Win 94 in 3030. Bang flopped my first deer with it.

Now I carry Leverevolution ammo to use in it. Cant wait to get a Marlin i can mount a scope on and use those babies. Seems like the perfect Ontario deer rifle.
 
I like the 94's a lot, but in a full length rifle version, either round or ocatagon.
Also like the old tang peeps, and it wouldn't hurt my feelings in a bit if the chambering was 32 Special, or even better yet, 38-55.

Most of our shooting is well under a hundred yards, and I have first hand knowledge they are perfectly adequate for deer & black bear and will work for moose too if you take the time for a well-placed shot ...

For a short, light gun, the Marlin 1894 in 44 Mag. works pretty well too, but off with the old buckhorn rear sight and on with a receiver mounted peep sight. Replace the little gold bead front sight with a larger diameter ivory and your in business for a "dogging" gun.
 
if you think the 30-30 is good , you should see what the 348 winchester can do- if i remember correctly it uses a different action with twin vertical locking lugs- people out west swore by them as bear guns
i even have a 94 trapper in 44 mag as a back-up to my savage 99 in 308
 
t-star,
The Model 71 in .348 used the same action as the Model 1886. Yes, it would "do more" than the .30-30, but if you've ever fired one, you know that you paid for that extra performance with a heck of a lot more recoil. For grizzly and perhaps big cervids the extra performance is great. I certainly wish I owned one, but my buddy won't part with his!

As to the .30-30, we see these threads all the time. You'll find very few members here who don't respect its performance. I like all kinds of rifles, all action types, but practical, easy-to-shoot rounds like the .30-30, .257 Roberts and the 7mm-08 most of all. I think the .30-30 is a great cartridge; not a lot of recoil, and in the right hands, will kill anything. My ancestors used them to dispatch grizzlies in Northern B.C., and if there's anyplace where people have felt the "need" for the big mags, that's the place. To many, "scope" and ".30 WCF" are a terrible mismatch, but anything that increases the accuracy of an arm, provided it doesn't impair handling too much, is great. I wish I'd kept my Savage 340, and I'd LOOOOOVE to have Gatehouse's 788. With that rifle, I could probably happily hunt the rest of my days away.
.30-30 ammo has been improved quite a bit with the Leverevolution from Hornady. I never thought pointy bullets in the .30-30 were much advantage, and at standard velocities, they aren't. But the Leverevolution has increased velocity, which I'd say gives the rifle an honest extra 75 yards reach on game.
Mind you, even standard ammo is a great improvement on the original load. The first .30-30 loads were 160 grains at 1900 fps from a 26" barrel. The same bullet weight is driven much faster these days! Add the option of the 150 grain and the 170, which has pretty much been the standard since WWI, and you have a great general-purpose gun.

Strictly as lever rifles, I prefer the Marlin because it's easier to find one that's easy to scope; the majority of '94's are top-ejects. With open sights, I've found accuracy equal. I also like the Marlin's easy bolt removal for cleaning from the breech. Six of one.....
OTOH, there is no faster rifle to line up on game in a hurry than a Model 94 carbine. It just seems to point itself instantly.
 
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I've got a 1952 vintage Marlin 336 in 30/30. It has amazing wood, and when fitted with a Williams peep and a Tru Glo front sight, it is capable of deer hunting accuracy all the way to 200yds, and likely a tad farther.

With 170gr. Speer's, sight in 3" high at 100 yds your only about 3" low at 200 yds, it just plain works.

It does'nt have the bone crushing recoil of a uber magnum, but inside of 200yds really what does it not do?
 
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I always think of the 30-30 as related to the homesteaders of the great depression, that hunted to live. In the boon docks of bushland Saskatchewan the 30-30 was by far the most popular caliber, of a myriad of odd ball calibers that killed game. The major game was moose, except in some areas where elk were more prevelant.
The standard loading was the 170 grain, with the generous amount of lead showing, behind the flat nose. All major companies loaded this type bullet, but probably none were better than the old Dominion brand, CIL.
The same meat hunting to live, went on all over northern Canada. In BC, after WW2, I was friends with a fellow that had shot over thirty moose during the depression years, with his 30-30. I asked him how many he had wounded. After a careful thought he replied that he couldn't think of any that he had hit that had escaped.
 
With the powder shortages these days I would not be surprised to see the big powder burner cartridges get less popular.
 
I love my Win /94. Dropped only a handful of deer for me but none the less it dropped ,em dead!!
I'm always on the lookout for another 30-30....maybe even a Marlin. I tried snagging my brothers 1930's era 30-30 but he would only let go of the 1977 era one to me....still though, the lever 30-30 is in fact an over looked ctg to todays standards of hunting cals. My own pick of the litter for huntin these days goes even further back with a .54 smoke pole......................BTW "Pharoh2" is that a Black Widow recurve?? Nice bow anyhow.
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It may not mean much to some but my guns have to look ###y in my eyes. The Marlin is way ###ier in my opinion. There's just something about the "bulky" look but being a light rifle.
 
stuckon308 said:
It may not mean much to some but my guns have to look ###y in my eyes. The Marlin is way ###ier in my opinion. There's just something about the "bulky" look but being a light rifle.
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If we were more honest most of us would admit to the same thing.

I do have a point about the .30-30 being overlooked these days. There are a whole slew of hunters using them, but I'm thinking these guys are purely "hunters", not "firearms enthusiasts", which means they won't be buying a bunch of other guns, trying new cartridges/action types, tailoring handloads just so, or posting on a board like this. But they are sure as heck out there. We just overlook them sometimes.
 
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