# 30-30 for elk



## ARCHER11 (May 26, 2011)

I'm looking to pick up a lever action for some antlerless hunts out here in Colorado. I'll use it to hunt antelope, deer, and elk. I'll be sticking with open sights on this gun which will likely keep my effective range around 100-150 yards. At that distance with a 160 grain bullet will I have sufficient KE for elk? I'm sure a 45-70 would be a better option for elk but then I've got a lot of gun for the deer and antelope and it won't be near as fun to shoot as the 30-30. Is there a fairly common caliber somewhere in the middle I should consider for a lever gun?


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## Nambaster (Nov 15, 2007)

I have smacked some pronghorn with a 30-30 and they just tip over and never get back up. It is an amazing sight to watch such a slow bullet put them down. I have also resorted to toting my 30-30 in thick timber for elk as well. Sometimes the advantage to a lever gun over a scoped rifle is you are able to take the close shots where fur is all that you would see in a scope. Also you can fit 7 rounds in a magazine. As far as killing power goes out to 150 yards you should be just fine killing an elk. 

Hunting with a lever 30-30 is basically like hunting with a semi-automatic muzzleloader. If you want to hunt with a reduced range sounds like a great hunt.


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## ARCHER11 (May 26, 2011)

Great! Thanks for the thoughts Nambaster. How about the 35 rem? Is there a noticeable difference between it and the 30-30?


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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

30-30 has probably taken more big game than pretty much any other cartridge. Under 200 yards, it is just as capable as ANY other typical round. And with open sights, that is about as far as you can shoot anyway. As generations have turned over, and shifted from horseback to four wheelers, the 30-30 popularity has fallen victim to the bigger-faster-more magnumer movement of selling rifles. But the bullet fired from a 30-30 didn't get any less impactful, nor killing power reduced. Hit it where you should with any rifle, and it will effectively kill an elk.


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## BPturkeys (Sep 13, 2007)

I'd rather shoot a 45-70 than a 30-30 any day. If you hand load and use a modern rifle, you can make that old 45-70 do anything you want. If you don't load and only use those awful 405 gr military load stuff, you're probable right.


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## Mavis13 (Oct 29, 2007)

I absolutely agree that a 30-30 is fine for Elk. It's like anything else as long as you know the gun and can shoot it's great. May I suggest a Savage 99 in 300 savage? It used to be a very common caliber but got edged out by the .308 in the past 20 years. 300 Savage is fun if you are a hand-loader less so if you are not. Though I've never used mine on Elk I'm sure I could work up a load (165gr or 180gr acubond comes to mind) that would fine. None of the deer it's killed seem to notice it wasn't a 300 Win Mag I doubt the Elk would either.


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## ARCHER11 (May 26, 2011)

Thanks guys, great info! I don't hand load but it is something i'd be interested in getting into in the not so distant future. It would open up a lot more options for me. How about barrel length... What kind of difference will 4 inches of barrel make? Is it worth it to step up from the 20" to 22" or 24" barrel from an accuracy or trajectory perspective? I spoke with a guy at cabelas the other day and he mentioned something a long the lines of better accuracy when the distance from your rear sight to the front sight is larger. Any truth to this? If the gun department is anything like the archery department, majority of the time those guys don't know what the heck their talking about. The large majority of my hunting experience has been behind a bow so please forgive my ignorance when it comes to guns.


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## BPturkeys (Sep 13, 2007)

Barrel length has nothing to do with accuracy. But, a longer sight plane does make it easier to shoot accurately. Most people relate lever guns with short, handy rifles. 18" 20" barrels are pretty much standard on modern lever guns.


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## ARCHER11 (May 26, 2011)

Thanks BP. How about from a trajectory standpoint. Is the increase in velocity out of the longer barrel going to make a significant difference from 20" to 24"?


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

20-30fps is the rough standard for each inch of barrel.

My wife inherited her grandmothers 30-30, while my wife has shot it a few times she's yet to use it hunting. It would be pretty cool to use it on a hunt.


-DallanC


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## Nambaster (Nov 15, 2007)

On an open sight lever gun I would be very surprised to find a difference in barrel length affecting your velocity or accuracy significantly out to 150 yards. Having a shorter gun is lighter and handier and makes maneuvering through cover easier. The first buck I ever shot was a 2pt at 180 yards with an open sight lever action 30-30. They seem to hit the ground just as hard as when I have shot deer with my 30-06


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

Mavis13 said:


> May I suggest a Savage 99 in 300 savage? It used to be a very common caliber but got edged out by the .308 in the past 20 years.


Or just get a Savage 99 in .308 ;-)


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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

Won't make a difference for hunting purposes. 

Which goes back to the reality of discussions related to one cartridge over any other. At distances under about 300 yards, any typical hunting round will do the job as well as any other when the target is hit in the same place. Barrel length may make a 20 fps difference, but functionally, that is not a difference for hunting. Impact on the target at 200 yards will be pretty much instant with any of them. But it's fun to argue about and compare and come up with some kind of scientific explanation to justify a rifle in some other caliber. But the reality is, hit where you aim, aim correctly, and you'll have success. 

I'd love to harvest something with an old Winchester 94 in 30-30. Just because it is a cool rifle. And really, that is excuse enough, right? 8)


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

ARCHER11 said:


> I'm looking to pick up a lever action for some antlerless hunts out here in Colorado. I'll use it to hunt antelope, deer, and elk. I'll be sticking with open sights on this gun which will likely keep my effective range around 100-150 yards. At that distance with a 160 grain bullet will I have sufficient KE for elk? *YES *I'm sure a 45-70 would be a better option for elk but then I've got a lot of gun for the deer and antelope and it won't be near as fun to shoot as the 30-30. Is there a fairly common caliber somewhere in the middle I should consider for a lever gun? *NO, but a .35 Rem would be better than a 30-30. *


*see red*


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## BPturkeys (Sep 13, 2007)

Anytime you limit the range of a hunting weapon, forcing you to get closer to the game, you make the hunt just a little better. Don't get me wrong here, most hunting is good and there are many other factors besides closeness to the animal that make a hunt enjoyable. Hunting with vintage or vintage reproduction weapons can be a lot of fun. 
I 've hunted with old Marlin rifles, all lever guns, for years and enjoyed every minute.


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## BPturkeys (Sep 13, 2007)

Although Savage 99's, Winchester 88's, Browning BLR etc, and the ammo they normally use, are lever action rifles, most people aren't thinking of those when they talk about shooting old vintage style lever rifles.


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## 3arabians (Dec 9, 2014)

I love the Savage 99. Cut my teeth with a 308 model E as a kid and stuck with it for my first 15 years of hunting. Caved to better technology and accuracy over the last 10 years but man, those are cool guns. I would love to find one in pristine shape to keep as a collector piece one day


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

BPturkeys said:


> Although Savage 99's, Winchester 88's, Browning BLR etc, and the ammo they normally use, are lever action rifles, most people aren't thinking of those when they talk about shooting old vintage style lever rifles.


Yeah, maybe to all the cowboys west of the Mississippi, but to the flannel-shirt hog farmers east of the Big River pump guns in the same calibers as the rifles you mentioned are really popular.

.


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## Springville Shooter (Oct 15, 2010)

My great grand-dad killed them with an old 336 in Oregon back in the 50's and 60's. Things happen pretty close in the coastal mountains. My uncle used a 32 WCF. Another uncle used an old Remington semi-auto in 30 Remington. Dead elk everywhere.-----SS


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## Winglish (Mar 28, 2015)

I've put two down with an old open sights Winchester Model 94. I watched my dad do it for years on a bunch of deer and elk. Between us we never wounded one. The 30-30 drops 'em like rocks. But we always hunted in trees and not open country, so shots tended to be close.


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## Kevin D (Sep 15, 2007)

A Win 94 .30-30 was all my granddad used to use for everything. Living in Star Valley Wyoming during the depression, money was scarce but game was plentiful. Deer, elk , and moose meat were a staple part of the family diet and granddad made sure the extended family was always well stocked. I daresn't even guess the number of critters he put down with his trusted .30-30. Even after scoped rifles became popular after WWII granddad still preferred his old 94.


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## ARCHER11 (May 26, 2011)

Awesome! Thank you all for sharing your experience and thoughts on the trusty 30-30. My grandpa also has a Winchester 94 30-30 that sits in his home, along with his old saddle and hat, as a family heirloom. I know it's been the demise of many deer in southeast Idaho. I don't dare ask to use it but hope one day it makes its way down to me. Those vintage guns have a way of bringing you right back to the time they were made when you get em in your hands.


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## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

Don't know your Grandpa, but with my Grandpa, if he had something like that and I would have taken an interest in it, and asked if I could take it out hunting, he would have let me. And probably made me promise I'd bring back the liver for him or something.

Thing with old guns - they are cool as heck, but if they aren't being shot, they are just collecting dust.


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## BPturkeys (Sep 13, 2007)

wyogoob said:


> Yeah, maybe to all the cowboys west of the Mississippi, but to the flannel-shirt hog farmers east of the Big River pump guns in the same calibers as the rifles you mentioned are really popular.
> 
> .


Pump action rifles are an abomination.
Lever action shotguns are an abomination (not counting the Terminator gun of course).


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

BPturkeys said:


> Pump action rifles are an abomination.


I dunno... you including rimfire's with that wide brush? Cuz this is one of my Dads rifles, 1888 Colt Lightning. Its cooler than the proverbial "other side of the pillow"

-DallanC


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

BPturkeys said:


> Pump action rifles are an abomination.
> Lever action shotguns are an abomination (not counting the Terminator gun of course).


Well now my little feelers are hurt.


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## Mavis13 (Oct 29, 2007)

Fowlmouth said:


> Or just get a Savage 99 in .308 ;-)


If you're not going hand load that's good advise. Though .308 is superior to .300 savage it's less awesome-er cuz my gradpa used 300 Savage


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## BPturkeys (Sep 13, 2007)

DallanC said:


> I dunno... you including rimfire's with that wide brush? Cuz this is one of my Dads rifles, 1888 Colt Lightning. Its cooler than the proverbial "other side of the pillow"
> 
> -DallanC


Oh, sorry, forgot about .22's. Those Colt's are pretty darn cool too. OK, I guess when I said pump rifles I was thinking about my most hated rifle....the Rem 760. 
Back in 1959 I borrowed my Dad's 760 in 30-06 for a hunt down in the Henrys. Just to make a long story short....Fired 21 rounds (two clips and some loose rounds from my pocket) at a huge buck at no more than 40 yards...last shot I hit him high in the back. Shortly after it started to rain hard and when I got back to camp the other fellers had everything packed and said "we gotta get down off this mountain." They made me leave that big deers hanging in a tree. We headed down the mountain but all the dry creek beds where raging torrents. We spent the next two days trying to get off that mountain. I was just 16 years old. T'was the rifles fault, the whole **** hunt.


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## LostLouisianian (Oct 11, 2010)

BPturkeys said:


> Oh, sorry, forgot about .22's. Those Colt's are pretty darn cool too. OK, I guess when I said pump rifles I was thinking about my most hated rifle....the Rem 760.
> Back in 1959 I borrowed my Dad's 760 in 30-06 for a hunt down in the Henrys. Just to make a long story short....Fired 21 rounds (two clips and some loose rounds from my pocket) at a huge buck at no more than 40 yards...last shot I hit him high in the back. Shortly after it started to rain hard and when I got back to camp the other fellers had everything packed and said "we gotta get down off this mountain." They made me leave that big deers hanging in a tree. We headed down the mountain but all the dry creek beds where raging torrents. We spent the next two days trying to get off that mountain. I was just 16 years old. T'was the rifles fault, the whole **** hunt.


He just stood there while you reloaded and reloaded again and again firing away at no more than 40 yards? Incredible. :shock:


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## BPturkeys (Sep 13, 2007)

Well, he would jump a little, trot a little ways, stop, trot a little more, look around, he was completely a miff as to where the noise was coming from...I was on a rock outcrop just above him, but basically yeah, he just stood there as I blazed away in lord only knows what direction...they call it buck fever


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## 35whelen (Jul 3, 2012)

gunwriter wayne van zwoll wrote about .30-30 for elk. it seems to work. there are all kinds of levergun cartridges between .45-70 n .30-30 that would work better but they probably aren't what anyone would consider "common". .307 Winchester, .348 Winchester, .356 Winchester, .375 Winchester, .308 marlin express, .338 marlin express, .444 marlin. then with browning blr your can use a levergun chambered in most popular cartridges for elk up to .300 win mag n short mag. they may even chamber it in .338 win mag. I love my blr in .358 win but it just isn't the same as tube fed levergun. if I had to pick my "dream" lever gun with iron sights for elk itd be a Winchester 71 in .348 win. I will never be able to afford one though and ammo would be a hassle, but in the misty elk woods of my dreams...


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