Hunting with the .30-30, how fast does it drop them?

My grandfather shot over 50 moose in northern BC with his 30-30 rifle. All but one was a one shot kill.

He told me he usually shot them in the ear. I never saw him shoot, but assume he was a good shot and probably not shooting long shots. Shot placement is 95% of the kill with any rifle.

I can't think of a better bush rifle than a 30-30. I take one on hunting trips as a back-up, bad weather rifle. It has a Williams peep at the back and a fibre-optic front sight. Fast and accurate for my old eyes.
 
I shot a deer once with the Win 94 30-30. The bullet bounced off of the deer. The deer charged me, stopped in front of me, slapped me, then told me to read internet forums. I traded it in on a 300 Win Mag. The above was based off a true story.....

30-30 is a deer hammmmmmmerrrrrr. I use the Hornady 170gr with IMR-4064. Great combo.
 
As he original poster I have to say thanks to everyone for the feedback so far. So far all of my deer have been shot with either a .270 or a .30-06 which has generally resulted in DRT or a run of no more than 25 yards although a couple went farther. I've shot black bears with .30-06, .35 Whelen, .45 Colt (carbine) and a .375 H&H. It's nice to see how happy people are with the .30-30, not just that it works but it seems to work to complete satisfaction.

With my transition to brush hunting a friend offered to sell me a very nice .444 Marlin and I was thinking about it for the sake of more DRTs and shorter runs after the shot compared to the .30-30 but now I'm not so sure it offers any advantage. Having said that some people seem to swear by the 265 and 270 grain loads simply dropping deer on the spot with great consistency.
 
If you are willing to shoot a black bear with a .45 colt carbine the 30/30 is more than enough gun for deer for you...
 
Ranger Dave said:
I shot a deer once with the Win 94 30-30. The bullet bounced off of the deer. The deer charged me, stopped in front of me, slapped me, then told me to read internet forums. I traded it in on a 300 Win Mag. The above was based off a true story.....

30-30 is a deer hammmmmmmerrrrrr. I use the Hornady 170gr with IMR-4064. Great combo.
Click to expand...

Must have forgot to put powder in powder charger reservoir when reloading the cartridges.
I've shot moose with my Win 94 30-30s out to 200 yards using factory 170 grain Core-Lokt ammo.
Bullet bounced off. ;)
 
Gunoholic said:
Must have forgot to put powder in powder charger reservoir when reloading the cartridges.
I've shot moose with my Win 94 30-30s out to 200 yards using factory 170 grain Core-Lokt ammo.
Bullet bounced off. ;)
Click to expand...

Wow, did you miss that one....
 
I have known several hunters over the years that use nothing but a 94 win in 30/30 for everything on this island. Many were shooting rifles as soon as they could pick one up as a kid.

Practice, practice, practice.
 
Ranger Dave said:
I shot a deer once with the Win 94 30-30. The bullet bounced off of the deer. The deer charged me, stopped in front of me, slapped me, then told me to read internet forums. I traded it in on a 300 Win Mag. The above was based off a true story.....

30-30 is a deer hammmmmmmerrrrrr. I use the Hornady 170gr with IMR-4064. Great combo.
Click to expand...

Thank you I needed my morning laugh ,
 
When I was fifteen, I shot 5 deer in under 5 minutes... the hunting party had placed "the kid" on the end of the dogging run on a fence row... as the deer busted out of the cover and jumped the fence, I fired my grandfathers old, tired .32 Special Win 94... three of the deer dropped right against the fence, two others were recovered in under 75 yards.... the .30/30 would have done the same.
 
I have shot a good number of deer with 30-30s.. Had some of the most extreme blood trails I have ever seen with 170gr Saber Tip, most of which dropped within sight... This cartridge matted to the 94 makes for the nicest carrying and capable rifle for woods hunting IMO..
 
I started hunting with a marlin 30-30. Great gun, great cartridge, just relise its limitations and it will be a great hunting round for you. I have only used the inexpensive Winchester and federal bullets and never had a deer go more than 100 yards. It's all about shot placement.
 
fungun said:
I started hunting with a marlin 30-30. Great gun, great cartridge, just relise its limitations and it will be a great hunting round for you. I have only used the inexpensive Winchester and federal bullets and never had a deer go more than 100 yards. It's all about shot placement.
Click to expand...

X2 - My experience exactly.
 
I found the old design Winchester 170 grain Silvertip to be a great killer.

Managed to scrounge up a quantity of both the 150 and 170 Silvertips for reloading.

But I also like the Nosler 170 SB, and the Speer 170 FN [This latter bullet shoots under moa in my Marlin]

Regards, Dave.
 
I have all the old family hand me down Win 94s (3 pre 64 carbines) from dad and deceased uncles.
All in 30-30 Win.
Together they've accounted for umpteen dozen deer and moose.
Nothing fancy for ammo just your conventional factory core-lokts and power points.
Whatever was cheapest on the crappy tire shelves when they walked in.
I can only remeber a couple of times in all those years when we had to get the walker hounds out to track a wounded animal and one of those times was my fault when I was just learning to hunt and the necessity of bullet placement.
We got the deer which had gone to ground under a log on a rock island in a cedar swamp and after a stern lecture from dad I never fk'd up that way again.
 
30-30 is an under rated killer IMHO, and I've managed to have 4 of them go through my fingers without firing a single shot from one... That being said, in my area, it's a small miracle is you can get within 200 yards of a deer because it's bald a$$ prairie and fairly flat.

For work (I do mobile slaughter as a side job), I use a lever 44 mag. It's a Browning m92. Boss keeps teasing me about it being a Jap gun. And a Winchester. So, I told a few animals that I shot with it that it's a Jap gun, and not one of the animals I've shot with it have gotten back up saying, "Just kidding!!!! That tickles. Now, your turn to run." Every one that I've shot has tucked right under and dropped like it was hit in the back by the hammer of Thor.
 
A few years back I found a small bag of some 170 silvertip bullets at a Gunshow.

I haven't used them on game yet but I loaded some up for the range and they really seemed to thump the steel gong @100 yards with some authority and that was with a bad crimp.

Now I have to buy another 30/30 rifle to replace the one I sold lol.
 
I've only shot one Alberta whitetail with a 30-30. It was a marlin 336 with a williams aperture sight.

The deer dropped and died on the spot. It looked like someone dropped an inviaible piano on it.

I'm not sure how much of that is down to the cartridge though.

Shot placement. Shot placement.
 
My experience on game with the 3030 is just 1 shot.
I shot a bison at the incredible long distance of 4 INCHES while his face was in the feed trough. The bullet was found in the feed trough.
Talk about bang, flop!!

Seriously though, 3030 and 7.62x39 share very similar ballistics, the 3030 is just older and more experienced on game, the 7.62x39 newer and more experienced in killing people. Both work well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom