Author Topic: white tail with 30-30 (Read 862 times)

hoghunter2 · « **on:** June 17, 2004, 04:34:55 PM »

How many of you all hunt or have hunted deer with a 30-30 rifle . What do you think would be about the effective range of this cartridge when white tail hunting.

Thanks

rickyp · « **Reply #1 on:** June 17, 2004, 04:47:55 PM »

The 30-30 has taken more deer then any other round.
the biggest draw back to the 30-30 is you must use flat nose bullets, they will loose velocity very fast and are not relay good out past 150 y. or so

markc · « **Reply #2 on:** June 18, 2004, 03:48:32 AM »

take my first and so far best buck with a model 94 Win 30-30 with factory Rem 150 gr Core Lokt bullets. The range was really close as I had walked up on the bedded buck without ever seeing him. He stood up not 5 yds in front of me, too bad for him he hesitated to run. Not a long shot by any means but deadly never the less.
markc

Snowshoe · « **Reply #3 on:** June 19, 2004, 09:28:05 AM »

My wife and I have taken many whitetails with our bolt action .30-30's. Using the pointed bullets I reload for them, more than one deer has fallen well past 200 yards. In my mind, the .30-30 is the ideal deer medicne, within its range. I also have a model 94 for the up close hunting [150 yards]. I have been deer hunting for 30 years, and have only taken a very few deer past 150 yards.

longwinters · « **Reply #4 on:** June 19, 2004, 11:10:02 AM »

I used a marlin 30-30 for years. Infact, I am thinking of using it again this year and letting the bolt actions take a rest. The longest shot I have ever taken a deer with it was about 90 yds. I used to always hear it was a 150 yd rifle cartridge. But now with the bolt actions I am hearing more out to 200 yds.

long

SLAVAGE · « **Reply #5 on:** June 19, 2004, 12:23:27 PM »

ive taken 12 deer with an old marlin 30-30 max dis i would say maybe 110-120 that ive taken, seen old timers hiten bulls at 200 before at the range but if you can get your hands on a 30-30 bolt action ther hard to come buy an cost as much as new marlins you can reload pointed bullets in it an prob push the max to 150 easy

dave

sgtt · « **Reply #6 on:** June 19, 2004, 06:31:31 PM »

I prefer the 170 rns bullet. A) They are more accurate out of my Marlin. B) They carry a little more energy for the "long" shots. I would not hesitate to use 150's if they were more accurate, however.

Kragman71 · « **Reply #7 on:** June 20, 2004, 03:06:47 PM »

I got a one shot kill(on the spot) with the 30/30 using the 170 grain Hornaday at 100 yards.
The longest I've seen was an other such kill at 125 yards with a factory 170 gran Rem Corelock.
Frank

willysjeep134 · « **Reply #8 on:** June 23, 2004, 07:53:42 PM »

I have never taken a shot on game over 75 yards, but I know that according to some balistic tables I've seen the "maximum point blank range" of the 30-30 150 grain load is over 200 yards. IIRC, the bullet doesn't drop more than 8 inches until you get out to around 225 yards. Out to there you can still hold high on the chest and get a solid hit on most deer, according to the balistic tables.

Practically, I know I can hit a 4X6 gong every time off hand at 100 yards, and I have never tested my rifle and load beyond that.

huntsman · « **Reply #9 on:** June 24, 2004, 09:47:43 AM »

Open sight and with good eyesight, your effective range is going to be in the 100-yard neighborhood. Add decent optics and you can double that. Given the trajectory of this caliber, hitting a 6" diameter target beyond 200 yards becomes a crap shoot, which should be undesirable in anyone's hunting ethics.

Whithin the limits of its range, the 30-30 is a very capable deer-killer. If you are going to be hunting open country that regularly offers 150+ yard shots, I would consider something with a better ballistic trajectory. Otherwise, the 30-30 will bring home your venison.