Lever action or bolt action for beginner hunter

The Marlin is a good choice,big open peep sights are nice for woods walking,a3-9 power scope goes great on a 336 too.I wouldn't scope a model 94 ,never worked right for me ,eye relief and scope jam with the hammer and my monster hands .leverevolution ammo shoots well out of several 336 rifles for me,great hunting ammo too.

I was looking at a 336 but I ended up getting a henry 3030 sidegate
 
Ok so what kind of eye relief am I looking at out of a henry 3030.
I read with a lever usually people keep the magnification down. Or even go for a fixed scope
What is a fair price scope I can purchase that won't break the bank and be dependable.
I like vortex's warranty. Very appealing. They also have a nice AR optic I like but I don't fully understand eye relief as mentioned so I don't know if that optic will work. Do certain rifles come factory with a " preset" eye relief or does it change for each individual user ? How can I trust anybody references if each scope is based on there handling/ cheek positioning
 
update: I ended up getting a henry 3030 side gate model with the brass exterior instead of steel.
I have 2 boxes of hornady lever evolution.
2 boxes federal 150
7 boxes federal 170
and 10 boxes of Winchester 150 polymer tip.
so I'm hoping with all of these options I can find one round that the gun prefers and I can stick with for hunting.

I'm debating or running irons, or installing a red dot or even a low power 1-4 or a 1.75-5. I'm having a hard time finding a scope I prefer I like the vortex at optics but I'm not to sure about the eye relief for this 3030. more research is still required on figuring out what the eye relief is so I can pair a nice optic to it. any suggestions 30/30 folk out there ?

The one scope I like for a lever is a Leopold 2-7 vx1 which they don't make anymore. size suits a lever very nice. ive now gone receiver mounted peep on my Marlin gg and a holosun 403c red dot on my chiappa 45-70. Its the same price of a lower end scope and is a great 2 eye open sight picture for woods hunting. Really nice red dot.
 
Considering that shot placement is more critical than power, I would suggest that the 270 ( long action) or 308 would be suitable for all game. Considering that the 270 was used on Elephant by W.D. Bell in the 30's and 40's it will work for most game animals.

Proper bullet selection is critical for good hunting practices... and Practice makes perfect, choose a gun/calibre that you can and WILL shoot often.

As far as the 300WM -- in a light rifle it will hurt to shoot it lots... if you reload you can tailor your rounds to what you want, but don't let yourself get infected with magnumitis.

This year I used a CZ 527 carbine in 7.62x39 for deer. It worked very nicely at 258 meters (measured). It is very close to the 30-30 ballistics with the advantage of spirepoint bullets. So your 30-30 lever action should do well up to 150 yards and with a good 150gr bullet would work on Moose if keeping the range short

bell used a 7x75/ 275 rigby with a military fmj round nose of 11.2 grams and mostly before first world war and hunted his last elephant in 1939 ... we had never knwon the number of elephants lost during his carreer ...
 
Isn't. 270 or .243 a bit small for large game?? Isn't that like using a 6.5 creemore for a moose??? Yes it is insanely fast but does it really deliver same energy compared to a 30-06 or 300 winmag

I’ve personally witnessed .270 drop whitetail bucks and black bears in their tracks, another buddy hunts elk with his. Plenty of power in that cartridge, it’s a great cartridge.
 
Ok so what kind of eye relief am I looking at out of a henry 3030.
I read with a lever usually people keep the magnification down. Or even go for a fixed scope
What is a fair price scope I can purchase that won't break the bank and be dependable.
I like vortex's warranty. Very appealing. They also have a nice AR optic I like but I don't fully understand eye relief as mentioned so I don't know if that optic will work. Do certain rifles come factory with a " preset" eye relief or does it change for each individual user ? How can I trust anybody references if each scope is based on there handling/ cheek positioning

As I understand it, "eye relief" is the point where the lenses focus the light that comes through the scope - to use, that point needs to end up on your retina in your eyeball. Take a scope and lay it on a table. Shine a flashlight into it from the front end - then take your hand, a block of wood, or a piece of cardboard and hold it at right angles behind the eye piece. You will see a brighter circle of light on it. Move that piece closer or further from the scope. You will see it get larger when too close to scope, then get smaller, then get larger again. Back and forth until you get the circle into the tiniest point that you can get - when "perfect", can often see the filament from the flashlight in that image - in that tiny "dot". Now measure from rim of eye piece to that "dot" - that is your "eye relief" - the distance that your retina has to be to receive that light. Old school inexpensive Weaver 3/4" or 7/8" rimfire scopes might be 1/2" to 3/4" - Leupold and Burris centerfire scopes might be 4 to 6 inches, and that distance might change as the power is changed on a variable power scope. Is mostly of concern about recoil - when fired, almost every rifle is going to "come back". Ideally, your head goes with the cheek piece so, no contact made. But hurried shooting can result in rifle and scope "coming back" and head staying still - with inadequate eye relief and healthy recoil, can earn the "eyebrow scar"...

I will likely be a bit of a "heathen" for scope recommendations. I would view the 30-30 as a realistic 150 yard deer rifle, possible could be stretched to 200 yards and likely work fine. It is not a 400 yard hunting rifle. So, my choice would be an older Weaver straight tube - the "dash 1" series should be water proof and sealed, and for shorter range and in the bush I really like their thin horizontal wire with a vertical tapered post. The tip of the post is just a bit above the cross hair - place that tip where you want to hit and fire. Finn Aargaard had a Weaver straight tube on his .375 H&H for 30+ years and it worked fine for him, albeit he did not see much freezing temperature, I don't think. So, I would look for a K2.5-1 or a K3-1 with a Post reticle. For some people it matters, but the WWII "T" sniper rifles had 3 power scopes. I see these Weaver scopes going in the $100 to $150 range on CGN. The 60 series, 60B and 60C series were not sealed, so far as I know. Higher end, more robust ones will have the words "Micro Trac" on the left side of the top turret.

Keep in mind for deer hunting - to kill that deer, need to put a bullet anywhere into about a 10" diameter heart-lung kill zone, with your first cold barrel shot. Do not have to see or hit a specific hair on it's side. Put a good bullet into the kill zone and you will likely be cutting your tag. No need for much magnification with a 30-30.
 
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Ok so what kind of eye relief am I looking at out of a henry 3030.
I read with a lever usually people keep the magnification down. Or even go for a fixed scope
What is a fair price scope I can purchase that won't break the bank and be dependable.
I like vortex's warranty. Very appealing. They also have a nice AR optic I like but I don't fully understand eye relief as mentioned so I don't know if that optic will work. Do certain rifles come factory with a " preset" eye relief or does it change for each individual user ? How can I trust anybody references if each scope is based on there handling/ cheek positioning

Eye relief is a property of the scope.
In your neck of the woods, shots will be typically 100 y or less. So a low power scope is preferred, think red dot or 1.5 -4 x. This gives you optimal Field Of View, and rapid target acquisition. Think Leupold VX II or VariX II or current equivalent.
If the gun requires that you have to mount the scope relatively forward in the action, then you need a scope that offers suitable eye relief. For example - a scout mount requires a pistol scope with a large eye relief, say 10 inches.
 
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For "scout" mounting, probably want an Intermediate Eye Relief scope - IER - a Scout scope - as above, about 10" or so of eye relief - Leupold, Burris and others make or made them. A Long Eye Relief - LER - scope tends to be a "pistol" scope - think of a handgun at arms length - sort of 20" plus eye relief.
 
Ok so what kind of eye relief am I looking at out of a henry 3030.
I read with a lever usually people keep the magnification down. Or even go for a fixed scope

... but I don't fully understand eye relief as mentioned so I don't know if that optic will work. Do certain rifles come factory with a " preset" eye relief or does it change for each individual user ? How can I trust anybody references if each scope is based on there handling/ cheek positioning

If you're talking about eye relief in the sense of "close enough to my eye to see the whole field of view, but not so close to scope myself", there's a simple solution. Mount your scope in the rings somewhat loose. Sitting at the shooting bench looking through the scope as if you were shooting, move your scope forward while looking through it until it starts to blacken on the outer edges of the scope. Now bring it back just a touch. This is your max eye relief with whatever scope you have. You can even do this lying prone, if you're the kind of guy to drop down and shoot prone off of a jacket. Off a bench should be fine though, but you'll see what I mean. The 30-30 doesn't kick that much, so max eye relief isn't as important, as long as you don't crawl your scope.
 
My vote goes to a Ruger #1 in 270. The round can take down anything in North America but is easy enough to learn to shoot and control.

The single shot is probably the best way to teach a new shooter the skills needed and the mindset that one shot should be all you need. None of this spray and pray shooting. S/he would rely more on hunting skills than shooting skills.
 
I'm looking at getting a new rifle.
Mainly for deer ranges 50-200yrds

I've seen many Henry's 30-30 , 357, 44mag and marlin 336 (30-30) with scope setups and I've seen way more bolt action entry level rifles such as tikka t3x, mossberg patriot / map, and ruger american, all from 30-06 to 300 winmag...... I used to own a rem 700 300winmag but it had far to much recoil and overpower for the range I wanted to shoot at 50-200yrd so I sold it after 2 range days and 30 rnds later......

Which is more popular and appropriate for getting into the sport for say $1300 ALL IN, gun, Mount,rings, adequate scope and overall ammo cost ?
Why would i use a 357 or 44 mag when the other rounds are more popular (30/30-30-06,.308, 300wsm, .243, 270)
Im between a lever 30/30 and a tikka t3x in...... let the knowledge rain down..


I would recommend using 30/30, 30-06, 308 etc well over 357 or 44 mag for deer, especially if you are looking at a 200 yard shot, for 1300 all in you could find a nice BLR in 308, and that would be my pick of what you mentioned in terms of a lever, if looking at bolts too, Id recommend a tikka t3 in 308, but for 1300 you have a huge array of choices, Definitely visit your local store to get the feel of the rifles you are interested in, you may find you prefer drastically the way one rifle feels/handles vs others you researched online. for hunting stick to the lower end of the magnification ranges on scopes. a 3 power or less for those up close shots,
 
I was looking at a 336 but I ended up getting a henry 3030 sidegate

Congratulations on your choice, you wont regret buying a Henry, I prefer bolt actions but I do own a Henry in 45 70, I would choose a low power variable something like 1.5x5 or possibly a 4x fixed. Depends a bit on your budget
 
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