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Where is the proof?

Big Sky RedneckBig Sky Redneck Member Posts: 19,752 ✭✭✭
edited August 2002 in General Discussion
Ok, another thread got me wondering something. I have alays heard that the underpowered and inaccurate 30-30 has killed more game than any other cartridge on the NA cont. Where is the proof? I have yet to see a dead deer killed with one, I do not know anybody using this thing except as a wall hanger. When you go to the sporting goods stores there are hardly any 30-30s for sale except for used ones. Even the John Wayne guns are sold in other cals like .45-70 and you never see the famous 30-30. If these guns are so good, where are the people using them? I hunted with one when I was 12 and every deer I shot at ran away, it was not untill my gradparents neighbor gave me an old worn out 30-06 did I kill my first deer. So how 'bout it, where are the TRUE hunting stories about hunting with that poor excuse of a deer gun?

BTW, I broke tradition, my kids first guns are a .243 and .270, NO 30-30s!
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Comments

  • LightningLightning Member Posts: 945 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Until I graduated to better calibers I used a 30-30 from the time I was about 12 until I was about 25. Cant remember for sure but I think I have killed 16 deer with a 30-30. They are a good short range quick handling gun.
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  • offerorofferor Member Posts: 8,625 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    You have to chase the deer down because they probably took several hundred more yards to bleed out with a light caliber. Too bad. I hate to see an animal suffer.

    - Life NRA Member
    "If cowardly & dishonorable men shoot unarmed men with army guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary...and not by general deprivation of constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
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  • Big Sky RedneckBig Sky Redneck Member Posts: 19,752 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I'm not a good enough hunter to use a 30-30, can't get close enough to pound them over the head with the gun.
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  • sundownersundowner Member Posts: 1,198 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I've shot and cleanly killed about 10 deer with a 30-30. It is fine for deer at 100 yards and less. Never wounded one, missed a couple but that wasn't the rifle's fault.

    As you always point out about hunting with a .223, bullet placement counts for something.
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  • MercuryMercury Member Posts: 7,840 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Obviously none of you hunt in the midwest. Where I grew up (NE Missouri) you RARELY saw anything BUT a 30-30. .223/30-06/etc weren't to be seen. There, a 100 yard shot is a long shot. Most deer are taken at 70 yards or less. Maybe it is different now, I don't know.......

    Merc (who has seen hundreds and hundreds of deer taken with a 30-30.....)



    NO! You may not have my guns! Now go crawl back into your hole!

    ****************************************

    "Tolerating things you may not necessarily like is part of being free" - Larry Flynt
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  • Judge DreadJudge Dread Member Posts: 2,372 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I have seen hundreds of things taken with 30-30 4 legged and 2 legged.
    its quite versatile..

    JD

    400 million cows can't be wrong ( EAT GRASS !!! )
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  • E.WilliamsE.Williams Member Posts: 1,101 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I have killed at least 75% of the Deer and Pigs I have taken with a 30-30.Like Merc down here in Alabama 100 yard shots are long ones most are within 75 and under.I have never lost a Deer I have hit wih a 30-30 and with a good hit they didnt make it more than 20 yards before they dropped.The 30-30 is a very good versatile medium range round.I dont see it as innacurate either it has been very good to me.

    Eric S. Williams
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  • NighthawkNighthawk Member Posts: 12,022 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    The 30-30 is very popular in VA.I have taken many Deer with my Two guns.I will take mine when its raining or something,so I dont have to take my other rifles out.I have always experienced good clean kills with the 150gr bullet.As far as proof I cant give you nothing but tell you I have read more than once,that more whitetails are taken with it than any other caliber.

    Best!!

    Rugster


    Toujours Pret
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  • timberbeasttimberbeast Member Posts: 1,738 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    My exclusive deer rifle is a Winchester 94 in .32 Win Spl, which is not very different from a .30-.30. As a sidearm, I carry a .44 mag Ruger. I sold my Winchester 38-55 on this site a couple years back. I am quite proud to say that I have never shot a Whitetail which did not drop in its tracks. I've been hunting deer for exactly 33 years. My Winch was my father's before me, and I can say with easy confidence that it has killed upwards of 200 deer. I hunt "real woods", thick Cedar swamps, and I don't shoot at tails or deer running through the swamp, I only shoot at solid, standing or walking targets under 80 yards, and 80 would be rare, most are under 40. If you can't kill with one shot with a .30-.30, you ain't a hunter, you're just a slob who shoots at everything that you see and disregard bullet placement and rules of fair chase. The '06 is probably the most vesatile caliber, but if you come to my neck of the woods, you're going to see work-worn .30-.30's and Ruger auto '44 Mag rifles. We know when to shoot and when to not shoot. That's the whole name of the game in hunting. It ain't the gun. It's the man behind it. Underpowered? How so?? Give me an example from real life. Inaccurate? Give me the same. I don't ever shooy from a rest or bench, except for sighting in, I practice days on end offhand, because I'm a hunter, not a "gun snob". Williams peep sights are my choice, and I can't brag about any MOA stuff, but I can hit a 4 inch group at 100 yds with the Winch, and at 50 with the .44 with open sights. That's all I need. I ain't in no competition, I shoot for meat.
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  • timberbeasttimberbeast Member Posts: 1,738 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Oops, forgot. 170 gr. Silvertips, Super-X.
    For the '44. Rem 240 gr. JHP. American Eagle for practice. I find little difference, except in price!
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  • guns-n-painthorsesguns-n-painthorses Member Posts: 6,462 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I do know this, If you shoot a 30-30 at a cat while the cat is sniffing the end of the barrel, it will turn the cat inside-out! I had to put down a very sick cat for a friend, and at the time, that's all I had.


    Got Guns?
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  • marinebadgermarinebadger Member Posts: 115 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I also started deer huntin with my trusty Marlin 30-30. Killed my first two with it very cleanly. I suppose it was not ideal shot placement (heart,lungs) but I broke both spines, so they died very quickly! I then moved up to a Marlin .444P outfitter. I too hunt in woods that present targets much closer than 100 yards. In fact, 2 years ago I shot 2 deer at 40 yards and 23 yards. I could have spit on that one with a good lugey. Another 30-30 at my house has claimed around 10 deer at least.
    It is all about finding the right set of ballistics and handling qualities for your particular hunting situation. For the most part the woods of OK are perfect for the 30-30, and my dads '06 pump covers the few open areas.

    "a Freudian slip is when you say one thing and mean amother"
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  • Hunter4lifeHunter4life Member Posts: 45 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    AMEN TIMBERBEAST....well said!!

    I got my Marlin 336cs 30/30 at age 11, still the
    same gun I am useing for deer 20 years later!!
    In the thick woods of northern Minnesota nothing
    is better,,,If a 12 year old can consistantly drop
    deer with one..I'd say someone should stay out of
    the woods and spend some time on the range!!!
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  • will270winwill270win Member Posts: 4,845
    edited November -1
    I personally own, but do not hunt deer with one. I just like other guns better. Like my Browning .308 or the 22-250. And, oh yeah, mine is on the wall!


    ~Secret Select Society Of Suave Stylish Smoking Jackets~
    Will270win@nraonline.com

    Edited by - will270win on 08/18/2002 22:39:29
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  • Big Sky RedneckBig Sky Redneck Member Posts: 19,752 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    HEHEHEHE, I only got one going but atleast I can still stir when I need to!

    Hey, all of you guys bashing my teeny weeny little pea shooter I decided to bash the old turdy turdy.

    But like I said, I'm not good enough of a hunter to kill with a 30 popper, can't quite get close enough to the deer to smash it over the head with the gun!
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  • twinstwins Member Posts: 647 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I would use one if I could, can't in IA.
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  • bhayes420bhayes420 Member Posts: 1,314 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Bought a Marlin 336 when I was 12. Still use it occassionally. Killed 24 deer with it, all under 100 yards. Very capable gun in capable hands in the right situations. As long as you don't try any shot over 150 yards, it works great. At least for me.
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  • timberbeasttimberbeast Member Posts: 1,738 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Good stirrin', 7mm! I knewed that wuz what you wuz doin'. Tweren't it you who kills deer with a .223? I may be mistaken. I wuzn't makin' up lies, though! I'll take you on for fun on my range OFFHAND with my .32 Win Spl. It only goes out to a hunnered yards, bring any gun you want, I kin take you at a hunnert, offhand.......MAYBE!!!
    I have no doubt that you kin take me at any range off bags or a rest, but I don't hunt from them, so I's jest an offhand guy.
    Shoot 'em once, eat them! Adrenaline ain't good for meat flavor!
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  • Big Sky RedneckBig Sky Redneck Member Posts: 19,752 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Thats right, I shoot em with the little gun. Why on earth you need a super mag to kill a deer at less than 100 yds I will never know!

    Super Mag--anything larger than a .243

    Hey, when you kill a deer with a John Wayne gun, do you hit 'em with the barrel or the stock?
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  • timberbeasttimberbeast Member Posts: 1,738 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Hee Hee!! I usually jest knock 'em over the head with my hand, like a karate chop, then I pump a quick one into their chest to prove that my peashooter kilt them. I gotta press the muzzle right up into the skin, though. If I'm more than an inch away, I'll miss the durn thing!!
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  • 218Beekeep218Beekeep Member Posts: 3,033
    edited November -1
    Well......just as I thought......I go away on bussiness...
    ...and ya talk about everthang but bees.

    .218
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  • JustCJustC Member Posts: 16,056 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    7MM, ROFLMAO, anything bigger than 243,...a super magnum.

    See, and I said something to that effect on another thread and the boys didn't think I was all there. Anything from 222 to 243 will lay a deer out at 100yds and well beyond. Now the 30-30, I find that they do hold down the stack of paper targets on the bench really well.

    My lever gun is a savage 99 in 300 savage. Now that one gets it done! If I want a better brush gun, it will be a ruger 44 carbine.

    A great rifle with a junk scope,....is junk.
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  • salzosalzo Member Posts: 6,396 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I exclusively use a 3030 for deer hunting, except when I hunt special reg areas, where I use a 12 guage shotgun.
    I have shot a deer at fifty yards once, one at 30 yards, and the rest under twenty yards. The 3030 has been enough gun for my circumstances. The only other deer rifle I have is a pump 3006, which I never use for hunting, 'cause I do not have to. If I was in a hunting situation where I had shots at 100+ yards, or even beyond fifty yards, I might start using the 06-but until then, I will use the 3030, 'cause I dont like having to bring kleenexes with me when I shoot -I am a sensitive guy, and when shooting that 06 it makes me cry like a woman.
    As far as accuracy, Im telling you that when I shoot the 3030 at the 100 yard range, it is magnificent. Very nice groups, and very much on target. I have been told that my 3030 is more accurate than most, but I dont know if that is true.
    One gun I would like to get is a 35 remington. The guys I hunt with use them, and the can hit a deer on the white tip of its tail, and the thing will drop in its tracks(perhaps a bit of an exaggeration).

    7mm- I am not getting a PA hunting license this year-its not worth the aggravation. First season Ive gone senza PA licence since I moved here 15 years ago. Ill be hunting New York exclusively this year-more oppurtunity, better bag and season limits

    "The powers delegated by the proposed constitution to the federal governmentare few and defined, and will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace negotiation, and foreign commerce"
    -James Madison
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  • 13FOX13FOX Member Posts: 61 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Where is the proof? Its in the pudding!
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