[ENGLANDER]

Hello from Scotland~

Could you gentleman with 16" .30-30's give me " YOUR OPINION " of the effective range of this cartridge when lauched from this short barrel ??

Also have you noticed any great differences when using 20"/ 22"/ 24"/ 26" barrel's ??

Perhaps i should point out by "effective range" i mean, the range with which Deer can humanely be taken.........

Englander

 

[ribbonstone]

Can expect about 2,000fps from the better 170gr. factory offerings (1950 to 2025fps...some less), which realy isn't all that far behind the real velocity from 20" barreled carbines.

Real effective range may not be the same as the ballistic range...depends on how well you can group and the sighting equipment, The rifle amy be able to kill at 150yards, but the shooter may be limited to less. I still consider 150yards to be the sporting max.

I used a 17.3" 1/2 mag. Winchester 94 carbine for a few years; becoming this odd length after I bought it as a "fixer"...haven't a lue how the previous for the comparison to be valid.
--------
things that didn't work well:
1. Using better shaped bullets designed for higher velocity. Besides the danger of pointed bullets in tube. magazines, these bullets just didn't work all that well at lower velcoity. The light weight 130 and 135gr. bullets designed for single shot handguns DO work well. With a tube. mag., you have a 2-shooter (one in the barrel, one in the magazine).
2. I used iron sights (tang peep). A scoipe can allow you to groupe better, but tempts you past the 150yard limit....psycological, but if you san see the deer so well, we tend to shoot it (in other words, slapping a 20X scope on your 30-30 doesn't make the bullets work better).
3. Can kill game much farther away than 150yards. Bullets start to act like FMJ's (without the bonus of tumbling that military bullets can give). Exact placement can earn game, but it's really not "sporting".

 

[kciH]

I would guess that most game taken with a 30-30 in the last 50 years has been under 50 yards. In my opinion, the effective range of the rifle with a scope and a skilled, ethical hunter is 200yds. I've been shooting deer with pistols for a while and 200yds is no problem if you put it where it goes, using cartridges that are based on the 30-30 and .223, the 30-30 itself is also a fairly popular pistol round to about 200yds or less with good pointed bullets. The pistols mentioned above have a barrel only an inch or two shorter than what you mentioned. With the factory open sight on the short barrel you mention, I wouldn't want to rely on it past 100yds if that. With a good tang or reciever sight maybe 150yds.

 

[Lindsey Mathiso]

I use one with a 20" barrel. Scoped, it is good to 200 yards but i ususlly stick to shots in the 125-150 yard range.

I read that Browning will be comming out with a 450 Marlin in their BLR series. With a pointed bullet that can't be used in a tubular magazine, one might be able to stretch the range a bit, but being a lever fanatic, I'm up close and personal!

By the way, glad to see you don't consider yourself to be part of Europe. I'd hate to think our friends on the island had any connection to the French. Welcome to the group.

 

[Bill Lester]

Englander,

I didn't have a chronograph when I owned my 16" 94 Trapper so can't say for certain what the difference is, but I can tell you that the holdover at 200 yards I needed compared to a 20" Marlin fired the same day was significant. I remember that day like it was yesterday. We were using 150-grain handloads, loaded to the maximum charge shown in an old version of the Speer reloading manual.

 

[147 Grain]

Have found that Speer's Grand Slam 30-30 bullets have the highest BC and the best ME at 200 yards.

 

[Dave H]

I've used 30-30s on & off during the years and agree with the other Shooter/hunters in this forum about 150yrds max .Hey lets be honest some times that animal that we've dropped at 250yrds turns out to be only 125-140.Look Imean no disrepect in saying that.It's just better to be sure of a kill than to have to track down a wounded animal.

 

[Ranch Dog]

Englander...

Here is how I look at the killing authority of a bullet. With a 30 caliber jacketed bullet and deer sized game, I like to limit myself to 1000 foot pounds of energy.The Hornady 170-grain FP travels out of my 336A (24" barrel) at 2330 FPS and is still producing 1006 FPE at 175 yards. That is where I place the limit.

With this limitation in mind, the cartridge is actually very flat shooting. A 150-yard zero will give you a killing zone of less than 4" out to 175 yards. The maximum rise and drop in that kill zone is +1.7" at 100 yards and -1.9" at 175 yards. The key is being able to recognize my limit of 175 yards.

I've started to hunt with a range finder and it really helps to keep the limits of a short range caliber in mind. For stand hunting, I spot markers with it. For stalk hunting I do the same with the game and several landmarks and then it is very easy to keep the distances in your head and I haven't had to pull the range finder out to make the shot.

 

[JJ79]

with iron sights...100-125 yds.

with a scope...175 yds. (any further...why not use something else?)

 

[frhunter13]

My dad took a nice 10pt at 100 yards with his 16" saddle ring carbine 30-30 a few years back.

According to the general rule of 1000 ft lbs minimum as a humane deer slayer, the 16" 30-30 is limited to about 150 yards.

My 24" on the other hand can reach about 195 yards before dropping under 1000 ft lbs. --- using factory loads.

In any case, for all 30-30 owners, check out the Alliant powder charges for the 30-30. Especially Reloader 15 and the 170 gr bullet. You can get 2330 fps in a good solid 24" 30-30. The factory loads are all 2200 for the 170gr bullet.

Before you laugh this one off, I have taken several deer with my 24" "Black Shadow" 30-30 using the Alliant recipe. It reaches to 235 yards before droping below 1000 ft lbs. --according to my ballistic software and a coefficient of 0.251 for the round nose I use.