Rascal the dog is always curious
Meanwhile, I stashed away some ammo I got last week ( or, as they'll call it in the burning times: money). If I take the boys (really, young men) up to the hills with the Mossberg lever action in 30-30, they can shoot me out in one day.
Which I like.
Always good to pick up some more.
A youth burning Dad out of 30-30 ammo with the Mossberg.
Plus, 30-30 ammo just looks right to me, like a rifle round should. But then again, I'm a traditionalist that way.
Lever action rifles are always fun just because they are. At the moment, I'm contemplating one since I don't own one. There enters the confusion: .45 Colt, .45/70 Govt., or .30/30 Win? The .45 Colt works because I can use handgun ammo interchangeably. the .45/70 packs more punch and there are some really COOL rounds that I can cycle through it. (http://www.lehighdefense.com/pages/multiple-projectile-ammunition) The 30/30 is a "pumpkin slinger", but it's fun.
ReplyDeleteWhile I'm on the subject, check out Lehigh Defense's Close Quarters .308 ammo:
http://www.lehighdefense.com/pages/lehigh-defense-close-quarters-bullet-and-ammo-technology
I say get all three.
DeleteShot my first deer with a Win 94. Heart and both lungs. He ran 150 yards outta sight with two other bucks. Thought I missed him.
ReplyDeleteShot a little forky from 10 feet with a 7 mag and he didn't go nowhere.
That's opposite my experience. That flat-nosed profile of the 30-30 has always dropped them right away while higher velocity "pointy" bullets usually see them run a bit. Of course it really depends on where you hit them, but the 30-30 has been the #1 whitetail round for over a century.
DeleteI pretty much agree with you. A lot also depends on distance, velocity and bullet construction. I bought a .338 Win Mag for my first bear hunting trip to Canada. I worked up a nice, accurate load using 215 gr Sierra Game King bullets. Figured that I'd be taking a longer range shot at a bear like you see on a lot of TV shows. Wrong! New Brunswick bear hunting is in areas that have been logged over the years and have very thick undergrowth. Most shots are at very close range. I made a good shot on a bear on the first evening. The guide and I looked for it until dark and never found it that evening. Came back the next morning with four other guys that wanted to help. The drops of blood were so small and far between that we kept losing the trail and then someone would finally find another spot or two. Finally found it after about two or three hours. Seems that I made a good hit, but that high velocity, pointy bullet made a little hole going in and just fragmented. That bear went a long way and suffered quite a bit. I still feel bad about it to this day. The two following years that I went I used lower velocity, 250 gr round nosed bullets that have a lot of exposed lead. Both bears that I shot fell right where they stood like someone dropped an anvil on them. Those old style bullets did exactly what they were supposed to do within the range that they were meant to be used. Lesson learned the hard way.
DeleteI never thought much of the .30-30 back when I was a kid. I grew up using my dad's Mod 99 .300 Savage. Nice, sleek, modern looking, pointy bullets. After I got married and moved out of the house I needed to buy my own rifle. Being a young newlywed I couldn't really afford to spend much, if anything. I found an old Mod 1899 .303 Savage takedown in a gunshop for real cheap. Pretty beat up, but functional. The original butt plate was missing and had been replaced with a homemade one. The .303 Savage is pretty much the same as a .30-30. I carried that thing in the big woods of PA for quite a few years. It gave me a greater appreciation for the old, rimmed cartridges. I retired that rifle a long time ago and upgraded to a few more modern hunting rounds, but I still get it out once in a while and take it to the range. Brings back a lot of good memories of simpler times. While the .303 Savage is obsolete and no one loads factory ammo for it anymore the .30-30 lives on. Hopefully for another 100+ years......
ReplyDelete