.30-30 Winchester for deer in England and Wales?

western woodsman

Well-Known Member
I was thinking of buying a Marlin 336 in .30-30 especially for some of the stalking I do in close timber cover where the longest shot is definitely not over 100m, but more like 40m. And not moderate the rifle that is so light and sweet to handle. I might put a low power scope on it with a wide field of view but still take a 150m shot. It would be easily to carry up the highseat as well. It seems the caliber is legal having over the 1750 ft/ lbs. muzzle energy with 150 gr bullets. It seems to be more than enough for fallow, muntjac and roe. It seems to me that the usual UK deer outfit by the time it is moderated and scoped up is bit of a clunky beast for quiet close woods work. Any thoughts on the viability of this idea?
 
I love the idea of a single shot or lever gun, low mag, no mod, short barrel
point and shoot stuff

30-30 is used a lot in NZ according to my Kiwi relative
 
They're great fun.

First shot one when aged 14 or 15, in Botswana. Used on duiker, impala and similar.

Up to that point, had only shot rimfires, so was absolutely thrilled at how flat the trajectory seemed! What's this? No holding off at 150 yards?! Magic.

Plus the recoil is so mild that it really didn't seem to be a big step up from rimfires.

I have to admit that the very first thing I shot with one was a francolin (basically a savannah adapted grouse). I still hadn't quite internalised the difference in effect between a centrefire and rimfire. It vanished in a puff of pink tinged feathers.
 
I found mine on holts and turned out not to be just a standard winchester but limited edition model from 73 I cannot tell you how easy the rifle is to carry and even easier to use, unfortunately no pics of deer but i have shot deer with it and all fell over without stepping forward, I have open skinner sights and love it, I use it now with lead bullets for deer dispatch 6 in the mag tube it is superb little rifle, atb wayne

 
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I use a marlin 336 with a Leopold M8 4x32 and have taken plenty of red, roe ,fallow, fox and squirrel with it, great in the woods, bomb proof. Remember if you go Winchester you will either have to have open sights or a offset scope.
Go crazy and fit a E O Tec,
 
Have a 30-30 Winchester similar vintage to mereside.
Took this doe running flat out at about 3yds. I find the 30-30 does quite a lot of meat/blood splash damage and often heart lung shot deer run good 100yds.
The 165 leverevolution seem to drop them a bit quicker.
edi
DSCN7484.jpg
 
Looks like I have to do it. It should be fun- and practical. There is the issue of it being unmoderated, but then .30-30 is not that much of a cannon round anyway. I think I would go the Marlin way and side eject so can mount low scope. Maybe the best still is to get it and shoot it without the scope, might be best anyway.
 
If you need to source a marlin I know of one for sale, nothing to do with me but one i found whilst searching myself, it is still for sale and already scoped, atb wayne
 
Go for it!
I've had my Marlin 336 .30/30 for 23 years (it was built in 1953) and it shoots anything in the UK. A great woodland rifle and easy to shoot off the shoulder perhaps due to it's weight and compactness. It's accurate too, with Federal 150gr Power Shock and Hornady Leverevolution, see the attached pic (it's zeroed for Prvi). I use it up to 150 yards, a great walkabout rifle for fast reactive shooting.
I use a Leopold 2-7x32 scope on it which has a distinct advantage over open sights however Skinner sights are excellent and use them on another Marlin, they look the part as well.
Skinner sights can also be fitted on the later Winchester 94 models on the top of the receiver which is the same for scope mounts, rather than the old way which was side mounted.
Am I selling the idea! Good luck!

View attachment 3030 Target Federal 150gr.PDF
 
The Marlin 336 and the Winchester 1894 have, since the late 1960s, come in a variety of 22 and 24 inch barrels, round and octagon, pistol grip and straight grip. Some are really handsome. The standard 20-inch 336 is so flat and carries so easily through the woods, or on a sling over the shoulder. With an aperture sight, they are very fast pointing, and you can put on a Weaver or Leupold rail and mount scopes and red dot sights. I hand load for my 24-inch barrel half magazine rifle, with pointed bullets in 125 and 150 grains, and use it like a single 2-shot rifle, with one in the chamber and one in the tube - very accurate.

Warning! You may find yourself soon wanting a .45-70, .444 or a .357 Magnum to go along with the .30-30.
 
I like the 94 and the 336 , but the Marlin is a lot easier to scope . I have an old Savage 219 single shot in 30/30 , it has an old Weaver 1.5X4 power scope on it . It really is a utility rifle , nothing fancy , but it carries great and works well on deer at reasonable ranges .

AB
 
I found mine on holts and turned out not to be just a standard winchester but limited edition model from 73 I cannot tell you how easy the rifle is to carry and even easier to use, unfortunately no pics of deer but i have shot deer with it and all fell over without stepping forward, I have open skinner sights and love it, I use it now with lead bullets for deer dispatch 6 in the mag tube it is superb little rifle, atb wayne


That's a model 94 in the photagraph not a model 1873, though yours does seem to be a special engraved model.


:oops::oops::oops: Just re-read what you wrote and realised now that what you meant was that your rifle (model94) was actually made in 1973. :oops::oops::oops:
 
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I use a marlin 336 with a Leopold M8 4x32 and have taken plenty of red, roe ,fallow, fox and squirrel with it, great in the woods, bomb proof. Remember if you go Winchester you will either have to have open sights or a offset scope.
Go crazy and fit a E O Tec,

Your talking about the older models there Taff that ejected straight up, Winchester have been making AE angle eject models for quite a few years now and even pre drill the top of the receivers for scope mounts. Still if you want to mount a scope the Marlin is the better option though there is something nice about open sights and if it's only open sights you will want then the Winchester is aestetically more pleasing to the eye.
 
For really bad weather and going through the bogs I fitted plastic stock parts (thanks to Alberta Boy) to save the nice wood. Also fitted a red dot sight which is clear of the top ejection. Not a bad combo except that the stock needs some building up to get the eye line high enough. Very fast handling set-up. What was interesting on that deer was that I saw the bullet impact on the running animal at about 20yds. Although she ran on for another 25yds I knew the shot was good.
edi
DSCN9471_zps13f14115.jpg
 
There are a couple of topics which come up on here quite often (well lots of topics actually) but these two always make me scurry off to look at guntrader. One is the Blaser K95 and this one on the 30-30 underlever. Without fail they have me looking at the web to see if there is anything available.
 
keep your eyes peeled on holts they come up all the time and very reasonable prices,atb wayne
 
here's a marlin for sale,
Lightbox 2
atb wayne
ps i have no connection with the seller but found it by accident and it is still for sale.
 
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