Why not .30-30 semi-auto?
- Thread starter skinnygun
- Start date
Yes, they did. They came in Remington rifles!
And, that was the point. Remington could have, but didn't try to make their 25.30 and 32 rounds "better" than the Winchester, other than in one way. Pointed bullets.
They were intended to duplicate the performance of the Winchester rounds, and if you look in older reloading manuals they say to use .30-30 data and .32 Spl data for loading the .30 & .32 Remington.
With Winchester, you got your choice of .25, .30. or .32 caliber flat or blunt tip bullets in a tubular magazine lever action rifle. (which reminds me of the old joke about how you could have any kind or color car you wanted, as long as it was a black Ford
)With Remington, you got the same caliber choices, AND you got the choice of pointed bullets, box or tube magazine and pump or semi auto (and I think some bolt guns too)..AND Remington also had their .35, a round that Winchester had no direct counterpart for.
Winchester did have their .35 Winchester, but it was a larger, more powerful round, and only available in the Model 95 Winchester, which was bigger, and heavier and significantly more expensive than the Win 94, not nearly as popular, and was discontinued in 1936.
Jim Watson
New member
Winchester compared the .401 WSL to .30-40 Krag but it is not equal in velocity or energy.
Ruger, how about a 10mm Ranch Rifle?
stinkeypete
New member
Why not .30-30 semiauto?
My dad passed away last month. It was past the end of his trail, old age was cruel to him, and it's a blessing he is able to rest now.
He loved his cowboy lever guns in .44 Magnum. He usually shot .44 Special out of them. "Close enough to .44-40" is what he told me, and I wouldn't argue. My old Marlin .30-30 and his had some quiet conversation in the woods for a few deer hunting seasons.
He grew up in Northern PA (Potter County) and he wondered why .35 Remington was never more popular than it was. Me too. His uncle had passed a .300 Savage Model 99 down to him. Ammo was hard to find and the beautiful curved lever rifle just didn't cycle all that smoothly and didn't seem to fit right using iron sights. It was sold off long ago.
My Grandfather has passed along a Remington Model 30 Express in 30-06 with a steel butt plate. My dad passed it to me with several boxes of factory ammo and just three shells shot. "This thing still kicks like a mule. Your Grand-dad loved this rifle and he was a slim man and only 5'4" tall. He never complained. It's what he trained on in WWI and after the war, they were good inexpensive rifles." The Model 30 Remington started out using barrels and actions and god knows what left over parts from WWI.
Indeed, with factory loads, it kicks like a mule. It's one of my "forever" guns, I think. I have been shooting it with 180 grain lead and 12.5 g of Unique at paper. The action and trigger are smooth.
Reading "antique" reloading ammo from the '50s, I saw that you could get 1,000 rounds of military surplus 30-06 for $8.00 from the civilian rifle program. This was surplus from WII.
So- why WOULD anyone want a semi-auto in .30-30 when the .308 Winchester is out there, with a history and a NATO cartridge close enough to work in most of them?
Well, I guess people are familiar with their semi-auto rifles, maybe from the military, and want something big enough to deer hunt with but not so big as to be overkill.
By the time one is done with a new upper... heck... find you an old used Marlin .30-30 for less money.
Thanks for letting me chew the fat on this.
My dad passed away last month. It was past the end of his trail, old age was cruel to him, and it's a blessing he is able to rest now.
He loved his cowboy lever guns in .44 Magnum. He usually shot .44 Special out of them. "Close enough to .44-40" is what he told me, and I wouldn't argue. My old Marlin .30-30 and his had some quiet conversation in the woods for a few deer hunting seasons.
He grew up in Northern PA (Potter County) and he wondered why .35 Remington was never more popular than it was. Me too. His uncle had passed a .300 Savage Model 99 down to him. Ammo was hard to find and the beautiful curved lever rifle just didn't cycle all that smoothly and didn't seem to fit right using iron sights. It was sold off long ago.
My Grandfather has passed along a Remington Model 30 Express in 30-06 with a steel butt plate. My dad passed it to me with several boxes of factory ammo and just three shells shot. "This thing still kicks like a mule. Your Grand-dad loved this rifle and he was a slim man and only 5'4" tall. He never complained. It's what he trained on in WWI and after the war, they were good inexpensive rifles." The Model 30 Remington started out using barrels and actions and god knows what left over parts from WWI.
Indeed, with factory loads, it kicks like a mule. It's one of my "forever" guns, I think. I have been shooting it with 180 grain lead and 12.5 g of Unique at paper. The action and trigger are smooth.
Reading "antique" reloading ammo from the '50s, I saw that you could get 1,000 rounds of military surplus 30-06 for $8.00 from the civilian rifle program. This was surplus from WII.
So- why WOULD anyone want a semi-auto in .30-30 when the .308 Winchester is out there, with a history and a NATO cartridge close enough to work in most of them?
Well, I guess people are familiar with their semi-auto rifles, maybe from the military, and want something big enough to deer hunt with but not so big as to be overkill.
By the time one is done with a new upper... heck... find you an old used Marlin .30-30 for less money.
Thanks for letting me chew the fat on this.
I don't think the ballistic properties alone are the reasons. In fact, I'd put its ballistic performance at the bottom of the list. Or you may think of it as the base requirement. It's the factors beyond that which are the primary reason we don't see a semi-auto .30-30.
I think the single biggest factor is simply market demand, with #2 being the semi auto rifles available.
The .30 Remington was developed in 1906. Its a rimless case duplicating .30-30 ballistics. And was available in Remington's semi auto rifles of the era. So, .30-30 ballistic niche in a semi auto rifle, covered...right?
Yes, but so what?? They sold well enough to stay in production, but were never any serious competition for the .30-30 and the Winchester (and other) lever actions. The rifles didn't do anything enough better than the lever guns to interest the majority of the buying public, who were more concerned with the fact that they cost more, were heavier, and didn't carry as well as the lever guns available. I'd venture to say what kept the .30 Remington semi alive was the fact that (eventually) it was available in .300 Savage. When Remington brought out their new line of semis after WWII, they were available in .30 caliber rounds more powerful than the .30-30, so still no buying public interest (let alone demand) for a semi .30-30.
As to the 7.62x39, it almost reaches .30-30 performance, but wasn't a round on the US commercial market until after the fall of the Soviet Union. With everything else available, many more powerful rounds, it was a low demand round for deer hunting.
.300 Blackout? It also comes close to the .30-30's performance, and was developed specifically for AR pattern rifles, and I think it's fair to say that its popularity is tied directly to those rifles.
Its a circular thing, there has never been a semi auto deer rifle that was directly competitive with the .30-30 lever guns, and because of that there was never a significant market demand for one. And, because there was no significant market demand for one, one was never offered.
Well said!