Is 30/30 a good caliber to hunt deer?

Brutus said:
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Tell it to him. He felt secure at a hair over 250 yards! He was dead wrong.........;)
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As H4895 says, it's just not as "manly" as it used to be. You need to be launching a fireball that rivals the Apollo and missing twice as hard to have any chance of bringing home game. Even if you're an 11 year old, shooting at close (I should say normal) range.

Flinch your way to success! :rolleyes:
 
Well Target, here is one more take on it. I have several rifles that would qualify for use on deer. This year I carried a .270 and it worked quite neatly on the deer that I shot. While I have a .30-30 I left it at home because I was hunting on a farm and there was the potential for rather long shots and such a situation the .270 is clearly better. However, the deer I shot was dropped with one shot at 214 yards. While it would be stretching it, I could've done it with the .30-30.

As it related to your question, within the range limitations that you have given, it will work just fine. As for power, however one wishes to define it, I will very likely be using that .30-30 for hunting black bear this spring and I'm not the least bit concerned.

Well constructed bullets at moderate velocity always work. If you were to go onto
24hourcampfire.com and do a search there is a member there named GuyM. He owns a 375 H&H and a .30-30. In his penetration tests, penetration depth was remarkably similar. I'm not suggesting for a second that I would choose to use a .30-30 on a cape buffalo but is a .30-30 a good choice for deer that ranges suggested in the original post? Absolutely it is.
 
In a list of twenty random cals,The 30-30 would be the last one picked by me.You can shovel snow with a spoon also.I own four 30-30s all purchased in a moment of weakness.
 
tactical lever said:
As H4895 says, it's just not as "manly" as it used to be. You need to be launching a fireball that rivals the Apollo and missing twice as hard to have any chance of bringing home game. Even if you're an 11 year old, shooting at close (I should say normal) range.

Flinch your way to success! :rolleyes:
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Gosh ding it, I think you were referring to my post and you got your powder's mixed up. I am H4831!
One has to be very careful and not get H4895 when he wants H4831!
Thanks for agreeing.
 
I wonder what the results would be if this was done as a poll..interesting !!

Personally and to the point to answer the OP directly i would have to say

the 30-30 is ______________;) on deer!! just my .o2
 
Superbrad said:
Cavemen killed deer with spears and wooden arrows... 30-30 will do the job... .30-06, .308 etc will do it better.....
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Probably more deer have been killed with a Winchester Model 94 levergun firing the .30-30 WCF cartridge than with any other firearm.

I've owned a couple of 94s and a 336 in .30-30 and now own a Rossi Rio Grande in .30-30.

I've shot deer with all but the Rossi levergun cause I've only owned it for a couple of weeks. I liked the looks and feel of the gun when I took it off the rack and handled it so instead of going back on the rack it went in the cab of my pick-up.

I don't know if you can say that the .30-06 or .308 will do it better than the ole "thutty-thutty". You can't get deader than dead.
 
Huntsman said:
And if we are talking Canadian deer, lets not forgot the good old .303 British;)
.....................but thats a different 20+ pages of argument :p
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Just to point out some facts. Across northern Canada, a tremendous amout of game was shot in the depression years, pretty well ending at the end of WW2. Moose was the predominate game animal and the 30-30 was the predominate calibre, with virtually all being the Winchester 94. People talk about going into any crossroads store and being able to buy 30-30 ammunition.
The same was true of the rifles. Trading posts in the north would only have 94 30-30s and likely nothing else. The federal government sent 30-30 ammunition to the northern posts and it was distributed to the Natives by the RCMP.
In the boondock area on the fringe of northern settlement in SAskatchewan that I know about, the little general stores carried big game rifles. You could get exactly what you wanted, provided it was a Winchester 94 in 30-30 calibre that you wanted! Bush homesteaders and trappers shot game year around to provide themselves with meat. There were probably more 30-30 calibre rifles than all other calibres combined.
There were probably more 303 Savage around than there were 303 British, because the great numbers of Lee Enfields that flooded the country didn't come until several years after WW2, when hunting had reverted to organized with enforced hunting rules. Thus, the 303 British missed out on the great era of survival hunting.
 
That's kind of my point.... it's pretty much what was available unless you were very very rich and therefore was the most widely used.... which in turn made it the rifle that has taken the most game.... That does not make it today's best choice... There are better, more accurate rounds out there (setting aside the power argument).... We have more available to us and obviously we have more actions available to us as well....

At the end of the day opinions are like A-holes... everybody has one.... it's a discussion forum and the OP asked for opinions... he likely got way more than what he bargained for here....lol
 
H4831 said:
Just to point out some facts. Across northern Canada, a tremendous amout of game was shot in the depression years, pretty well ending at the end of WW2. Moose was the predominate game animal and the 30-30 was the predominate calibre, with virtually all being the Winchester 94. People talk about going into any crossroads store and being able to buy 30-30 ammunition.
The same was true of the rifles. Trading posts in the north would only have 94 30-30s and likely nothing else. The federal government sent 30-30 ammunition to the northern posts and it was distributed to the Natives by the RCMP.
In the boondock area on the fringe of northern settlement in SAskatchewan that I know about, the little general stores carried big game rifles. You could get exactly what you wanted, provided it was a Winchester 94 in 30-30 calibre that you wanted! Bush homesteaders and trappers shot game year around to provide themselves with meat. There were probably more 30-30 calibre rifles than all other calibres combined.
There were probably more 303 Savage around than there were 303 British, because the great numbers of Lee Enfields that flooded the country didn't come until several years after WW2, when hunting had reverted to organized with enforced hunting rules. Thus, the 303 British missed out on the great era of survival hunting.
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That's very true for the eastern arctic as well. I've read many true stories entitled "Them Days" about early life in Labrador. Many various Winchester & Savage rifles are mentioned right up until the Depression years, but the popularity and abundance of 303 British ammunition and rifles did not come about until Post WW2.

Edit: Even then alot of hunters/trappers saw no reason to "upgrade" from thier familiar 303 Savages & 30-30s. And before then 44-40s of thier father's era were happily used. Nothing was discarded btw, and many older weathered/inherited 44-40s were kept around home when the men left or were kept in remote backcountry cabins right next to the stove for use in dire emergencies.
 
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A little bit of history

H4831 said:
Just to point out some facts. Across northern Canada, a tremendous amout of game was shot in the depression years, pretty well ending at the end of WW2. Moose was the predominate game animal and the 30-30 was the predominate calibre, with virtually all being the Winchester 94. People talk about going into any crossroads store and being able to buy 30-30 ammunition.
The same was true of the rifles. Trading posts in the north would only have 94 30-30s and likely nothing else. The federal government sent 30-30 ammunition to the northern posts and it was distributed to the Natives by the RCMP.
In the boondock area on the fringe of northern settlement in SAskatchewan that I know about, the little general stores carried big game rifles. You could get exactly what you wanted, provided it was a Winchester 94 in 30-30 calibre that you wanted! Bush homesteaders and trappers shot game year around to provide themselves with meat. There were probably more 30-30 calibre rifles than all other calibres combined.
There were probably more 303 Savage around than there were 303 British, because the great numbers of Lee Enfields that flooded the country didn't come until several years after WW2, when hunting had reverted to organized with enforced hunting rules. Thus, the 303 British missed out on the great era of survival hunting.
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Good information to know H4831, I did'nt take into account the post ww2 L.E.'s nor the ones prior, popularity & assumption obviously are two considerations at two different levels lol, :cheers:
 
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