Caliber arrogance? - 30-30 called "wimpy"

[1morethan8]

With squirrel season coming up in a few weeks, I checked my ammo supply.. think I'll be alright?

 

[Harkrader]

.30-30 wimpy

Funny, but I've heard things like that about the thuhty-thuhty for a looong time. Most often, going back more than 40 years, from Europeans. I've reminded them that the .30-30 has been used to take more deer in the United States than all other calibers combined in Europe (since they graduated from the longbow, that is).
Still they yap about the "outdated" and "short-range" nature of it - a "mere" 200-yards or so! I remember a friend of my father's who had a .30-'06 bolt action (can't remember the brand) sometime in the '50s saying "there's no comparison to the .30-30."
As IF that made ANY difference hunting deer! And it's been used plenty often to take moose and even caribou. Works for ME!

 

[shouldazagged]

With squirrel season coming up in a few weeks, I checked my ammo supply.. think I'll be alright?

If not, I don't want to meet one of the squirrels in your neck of the woods.

 

[rojodiablo]

With squirrel season coming up in a few weeks, I checked my ammo supply.. think I'll be alright?

Bah-ZOOKAH.......


It's okay; I like recoil too!!!!

 

[Smitty357]

If I had to pick a fast handling hunting or defense gun the Marlin 30-30
Could be a great choice. I never saw the shelf bear of ammo for it.
It has plenty of and range.
I finally stepped up a notch to a 300 Savage for scope use.
I still have a Marlin and Winchester Classic octagon bbl.

I never saw the shelf bare of .22lr either. So let's keep the 30-30 secret to ourselves before we tip em off.

Any 30 caliber will do for me. As I'm sure the 30-30 has taken more deer down here in the south than any other weapon also. We don't have moose, elk, elephants, rhino, or giraffes. I think we're good.

300 WSM works really well down here also.

 

[1morethan8]

I've always deer hunted in heavy woods here in the South..
never killed a deer near 100 yards, the common range would be 25-50 yards.
I used heavy, slow bullets in the 40 calibers, they didn't seem to deflect when hitting limb or brush like a fast light bullet.
All the rifles used a scope of low power and most was 1-4 or 1.5-5 power. And left on the lowest for fast pick-up of moving deer.. and I could even see the end of the barrel thru the scope!
I had a Marlin .444 that was modified by making the barrel 16" long and used a Weaver 1-4 power scope.. fast and strong medicine!
But, before I stopped hunting deer, I just used my 629 with the 8 3/8" barrel.. no rifle faster in heavy cover!
Everyone has their likes and dislikes.. whatever you want to use.

Oh.. that .458 in the picture was for deer.. using a Rem. flat-nose, 405 gr. from a 45-70.. and reduce load.. shot from a Ruger #1... funny, I never needed more than one shot!

 

[Rpg]

The 30-30 is just fine for anything you'll find in the lower '48.

If you can't do it with a 30-30 in the lower '48, you have a problem that won't be solved with a hotter or bigger cartridge.

I enjoy other cartridges and don't own a 30-30, but I'd be confident with one for anything I can imagine, short of the Alaskan bush.

 

[rojodiablo]

Oh.. that .458 in the picture was for deer.. using a Rem. flat-nose, 405 gr. from a 45-70.. and reduce load.. shot from a Ruger #1... funny, I never needed more than one shot!

Sure; if you miss the deer, and hit a tree....... the tree would fall over, striking the deer, and you filled your tag just the same..... and marked 'Lumberjack' as the weapon used instead of rifle or bow.

 

[Savvy Jack]

So I'm in the LGS and jawing with the owner, a long-time gun guy with a disdain for small calibers.

"You own any .22's?" I ask him.
"I sell 'em but don't own any rimfires," he responds.
"So you're a big-bore guy I take it," I say.
"Yup."
"What about a 30-30?" I rejoin, adding "I sold my Marlin 336 lever and always regretted it."
"That's a wimpy caliber," he sneers.
"Would you stand in front of one?" I say sarcastically.
"No, but it's out of date," comes the answer.

Other guys in the store overhear this and just about everyone takes his side and say the 30-30 is "puny," "underpowered" and make other disparaging comments.

"No real velocity," one guys says.
"Killed a lot of deer but there are much better rounds," says another.

Here I am, a rimfire guy mainly on the defense. I also shoot 7.62x39 out of my SKS and 7.62x54R out of my Mosin and think they've got plenty of pop. That's enough centerfire for me.

But this bunch is talking up Nitro Express, .45 Colt, 500 S&W and so forth, like they're all hot-shot big-game hunters.

Far as I'm concerned, bullet placement trumps all. A .22LR aimed center mass will do more than a .308 Lapua that just wings someone.

Any of you run into what I call "caliber arrogance"?

Gun stores are the worse place to talk "guns and ammo". I really hate walking into a gun store.

 

[ironhead7544]

As a handloader, I always like the 30-30. Brass is easy, or was easy to get. The bullets were designed just for the 30-30. Perfected for the proper velocity. Out to 200 yards it will work on big game in the 400 lb class. The 1894 Winchester is light and one of the best pointing rifles out there. Seems to come up in a flash right where you are aiming. With a peep sight I can think of no better rifle for close range hunting action.

I like light cast bullet loads for practice/plinking. Easy to find commercial flat point bullets that have the crimp groove set up for the 30-30 lever action.

Here in the SE, there is nothing wrong with the 30-30. Where the shots are longer, I might go for something else. JMHO.

 

[shouldazagged]

Any 30 caliber will do for me. As I'm sure the 30-30 has taken more deer down here in the south than any other weapon also. We don't have moose, elk, elephants, rhino, or giraffes. I think we're good.

Kentucky is more of a border state than southern, but we do have elk. I'd want something harder-hitting for them (not that I can still hunt), and I miss the sweet Remington 700 in .243 I used for groundhogs forty years ago, and took a nice buck with. But the .30-30 is still a perfectly fine cartridge for most anything short of elk that we hunt here.

Some our fox squirrels grow pretty big.