Love the .30-30 and have used it to take several deer over the years. Works great every time.
My favorite bullet weight is the 170 grain. A 170 grain Sierra flat nose served up over 31.5 grains of IMR 3031 has a muzzle velocity of 2193 fps from a 20-inch barrel along with 1816 ft./lbs. of energy.
Some like the slightly higher velocity of the 150 grain flat nose .30-30 bullet. I've worked up a good accurate load in my rifle but never used it to take deer.
150 grain Remington with 27.5 grains Reloder 7 yields a muzzle velocity of 2205 fps with 1616 ft./lbs. of energy.
A neat little accuracy load that works well in my bolt action .30-30 rifle is the Sierra 125 grain flat nose bullet over 37.0 grains of AA2520. This clocks 2568 fps with 1831 ft./lbs energy. It groups well at 100 yards and would be fine on Texas whitetails with good shot placement though I've not personally used it.
These loads were worked up in a couple of Winchester 94 carbines, one from 1941 and one from 1966. My favorite .30-30 though is this 1928 Winchester Model 54 carbine. It's very accurate on the range and it makes a great stalking rifle. All deer I've taken have been with it.
I can get away with using spitzer bullets in the bolt action Model 54 but it will not shoot them as accurately. Just a peculiarity of the rifle I suppose.
In the for-what-it's-worth department, I have a pre-war Winchester Model 94 carbine in .32 Special. Both the 94 .32 Special and the Model 54 .30-30 have 20-inch barrels with perfect bores. I once obtained fresh factory boxes of Winchester .30-30 170 grain loads and Winchester .32 Special 170 grain loads and chronographed them side by side.
The .30-30 load gave a muzzle velocity of 2104 fps and the .32 Special load gave a muzzle velocity of 2114 fps. A whopping 10 fps difference between the two, using the same weight bullet.
Just in case someone is wondering about the relative performance of the two rounds.
