thurty-thurty winnie for all na game

[rickyjames]

i was watching a guy on tv that is hunting all north american game with an iron sight winchester 30/30. today he got a bison with 1 shot. he says he is on a quest to get ALL north american big game with that same rifle including grizz and polar bear.

now there was a time that the ol 30/30 was the peak of technology. i'm not sure i'd like to face a grizz with a 30/30 but i am pretty confident that with good shot placement and proper bullets he will accomplish his quest.

 

[49willys]

I imagine when the 30-30 first came out,it took lots of Grand Slams.It shure would be fun to do it nowadays,ifn I were wealthy and could afford to.

 

[Uncle Ben]

If you are skilled, have the ability to get close enough (due to iron sights only), and use adequate loads and placement...seems entirely do-able to me.

 

[cje1980]

The 30-30 will take all game in North America. That is indisputable. The 30-30 has harvested every type of game in North America. The question is whether or not its the preferred choice for such animals. I don't think its really ideal for animals larger than Elk but it will certainly work if the hunter does his part and uses proper bullet selection. I see no reason why a 170gr Nosler Partition at 2100fps won't do the job on any animal in North America. Bison and the big Alaskan Bears to me is really pushing it though. I think its questionable for Moose as well. Once the animals are pushing 900-1,000 pounds I simply think that is out of the class of the 30-30.

All a 30-06 or 300 Win Mag does is extend the range. Inside 150 yards the 30-30 certainly packs enough punch to take nearly all North American Game. You wouldn't catch me hunting Brown Bear or Bison with one but I wouldn't hesitate to use the 30-30 on anything else this continent has to offer. A well constructed 170gr bullet will not simply bounce off large animals. I remember reading a story about a guy in Canada that brought down a large bear with a 30-30 in a self defense situation. This hunter was going back into the woods to pack out what was left of the Moose he killed the day before with a 338 Win Mag. He said he probably wouldn't have been able to take down the bear with the 338 Win Mag as he needed two quick shots from his 30-30 to put the bear down. He said, that his 338 Win Mag didn't handle good enough to place two bullets on a moving target that fast. That 170gr Nosler Partition did everything you could possibly want a bullet to do. I don't know that a bigger rifle would have been anymore effective. A well placed 30-30 bullet will do its job.

 

[30-30remchester]

Check my name and you will determine I am a fan of the old 30WCF aka 30-30. I have studied memoirs of oldtime woodsmen and Alaska sourdoughs. I myself have shot an elk with a 30WCF and have also finished off a wounded buffalo with one. That being said I agree the 30WCF has taken all sizes of game in North America, however it has also wounded alot of game. When the old woodmen used one it was because it was chambered in light, handy, durable rifles. Bullet selection and patience is the key. Talking to many oldtimers that had used them they changed to the 30-06 or 270 as soon as they could afford one because it had the ability to shoot greater distances. From my experence 125 yards is maximum for elk with the 30 WCF and then only if they are broadside. So if this sportman has the skill and maturity to wait till everything is broadside and close more power to him.

 

[jmortimer]

It would be fun to do it and the Nosler Partition would be a fantastic bullet to use. You could also do it with a .243 with a 100 grain Partitions. Shooters get too excited about "too much gun." You could easily do the exact same thing with a .45 Colt. As we all (should) know - it is as much or more about shot placement than the caliber. The .30-30 is "enough gun."

 

[hickstick_10]

dont see why it wouldn't work, even for the bears.

6 shots from a 94 at 50 yards will kill em dead (or maybe deader) just as good as 3 shots with a 300 win mag at 200 yards

 

[telemark]

I love the old 30-30, got my first elk with it. As long as the distances are short, it will do the job.

 

[GeauxTide]

Sure, with shots into the shoulder with no rake and 125 yards. My minimum is a 7mm 154 Hornady @ 3000fps for sub 500# and a 7mm 160 Partition @ 3000fps for over 500#. Grizzly and Browns will get no smaller than a 338 250 Partition @ 2500fpsfrom me.

 

[Buzzcook]

Somewhere on the forum there's a picture of a man standing over to huge brown bears. He's holding an M1 carbine.

The .30-30 will kill any animal in North America. You just need to know its limitations and know the peculiarities of the game you're hunting. Pretty much the same thing could be said about any round.

My only hesitation about recommending the .30-30 as a go to, go anywhere gun is probably the same for many folks. Magic grizzly that pop up charging at you from 20yds away and angry bull moose that could stomp you into jelly.

 

[kenno]

#1 WHY?
#2 Game Regulations mandate certain minimal levels of power for big game and you need a Certified Guide to hunt in Alaska. What guide will take him after Polar Bear with a 30-30?
#3 If he conciders himself an ethical sportsman he should use an apropiate rifle for the size game.
#4 WHY?

 

[Gunplummer]

I don't see why not. I think some of the stories with the old levers involve using black powder cartridges. The newer rounds have a little more moxie than black powder loads.

 

[teeroux]

#3 If he conciders himself an ethical sportsman he should use an apropiate rifle for the size game.

You do know that when the 30-30 came out it, it out classed just about everything at the time and was put to instant use on all North American game don't you?

It was the 300WinMag of the time and I'm sure folks had this same conversation over it before just the other way round.

 

[simonkenton]

I spent the summer of 1973 in the wilderness of British Columbia.
My buddy and I had rented horses, including a pack horse to carry our gear and food, and we were travelling way back in the woods where there were no roads.
We were camping out and exploring.
We saw several groups of big-game guides, they were out clearing the trails and setting up camps for the upcoming hunting season.
All these guys were on horseback, like I said, no roads within 40 miles.
They all had rifles in saddle scabbards. A bolt action rifle is unfit for this use, the bolt either sticks into the horse's side, or it sticks into the rider's thigh.
All of these big game guides were armed with the Marlin .30-30
They used the rifle to get "camp meat," which means you shoot a small moose, or a couple whitetail deer on the first day of the hunt, to have somehthing for the guides and hunters to eat during the week-long hunt.

I would ask these guys, Don't you ever have a problem with a grizzly claiming a kill? You have shot a moose or mountain goat, and when you return with the pack horse to pack out the meat a griz is there?
They told me that this was their biggest concern, and they had no problem shooting grizzly with the .30-30.
They said that when a grizzly charges he comes in low. That is not the time to shoot, you don't have a good angle.
But, ten feet away, the griz stands straight up, and he wants to kill with a strike of his paw.
It is when the bear stands straight up that you fire right into his chest.

These big game guides assured me that the .30-30 was perfect for this, because you could get such a quick second shot. They said that, indeed, you may be able to get three shots into a grizzly's chest, and two or three shots would stop the bear in his tracks.

It sounded incredible to me, as a guy from Georgia who had never even seen a grizzly, that you would stand your ground and wait until the bear was ten feet away, and then to be sure to wait until the bear stood upright, before you began to fire. But that is what they said.

I talked to 5 or 6 of these big game guides and they all told me the same thing. These were men who made their living by taking Americans on hunts for mountain goats, moose, and grizzly and I could tell, they weren't kidding, they weren't trying to tell a tall tale to a greenhorn.
In fact, two of these guys told me that they had killed a griz in just this fashion with their Marlin .30-30s.

 

[ZeSpectre]

It seems to me that advances in ammo (specifically the Hornady LeveRevolution ammo) have given the .30-30 a whole new lease on life. I have a plain-jane Marlin 336 that was always an acceptable 150 yard gun but will maintain a good group out to a little less than 200 yards with the LR ammo.

 

[Uncle Buck]

If I ran into grizzlies the way the guides did, I think I would have to have an extra pack horse just to carry enough under britches to get me through.

I have read some of these stories from the old timers and I have to give it to them, they had more moxie than I would have had. Maybe being older, slower and not able to move as quick as I used to has changed my thinking, but I do know that I would not want to mess with a bear the size of a grizzly. My little black bear was enough. (http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3633626#post3633626 )

But I do believe an experienced hunter with a 30-30 would be able to stop a grizzly bear.

 

[jmr40]

All of those animals have been taken with a bow or handgun. Why not a 30-30. Wouldn't be my 1st choice. But I have no doubts it could do it.

 

[Ricky]

I'd shoot a polar bear or grizz with a 30-30

No problem, as long as I have 2 guys next to me with BIG guns!

 

[hogdogs]

If a gal can get close enough to a Polar bear (using dogs to bay it) on the barren ice to arrow a giant, than a guy with a .30-30 could easily brain one...
Brent

 

[Sarge]

It'd take the right bullet. I looked around a while back while contemplating another trip to Alaska; never did really decide. A heavily constructed 180 grain flat SP or hardcast with a gascheck would be about right, IMO.