In just a few months from this writing, it will have been 110 years since Winchester
introduced what would become the most popular American deer hunting
cartridge of all time; the .30 Winchester Center Fire (WCF), later to
become better known as the .30-30 Winchester. While the new cartridge
boasted pretty impressive velocities for the time, it most likely would
have faded into obscurity had it not been introduced in Winchester’s then
new Model 1894 lever action rifle. If there has ever been a more perfectly
matched sporting rifle and cartridge than the Model 1894 and the .30 WCF
combination, I have not heard of it.
One could present the argument that the cartridge became so popular because
of the rifle in which it is chambered. The .30 WCF does owe much of its
success to the Winchester and Marlin lever guns in which it is chambered,
but that still does not explain its popularity. The Model 1894, later to be
called the Model 94, has also been chambered for several other cartridges
that are just as or more powerful than the .30-30, such as the .38-55, the
.32 Special, .32-40, and others. These other cartridges have not enjoyed a
fraction of the popularity of the .30 WCF. Other cartridges that were
contemporary with the early years of the .30 WCF, such as the .303 Savage
and .30 Remington, which bettered the ballistics of the WCF in the Savage
and equaled it in the Remington, have long since become obsolete. Yet the
.30-30 charges on 110 years later.
Today’s shooters enjoy a tremendous choice in rifle cartridges. There are
several thirty caliber cartridges currently chambered by rifle
manufacturers that greatly exceed the ballistics of the old .30-30. There
are thirty caliber magnums, short magnums, shorter magnums, ultra magnums,
and a few standard cartridges such as the .30-06 and .308 Winchester, the
latter two owing much of their success to being military cartridges.
What got me to thinking on the subject of the old .30-30 occurred a couple
of weeks ago at a pawn shop in a town about thirty miles from home. I was
looking at a Model 94 carbine that had been greatly mistreated when an
expert happened by to inform me of what a useless cartridge the .30-30 is.
Seems that he had owned one a few years earlier, and could not manage to
hit anything with it. He was sure, however, that the cartridge was totally
inadequate for deer hunting. It has been a long-standing policy of mine to
never argue with idiots and women, and he fell squarely into the first
category. This incident started my mind to recalling that I had heard
similar experts all of my life telling me that the old .30-30 was
inadequate as a deer rifle. Some seemed to be of the belief that the
bullets would just bounce of deer and tumble harmlessly to the ground.
Others had shot a running deer somewhere in the leg, and the animal did not
lay down and die right on the spot, so they concluded that the rifle and
cartridge were at fault. I have known many hunters who have bought a new
.30-30, carried it deer hunting, either missed or wounded an animal, and
went immediately to trade it in on a new .243 or some other high-stepping
number. I suppose that it is easier to blame the gun than to admit to being
a lousy marksman. The trouble with their theory is that millions of
Winchester and Marlin rifles have taken countless numbers of deer, hogs,
and black bear shooting the old .30 WCF, and will continue to do so as long
as hunters go to the woods after game.
Many seasoned hunters who get their winter’s meat every year rely on the
old .30-30, and with good reason. It works, and it works well. I am
constantly shooting other people’s rifles in fulfilling my duties here at
Gunblast.com, but I make a point to take a .30-30 lever gun into the woods
at least a few days each year. The attributes that make these guns so
popular begin with their handling qualities. A lever action carbine handles
like a good bird gun. It comes to the shoulder without thinking about it,
and points naturally. The guns are light and handy, easy to carry and easy
to shoot. The .30 WCF in a Marlin or Winchester carbine has relatively
light recoil, yet plenty of power to cleanly and quickly dispatch game,
that is of course unless one is an "expert" that knows that the
old cartridge is too weak to do the job. The trouble is, deer do not know
any better, and go ahead and quickly expire when a round or flat nosed
thirty caliber bullet traveling along at around two thousand feet per
second slams into their vital organs.
Last year, my new son-in-law decided to go deer hunting. He had never been
hunting before, so one afternoon we decided to head out into the woods deer
hunting. Having no rifle of his own, I grabbed a lever action Marlin off
the rack, loaded the magazine, and we quickly went over the manual of arms
for that particular firearm. I placed Sebastian in an elevated stand
overlooking a small clearing and a section of power line, and I went about
a quarter mile through the woods away and climbed up into another. No
sooner than I had dozed off for a nap when I heard him shoot. In about two
seconds I heard him shoot again. I figured he had missed, and resumed my
efforts to enjoy a comfortable autumn nap. Soon he appeared in a full run,
heading my direction. He had two deer on the ground, and needed my
assistance in getting them back home. Seems I failed to explain that deer
hunting doesn’t necessarily mean that we are going out to actually kill
deer! I measured the distance from his stand to where the deer laid, and it
was just over 180 yards. Two deer, two shots. Not bad for the first time
hunting. The ammunition that he used I had handloaded with the Barnes
150 grain flat point X bullet. These have quickly become my favorite bullet
for the .30 WCF. They have a deep hollowpoint and were designed to expand
at thirty-thirty velocities, yet still penetrate like there’s no
tomorrow. I have never recovered one from a game animal. They kill like no
.30-30 bullet that I have ever seen. On one of the deer, Sebastian shot it
in the chest, and the bullet exited the rear ham on the opposite side,
after traveling the length of the deer through bone and muscle. The other
deer had turned to leave, and he shot it just behind the ribcage, with the
bullet exiting the deer’s skull, leaving a sizeable crater. Complete
penetration and excellent bullet performance, at over 180 yards, from a
cartridge that should have been obsolete a century ago with the
introduction of the .30-40 Krag. Neither Sebastian nor the two deer knew
that the old .30-30 was too weak and inaccurate to kill at that range. This
has been typical of my experience with that bullet, and I just loaded up
sixty more rounds of the stuff this afternoon.
Another good thing about the old thirty-thirty is that just about anywhere
that sells ammunition in North America will have a few boxes on hand. The
ammo makers have gotten pretty good at making the ammo for the .30-30, with
over a century of practice, and most any brand of ammunition will do the
job. Power Points, Core-Lokts, and Silvertips have taken deer year in and
year out for hunters who do not load their own ammo. The carbines and
rifles chambered for the cartridge are plenty accurate for big game
hunting, and some of these leverguns are surprisingly accurate, shooting
right along with a good bolt action rifle, and handling much better than
most.
While the .30-30 has been chambered in most all other action types,
including pistols, it lives and breathes in the levergun. I must admit that
I have an unusual fondness for the lever action rifle. It is all about the
handling. Nothing carries as well, nor points as naturally. I am somewhat
happy that many shooters sell off their leverguns for "better"
weapons. It makes the Winchesters and Marlins plentiful on the used market,
and therefore very affordable. I have several, but never quite enough. Just
three weeks ago I acquired another Winchester at the Tulsa gun show. It is
an 1894 Model rifle that was built in 1897, and is chambered for the good
old .30 WCF. It has a half octagon/round barrel. Most of the finish is
gone, but the bore is pristine! I have several modern rifles that have
superb scopes and sport much better ballistics, but they have nothing like
the character of that old Winchester. It will go hunting with me in a few
days.
Looking at the ballistics of the .30 WCF, most new shooters are
unimpressed, to say the least. However, the cartridge and the guns are more
than the sum of their parts. These rifles impart a different experience to
the user. Somehow, the whole hunting experience is better with a
thirty-thirty levergun. It defies explanation, but the meat tastes better
and the trophy looks better on the wall when taken with one of these old
fashioned and often derided leverguns. Some readers will understand what I
mean, and others will think that I am nuts. However, in the hands of a good
hunter, the .30 WCF kills the game every bit as dead as the latest and
greatest ultra short fat belted magnum.
To quote my friend and fellow Shootist Mic McPherson, who by the way
is a genuine, credentialed, and well-published ballistics expert:
"Those who cannot cleanly dispatch their game using a .30-30 are
either shooting too far, hunting inappropriate (too large) game, or are
simply incompetent." I think that he summed it up rather well.
Jeff Quinn
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