Real world performance was precisely what they advertised. Now the 30-30 is a 200-225 yard gun. Get over it. Things change with technology. Sometimes, with Hornady, it changes for the better and our old standards have to change too.
By the way, I refuse to put a scope on a lever gun. Mine has iron sights, not factory, but not a scope.
If the whole purpose of shooting 225 yards is to punch holes in paper, then the .30-30 is capable of doing the job consistently. If that is all you expect from your bullets, then you shouldn't have many problems. But if you expect enough power left in your shots to bring down a bigger animal, then the range shortens considerably. I don't know what the effective range of this new ammo is so far, but keeping your shots well under 200 yds at larger animals may be prudent.
For the same reasons why you lengthen your abilities with this new ammo is why people puts scopes on lever guns.... To be more deadly at longer ranges. Scope or no scope, new ammo or old ammo, the .30-30 was not meant nor was it designed to be a
extreme long range gun. It was designed to extend the abilities of shooters who had fewer shots prior, at a time when scopes were not available. What you might consider 'extreme' depends on what you are shooting at. If you are shooting at paper or a rabbit, then the .30-30 is a 300+ yd caliber. If you are shooting at a monster Buck, the effective range is about half of that. Without a scope the range is probably less.
Big mouths at the range can be an experience sometimes. I ran into many of them over the years, including a guy who had a $1500 Sako that couldn't hit a 100 yd rifle target at 25 yds. After a box of shells at 25 yds, he left to find the problem. Duh.
