Anybody Shoot 30 30?

UTGrad

Well-Known Member
Just joined the forum out of interest. I'm in the US and an avid deer hunter. My .30 06 is my primary rifle for whitetail deer, but I love my Marlin lever action 30 30 for hunting in the woods where shots rarely exceed 100 yards. Anybody shoot the classic 30 30?
 
Here is a pic...I love lever action rifles for the short barrel and quick action. It is really good for the woods here.

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well in Canada i would be suprized to find a farm house that doesnt have a winchester or marlin 30-30 and a old bolt 303 lee enfield army rifle. 30-30 is old but gold they take plenty of deer in the bush and black bear even moose up in Sask and Alberta
 
well in Canada i would be suprized to find a farm house that doesnt have a winchester or marlin 30-30 and a old bolt 303 lee enfield army rifle. 30-30 is old but gold they take plenty of deer in the bush and black bear even moose up in Sask and Alberta

Yep...it is often said the 30 30 has killed more deer in North America than any other caliber. Granted it does have it's weaknesses but it was the first smokeless powder ammunition available to the American public in the late 1800s.
 
Yep...it is often said the 30 30 has killed more deer in North America than any other caliber. Granted it does have it's weaknesses but it was the first smokeless powder ammunition available to the American public in the late 1800s.
yes you right, they have killed more deer in north america, some people have them for deer in the uk ,but some of our police firearms dept don/t like giving them for deer ,i love to have a 30/30 for deer ,nice rifle atvb steve
 
Yes I do however my 30-30 is a little different being s bespoke bench made rifle:-

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With some factory 150 Grn Winchester ammunition. Edit:- Ahhh should have been clearer, the Box is for Winchester Silver Tips which have flat points, the actual cartridges are my hand-loads with the 130 Grn Hornady bullets.

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I shoot Hornady 130 Grn SP's over a charge of H335 for a velocity of 2800 fps and very effective it is too. Not quite what you expected but it is a 30-30 rifle.
 
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OMG!!! That is an amazing rifle! A bolt action 30 30 is extremely rare in the US, it is almost exclusively made in a lever action format. Who makes that rifle?

To the other gentleman, why would the police car what gun you own? As long as it's not a fully automatic rifle or an RPG who cares lol?
 
:rofl: Rare yes ................... in fact it's the only one ever made like it. The makers a small Husband and Wife team made this one for a client and it seems getting the feeding perfect from a straight walled Mauser type box was a right swine. Mauser and Enfield's of course used a slanted magazine which helps. The firm was Medwell & Perritt, I say was as it seems they are not longer in existence :cry:. It was Miss Perritt who did the stock work and the engraving by hand or so I was told. She had a degree in engineering. Ian Medwell was ex army with a talent for metal work and a passion for guns. Seems he built one as a school project which he passed with then the Police took it to be destroyed. That bit came from a magazine article on the pair some years back.

Although I spoke to Julia on the phone about the rifle and have a couple of letters about it from her but I never got around to visiting the works which I now regret.

Bolt actioned 30-30's in the US ................. well there were a couple. Winchester offered the Model 54 in this chambering (Ken Waters used one in working up a Pet Loads article) and of course Savage made the model 219. Not sure if Remington ever offered the 30-30 as they had their own rimless version in the 30 Remington.

The Police here in the UK would rather no one but them have access to guns and sadly they are the ones who run the licensing system which is a very bad arrangement especially as most or them, in fact the majority of them, know absolutely nowt about guns. In their eyes the lever action is a cowboy gun and as I have found out pointing out the truth and facts gets you on their hit list. Truth and facts have nothing to do with the way they run things and mostly they only play lip service to the law when dealing with the licence applicants and make the rules up as they go along

Edit:- Ahhh I also forgot to mention that the 30-30 althoguh legal in England and Wales for deer would be troublesome in Scotland due to the daft velocity restriction. A bullet must weigh at least 100 grains with a minimum velocity of 2400fps producing a minimum od 1700 ft lbs for all deer except Roe. A top hand load using the 130 grain bullet just squeeks past the 2400fps barrier but get a low shot and you in the mire as it's below and your in the smelly stuff. Although the 30-30 cartridge can be loaded hotter safely as I do for that bolt action they are not suggested for the lever action guns as the pressures are running up around those for .243 and 308 Winchester cartridges which the levers in most cases are not chambered in.

. Although of course my saying such things will bring howls of anguish and anger from certain quarters here and no doubt poor admin will be hit with complaints once more :rolleyes:. Read through the legal section at the hassles and the lack of comformity from the licensing departments never mind the total lack of any knowledge about firearms and the laws about them by the FEO's (Firearms Enquirey officer) who do the home visits etc and you understand what I am on about.
 
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Now don't be alarmed or dismayed by what Brithunter has said as his is a particular set of circumstances which are peculiar to him. What he failed to mention is that he is in the middle of legal proceedings, dispute call it what you will with the authorities over his rifle collection. This collection, 50 + rifles, has been seized by the authorities and are at present the centre of his dispute. That is his story in an extremely small nut shell, to find out about it chapter and verse you would have to do some research on the site.

The gun laws here in the UK are a world apart from what you have in the US, here we have to have a licence which we apply for and on it we ask for specific calibres stating what we require them for, and where it is going to be used. The weapons have to be stored in an approved gun cabinet and there is a home inspection to ensure this is so and the security arrangements are suitable. We are restricted as to how much ammunition we can own and how much we can acquire at any one time. There are numerous do's and don'ts associated with gun ownership and use here in the UK but by and large most folks manage without too much trouble, and have numerous calibres, home load etc. We can also hunt all year round, species and sex dependant, if you have access, no tags to buy or draws to enter so there are benefits :).

So that is our system, and Kevin's story in a nutshell.

John
 
Just a small correction John:-

The weapons have to be stored in an approved gun cabinet

Please show me where in the UK law it says this?

Also can you honestly say what I put in my previous reply is wrong? Or are you saying that the FEO's really do know their stuff and apply the laws and regulations as they are written?

As for the 30-30 Winchester have I got that wrong? Would it be legal in Scotland? Could I honestly take my 30-30 Medwell up to Scotland stalking and not expect problems with it being accepted as legal?

I look forwards to you reply.
 
Has anyone ever in the history of the world been stopped by the cops and had their cartridges pulled apart and bullets weighed? Anyone ever had to shoot their ammo over a chronograph to prove they meet minimum velocity requirements?

Didn't think so.

The deer act's as applied in the various UK jurisdictions were a sensible attempt to set minimum standards and stop deer being shot with badly underpowered weapons, such as the 22lr much quoted by old Kevin here. No doubt, the standards set were arbitrary, and resulted in some anomalies were prefectly good deer rounds are in theory illegal. But that is the nature of legislation and the majority of us live with it with no difficulty.

I have thought this for some time but have not said this out loud. However, I suspect in Brithunter's case, he has made a royal pain in the arse of himself with his licensing authority, to the point that when they saw an opportunity to shaft him, they took it with glee.

There is no mileage in picking unnecessary fights with the beaurocracy....:zzz:
 
I don't think we in Ireland have a legal problem using a 30-30 on deer. I'm thinking of one
as a bad weather rifle using open sights.
Went stalking 8 times since september...rained every time.
edi
 
Brit: Remington made the 788 bolt gun in 30-30. Excellent rifle for (what was then) a budget gun. Expensive now!
I shot cast bullet bench rest with a bull-barreled 1896 Swede Mauser chambered in 30-30. It was converted to cock on opening and had a Dayton-Traister speed lock in place. A very accurate rifle, indeed.~Muir
 
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Hornady developed a new 30 30 cartridge called the Leverevolution a few years back and it is wildly popular in the US. The Leverevolution is a ballistic tip 160 grain bullet that is safe in the tubular magazines of the common lever action Marlin or Winchester. The tip is made of a polymer that is soft enough to not set off the primer in the following bullet in the tube magazine. The ballistics are superior and would be legal in Scotland according to the numbers you had posted.

The 2nd amendment to the US constitution gives private citizens the right to bear arms. Each state determines what the process will be to purchase a gun. Tennessee requires a background check which takes 10 minutes for a charge of $10. I can walk into any sporting goods store and walk out with a hunting rifle or assault rifle in less than an hour with as much ammo as I can buy.
 
And unless things have changed in the past few years, TN also has the same process for a handgun. Pass the background check, and you walk out the door with a semi-auto pistol without any thought or issue...
 
Yep...that is correct. Forgot to mention handguns. We love our guns. Which state are you in Marine PMI?
 
Kevin,

I was trying to stop yet another thread becoming a platform for you to air your views, thats all, not to start another argument. All I was trying to do was paint an overall picture not get into quoting the law to the letter. So you will probably be disappointed with my reply because I am not going to play your game, I do not intend to get into a lengthy debate over this so my reply is pretty much "no reply"

John
Just a small correction John:-



Please show me where in the UK law it says this?

Also can you honestly say what I put in my previous reply is wrong? Or are you saying that the FEO's really do know their stuff and apply the laws and regulations as they are written?

As for the 30-30 Winchester have I got that wrong? Would it be legal in Scotland? Could I honestly take my 30-30 Medwell up to Scotland stalking and not expect problems with it being accepted as legal?

I look forwards to you reply.
 
UTGrad,
what would be more popular in the states, the marlin with pistol grip or the straight grip?
Had been approached by a US Custom Gunmaker who wanted composites stock parts for
the straight grip version. Wouldn't the pistol grip version be the larger market?
Drove past Nashville years ago, lovely country.
edi
 
UTGrad,
what would be more popular in the states, the marlin with pistol grip or the straight grip?
Had been approached by a US Custom Gunmaker who wanted composites stock parts for
the straight grip version. Wouldn't the pistol grip version be the larger market?
Drove past Nashville years ago, lovely country.
edi

Thanks EJG...Nashville is home of country music and the Grand Ole Opry! Jack Daniels whiskey is distilled just an hour from my house. I would say the pistol grip is the larger market since it is more common. The straight grip is typicall of the Winchester lever action, but the pistol grip is on the Marlin which is more common. Hope this helps.
 
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