Hey all,

I am a 30-30 fan, particularly when paired with a Winchester 94. I’ve had marlins (fine rifles, with arguable superiority to winchesters), but the soft spot in my 35 year old heart lies with the Winchester, a frosty fall morning, wool jacket, and the shot at a buck with a vintage rifle. I have yet to connect with a deer and any of my 30-30 winchesters, so please do me the favor and leave your stories.

I’ve only hunted with a Marlin 336 stainless and it worked every time as I’ve never had a deer run after being hit. That .30-30 round is incredibly effective and has probably harvested more deer than any other round. I imagine it is like most others stories, it starts with much patience, sitting quietly and enjoying nature, to suddenly the sight or sound that causes an adrenaline dump, your heart to race and sweaty palms.
Where I hunted at, we took the deer to the processor and then bought a pizza to eat sitting around the campfire with friends. Good times for sure! Some of those friends are gone now but I will always cherish those times and memories as well as that 336.

My first deer hunting experiences were in the early 1970s using a Winchester Model 94. In those days there were no feeders or stands. We used to hunt a pipeline right of way on some family property near the La/TX border. We took a good # of deer off the property every year using 30-30s. Lever actions for hunting were very popular. You could see lots of them hanging in the gun racks of trucks around town.

My dad had bought that Model 94 at a Western Auto in the 1950s for less than $50. Pre CBS Winchester. He finally sold it 20+ years ago when he had stopped hunting.

+

I had a lot of family members that hunted with them so they were always around. My dad, though, hunted with a Remington 742 Woodsmaster (Jam-master.)

When I was about 13 or 14 and didn't have my own rifle, my Dad grabbed my grandfather's 336 for me to hunt with. We went over the manual of arms in the backyard and practiced working the level and hammer and then letting the hammer down. This rifle did not have any hammer extension. Well it came time to go live and practice letting the hammer down on live ammo and I let the hammer slip. The gun was pointed in a safe direction (down) and my grandparents house was on the edge of town on 6 acres but as you can imagine, the sound scared the devil out of everybody inside and, not least of all, me. I was pretty shaken up, decided to hunt with my shotgun, and have never carried a lever gun afield since.

I do have my Dad's 336 which does have a hammer extension and have shot it, but not long after that my Dad went firmly into the bolt action camp and all of my hunting rifles are bolt action, as well.

Both me and my dad are lefties and there Weren’t many left hand bolt actions around so he went with a 336 he got brand new for $69. So I did too. Nothing like carrying a lever gun around in the woods. He killed several deer with his. I switched to a bolt when I saved some money but have now gone back as most of my shots are shorter and I don’t care as much about the deer as I do the hunt.

My dad passed a little over a week ago and he had already given me his 336. I’ll never sell it and will likely hunt with it this fall just to spend a little more time with my dad (his memory)in the woods.

I used to "hunt" steel targets when I shot IHMSA with my 30/30 T/C Contender handgun.
I always enjoyed hitting the Rams out at 200 meters and watching them fall after a 150gr soft point slammed into them.
Fire, watch target for a second and wait for the hit and the target topple over.
The 30/30 never had a problem dropping those 50# steel targets.

I much prefer a bolt action for my own uses, but occasionally I'll carry my 336 30-30 into the woods during doe season. 75 yards would be a long shot on my property and it do never fails me.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jaybirdaccountant,

About my 2nd ever big game season, I hunted across State line with a older '94. Early in the buck season, on the side slope of a extremely deep ravine, I took a doe with a head shot. The head was all that could be seen. A week earlier, I had that '94 in total disassembly atop a marble table for clean and lube. It had stood in a gun cabinet for a few years as the family who owned it, replaced Dads '94 with a scoped Marlin. The doe nearly gave me a heart attack dragging her up that slope and under a barbed wire fence, in deep snow. Two days later, I took a sizable 8 point buck with a Remington 700 in 3006. 300 yards down field with a fixed 4 power and Winchester 220 grain silver tips. The buck stayed put as another hunter walked just inside the forest along the fields edge. When he was parallel to me, I could see his hot seat cushion attached to his butt as he walked. At the bottom of the field, the buck broke out in a hurried strut, in deep snow to cross. I was around 12 feet up in a tree, middle of a hedge row, standing on a length of 2x12. Nice that someone years earlier, left a ladder and plank for me to stand on. The deer twice walked out of my scope so I waited until he broke the lense edge and squeezed. The 220 grainer hit with a evident slap and he did a side step but carried forward. I racked the bolt and lined up on him again. I squeezed just as he began to roll over right and the 2nd 220 slammed right in his chest cavity. My friend Harvey said later in the evening, he was on his way out to his truck and heard both rounds hit. My 1st ever buck deer. I remember climbing down the ladder with a empty case still chambered. I was a little shaken. I got a nice one.

And, for what it's worth, do you know how many times one listens to the Carpenters on 33 rpm, how many cups of cocoa and, how many Raleigh filter 100's it takes to completely disassemble, clean and lube a Winchester '94? A lot..

I collected the biggest coyote I've ever seen with a 1949 production Winchester '94 in .30-30 when I was 15 or so. Dad and I were playing gin in the camper on a seasonally cold evening in maybe October, on the back side of this little mountain out in the sagebrush. We heard coyotes howling a couple hundred yards away, so we grabbed a rifle and a rabbit call, moved towards the sound, set up about 50 yards apart in some tall sagebrush. Dad started hitting the rabbit squealer while I watched likely avenues of approach.

Lo and behold, about 5 minutes pass and this BIG female comes sneaking through the sagebrush at around 75 yards, carefully stalking right towards me. She either saw me or winded me, and paused quartering toward me with her head up. I figured it was now or never, so I touched off a 150 grain soft point into her neck at 60 yards or so and it was lights out.

That coyote is still on the wall, and that '49 Winchester is still in the safe and still gets used as a ranch gun.

Dad actually got a cow elk last year with his 1898 production 1894 takedown in .30 WCF. That's a neat old rifle with several custom-order features, like a half-octagon barrel and a button magazine. One shot at about 30 yards and she was down for the count.

We like .30-30s too.

Several years ago I went out to Wyoming on a Elk hunt.
I had my 700 -06 and my 1976 Bicentennial Winchester carbine.
I went out on the 2nd day and got set up in my bush-built ground blind and about an hour after sunrise had a 5X5 Satellite bull come by.
I had walked in over fallen timber the day before and this morning, since I had a Muley tag and had seen a couple of nice ones to I had decided to take the carbine.
Well, 170gr. Winchester 30-30 round did its' job.
I picked up the carbine when I came back from West Germany in the fall of '76.
I have taken quite a few Whitetails with it, but that Elk made very happy!

I don't have the 30-30, but I do have it's middle brother, a Marlin 336 in .35 Remington. I've never had the chance to take a deer with it, but I hope to have it out later this spring on a pig hunt.

Gratuitous Marlin lever gun pic with "Old Eyes" sight...

While in high school, I shot my first deer with a 30-30 (a Winchester Model 55 Takedown Rifle that my dad bought for his first wife) on 17 December 1974 at 4.30 PM on the last day of doe season here in PA. Got my second one one ironically on the last day of doe season as the sun was setting with the same rifle on 14 December 1976. Funny how I can remember those dates and events like they were yesterday but cannot remember very much of what I learned in school then! LOL BTW, still have that Model 55.

I have 3 30-30 marlins; 1 pre 64 and one post 64 win 94. We were shooting targets on a buddies cow pasture land one time and squirrels were to be shot on site as they dig holes the cows could step in. Ever see a 30-30 hit a squirrel? At least it was painless for him.

Does 32 special count ? I have my great grand uncles ~1918 win 94 that he likely bought right after he got out of the navy in WW1.
He was walking around the hills of hollister ca and shot his deer set the rifle down for some reason to track it got turned around and lost the rifle. He spent all day walking around looking for that rifle. Assume he also dressed out the deer. Thankfully he found it and it’s been in the family 100+ years.

I have a 336 in .30-30 but have never hunted with it. I have spent time in the stand with my 1894 in .357 Mag, though. It was back in the days before rifle-calibers were legal for deer in Indiana, and you had to use either shotgun or straight-wall pistol cartridges.

The property we had to hunt was not entirely ideal, but it was what we had. A buddy had 12 acres of fenced in property, mostly woods, surrounded by farm field. The fence didn't seem to deter the deer much...they'd jump it readily. Legally, to shoot a deer it had to be on his side of the fence.

I was sitting in a stand on the tree line one morning, just me and my levergun, and this buck came walking through the field. He had a tiny little rack, but a body like a cow. He ambled up to the fence line and started grazing, all of 10 yards from me. I sat there watching him waiting for him to jump the fence, but he wasn't having it. He may have been too fat. He just kept eating away at the grass along the fenceline for about 30 minutes, and worked his way right under my stand and along down the row. At one point I could have jumped out of the stand right onto his back, but he never crossed the fence. Being a fat glutton saved his life that day, lol.

I only hunted for a few years and never did get a deer that way. I've put probably 50 down on the side of the road with a handgun, though.

I’m considering taking my Marlin 336 SDT into the mountains with me if i draw a tag this year. Especially if i can find a fixed 4x leupold for it.

I have a Winchester 94 30-30 in my lap and 8 deer in my yard but I can do nothing about it. They’re city deer and the DNR won’t let me molest them and the city won’t issue permits like the next town over. Porter come kill them for me. I’ll buy you a coke

PorterN, send me your mailing address. I will gift you what you’re looking for. My email is in my profile.

I bought a 94 trapper from the PX overseas when I was a new private. Hunted with it several times but never took anything with it. My little brother has it now, and he quit hunting years ago. Maybe I’ll borrow it back from him this fall.
I do have my Dads 336 that he hunted with for years. He never shot a deer, but I think that’s because he just enjoyed being in the woods more than actually hunting.
That I will take hunting this fall just to be with him again.

quote:

Originally posted by snowdog:
PorterN, send me your mailing address. I will gift you what you’re looking for. My email is in my profile.

You are too kind! Ill gladly accept and will pay it forward as requested. Email sent.