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30/30 lever action question
one2hutn
Member Posts: 261 ✭✭✭
Hey All. I buy most all my guns used. I picked up a Marlin 30/30 awhile back and it's a handy little gun. Now I know it's not a 243 or a 25-06 as far as accuracy but what kind of accuracy is attainable with this rifle? I grew up hearing that it was a brush gun and not much good past 100-150yds. Then I've heard guys say they can hit a steel plate at 300yds consistently. Then along comes Levrloution ammo. If I handload for this rifle, how much smaller should my groups realistically shrink. As of right now, I haven't seriously sat down and shot at the bench with it. I made sure it was on target enough to take a doe for a landowner and a few hogs.I really like the way it handles and was way surprised by the knock down power of it. I know it's a 30cal but people always seemed to slight it. Truth be told, I really like it. Thanks for reading. I know there' been plenty written on this classic American cartridge, but I'm looking for ways tips to get the most out of mine.>Chris
Comments
With the right ammo I would think you could do 300 yards. The difference between this gun and other .30 caliber rifles is the speed the bullet is traveling. The 30-30 does not have as much velocity as other "larger" .30 cals.
As for accuracy you can do well but it will never be a match gun.
Personally I would stay inside of the 150 yard marker. While there is no round that is powerful enough to make up for poor shooting, the 30-30 is considered by most, as at or near the bottom end of the power spectrum for deer hunting. That is when a shot is placed well. I know there have been more deer killed with a 30-30, than most anything else, but we owe it to the game to stay inside of the limits of the equipment, and ourselves.
There has been a lot of hyped up advertising about new ammunition, and new rifles, but like Nwcid says...stay within your limits of putting EVERY shot in the kill zone. The more you practice, the smaller that kill zone will become, and the further out you will be able to attain it. Please don't just go out and say the book says, or Hornady says their fancy ammo can do this at 300 yards, without the practice to proove it and yourself. To do so is just setting yourself, and the game animal up for a bad time.
Best
The 30/30 is a relatively low power rifle cartridge, and its limited accordingly.
Biggest practical limitation is that its hard to hit ANYTHING with iron sights at 200+ yards (let alone open sights like most 30/30s have).
Keeping your shots inside the kill zone of a deer at 200-300 yards with open sights is just real tough, and that's not even taking into account bullet drop.
Assuming you're scoped (or if you're not) next big issue is bullet drop.
That will depend on your zero, but if you're using a conventional 100 yard zero, for example, you're going to have a FAST rate of drop out past 200 yards. For example, you'll have a drop of roughly 30 inches at 300 yards, which means that range estimation become absolutely CRITICAL. If you misread the range by only a small amount, you can have a wide miss or (worse) an inhumane hit.
Next issue is power.
The charts say that a 150 grain bullet will retain around 1400 fps, or around 600 ft-lbs of energy at 300 yards. That's enough to kill a small to medium deer but it doesn't allow for a lot of margin of error.
Compare, for example to around 1400 fps muzzle velocity from a 158 grain .357 magnum handgun round, and you're in the ballpark of a 30/30 at 300 yards.
I think the bottom line is that while its *possible* to make a clean kill at 300 yards, that's really pushing things with this load. Its one thing hitting static targets at known distances, and quite another shooting moving live game, where being off by a few inches can mean the difference between a clean kill and a suffering wounded animal.
The biggest advantage of a 30/30, I think is that the light handy lever carbine is enough gun for MOST deer hunting, which takes place in wooded or semi-wooded areas at 100 yards or less.
One of my nephews hunts from a position that is only about 100 yards from mine, but he covers over 300 yards of open ground. This is not a good environment for .30-30 power, even with a scope and pointed bullets. He uses a scoped .300 Win Mag. Needless to say, I respect the .30-30 a lot, and it's what I use, but in its own best environment. Nothing will very appreciably transform it.
Making the .30-30 carbine a 200 yard deer rifle. This was before leverevolution polymer tipped bullets from Hornady. DO NOT PUT POINTED BULLETS IN FRONT/BEHIND EACH OTHER IN A TUBULAR MAGAZINE!
He called it a two shot tube-feeder. You need to handload the bullet for O.A.L to function in the lever action. I did this with 150 grain spitzers. I put one in the chamber..then one in the tubular magazine. Or just put one in the chamber with round nose/flat points in the tube. Just in case that first shot is at 200 yards. The Marlin is my first deer rifle I got with my Press Route Tip $$$. What a sales job I had to do with Mom & Dad to allow me to get it when I was 13 yrs old! I've gotten deer, squirrel and partridge with it. [^]