How is the 30/30 on barrels?

lord-humungous

lord-humungous

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How is the 30/30 on barrels? I’d like to find a 30 cal that will drop a deer, learn how to handload with, shoot a bunch at the range and last long enough to pass on to my son.

I figure the 30/30 has to be a better choice than 308 or 30/06 for longevity. Ballistic performance aside.
 
lord-humungous said:
How is the 30/30 on barrels? I’d like to find a 30 cal that will drop a deer, learn how to handload with, shoot a bunch at the range and last long enough to pass on to my son.

I figure the 30/30 has to be a better choice than 308 or 30/06 for longevity. Ballistic performance aside.
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I'm not sure if I just felt a big hook go in my jaw as i chase this shiny lure... or...

somehow, I believe either of the 30,30....308...or..30/06...if cared for properly, and used only during hunting seasons, and if cleaned after each firing, should have a barrel life a bit better than the .220 wsift or .223 wssm..

You'd be better to ask friends and co workers and other hunters if they have come accross any of these guns that were of the older variety, (10-20 years or so) that still shoot...Personally, I believe a .308 30/06 or 30/30 form the mid to late 80's, if cared for properly, would still be a good shooter if it wasn't abused..
 
lord-humungous said:
How is the 30/30 on barrels? I’d like to find a 30 cal that will drop a deer, learn how to handload with, shoot a bunch at the range and last long enough to pass on to my son.

I figure the 30/30 has to be a better choice than 308 or 30/06 for longevity. Ballistic performance aside.
Click to expand...

If not abused, a 30-30 should last several lifetimes of shooting. I think most rifles die of neglect rather than worn barrels. The 30-30 is an excellent choice and would serve you well. In fact, once you handload for a while, you may catch the casting bug, in which case you'll extend the life of the barrel even further with mild (and wild) cast loads.
 
The .30-30 is a great choice, as are the others. A levergun makes shooting fun, and personally, I'd choose a Marlin, a Win 94 Angle Eject, or a Mossberg so that you can mount a scope and wring out the most accuracy possible for hunting or comparing handloads. Shooting with iron sights is fun too. Of course, there are also .30-30 rifles to be had as singles, bolts and pumps.
It's also an easy cartridge to handload for and you can often get free, once-fired brass at ranges because lots of non-handloaders will leave their brass behind.
As to barrel life? A properly cleaned, non-abused rifle will last you and your son many thousands of rounds. The same applies for the .30-06 or the .308; hunting-rifle accuracy, say 1 to 2 MOA, may drop off a tiny bit after a few thousand rounds, but not critically. That would open up more action types to you if that is a concern.
One other alternative, but one that may be expensive to shoot until you do begin to handload, is the .300 Savage. A bit more recoil and considerably more power than the .30-30, lots of handloading options and data, and will cover game up to moose. Available used in the Savage 99 lever and many bolt, pump and autoloading rifles. Currently available new in Savage bolt rifles. It's a bit of an enthusiast's cartridge because few guns are chambered in it these days, but all the big ammo companies produce it and will continue to do so because there are probably between half a million and a million guns out there in that chambering.
 
You are definetely on the right track by choosing the 30-30.
Barrels can, and do, get shot out. The larger the case capacity compared to the bore diameter is what largely determines how fast they wear out. When the 264 Winchester Magnum came out, the word was soon around that by the time you got it sighted in, the barrel would be wore out!
High intensity loadings are harder on barrels than less pressure loadings. Thus, a 270 will have considerable shorter barrel life than will a 30-06, because of smaller diameter bore, plus usually higher pressure loadings for the 270.
A 30-06 may last as long as 4 to 5000 rounds of shooting and a 270 maybe 3000. When they "wear out," is a subjective matter, as they may lose gilt edge accuracy at half the rounds mentioned above.
As has been said, a 30-30 will last forever. I would hate to even guess at how much shooting it might take to wear one out, if it was properly maintaned.
 
Improper cleaning, or no cleaning is is far more likely to ruin a barrel than shooting it.
.308 target barrel life tends to drop off in accuracy after 5000 rounds. I would expect the 30-30 to be similar.
Super fast 6mm, and 6.5mm have a much shorter life expectancy. Some as low as 700 rounds.
Ron.
 
Typical shooters (a few boxes a year at the range plus a couple of hunting trips) basically don't wear out barrels except in real screamer calibers in my experience. Typical shooters buying a 30-30, or a 308, or '06 or many other similar calibers can expect to pass it on to one or more generations if the rifle is well cared for. Most of the popular European calibers (6.5x55, 7x57, 8x57, and the 9.3's) also last a long time - lots of 80+ year old rifles in those calibers around are still shooting great.
 
I love hand loading for my 94 30/30.

One thing though...get a bullet crimper, makes a huge performance difference with the reloads.
 
Unless you are a competition shooter, or enjoy shooting several boxes of ammo at a time, you wont wear out a 30-30.
Marlin 336c or something in a 30-06 would be my choice.
If your still thinking a 30-30, then IMO a marlin 336c is far superior to a Winchester 94.:nest: I have a marlin and jsut love it.
A BLR in 06 would be a nice lever in a heavy caliber, the heavy caliber would be nicer if shooting farther distances or larger game. Dont skimp on the cost if you plan on it being a family heirloom, it will give it the "woo" factor for years to come when he goes hunting with his friends.
But if ya want true canadiana, go with a no1 mk3 lee enfield.:dancingbanana:
 
That barrel should last a really long time. A gun can still be a great shooter with a marginal barrel so long as the muzzle is still tiptop and therein lies the problem. 94s and probably most Marlins were cleaned from the muzzle so beware before purchasing.
 
lord-humungous said:
How is the 30/30 on barrels?
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The .30-30 will shoot right through a 45 gal barrel no problem!! :cool:

Seriosly though, a .30 WCF barrel is usually ruined by improper (metal cleaning rods) or no cleaning rather than being shot out. Look at barrels in older rifles and you are far more likely to see pitting than worn rifling. Headspace can be more of an issue in older rifles, especially if hot loads have been used. While I like and use older rifles, the modern ones are made of improved steel that better resist excess headspace. As has been said previously, moderate loads using cast bullets for practice can extend barrel life tremendously.

Any of your choices are good ones if you want a .30 caliber. The .308 or .30-06 can even be loaded down to .30-30 or .300 Savage velocities but that is rarely ever mentioned.
 
the 30-30 will - for all intents and purposes - last a lifetime. The overbore index of the 30-30 is far below a 308.

It would not be unreasonable to expect 15000 rounds of hunting-accurate life from a 30-30 with reasonable care.
 
. When the 264 Winchester Magnum came out, the word was soon around that by the time you got it sighted in, the barrel would be wore out!

Not meaning to hi-jack a thread, but that was a lot of BS back then too !
I had a 264 back in the 1960s as did several friends and none of us burned out barrels. My son still has my old M70 and puts his deer in the freezer every year with it.
As far as I'm concerned one can burn the barrel out of anything if you get it red-hot and continue shooting it , and/or never clean it.....
 
If you took FULLEST advantage of the 30-30, by which I mean loading mild loads with lead bullets for most of your plinking and practice, a well kept 30-30 would probably outlast you and your son.

Even fed only jacketed bullets, 30-30's are not high pressure powder burners, so I suspect you'd never shoot it's rifling out.
 
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