Caliber is fine for deer. I have heard not seen that the lever revolutions can get deformed in the mag tube affecting their accuracy. The marlin 336 is a nice lever and is easy to scope.
Is 30/30 a good caliber to hunt deer?
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Caliber is fine for deer. I have heard not seen that the lever revolutions can get deformed in the mag tube affecting their accuracy. The marlin 336 is a nice lever and is easy to scope.
The 30-30 is a fine cartridge for hunting deer. It is range limited in ordinary loadings to about 150 yards. It is also a very manageable cartridge for recoil in light weight carbines. The new Hornady ammo is pricier but it turns the rifle into a 200 yard rifle for deer. It adds a spitzer bullet, called FTX, and a couple hundred FPS due to a new powder. I am planning thier bullet and new powder for handloading my 32 Special next year, a very similar round. The cheaper and more available ammo is fine as well.
The Marlin makes a fine hunting rifle. An older one is a good value and they scope real well. The Winchester doesn't scope well unless it is a later angle eject so if you shop for one be sure it can be scoped if that is important to you. I own both models and prefer the Marlin for an economical working gun as it is a little bigger in fit and the Winchester for its looks and history. Either one make a remarkably handy and deadly deer rifle that is priced right. There are 30-30 chambered bolts like the Savage 340 that are great cheaper bolts if you are inclined to a bolt. I owned a Cooey badged Savage years ago and hunted the Sask. prairies with great success preferring the 150 gr bullet.
Opinions about calibers and rifles are varied and often biased by personal experience. I don't like bolt guns and prefer levers. Folks will recommend cartridges from the 243 to 300 Mag but deer are not moose. To me the advantage of the 308 and 30-06 class is longer range and heavy bullet performance for bigger game and dual use.
The Marlin makes a fine hunting rifle. An older one is a good value and they scope real well. The Winchester doesn't scope well unless it is a later angle eject so if you shop for one be sure it can be scoped if that is important to you. I own both models and prefer the Marlin for an economical working gun as it is a little bigger in fit and the Winchester for its looks and history. Either one make a remarkably handy and deadly deer rifle that is priced right. There are 30-30 chambered bolts like the Savage 340 that are great cheaper bolts if you are inclined to a bolt. I owned a Cooey badged Savage years ago and hunted the Sask. prairies with great success preferring the 150 gr bullet.
Opinions about calibers and rifles are varied and often biased by personal experience. I don't like bolt guns and prefer levers. Folks will recommend cartridges from the 243 to 300 Mag but deer are not moose. To me the advantage of the 308 and 30-06 class is longer range and heavy bullet performance for bigger game and dual use.
People generally don't like to hear this , because its much more fun to be a gun nut and get caliber specific but whitetail deer are very easy to kill. a large area of them is vital. If you shoot deer at over 200 yards i'd go to somthing else juist because the rifles that 30-30's come in are generally 3-4 MOA in my experince. Its really not that hard to make a first round hit offhand on a 12x12 steel plate at 200 yards with my 32 and yes that its bigger than the vitals but you get the idea. so my answer is if your shooting under 200 yards 30-30 is fine
Ok... Then no... It is not one of the best choices... And I fully understand the desire to hunt lever action style... I would recommend many other rounds before a 30-30...
Hello,
Here in the State of Indiana, we are not allowed to use rifles with actual rifle cartridges for deer.
One popular choice is the lever action .357 rifle.
These take deer just fine, as do the .45 Colt, .44 Special, .44 Magnum, etc.
The .30-30 is much more powerful than any of these pistol cartridges, more on ballistic par with the 7.62x39mm.
Within reasonable distances, the .30-30 will take deer just fine. I think I would personally limit myself to 150 meters, but only because of the package firing the round. The lever action was never meant to be a minute-of-angle rifle.
Regards,
Josh
Here in the State of Indiana, we are not allowed to use rifles with actual rifle cartridges for deer.
One popular choice is the lever action .357 rifle.
These take deer just fine, as do the .45 Colt, .44 Special, .44 Magnum, etc.
The .30-30 is much more powerful than any of these pistol cartridges, more on ballistic par with the 7.62x39mm.
Within reasonable distances, the .30-30 will take deer just fine. I think I would personally limit myself to 150 meters, but only because of the package firing the round. The lever action was never meant to be a minute-of-angle rifle.
Regards,
Josh
Rocket Surgery
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I'm getting rid of my 1978 model 94 because I have spent $180.00 fixing it and it's still in the shop.
22 lr has killed deer... Doesn't make it a good round for doing so... If you have a 30-30 and its all you have then fill your boots... But, if like thew op, you want to buy new... Go with a better round...
It wouldn't be on my list cartridges that I would want to use for deer but a 30-30 has more than enough; I've seen guys take down moose with a 30-30. It's less popular but only because there are a lot of newer, and flatter shooting rounds. I'd check it out at the range with a couple different bullets and see if your particularly happy with how any of them group. Once you have something that will do the job of killing whatever animal you're hunting, what you can shoot reliably and accurately at the range you're intending to shoot from, that's all you need.....can argue what's best forever and never come up with one good answer but the first two parts are all that matters at the end of the day. Hope it works out!
I've got a 60 year old '94 Winchester 30-30 with open sights in my safe that's literally killed dozens of moose and easily over 50 deer. Heck, my 16 year old cousin got her first bull moose last year with a .243.
There's nothing wrong with a 30-30 at all, there are simply newer, flatter shooting calibre/rounds out there now. If you can place your shot, a 30-30 will easily take down a deer.
There's nothing wrong with a 30-30 at all, there are simply newer, flatter shooting calibre/rounds out there now. If you can place your shot, a 30-30 will easily take down a deer.
30-30 is too underpowerd to cleanly take game larger than a richardson ground squirrel. If you want to put something down within 100yds then I'd be starting with atleast something in .338cal.
However, with the two 94's I have (post & pre 64) the many deer I've shot did'nt know what hit them nor could they distinguish the energy of bullet impact as to whether it was from a rimmed bottleneck cartridge with a 170gr "Silvertip" @2300fps or a speedy ultra super fast magnum thousand of dollars rifle with the best optical scope ever shooting a bullet in excess of 3000+fps.
Use the search on this forum or just google 30-30 deer rifle etc.........
good luck and great to see to want to bring you boy with ya. 30-30 wont turn him into a flincher neither.
Bull sh1t, and who cares about minute of angle when hunting? I look for minute of white tail. minute of angle comes into play when the deer are way out there. lever actions might surprise you if you ever tried to group one.
As everybody here has said "under two hundred yards the thirty thirty is a capable cartridge", i killed my first moose with a model 94 Winchester.
most of us cant range a deer when they are between two fifty and four hundred any way without a range finder.
remember, pointy end forward and hit 'em in the front half.
yes.........................
Well, I am. not a lever guy. Can't stand them. Finally got a Savage 340. I have taken many deer with my SKS and last week with my Remington 799 I got two. One at 150ydsa with a neck shot and one at 215yds with a neck shot. There is nothing wrong with a .30-30 if you are man enough to use one.
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Now, I'm sure you weren't in Alberta using that 799 on a deer. They don't come in a caliber large enough to be legal here. You must have been in BC or Montana or something, no?
