30/30 on buffalo

[Sheila]

Do you think  the 30/30 is powerful enogh to bring down a buffalo. I have the same model what Rex has. I guess if I hit the buffalo in the vitals enough times with a 170 grain bullet, it would bring the buffalo down.

[Gregory]

I guess if I hit the buffalo in the vitals enough times with a 170 grain bullet, it would bring the buffalo down.

 
Yeah, I'm sure it would, but I wouldn't plan on hunting one with a caliber that couldn't do the job with one well placed shot.

[Cottonwood]

Do you think  the 30/30 is powerful enogh to bring down a buffalo. I have the same model what Rex has. I guess if I hit the buffalo in the vitals enough times with a 170 grain bullet, it would bring the buffalo down.

According to the Thornily Stopping Power

Relative Stopping Power Scale of 84 with a 170 grain bullet, a velocity of 2200 fps., and diameter of .308".

45  Antelope
50  Deer
100 Black Bear (To account for 350- 500 lbs. bear.)
120 Elk, Moose, Kudu, Zebra, Large African Safari Plains Game  
150 Lion, Leopard, Grizzly Bear, Brown Bear
250 Hippopotamus , Rhinoceros, Cape Buffalo, Elephant  

According to this scale a 170-gr should be no good for bear or elk, but we all know that it does do the job quite well I might add.

I would say no, but I do know from a friend of mine who's dad owns a bison ranch just west of Kalispell, Mt that a well placed shot placed just behind the ear with an SKS 7.62x39 124-gr JSP will put a bison down with one shot.  It just drops em like they been hit with a brick.

BUT I don't know of a bison ranch owner, other than Denis that would allow you to use a 30-30, 170-gr bullet to dispatch a bison.

[Daveinthebush]

If your paying for a hunt you might bring a adequate weapon for the job.  For drawing hunts in Alaska for buffalo, if I remember correctly, you must use a firearm capable of generating a mininum of 3,500 foot pounds.  

That figure means guns like the .35 Whelen, .338 and up.

[Cottonwood]

If your paying for a hunt you might bring a adequate weapon for the job.  For drawing hunts in Alaska for buffalo, if I remember correctly, you must use a firearm capable of generating a mininum of 3,500 foot pounds.  

That figure means guns like the .35 Whelen, .338 and up.

Dave

Personally I would use my Remington Rolling Block in 45-90... it's history already speaks for itself.

[Mikey]

A couple of the ranchs I hunt at provide Bison but also have owners that will not let you use a caliber they do not consider adequate for animals that size.  

I went as backup for my brother who took a 1200 lb bull about 1.5 yrs ago - he used his 45-70 with 405 gn loads and I backed him up with my 444 with 330 gn hardcasts.  His bull went right down at the first shot - behind the head at about 100m but some of the others kept milling around and were beginning to develop an attitude.  As we approached the downed bull a couple of the others looked about ready to charge, and they are big animals.  The ranch owner told us to be very cautious around those bulls as they were liable to charge.  I'm glad we were both heavily armed - I would not have wanted to be there with just a 30-30.

You said that if you hit him in the vitals often enough he should go down - but in the interim you should be aware that if you don't hit him right he is liable to run your butt into the buffler-schmidt under his hooves and that 30-30 won't help you a bit.  

Always, always take enough gun - in this case I would not recommend the 30-30.  JMHO.  Mikey.

[Cottonwood]

Mikey

It is very common for the other bison to start horning, trying to get the downed bison to get up.  Not wise getting to close before you have to  :eek:  ya just might get a critter surprise and get that run down feelin.

[Winter Hawk]

Interesting topic.  If I may tell a true story here?

In the mid 1970s, I was visiting the Christies who lived outside North Pole (near Fairbanks, Alaska).  They had a lovely log home which Irene and the boys had built while Dad was earning their daily bread.  My wife and I had been there on numerous occasions, but this time I noticed a buffalo head mount in a dark corner near the ceiling.  When I asked about it, Rusty told me that one of his sons had got it.  He had won the drawing for a Delta buffalo.  I believe the boy was 12 at the time and had never even shot a .22 before.  His dad had a couple of weeks to teach him how to shoot.  

On the appointed day, they went down to meet the Fish & Wildlife officer who would show them which buffalo was to be taken.  He was pretty skeptical when they came carrying a .30-30.  He took the boy out but carried his .300 mag as back up.  It was not needed.  One shot at less than 100 yards put the bull down in his tracks.

It may have been luck.  It may be that a well-placed shot is all it takes.  In the intervening years there may have been a problem with people not making clean kills so F&W has decided on the 3500 foot-pounds Dave mentions.  I just know that there was the buffalo head mount and that nobody in the family said that Rusty was mistaken about it being taken with a .30-30.

-WH-

[Sheila]

I guess if you hit the buffalo in the neck bone, that would do it.

[Dee]

No offense you guys but some of you may need an anatomy lesson. A bison's ribs are not really any thicker than a whitetail deer. If you put a 170 grain 3030 just behind the front leg and about 5 inches up from the bottom of the chest the buff's heart and lungs will cease to function. When the 3030 came out even Tom Horn ran out and got one. It does not take that much to punch thru the ribbs. I have a 1895 Cowboy in 4570 and enjoy it. But the truth is. How dead is dead? All these magnums are ok I guess if you like shooting at long distance instead of hunting, enjoy spending a lot of money on high priced ammo and enjoy sore shoulder, but one well placed shot is what counts. If I am wrong  then someone needs to tell that kid who is now 62 and the Winchester 94 I have had since 1957 has been performing way over it's head for 49 years now. You may not agree with me and that's ok, but check the info out on the ribbs and apply the logic. Its like the myth on how tuff feral hogs are. We have lots of them in N. Central Tx. and make no mistake. Corner one in the brush or get between a sow and her babies and they will eat you up. but sometimes I shoot them with the 3030, sometimes the 4570 and sometimes an AR15 with a 52gr match hollow point. Hit'em in the neck or that magic place behind the front leg and down they go with one shot. Not little hogs. Big ones at 350 or more.

[Lloyd Smale]

hell yes it will kill one. Im constantly chuckling at people who say this and that caliber are the minimum for this and that game animal. THE MINIMUM IS THE ABILITY TO PLACE A BULLET PROPERLY!!! Ive killed a couple bison and witnessed the killing a half of dozzen more and nothing short of dynamite will make them drop in there tracks. There just one of those animals that walks around a little dead before they reliaze it. STick a corelock behind the front shoulders and give it a minute or two to work and you will be eating tenderloins

[Dee]

Thank the Good LORD for gun writers, gun magazines, and tv shows that cause us to realize that we have been using the wrong guns on game for over 200 years. Thanks to them we now know about those MAJIC MAGNUMS that will make up for poor markmanship and will down those dangers animals no matter where you hit them. When I was a child I once faced a headlong charge from my grandmothers rooster. Scary stuff. Truth is, buff hunters used to shoot hundreds of them a day while the rest just milled around waiting their turn to die. They used single shot black powder rifles. Hummmmmmmmmmm?

[shilo]

30-30 will do it. I would use a good bullet. Shot placement will be the key. No quartering towards you shoulder shots, no frontal shots, even quartering away shots might not be good. If you get alittle to far back on that shot, you may hit the paunch which will probably stop the bullet before it can reach the vitals. Broadside heart/lung shot about it.