30-30 Stories

I chased on small buck for a week on the last week of bow season on my big bro's chunk of land he had access to (2004) in Rose Valley Sk. I lost two carbons on that guy. So with rifle season a day away I took a short break. Opening day I grabbed my bro's old 1940's '94 and a box of Win 170gr Silvertips, that eveing I went out to where this guy was playing games with me, low and behold he stepped outta the treeline and came broadside at a lasered distance of 137yds, I placed the front sight just behind the shoulder, eased back the hammer and squeezed off the shot. That 170gr ST dropped him in his tracks, the bullet went thru the and stopped just shy the hide on the opposite side. I recently bought another 30-30 in Marlin 336 action.
You sure can't beat the performance of the under rated 30-30, you just can't.
 
I thought that winchester was out of business and no longer making the 94?

I looked online and found a mossberg, looks pretty good. Any thoughts.
 
Huntsman said:
I chased on small buck for a week on the last week of bow season on my big bro's chunk of land he had access to (2004) in Rose Valley Sk. I lost two carbons on that guy. So with rifle season a day away I took a short break. Opening day I grabbed my bro's old 1940's '94 and a box of Win 170gr Silvertips, that eveing I went out to where this guy was playing games with me, low and behold he stepped outta the treeline and came broadside at a lasered distance of 137yds, I placed the front sight just behind the shoulder, eased back the hammer and squeezed off the shot. That 170gr ST dropped him in his tracks, the bullet went thru the and stopped just shy the hide on the opposite side. I recently bought another 30-30 in Marlin 336 action.
You sure can't beat the performance of the under rated 30-30, you just can't.
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Amen brother, amen.............:cool:
 
Marlin is pretty traditional I would say. Healthier action so comes in bigger cals and one of the few levers that you can clean the barrel from the bolt chamber. They have been around about as long as Winchester. Own and shoot both.
 
My most prized possession is a .30-30 Winchester that was purchased in late 1930's by my Great Grandfather. It has been passed along from father to son and has been mine for several years now. It is in incredible shape and shoots well. I consider it "retired" but would not hesitate to hunt with it again. I simply don't want to risk marking it so it stays in the safe most of the time. I show it off often and sometimes have it laying across the back of my desk when I'm working; I treat it with the reverence it deserves. I will never give it up as long as I draw breath; it will never be handed over to any authorities regardless of how the laws change in the coming years. I shot my first whitetail with it when I was only 20, some years ago, it was on "loan" from my father at the time as it was important to all that it was the rifle I was using when I shot my first deer; I hope to someday pass it on to a son, I have none at the moment, a sweet little daughter but she, according to tradition, is not the heir apparent, it will go to my bothers boy if I have no sons.
 
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my 3030 story is about my brothers winchester plain 94,i bought it for him for his birthday,around 300 bucks new in the early 90's well he finally comes hunting with our group one year and brings that 94,we hunt hard all week but just cant find any bucks,i pick him up with the truck and were heading back to camp.lo and behold a buck jumps in front of the truck on the road,hes a spiker but each tine is at least 12 inches like two daggers,so i tell theres his buck, he get nervouse and walks out loading the winnie the buck wont move, he waks closer, still wont move hes about 5 feet from it ,im thinking its either tame or somethings wrong with it , well he startes to shoo it because he cant shoot it that close,he keeps shooing it away and im rolling with laughter in the truck ,then all of a sudden the deer bolts away,it was like it was dazed and my brother cant stop shaking,he had buck fever, and could not move.i asked him why he could not shoot and he said he does not want to talk about it. to this day he hasent shot a deeryet,he helps clean them and now he carries a 300 weatherby but has not seen a deer,i sugested maybe he should carry the winnie again,he rolls his eyes and smiles
 
Don't drop the flashlight

This happened to a friend of mine who just recently passed away well into his 90's so I guess it is safe to tell it now. When he was a young man deer hunting was taken quite seriously in Nova Scotia, about as seriously as eating. Everyone hunted the old orchards and the bush areas near them, and often at night with the aid of a flash light. Today we would view this as unsporting, but then it was groceries and groceries you needed. As he told it, he had waited out till after dark and finally caught some movement over near a stone wall. He eased himself and the Winchester around to that direction and turned on the flashlight. He had a buck in the light at about forty feet. The light kind of dropped as he cocked the gun so he lined up the sights between the glowing eyes an fired.

He jumped up and rushed over to where the deer was, but it wasn't there. No deer, no blood, nothing. He couldn't believe that he had missed, searched everywhere and there was no sign. Finally decided to come back in the morning and look again. Took the short cut home across the neighbours pasture, jumped the stone wall took about 20 paces and there it was. A fine Jersey cow shot cleanly between the eyes.

My friend lived a long and full life in that same community. The good he did for his friends and neighbours more that compensated for this little error of his youth, but I think he expected his son and myself to learn a little from it when he told us. I think we did.
 
Brentn said:
I thought that winchester was out of business and no longer making the 94?

I looked online and found a mossberg, looks pretty good. Any thoughts.
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I have a Mossberg and I like it. I shoot it a lot and abuse it and it's been nothing but good to me.

It's almost a clone to the M94, with the exception of a round bolt.
 
My dad often talks about his 30/30s (the only centrefire cartridge he has ever used) but my favourite story is not really hunting related. The only time Dad ever pointed a firearm at another human being was with his 94 (I'm pretty sure this one was a 94). What started out as a domestic argument at a North Bay area logging camp in the late 60's quickly turned into my Dad and his associates trying to pull a huge and very angry drunk off of his wife. Well, the guy didn't like that these Toronto boys were getting into his business so he pulled his knife and Dad pointed the rifle at him and told him to drop it. Thankfully, the guy complied since as my Dad likes to say... "Who knows what would have happened if he came at me or anyone else with that knife. You might never have been born if I missed or I if got charged and put in prison..." Best part; the bruised and battered wife called the cops and tried to have my Dad arrested! Now that's gratitude for ya!

Jeff
 
A few years ago I was living in Moose Jaw and a hunting buddy was given the family heirloom: A 1923 made 1894 Winchester, with a 24 inch round barrel & full length magazine tube. Most of the blueing was gone but the bore still had strong rifling and it functioned 100%.
His grandfather owned it when they homesteaded in the Cypress Hill region on the Saskatchewan side.
It was said he elk hunted with it every year, for many years, and was rarely skunked.
His aiming point was a standing neck shot, and he often hunted them in a prefered stand of black spruce.
IIRC the family ranch used to be in a rather photogenic district, still with some rather nice alpine meadow at some elevations, and lodgepole pinetrees aplenty. Some of these rougher areas, escaped the plow apparently. It must have been a wonderful horseback ride to his hunting spot.
I don't know if many CGN persons have been to the Cypress Hills, but I made a point of taking my children there a few years ago, and we thoroughly enjoyed the scenery.

Another acquantance I met, more than a few years ago in Calgary, grew up on a wilderness cattle ranch near the Flatheads. On the edge of the Selkirk Range?? There wasn't much Hank did not know, about horses and cattle ranching.
After farm tasks were done, and the hay was in, he would guide American hunters for grizzly bear back in the day.
Hank always used his one and only, trusty carbine.......a Winchester 30-30 that spent many hours in a saddle scabbard, attacked by horsesweat and the elements.
He said he never felt undergunned, and he knew bear habits well enough, and patiently waited for the best opportunity for a clear shot, if need be.
 
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Boomer said:
Why would anyone fully chamber the round they are unloading from the magazine of a '94? I won't even get into muzzle control. When the round leaves the magazine and is on the elevator, move the lever until the cartridge rim lines up with the cutout in the guide rails, then simply turn the gun over and the round drops out in your hand. Not knowing how to use your gun is not a design flaw. You can't make guns fool proof, the fool will win every-time, fools should just keep their hands off machinery. Rather than limiting your crew to action type, perhaps you should limit your crew to those who can demonstrate the safe handeling of their firearms.
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Interesting point, this is what I brought up last week, and the "experts" more or less declared this safe method to be stupid, because they've been cycling rounds through their chambers for 200 years. :( Almost any rifle can have its mag emptied without resorting to cycling the rounds through the chamber. There is no more danger inherent in the design of a lever rifle than, say, a Remington 700ADL with the blind magazine. In fact, the lever is probably safer than that particular bolt rifle. To exclude hunters simply because they don't use bolt action rifles is plain snobbery. Back to the .30-30, I have experimented with dozens of rifles, but always go back to my old 26" barrel 94 rifle. Only real problem I had, I found that Federal factory ammo won't stand up to the nine round mag. The bullets were all telescoped into the cases after on particularly long trip! :eek: I now use only handloads or Winchester ammo.
 
Got a few stories involving the 30wcf...I like this one.

My bud got a great deal on a as advertised "30-30" Winchester 94.

Octagon barrel etc....a real old gem. The fella that had it said it didn't shoot worth a dam and he wasn't impressed with this particular 30-30 winnie. Seemed it never shot well and key holed all the bullets...when they rarely hit paper at all. He hadn't fired it for years because it shot so terrible and was obviously "shot out"

At any rate my bud got it home...cleaned it up and noticed the barrel was stamped 38-55 !

Man it sure shoots now.........;)
 
Not much of a hunting story to offer as so far in my location hunting for me the past three years has simply been a walk in the woods with a rifle due to the scarcity game in these parts these days.

But my Win 94 30/30 was my Father in laws from my first marriage. I rescued it from the gunstore the estate had put it in after his death. No one wanted to buy it as at the time the BC Firearms Officer was the one handling estate transfers which for some reason often took 3 to 6 months to go through.

Then one day I met an older local fellow at our gun club who hunted with nothing but a Win 94 in 30/30 (and a .22 for grouse) and in that one warm afternoon he showed me the utilitarian beauty of these rifles, and what they are capable of in the hands of someone that knows how to shoot, and hunt.

So soon after I took over the firearms part of the estate and became curious as to what happened to my father in laws Win 94 so I went to the store to check on it. As one of the store owners handed it to me he said in a halfhearted disparaging tone that it was only a post 64...I pretended not to notice the cheeky glint in his eye. (Later I found it to be from 1966 through its serial numbers).

As soon as I put it to my shouldered and worked the action I was hooked and it had to come home with me, along with reloading dies, and soon after a Williams aperture sight.

To this day as I scale down and try to focus on a few caliber types it is the one rifle I can't seem to part with and it is also the one I bring with me on road trips into the bush and such. And it was also the first positive experience my new wife had with firearms which led to her getting her PAL (non restricted and restricted), and adopting one of my SKS, and insisting our kids learn to shoot as well as she can...which truth be told is better then me.

Also it is ironic that the one action type that I hated so much during the PAL course, the that rattled, bit, drew blood, and jammed for myself and everyone else in the class would soon become one of my favorites. I realize now that I was hasty in my judgments and that rifle in the class was a very poor example of what a lever gun could be.

Anyway so there it is...my little story. I was holding off posting in this thread hoping to offer a hunting one but maybe next season as the local critters where just not cooperating for me this season. :D
 
Shot my first deer with a 30/30 :) Bought a Marlin 336 AS if I remember correct... I was 12. The good old days, I just went into the hardware store and bought it after school and took it home and hid it from my mom for three months. Boy did I get a whooping when she found it under my mattress ! LOL Shot a 2x3 Mule Deer @ 175 yds with a 170gr. Winchester Silvertip. Always liked that bullet. He was done but I gave him one more just to be sure. Good hunting rifle out to 250ish yds. I have a Marlin now... I have never liked the Winchester as much.
 
My 30-30 story......

This past summer I was lucky enough to draw one of two tags for dall sheep in the northern Yukon (about 80 miles west and a bit south of Inuvik). As this was very likely a once in a lifetime opportunity I knew I had to take the time, spend the money and go. As I prepared for the hunt I concentrated on loading for and shooting my 7mm-08 browning micro medallion; which has generally been my favorite sheep rifle. I did plan to bring a spare rifle as well, as this would be a fly in hunt, lasting possibly three weeks, and I would be hunting on my own. I played with a couple of other rifles, but after a few groups with my pre '64 winchester 30-30 I started thinking OK maybe I'll bring this old girl.....after all I have always wanted to shoot a sheep with a 30-30..... The clincher was my last two groups, my browning shot a little low 5" group at 300 yards (4x leupold) and the 30-30 shot 5" as well, just a little high! This was with the iron sight ramp at the highest position.

In the end I flew into Summit Lake on the Yukon /N.W.T. border, set up my wall tent and packed the old open sighted 30-30 into the mountains with me. So this was a once in a lifetime hunt but I didn't care......it felt good to pack the old rifle and I figured If I couldn't successfully hunt a sheep with the 30/30 in this remote undisturbed country in three weeks then it just wasn't meant to be. I shot a beautiful ram on the 4th day, after stalking within 40 yds. He was 13 years old, measuring 42 7/8" and approx. 163 rough score.

I will not hesitate to carry the winchester in the future, I take pride in being a good hunter/stalker over a long range shooter, and I've found the M94 to be such a pleasure to carry in the mountains!
 
manitou210 said:
The 94 win and other hammer lever guns might have the most near accidents of any gun ever manufactured. The hunt camp I have been with for over 40 years allow members to bring a guest for a couple days hunting providing member looks after that guest for his hunting safety.Like no shooting while he or she is on a push or drive, no shell in barrel while walking with group.the basic hunting saftey.
We don't allow anyone with a Leaver hammer gun. Seen to many near potential fatal accidents. One fellow in group unloading his 94 went off and bullet hit large stone fellow was sitting on eating his lunch right between his legs he was very lucky only pieces of stone cut through his pants and minor cuts, but he did some wild screaming and jumping, getting his pants off to see how bad he had been shot he told me his legs where burning like hell as well his scrotum. It was hard not to laugh when he told me how he reacted.
And I am sure everyone can tell stories how the 94 discharged when thumb sliped off lever unloading, or putting in half #### safety position,after cycling action and no more shells ejected but later found out one still in magazine tube.
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Sounds more like a half-wit behind a gun. It isn't reasonable to blame the gun. I have used, and been around people who have hunted with hammer levers and never seen an accident. It is just a mechanism, the person using it is always to blame, otherwise common sense is wrong and the Liberals are right.
 
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