why the 3030?

I wondered about people chosing the 30-30 way back when i was selling them at Woolco. Cheap 94's, and 30-30 ammo were just flying off the shelves. After talking to a few customers and other hunters, this is what I got.

- My dad and grandad used it and they were great hunters so I'll use it too. (Major factor)
- The rifle and the ammo are cheap and available. (Major factor)
- It's light and handy. (Minor factor)
Not really a minor factor.

To the op, its a niche cartridge that happens to fit a very large niche. I however dont use the under powered girly mans cartridge, i prefer the 32 winchester special.
 
John (Marion) Wayne was a pansy draft dodger... He had balls alright... Balls portraying a soldier in movies while turning his back on the war himself...
Pardon? are we talking about Marion Robert Morrison? Born in 1907? 10 years old in 1917, 34 when the USA finally got off the fence, and way too old for Korea or Vietnam!
Your sphincter is impairing your vision!
 
Pardon? are we talking about Marion Robert Morrison? Born in 1907? 10 years old in 1917, 34 when the USA finally got off the fence, and way too old for Korea or Vietnam!
Your sphincter is impairing your vision!

My Great uncle was born in 1900 and did the Murmansk run for the whole of WWII. John Wayne was a pansy.
 
My Great uncle was born in 1900 and did the Murmansk run for the whole of WWII. John Wayne was a pansy.

Easy to say since he's dead.
would you like to say that to me?
Just kidding, relax!
This is the internet where we all can be tough!
John Wayne had a life we can only dream of.
He held the rest of us to high standards, and we all wanted to be like him.
He helped shape North American culture and he put his pants on one leg at a time.
He did not shoot lightning bolts out of his ass in real life, but he made us think we could.
To call him a pansy is disrespectful, and i doubt if you know the individual well if you think he was weak.
 
Wow. You John-Wayne-rant guys are off track. :rolleyes:

Regarding the "modern" .30-30 Winchester cartridge...

As has been mentioned by others more eloquently here; it's a "good" cartridge, often chambered in a rifle (Win 94/Marlin 336) that is widely held as "a dream to carry and shoot..." (owing to it's modest recoil and thoughtful designs) and one that ammunition can be purchased for anywhere, usually for a reasonable cost.

Add to all of this the nostalgia many of us feel for these rifles so chambered and, well... that, is no small achievement. ;)
 
i am more talking about moose hunting than deer

I've seen two very large moose that were one shot kills and taken with a .30-30.I know people from NFLD who hunt them exclusively with this caliber.Knock down power has never limited a .30-30,effective range has.A 12 gauge slug has a short effective range also,but within that range, it will kill any game animal in Canada.
 
I learned how to hunt with granpa's pre-64 '94 and I got a couple deer with it. I've done 80% of my hunting since then and I got to play with a 1947 1894 the other day and it felt like a good .22 in my hands. No wonder they are so popular. I have a 1895 Marlin 45-70 and the 1894 was a smaller, slimmer, lighter gun..

Granted, I like hammering #### with a 500 gr soft cast at 1600 feet per second...

You win some and you lose some :)
 
I learned how to hunt with granpa's pre-64 '94 and I got a couple deer with it. I've done 80% of my hunting since then and I got to play with a 1947 1894 the other day and it felt like a good .22 in my hands. No wonder they are so popular. I have a 1895 Marlin 45-70 and the 1894 was a smaller, slimmer, lighter gun..

Granted, I like hammering s**t with a 500 gr soft cast at 1600 feet per second...

You win some and you lose some :)

I just bought a 1957 vintage model 94 yesterday, after reading this thread! :D

This one here...for $325!!!

36938.jpg
 
Damn, that's a beautiful looking pre 64! It will be factory drilled and tapped on the left side of the receiver, for an aperature sight, also.
By some strange coincidence, the Williams aperature number to fit is, #94.
And what a bargain.
 
I have a 9422 that I love so much that's what would make me want a 3030 lever gun. No use for one but I still have the urge to buy one. I have a buddy that's scared to hunt black bear because he only has a 3030. To me its the perfect ontario bear gun for shooting over bait. After I take one with black powder and my 4570 and a bow I think ill buy a 3030 just because. Its a proven caliber in a proven product line. It works and its quiet existence and large following are what drives the major companies to keep producing them
 
I'll say this one more time. I once watched an Inuit (back when they were still called Eskimos) elder stalk and shoot a polar bear. His rifle of choice was a 1951 win M94 in .30-30. One shot. About 60 yds or so. Knocked him down and he was dead in a few minutes.
One of the younger men stood ready to back him up with the "high-powered rifle". A #4 Lee Enfield .303Br!

I was in the local shop two seasons ago on opening day. Guy came in with
a .300 WM he had just bought 2 weeks before. Put it on the counter and said, "Gimme that .338. This thing can't even drop a deer!" and right there he told us how he had hit a deer at 300 yds, knocked it down, and it had got up and run away. Obviously, deer are tougher than they used to be. Comes down to shooting! You can kill a deer, moose, even a polar bear with the .30-30 but it requires skills most of us do not possess. Like patience and practice. A .398 Kawabunga Magnum allows you to be less persistent in perfecting your craft and let's more ordinary people make those perfect Texas heart-shots at 900yds

Case in point. This past elk season. My buddy listens to the hype of the Superformance ammo. Decides that is just what he needs for the upcoming elk hunt for the .300WM he bought for last year's deer hunt. He bought the rifle and 2 boxes of Federal PowerShoks. I sighted it in for him. It shot toonie sized groups at 100yds. He took it home to practice with it. Never got a deer, but never shot at one either. So, this year he buys two boxes of Superformance ammo and a new scope. We try to sight this in and this year I refuse to do it. He is all over the map, even with a leadsled. The rifle really did not like this ammo for him. So he takes out a part box of PowerShoks (10) still in it! Fires a three shot group that was about 1 1/2" and says that the ammo is crap. Then he buys another box of PowerShoks and asks me to sight in the rifle since time was short and he didn't have another day off before we left. I sighted it in, toonie size again. I told him he had to shoot it to make sure it was right for him.
He shot it all right. 2 rounds at a refrigerator at unknown distance in a gravel pit. His shot on an elk at 250yds was less than stellar! 8hrs of tracking later and we found the world's toughest elk!! Shot through the brisket! Had he known where the rifle shot, he would have killed it in the field When his second round creased the skull between the antlers as it ran away since it was still 3" high at that point. He is convinced that he needs a bigger rifle for next year since the .300 didn't do the job. Not more practice, a bigger gun!
 
i too have seen moose dropped with the 3030, but everyone and their dogs has them, and i wonder why its the 3030 and 303 that they always use. is it a $ issue possibly?
 
I'll say this one more time. I once watched an Inuit (back when they were still called Eskimos) elder stalk and shoot a polar bear. His rifle of choice was a 1951 win M94 in .30-30. One shot. About 60 yds or so. Knocked him down and he was dead in a few minutes.
One of the younger men stood ready to back him up with the "high-powered rifle". A #4 Lee Enfield .303Br!

I was in the local shop two seasons ago on opening day. Guy came in with
a .300 WM he had just bought 2 weeks before. Put it on the counter and said, "Gimme that .338. This thing can't even drop a deer!" and right there he told us how he had hit a deer at 300 yds, knocked it down, and it had got up and run away. Obviously, deer are tougher than they used to be. Comes down to shooting! You can kill a deer, moose, even a polar bear with the .30-30 but it requires skills most of us do not possess. Like patience and practice. A .398 Kawabunga Magnum allows you to be less persistent in perfecting your craft and let's more ordinary people make those perfect Texas heart-shots at 900yds

Case in point. This past elk season. My buddy listens to the hype of the Superformance ammo. Decides that is just what he needs for the upcoming elk hunt for the .300WM he bought for last year's deer hunt. He bought the rifle and 2 boxes of Federal PowerShoks. I sighted it in for him. It shot toonie sized groups at 100yds. He took it home to practice with it. Never got a deer, but never shot at one either. So, this year he buys two boxes of Superformance ammo and a new scope. We try to sight this in and this year I refuse to do it. He is all over the map, even with a leadsled. The rifle really did not like this ammo for him. So he takes out a part box of PowerShoks (10) still in it! Fires a three shot group that was about 1 1/2" and says that the ammo is crap. Then he buys another box of PowerShoks and asks me to sight in the rifle since time was short and he didn't have another day off before we left. I sighted it in, toonie size again. I told him he had to shoot it to make sure it was right for him.
He shot it all right. 2 rounds at a refrigerator at unknown distance in a gravel pit. His shot on an elk at 250yds was less than stellar! 8hrs of tracking later and we found the world's toughest elk!! Shot through the brisket! Had he known where the rifle shot, he would have killed it in the field When his second round creased the skull between the antlers as it ran away since it was still 3" high at that point. He is convinced that he needs a bigger rifle for next year since the .300 didn't do the job. Not more practice, a bigger gun!

Sounds like your buddy needs a kick in the ass - what's stopping ya?
 
i too have seen moose dropped with the 3030, but everyone and their dogs has them, and i wonder why its the 3030 and 303 that they always use. is it a $ issue possibly?

Nope... Mostly because "it werked just fine fer dad"... Most are hand-me-down's or just bad advice given by trusted friends or relatives... Had a guy come shooting once who thought I was superman because I rattled a mag of .308 thru my M14, "wow man how's your shoulder!!! That must really kick!!"... Nope, you try... After 5min of nervous back stepping he gave it a try... He had been told .308 was a uber hot rifle round that left welts... Now he owns one too.
 
The answer (I think): a lot of people aren't as 'into' guns as much as most of us on here, so if they have a 30-30 that's been in the family, they use what they have. Particularly as the rifle is likely light and reasonably handy, and the round (I believe it throws a bit bigger bullet than 7.62X39, at similar velocity, though I could be wrong) is cheap, and decently powerful for a small, light gun. Simply, for a lot of people, it works. Just like the old truck, the old fridge in the rec room, and the microwave that's been sitting around for the last 20 years
 
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