I am jealous. Where I live (in town), its not legal to hunt orange soda in my backyard with a firearm discharge. Hunting is only allowed at the local shooting range but they also prohibit hunting orange soda - only paper targets can be hunted. blahh.
My dad got an impressive kill with a 1978 Chevrolet Caprice Estate wagon (the sheriff deputy who had to finish it off with two .38 Special rounds to its head had absolutely nothing to do with it)!
Rabbit and squirrel, always bringing enough home. My deer hunting was kind of like Paul's experience, although I usually saw at least one on a hunting weekend but usually being pursued/shot by someone else. The only one I shot I hit twice with 12 gauge rifled slugs, dropped it to its knees twice hitting it just behind the front leg, it got up twice, and ran away, leaving a trail that looked like someone pouring out a 5 gallon bucket of red paint. Over an 1/8th mile later, the blood ceased, the kicked up leaves ceased, no prints in the dirt, and no deer. Three of us circled around trying to find it, tore every brush pile, walked through every stand of grass, and nothing after about 2 or more hours searching. It was the most frustrating hunts I have ever had.
"Taking our guns for a walk" Love it! We were 10-12 years old pockets of 22L going up the river valley on the west coast of BC hunting grouse. Some of the best Saturday's l ever had. Grouse breast on a stick makes my mouth water. I got a 30-30 at 15 great gun. At 18 l went to the big smoke (vancover) went to sleep on the beach got woke up by a cop telling me it was dangerous. I thanked him and scooped up my 30-30 in my blanket (good thing it was dark) and slept in my truck. My point? It's a short easy to carry all round durable gun love it.
I can still take you to the very spot where my Grandpa stood with his Winchester model 94 bicentennial 30-30 loaded with Winchester 150 gr silver tips and laid down the only deer he ever killed..We were sitting together and I could have shot it five times with my .308 by the time he spotted it but I wanted him to get it. When he spotted it his face lit up like a kid at Christmas time. He couldn't see very well by then but he rolled into his firing position and squeezed the trigger. That deer fell on his tracks.It was exactly 115 yards away. I believe he was as happy as he could possibly be in that very minute. I will never forget his laugh and then when he stood over the deer he almost dropped a tear. He left us two years later and I still have the antlers and the spent casing. I hope to leave such a memory with my grandkids.
What a wonderful memory you had with your grandpa and thanks for sharing it. My group of hunting friends and I sit by the campfire to share experiences like these. For me it was with my dad and the first time he pulled a salmon. Different animal but still the same great experience. Thanks for sharing!
When I was a teenager I heard the same myths about the .30 -30. I was told it would be better to use a 270 or 30-06 caliber rifle. I am now a senior citizen -I appreciate the .30-30's weight, size, and recoil. I don't think the deer have any preference to caliber size.
@@mr.powell8817 Don't underestimate a .22... LOL Seriously though, a well placed shot with a .22LR will drop a deer. I've seen it done with Ruger target pistol loaded with Mini Mag round nose... right through the heart, the deer didn't even know it was hit. The whole group just stood there looking around after the "pop", then one fell over dead. I wasn't sure which one he shot at, in fact I thought he'd missed, until it started to "pass out" from lack of blood to the brain. When we field dressed it, we couldn't even find the heart, it had liquified most of the muscle when the bullet passed through. Granted, it was a whitetail doe, not a particularly large one, but certainly not small either. Would it take down a large buck in a similar way... probably not, and no, I don't recommend hunting deer with .22LR, but it CAN be done.
@@livewire2759 I completely believe you can kill a dear with. 22. You lost me at the liquefied hear part. I won't go as far as to say its impossible but I find that extremely hard to believe. Please don't take offense. I'm not calling you a liar or anything else. Just saying it's almost impossible for a .22 long rifle or magnum to liquefy a heart.
When I was a senior if High School I got a lesson in under estimating the 30-30 in the Big Horn Mountains of Northern Wyoming! I was told my dad's .257 Roberts was too light for Elk, so I borrowed a scoped 30-06 bolt action from an uncle! That night at the hunting camp this young fellow showed up with an older Winchester Model 94 with long octagon barrel. He took an awful ribbing about his "Red Ryder" BB gun. Next morning 4-5 of us, including him, were following Elk tracks in the snow when we came to a clearing in the timber. Tracks went straight across. About that time 8-10 Elk with a big bull in the lead came at a dead run from left to right in the middle of the clearing! While the rest of us were busy getting our slinged, scoped rifle off our shoulders this fellow dropped to one knee and fired that old 30-30! That big bull Elk went down and rolled like a ball! Head shot, 75 yards! Dead run! Rest of us never got off a shot! That guy knew that gun, and we had so much egg on our face we didn't need breakfast! A couple of years later I bought my own '94, and it has been my go to rifle the past 59 years! It has taken Mule Deer, Pronghorn and Elk out to 200 yards, never let me down. But I have never been as skilled with it as he was with his grandfather's old '94.
@@Valor_73737 well most people shoot bigger game behind the shoulder blade so I don’t know that’s why I gave you a chance to explain in case I was ignorant but you answered my question with another question like a bit of a tool.
@@blakedavis2447 Most people shoot behind the shoulder because it is a bigger, surer target than a head shot, and requires much, much less skill! You won't find 1 hunter in a hundred skilled enough to apply head shots. Especially a moving target. A head shot is much more humane because it is instantly lethal. I have seen many animals continue for up to several hundred yards when hit behind the shoulder. The very few head shots I have witnessed, the animal is dead before it hits the ground.
Paul Harrell is to guns as Bob Ross was to painting. I could watch and listen to either one of them all day and not get bored. They speak in a calming and relaxing manner that keeps your interest.
I got a mule deer in Colorado (Jan. 1988) with a Datsun diesel pickup truck. Excellent expansion of both front fenders, but not the penetration one would expect of a 170 grain 30-30 round.
@@josephgilboy6259 different type of shooting. If he was infantry they spray fire. No precision shooting involved things are somewhat different now but still definitely no marksman by any means
@@josephgilboy6259 He was a Marine, not a soldier. Far more marksmanship training even at the basic training level. The fact that he was later marksmanship instructor at the USMC security forces school should let you know the comparison fails.
Best thing about all lever actions, regardless of caliber, is the gun grabbers think they're just old dinosaurs only used in Western movies. They have no idea of how useful a lever action rifle is, and I hope they stay that ignorant.
I have a Marlin 22LR and 30-30...both lever action. Accurate as hell and never ever failed to shoot. Maybe not the "best" gun to many but to me they have handled the test of time and shoot every bit as good as the shooter behind it.
@@rvninnorthcarolina3377 My Marlin 30-30 is the same way. I'm looking for a Marlin 22 bolt action, hope to find a really good one soon, and may sell most of my other rifles and just keep the basics.
A Homage to the 30-30: During my 28 years in the US Air Force, when overseas: If I wanted to discretely talk to another American with little chance of being listened in on or if I didn't want to garbage up regular friendly frequencies, I'd transmit "Go Winchester!" Non-Americans didn't understand the Winchester to 30-30 relationship. Americans immediately knew to dial in 303.0 in their UHF or 130.30 VHF radios & we'd discuss what we needed to. This was used alot when encrypted radios were not readily available & the transitions were brief or if I just wanted to BS with a fellow American. Thanks Paul, keep those Videos coming! Cheers , Lt Col Jet
@@jetdriver1jetdriver194 I don't know the timeline, but perhaps those procedures weren't a J STD at the time. We didn't really go fully joint until the 90s. Goldwater-Nichols Act only created true Joint requirements in 1986.
@@anthonykaiser974Hmmm. Could very well be. We just used "Go Winchester" for a quick radio freq change to have a semi discrete two-way conversation. Then, we'd return back to previous freq when our discussion ended. I dont believe it was a formalized procedure. Just an informal comm technique developed by troops in the field for that purpose & only US troops would understand. You're quite right on the joint (Purple World) time frame. Served on PACOM, J3, (USCINCPAC) Staff, Camp Smith, Hi, 90-93. Sheesh, was it really that long ago? Time flies.... Cheers Lt Col Jet
My Father grew up in the woods of northern BC Canada. They shot moose, wolves, black bears, grizzlys all the time with the 30-30. It was considered the best rifle and the distance they shot was not more that 100 to 150 yards unless wolf hunting. A single box of 20 shells would last for years of big game hunting. It was very important to have a handy, light, reliable rifle to pack around day in and day out. It worked back then and will work just fine now if you use it properly and know what you are doing.
Used my Marlin 30/30 for about 27 years now.....never had to shoot a deer/hog twice...and they’ve never ran more than 20 yards. Definitely underestimated. Great video.
When people would say, the book says a 30.30 is too small, my dad would say well ain't it good deer don't read......30.30 150 grn....works !!!! Thanks for the video
@@bobbychub9991 most curtainly is.. Killed many deer in the thickwoods of alabama with my 3030.. Ive can stack nail 150 wouldnt hesitate at 200.. Although i prefer 270
@Marino I own a Smith and Wesson 686 plus and a Marlin Winchester 30-30... hands down my favorite firearms to date. My friends all prefer more modern style firearms as well and they give me shit for my old cowboy guns lol. But, they are fun, and if you can teach yourself to be accurate with them you're just as likely to protect/feed yourself as those guys with the "tacticool" guns.. Nothing wrong with liking a classic my friend 👌
I remember my Uncle Frank. He walked out to the woods every year with his red Woolrich plaid coat, heavy jeans, felt insulated boots, blaze orange flap "furburger" hat (in his later years) and his lever action 3030 Winchester with open sights. This of course before all the fancy high tech hunting garb and all the variety of rifles and calibers and optics that we have today. Just about every season he would tromp out of the woods dragging a buck behind him. I used a Stevens Model 325C. I didn't do as well, due to my youthful impatience. Thank you Mr. Harrell for what you do and have done. I think i'm gonna pull the Stevens out and shoot it!
"That coyote was 60 yds away. How far did he think that 30-30 would shoot?" 59 yds. After that, the bullets just explode to prevent civilian casualties.
My first gun wasna 3030 marlin. I used from the time i was 6 till about 10. I ve personal shot many deer with this gun from ranges around 200 yards to 25 yeard.. I wouldnt hessitate or even think about not dropping the hammer on a deer at 2oo yards... Very effective gun the length make it good for thick wooded areas.. I will often take my 3030 over my 270 in thicker woods...
3" pattern with open sights at 100 yards proves a very important point: Some guys can shoot and some can't. Buying a canon wouldn't help some boys because the can't f'ing shoot.
Amen. This reminds me back when I first started shooting handguns, and I bought several different models because I thought they were inaccurate. Turns out I just sucked. Now 10 years later my targets are one jagged hole. I’ve had people ask me at the range what pistol I have because they think there targets will look like mine if they buy one. lol.
I would always dog on dudes bringing super blacks to shoot pheasant as well. That $2K shotgun doesn’t make you shoot less like shit my guy lol. This mossberg 500 field will so just as well for a quarter the money
Boy I sure have killed a lot of deer for the 30-30 to be so “insufficient.” You are spot on here Paul. My Marlin is my baby. I’ve never seen a deer run more than 30 yards after a dinner plate shot. Also I am easily grouping less than 2 inches at 150 yards, which is more than enough for deep woods hunting.
Although, it is a little light, I was standing beside my older brother when he took his first elk with a 94 30-30 carbine(20" barrel). One shot at 150 yds, the elk didn't seem to know the rifle was too small. I also watched a man kill a cattle chasing dog at over 350 yds with a 94 30-30 rifle(26" barrel). Earlier tonight, I was visiting with an elderly friend who told me that he killed moose for decades with his military issue Pacific Coast Militia Rangers 94 30-30 carbine. What you shoot is not nearly as important as how well you shoot.
Running dog at 350 yards. I know some people can do it. I’m just proud of hitting 2 out of 4 300 yard targets in Basic, prone, with 10 seconds to aim at a full torso target, which was smaller than the front sight post on my M16A1, circa 1983.
When I was a boy (10or11) some of the kids at school would hastle me for using my old 30-30 to hunt moose with. They said it was too light but the moose were just as dead as if I had been using a .375 or something like that.
@@CorePathway I used to average about 7 out of 10 in the black on a baker target from 500yds back in my Marine Corps days with open sights on my M16A2. I found it hard to miss from 200 and 300 yards on the 12" round target, or the head&shoulders "dog" target. Pretty sure there's no way I could repeat that today. Scopes spoiled me.
I’ve fired 4 shots in my life out of .30-30, 2 at a 200 yard plate and 2 on a bear silhouette at 215 yards years later on a different range. Hit 4 for 4 all from standing. It felt natural to me, just like shooting shotgun shells with my single shot 22. At 200 yards I just put the front sight at the top of the target and clang. I think the bullet probably dropped 3 inches or something. My buddy’s dad had given him the gun and being all excited he wanted me to shoot his rifle. I asked what it was sighted for and he said 100 yards. I said ok, picked it up and said I’ll hit the 200 yard plate (6 or 7 inch round metal plate). Clang. He looked at me and said “$50 says you can’t do that again!” I didn’t say anything, jacked another round in - clang. He says “Jeezus we got Wyatt goddamn Earp walking around here!” I just smiled and handed him back his rifle. Years later I was at the range with another friend and I said hey can I shoot your 30-30? Of course remembering the last time. I picked it up and asked where should I shoot? He says do you think you can hit the bear? I said I dunno. Clang. Reload. Clang. Smile. Hand him his gun back. That second time was just 6 months ago. I’ve decided since then that my gun cabinet needs a .30-30 of its own.
@@darylkenny4562 just limit your shots to less than 300 yards. The energy in flat nose bullets falls off all to fast to attempt shots further than that. For an example if you aim at the top of a deers back at 300 yard, the bullet will land fifty yards short of the deer with a 100 yard zero. I toted a M94 Winchester in the scabbard on a horse a many a day loaded with 170 grain Winchester Silvertips but limited my shots to about 100 yards. Just remember, too, you will usually get just one shot off a horse’s back before they decide to visit the next county.🤓
The pantyhose are to help prevent chafing in the field. They’re also great shields from ticks and chiggers. The lipstick is to mark the trees he plans on sniping from.
2:09 Mr Harrell the comedian, HAHA! I think this is the 2nd time I remember him making a joke LOL! Look at that grin he has from ear to ear as well! Good stuff
I never understood some people's misconceptions about the 30-30. It was an exceptional deer round since its inception. There are bigger, faster rounds out today, but just because there may be something better doesn't mean that a 30-30 won't do what it used to.
There is a reason that the .30-30 has been around so long, it gets the job done. The guns and ammo are reasonably priced. I bought one for defense, out to 100 yards. It was a Marlin .30-30W for $300 new. I stocked up on ammo during hunting season. It does not look tactical, it looks like a hunting rifle, and that's how I like it. Great video Paul!
I picked up a Marlin 336C for 338$ had the big loop and a scope mount installed,if there was a situation I needed a rifle,within the range my eyes could see,I would not be out of fire power.
I grew up on 30-30s. I wanted a Winchester 30-30 from my teen years. I got one in 1985 iirc from a pawn shop. Still have it and it has been everywhere in the back of my cars, trucks, and airplanes. I've never shot any game with it, but I have no doubt I could. It has always been my go to rifle.
I've wacked more deer with my "dirty 30" then I can remember. Once a friend asked why not get something faster simple I said the Frist time a deer out runs it I'll sell it
I had some friends dogging on me for looking at 30-30's and .270's for deer in W NY state. "My 30.06 will shoot a lot farther!!" Just how far away do you need to shoot to kill a deer? Or that you'll actually be able to SEE it in the woods? Most deer are killed at under 50 yards... And how far do you want that bullet to travel after it goes through that deer- not to mention the misses. This isn't the great plains or the rockies...
My dad was a gunsmith at a local sporting goods store back n the day,he would steer guys to lower cost guns who didn't have a lot of money. When my dad hunted it was always bullet placement. 30 30 has put a lot of meat on the tables of Americans and elsewhere. Another logical factual video thanks. Arkansas
I used the 30-30 as a kid. It was my favorite rifle and still it in my top 5 list. at 12 years old I shot the biggest deer of my life. A 9 point with a 20" beam to beam spread. The deer weighed more than any other whitetail I've seen in my life and only 1 other whitetail that my grandfather has seen. My father hunts Mule deer and he said that it was similar in weight to a mature muley buck. I've never shot a deer that even came close to the size of that deer. (wish I could post pictures. Its one of my proudest moments but as a 12 year old I never fully understood the achievement). Moral of the story: I love the 30-30 PS: My sister shot her first deer with it too and now we are fighting over who gets the gun in the will. haha it's mine
My brother inherited my grandfather's Model 94 .30-30. According to the serial numbers it was built in 1954 & my father remembers when he was a kid the day the then new .30-30 came home. This rifle was so well taken care of that even today, minus a bit of bluing on the corners, it almost looks new. We were able to ping pop cans (soda cans in the U.S. I guess) dead center at 100 yards. The best story I remember from my grandpa (and my dad and uncles) was that during the old days, butchers could go on people's farms and slaughter cattle for them. Two large steers were getting readied for the chopping block, one had been whacked with what is called a "pin gun" a sort of tool that uses a blank cartridge to fire a pin out of this mechanism that goes into the animal's brain, stuns them so that the steer can be hung upside down so the steer can be exsanguinated for butchering. The second steer (and these were apparently big steer) smelled the blood from the first steer, decided he wasn't having none of that, ripped off the nose ring, busted through a fence into the first field, busted the second fence in the second field and was headed towards the tree line where if he had crossed the last fence into the tree line, he would have been impossible to find. By then, according to my dad and my uncles, grandpa had retrieved the .30-30 from the truck, put a bullet in it and shot the steer, running shot at about 100 yards and shot him where the skull meets the spine. DRT. (Hey! That's what I was told! I wasn't even DNA then) So the .30-30 was able to drop an 800 lb. steer. I also remember my dad and uncles saying that grandpa had even killed a few moose with it but they did say that he was REALLY close, like 10 yards away. I wanted a .30-30 so bad that I went out and bought my own, got a model 94 but mine was built in 1975. Love it to pieces. RIP grandpa, you are still remembered by a lot of people.
There have probably been more deer harvested with a .30.30 than any other round. In Upstate New York the lever action .30.30 is the iconic whitetail rifle
Wow even NY has less restrictive laws about hunting than my state. Can't hunt deer with a rifle in IL :( I don't even hunt but I bet there would be way more rifles on the used market if you could deer hunt with them here.
Yeah, they're pretty popular in NM. I was lured in by the headline because it seemed strange to me. "Who underestimates these? Most hunters I know, know exactly what they are and aren't capable of."
A good friend of mine is a game warden..he said that the two calibers he sees deer taken with the most are the 30/30 and the 22lr (not legal...but he sees it often)
30-30 is usually loved or hated. A lot of people love to talk shit about lever actions being out dated. Not true. Again, another great video. Please keep it up.
Bill Randall but if someone likes the lever action what difference does it make ? does it still shot can uoy kill game? so does it not do the purpose it's meant to? yes it does
Mauricio Mayo It's outdated but that doesn't mean it don't work. However 30-30 is still only as powerful as 7.62×39 ballistics wise so I wouldn't give it as much credit as a .308
Bob Saget yeah I grew up to the 30-30 I mean I wouldn't say I know every single thing about or how it is as compared to other caliber guns... so the 308 is better then? I shot the 308 once I really liked it an want one
30-30 is an amazing round, especially with the improvements in powder and ammo. I’ve never had a deer take a step after shooting one with my 30-30, wild hogs on the other hand I’ve had some walk a little ways.
Depends where you got them. I’ve hit some a little low and they wonder 50-75 yards before giving up the ghost, but that’s Operator malfunction. I’m personally a fan of 30-30 (30WCF)
@@thisismagacountry1318 7.62x51, .308 is better for hog than a 30-30, but a 30-30 works long as you ain't dumb far. I use .338LM myself, you don't need the kinda range that can give you for hunting but it's my favorite rifle so that's kinda my go to for hunting anyway.
This is 5+ years old now, and should be revisited by Paul, using the newer Hornady LEVERevolution ammo. It's been many years since I hunted with a .30-30 but in my youth, I did, a lot. I only missed once, and that was because something out of my view spooked the deer at the last second, and I've NEVER had to shoot one more than once.
I would like to acquire a 30-30 some day, although I done need one. I once overheard a salesman at a Dicks Sporting Goods arguing with a customer about a 30-30. The customer wanted it for deer hunting, the salesman didn't want to sell it to him because it would only wound deer. The customer went to the manager then left without buying the gun. I really don't understand where this negative stigma came from when it comes to the 30WFC. I tend to think of 30-30, and 20 gauge in the same category. Both are both capable of harvesting most game in North America, and they are both considered to be guns for kids or old people. If a American Indian can harvest deer with a sharp rock on the end of a stick, propelled by a string, tied to another stick, anyone should be able kill the same deer with a 150 grain bullet going 2,200 feet per second.
many say that the 30-30 has taken more deer in America than any other cartridge. Compared to the 7.62x39, the 30-30 typically has more muzzle energy, and people hunt with the SKS all the time.
I've heard .30-30 referred to as a "kids gun" many times. As well as, "it'll hit the ground at a hundred yards." and, "Maybe a .30-30 is OK for a kid." and on, and on, and on.
That stigma is bullshit. I'm fairly sure that if three generations of my family have all hunted with the exact same one. If my dad can kill a deer in one shot with it shooting down a pipeline, I'm fairly sure that stigma is bullshit. Actually I know that stigma's bullshit.
T Murray it is a shame people need a truck full of crap to go shoot a few Bullets from. Especially hunting weapons and loads. I can’t remember the last deer I shot from a bench
I bought my girlfriend her first gun. It is a model 94 Winchester which turned out to be a pristine 1957 with a Sears buttplate. She has been my wife for 17 years and it is still her favorite. I just loaded up some FTX 160gr bullets with 34 grains Leverevolution powder tonight. I've heard good things. Paul is always a good reference for advice. The 30-30 is way underrated.
I love to prove wrong the trolls who put down certain cartridges, especially those which are time-tested like the .30/30. Experience has taught me that the harshest critics are those with little to no experience. One of my friends owns only one rifle - a Savage Model 340 in .30/30, and it's the only rifle he has ever owned. He says it's all he needs. For an "emergency" situation, he has some 10 round mags I built for him, but he has enough faith in that rifle/cartridge combo to stake his life on it. So, let the .30/30 detractors say what they want - some of us know better, and in a bad situation, I want Darrell and his .30/30 on MY side.......
Kevin S: What? A Perimeter gun in 30-30? Who would have thought? My hand loaded Leverevolution bullet is supersonic out past 900 yards. Apparently, and as it turns out, the 30-30 is a high powered rifle. Again, who would have thought? Note: given our utterly mad political situation, for poor rural people who have only their Grandad’s Winchester in 30-30, this is pretty good news. Indeed, a Winchester ‘92 with good sights and chambered in .357 will deal with problems out to 500 yards and beyond. Remember that our Founders went to the front lines with their hunting rifles and defeated the British, eh? Thanks for the sensible expansion of the discussion; the Second Amendment wasn’t about keeping guns for hunting but for that last unsought political expedient! JWC
I have this exact gun. It was my fathers. When I took the butt plate off to clean it I found the original receipt inside. He must have stored it there for safekeeping and considering that was before I was born and I’m now 42, that worked great. Awesome rifle and I love shooting it. Reloading it is a breeze too, even with the lee hand press. If this gets enough likes I’ll take the plate off and look up the details for you all. I think he paid something like $25-50 for it at a sporting goods store.
If only you could upload photos. Would love to see the recipt. I bought mine second hand 28 years ago for $75 and still love the thing. Its a 68 and very accurate.
My dad's came from Western Auto about 1970, so it says 'Revelation by Marlin'. It has a lot of miles on it, and it shows it. I don't know if it'd bring $100 in an auction, but I know I wouldn't take $1000 for it. And I'd like to know what that receipt says. I always assumed his cost $50-75 back in '70, but I sure don't know
@@mikehenry7018 ahhh yes, the good ole days when you could buy a gun just about anywhere, even your local auto parts store. (Yes, I know western auto was more than just auto parts, but its the thought that counts.) They had all the cool stuff, them and monkey wards.
Glad I bought a used Winchester '94 model at a gun show about 15 years ago- I remember paying ~$120 for it. Wise purchase, considering that they're going for upwards of $1k on gun broker currently.
The 30-30 might be the caliber that has killed more deer in North America and quite a few federales during the Mexican revolution. Among the firearms potpourri wielded by Mexican gerrillas under Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata, the "treinta-treinta" as they called it in Spanish had such a special place among the rebels that it was immortalized in a song called "Carabina treinta treinta"
chapiit08 - Thanks for that info, very interesting. I'm from South Tx and I have never heard that song (that I can remember), granted I'm white but I have heard a fair share of Mexican music growing up in Laredo.
My dad let me shoot a deer with his Marlin 336 when I was around 13 and after that you couldn’t pry that gun from my hands. I’ve only “tracked” one deer and it was maybe 40 yards and I hit her kinda high all my own fault at the time. We hunted/hunt WV so it’s mostly 60 and under in the hardwood ridges but none the less it does a great job. Now my youngest brother has got ahold of that gun and poor old dad hasn’t been able to get it from us in years but he loves seeing us use it. If it could only talk for just a day
@Old Luke I believe it. Because of the shape of the bullet, it dumps a lot of energy into the target. The flat nose and/or hollow points give it good sectional density.
I've been hunting deer here in WV since 1962. I've used several of the popular calibers and always go back to the 30-30. Never have I had to shoot more than once and have used a single shot for the last 30 years and have made 3 kills at 200+ yards and 1 round fired.
I see this is four years old but still very informative. I have an old 30-30 that uncle jokes came over on the Mayflower. He reloads for me. He says if you can't get supper with two shots you deserve to go hungry. He loads sharp pointed bullets in the casings and of course we can only put one in the tube and one in the chamber. They fly a lot farther than the federal store bought flat nose. We zero at 200 yards and they are 3 inches high at 100 yards but drop 12 inches at 300 yards. Uncles home loads are really close to the new Hornady evolution rounds with the plastic nose piece. Their website shows with 160 grains at 200 yards 1916 velocity and 1304 energy. At 300 yards 1699 velocity and 1025 energy but that is where the -12 inch comes into play. So uncles spitzers and the hornady evolution rounds can give new life to an ancient rifle.
Desk "experts" who have actually gone hunting once or maybe twice. Probably the same people who have a subscription to every gun magazine in existence, read Soldier of Fortune religiously, disparage the 9mm while claiming the .45 ACP could bring down a charging T-Rex with one shot, etc.
That's easy...people who are ignorant. I've used a 30-30 for years. It was accurate and never an issue taking deer out to 100 yards which was my furthest shot.
@nyhunter256 S. when my state legalized center-fire rifles for deer hunting in part of the state, friends and acquaintances of mine all went out and bought rifles. I told them to get 25-06's, .270's, or something along those lines (no one wanted a lever action of course so my recommendation of a 30/30 was also ignored). Nope, they went and bought 300win mags. I actually sighted in a couple guys guns for them, and wouldn't you know, the scopes broke because they bought rifle/scope combos from Wal Mart or where ever. Had to tell them to go get a Leupold or a Burris and bring it back so I could sight them in again.
I’ve got a ‘55 Win. .30 - .30 , bought it at Gun store near me cheap , it was so beat up , had ridden on the floor of a truck in NM for many years , took it to my gunsmith & he hot blued it and his wife restored the wood ! Sweet !
One of my favorite rifles ever is the old Winchester model 94 30 30 that me and my dad used to shoot when I was a wee lad. He wound up giving it to me a few Christmases ago. So much sentimental value attached to that old rifle and still one of my favorite to target practice and hunt with.
You are my favorite. You’re a true expert with no ego, just self-confidence (as you should have). All of your videos are extremely informative and I learn something every time I watch one. I I’ve grew up around firearms. So, thank you for your service and for help keeping those not as informed as you safe.
Same for the South East. We have heavy woods here, so you never get a shot more then 100 meters, and the biggest thing you can find is a white tail...and sometimes the mosquitoes.
I met an old hunting guide in Wyoming.We talked deer ,antelope and moose stories.I asked him what rifle he preferred for hunting moose.He replied a 30-30 and I went ,now what.He said when he first started guiding for moose in the 50s a long shot was 30 yards...So i'm shaking my head and smiling .He then told me a 30-30 wa an all around rifle for shots to 150yds .My late father was the same style as in brush hunting deer.The only thing is they kick way hard for kids.It was my first best rifle till the ripe old age of 18.I have my mothers Marlin 30-30 and its most precious to me.Thanks for the video!
Have been thinking of getting one of these and I'm sold. A 30-30 reminds me of a Fender Telecaster- they've been making 'em forever & though you can mod 'em all day, the original design's just fine. No need to change a thing
That was a great group for open sights.. Scoped, it would not be that exceptional. I have several targets that a quarter can cover a 3 shot group at 100 yards. From a bench of course. And that's from the new issue Marlin that one hears horror stories about. True, the fitment could be better but it's a shooter plain and simple.. and most guys buy a gun to shoot and hit something with it... and then there are the safe queens which may or may not be good shooters..
"Boring, outdated, obsolete, had it's day, way better modern options .............. blah blah blah". The same can be said of the K-Bar knife, the .45 ACP and the small block Chev V8. But they're all still around because THEY WORK.
Good video! There is a lot of hate lately on youtube for the .30-30. Usually by the tacti-tool dudes who try to compare it to every other round. They are like, "sure, the .30-30 will kill it, but this round here will kill it deader."
I love it when some tacticool dork tries to hate on a round because it isn't 5.56, 7.62x51, or a .338 Lapua. "OK hotshot, how about you go stand down range of it and try to catch a few, then come back and we can have a chat about what you think of the round afterward!" I can't quite figure out why, but to date I've never had anyone take me up on that offer...
Thank you for doing this video Paul! I have been defending the 30 30 for years against the 30 30 detractors. To this day it remains one of my favourite rifle calibers.
Another great PH vid. I used my Dad's 7.9mm Mauser that he brought back from Yurp during WWII for the first few years of hunting the wily whitetail in Northern Minnesota as a kid back in the early '70s, but then won a Mod. '94 Chet 30-30 in a shooting meet and was very happy for three reasons: 1) the shorter and lighter carbine was easier to whack through brush and trees, 2) the 2-movement lever-action is much faster than the Mauser's 4-move bolt action, and 3) every wild cow I hit died of acute lead poisoning. It got even better when I moved to MT and the saddle-gun functionality of the 30-30 paid off in spades during trail and open range hunts for Elk and mulies on the back of Miss Barbie. I never needed a scope on either the Chet or the Mauser in the north woods as I never had a shot further than 50yds anyway, and the few times I used a rifle with a scope (a 7mm Rem and a .243) it was always cold, damp, and usually raining in Minnesota in November, and so the scopes almost always fogged up and I ended up sighting through the scope mounts with the iron sights. I do like the .243 with a scope for plinking prairie dogs in SoDak, though, which along with shooting pheasants, is about as much fun as one can have in SoDak with one's clothes on.
Hands down one of the top 3 and the Best overall technical shooting channel on You Tube. I think most gun channel viewers are PlayStation warriors and are looking for explosions. As far as a service to the shooting community, Paul subscriptions should be in the millions.
My dad used to swear up and down that the .30-30 and 7.62x39 were the best deer cartridges and that they had the same effect on deer. His favorite deer and elk round was 30-'06 (because he had some excellent rifles in that caliber), but his anecdotes of .30-30 and the commie classic on deer stuck with me.
Paul: Thanks for a very entertaining video. Yeah, where I hunt in Pennsylvania and Maine, the .30-30 gets it done, and it gives me just as much fun as it does you by soliciting all the "advice" from the armchair experts. Dead is dead, and no deer gets dead quicker than one hit (in the right place) with a .30-30. Carry on, brother.
Hey Brother Paul, I inherited a Model 94 with a side mounted 4X40mm scope from a parishioner who died without an heir and wanted his guns to go to a good home. I went and bought some of that new-fangled Leverevolution ballistic tip ammo and sighted the gun in at 150 yards. I killed a nice 205-lb 10-point buck at 290 yards. He folded immediately as the shot went through his lungs and heart. Lucky shot? Maybe. Seems like I kill a deer every year at 250+ yards. Seems pretty darn good for being an outdated and underpowered cartridge. Thanks again for a great video and please keep the great videos coming! Grace & Peace!
Rev. Steven Taylor , a hunter and a preacher! Good for you ! A lot of people seem to have lost touch with reality in todays world . We all have to eat . Best of luck but I don't think you need it- the fix is in.
The leverevolution rounds really breathed new life into the 30-30. I don't hunt with the 30-30 anymore but my dad still does. Easily adds another 100 yards
Rev. Steve Taylor My first 2 deer were with my father's Marlin 30-30 (can't remember the specific model#). At seven years old, I killed a doe &a 9-point buck. I now use a 6.5 Creedmoor Ruger American Predator rifle with a 4×12 power scope. Last year my mother didn't shut the freezer door all the way & a lot of the meat went bad. The Lord blessed us &I killed a nice bodied & antlered deer (the one in this circle to the left), my father killed 3 total (1 before the door incident &2 after) nice bodied antlered deer, & my brother killed 1 nice bodied deer with fair antlers. The Lord gives & the Lord takes away, praise be to the Lord in all things.
Great video a marlin 336 stainless in 30/30 was the first gun i ever bought and cant wait to keep this timeless rifle to give to my son one day. I agreed 100% with your video and mine can be super accurate if the shooter does his part. Love loading with the lever-evolution powder and get some more speed out of this classic cartridge to put a little modern touch on the classic round.
The 30-30 is only underestimated by internet operators. Until recent times, the 30-30 was the absolute most popular rifle for deer hunting and I know for a fact a 170gr round shot from a 30-30 will, without a doubt, take a cow moose at 100 yards. They are functionally accurate and a large enough round to handle most game in North America.
I ended up with marlins 308 express rifle and I’m pretty sure it’s over kill for anything on the North American continent haha. I need a 336 in 30-30 cause the 308 round is hard to find.
Dylan Clere when I said 308 I meant the 308 marlin express not the 308 Winchester totally 2 different rounds. Unless it’s different where you live the express round is hard to find here.
William Watkins oh. I'm aware, but I've never had anybody mention it. 308 win is what most mean by 308. There's one store here that's family ran, they typically have all the hard to find stuff
Fuvking bullshit I usually like this guy but this is total bulshit
What was bullshit? What did I miss?
Bullshit and Paul should never be used together in a sentence unless it's "Paul has to deal with a lot of bullshit opinions on TH-cam".
the pin of shame
bro can't even spell
@@aydenowens9522 you wouldn’t even hear the bang motherfuvker
This is unethical. I've been hunting orange soda for years and I've never seen that many lined up. Must have been domesticated or drugged
😂
I usually trap them and decapitate them with my hands
I'm with you. They belong in their natural habitat, sitting atop a glass-topped oak-veneered coffee table in a Midwestern double-wide.
I am jealous. Where I live (in town), its not legal to hunt orange soda in my backyard with a firearm discharge. Hunting is only allowed at the local shooting range but they also prohibit hunting orange soda - only paper targets can be hunted. blahh.
They were gathered together to cause a hapless victim diabetes and rot some teeth.
My favorite deer rifle is a 1999 Dodge mini-van. Best deer killer this side of the Mississippi
Boy you crazy
Wow ! Lol
🦌🦌🚙
My dad got an impressive kill with a 1978 Chevrolet Caprice Estate wagon (the sheriff deputy who had to finish it off with two .38 Special rounds to its head had absolutely nothing to do with it)!
Those Chevrolet Caprice were pretty good moose killer too mine caprice 83 dit it but unfortunately it was it first and last kill !😁
My 30-30, has never failed. I trust it completely.
People who down play the 30-30, don't know what they are talking about.
I have my Marlin zeroed for 200 yards. At that range is has 1100 ft/lbs of energy.
All I hunt with is a 30-30 and I've dropped them all
Or prefer bigger rounds
Although in heavy brush(tamarack swamp) my Ruger .44 Magnum outperforms
The .30-30 is still a great cartridge/caliber for most purposes. Millions of dead deer would agree.
"I'll go back about 100 yrds and see how much drop there is"
Proceeds to hit bullseye 😂
No drop. Lol
Right? With iron sights too.
When I was a teen my hunting experiences could be summed up as “taking my gun for a walk.”
Rabbit and squirrel, always bringing enough home. My deer hunting was kind of like Paul's experience, although I usually saw at least one on a hunting weekend but usually being pursued/shot by someone else. The only one I shot I hit twice with 12 gauge rifled slugs, dropped it to its knees twice hitting it just behind the front leg, it got up twice, and ran away, leaving a trail that looked like someone pouring out a 5 gallon bucket of red paint. Over an 1/8th mile later, the blood ceased, the kicked up leaves ceased, no prints in the dirt, and no deer. Three of us circled around trying to find it, tore every brush pile, walked through every stand of grass, and nothing after about 2 or more hours searching. It was the most frustrating hunts I have ever had.
"Armed hiking"
"Taking our guns for a walk"
Love it! We were 10-12 years old pockets of 22L going up the river valley on the west coast of BC hunting grouse. Some of the best Saturday's l ever had. Grouse breast on a stick makes my mouth water. I got a 30-30 at 15 great gun. At 18 l went to the big smoke (vancover) went to sleep on the beach got woke up by a cop telling me it was dangerous. I thanked him and scooped up my 30-30 in my blanket (good thing it was dark) and slept in my truck. My point? It's a short easy to carry all round durable gun love it.
I've never been hunting but I've heard that sometimes you literally just need to bring one loaded gun with no extra ammo lol
Hahahaha, indeed!
I can still take you to the very spot where my Grandpa stood with his Winchester model 94 bicentennial 30-30 loaded with Winchester 150 gr silver tips and laid down the only deer he ever killed..We were sitting together and I could have shot it five times with my .308 by the time he spotted it but I wanted him to get it. When he spotted it his face lit up like a kid at Christmas time. He couldn't see very well by then but he rolled into his firing position and squeezed the trigger. That deer fell on his tracks.It was exactly 115 yards away. I believe he was as happy as he could possibly be in that very minute. I will never forget his laugh and then when he stood over the deer he almost dropped a tear. He left us two years later and I still have the antlers and the spent casing. I hope to leave such a memory with my grandkids.
InToWin 41 good memories like that are precious - well done.
This is so sad
Sweet dude fucking sweet im happy to have read this comment
What a wonderful memory you had with your grandpa and thanks for sharing it. My group of hunting friends and I sit by the campfire to share experiences like these. For me it was with my dad and the first time he pulled a salmon. Different animal but still the same great experience. Thanks for sharing!
InToWin 41 That's too cool, man.
When I was a teenager I heard the same myths about the .30 -30. I was told it would be better to use a 270 or 30-06 caliber rifle. I am now a senior citizen -I appreciate the .30-30's weight, size, and recoil. I don't think the deer have any preference to caliber size.
no sir, dead is dead no matter how ya look at it. One's not gonna kill a hog, deer or elk any deader with any other caliber rifle.
The 30-30 has dropped a lot of whitetails.
I reckon they'd prefer a .22 BB come on the grounds that they'd survive, lol
@@mr.powell8817 Don't underestimate a .22... LOL
Seriously though, a well placed shot with a .22LR will drop a deer. I've seen it done with Ruger target pistol loaded with Mini Mag round nose... right through the heart, the deer didn't even know it was hit. The whole group just stood there looking around after the "pop", then one fell over dead. I wasn't sure which one he shot at, in fact I thought he'd missed, until it started to "pass out" from lack of blood to the brain. When we field dressed it, we couldn't even find the heart, it had liquified most of the muscle when the bullet passed through. Granted, it was a whitetail doe, not a particularly large one, but certainly not small either. Would it take down a large buck in a similar way... probably not, and no, I don't recommend hunting deer with .22LR, but it CAN be done.
@@livewire2759 I completely believe you can kill a dear with. 22. You lost me at the liquefied hear part. I won't go as far as to say its impossible but I find that extremely hard to believe. Please don't take offense. I'm not calling you a liar or anything else. Just saying it's almost impossible for a .22 long rifle or magnum to liquefy a heart.
When I was a senior if High School I got a lesson in under estimating the 30-30 in the Big Horn Mountains of Northern Wyoming! I was told my dad's .257 Roberts was too light for Elk, so I borrowed a scoped 30-06 bolt action from an uncle! That night at the hunting camp this young fellow showed up with an older Winchester Model 94 with long octagon barrel. He took an awful ribbing about his "Red Ryder" BB gun. Next morning 4-5 of us, including him, were following Elk tracks in the snow when we came to a clearing in the timber. Tracks went straight across. About that time 8-10 Elk with a big bull in the lead came at a dead run from left to right in the middle of the clearing! While the rest of us were busy getting our slinged, scoped rifle off our shoulders this fellow dropped to one knee and fired that old 30-30! That big bull Elk went down and rolled like a ball! Head shot, 75 yards! Dead run! Rest of us never got off a shot! That guy knew that gun, and we had so much egg on our face we didn't need breakfast! A couple of years later I bought my own '94, and it has been my go to rifle the past 59 years! It has taken Mule Deer, Pronghorn and Elk out to 200 yards, never let me down. But I have never been as skilled with it as he was with his grandfather's old '94.
A head shot? Is that even ethical?
@@blakedavis2447Why would it not be?
@@Valor_73737 well most people shoot bigger game behind the shoulder blade so I don’t know that’s why I gave you a chance to explain in case I was ignorant but you answered my question with another question like a bit of a tool.
@@blakedavis2447 Most people shoot behind the shoulder because it is a bigger, surer target than a head shot, and requires much, much less skill! You won't find 1 hunter in a hundred skilled enough to apply head shots. Especially a moving target. A head shot is much more humane because it is instantly lethal. I have seen many animals continue for up to several hundred yards when hit behind the shoulder. The very few head shots I have witnessed, the animal is dead before it hits the ground.
@@Valor_73737 ok thank you.
"I could bore you for hours with anecdotes..."
Challenge accepted. Try us, Paul.
Paul Harrell is to guns as Bob Ross was to painting. I could watch and listen to either one of them all day and not get bored. They speak in a calming and relaxing manner that keeps your interest.
As soon as i heard that, I scrolled down for comments. I AGREE!
He should have some LONG episodes from time to time purely dedicated to anecdotes, rumors and stories.
Please, Paul, bore us: I love long stories. 😏
I was sad when I saw the length of the video, he's the Bob Ross of guns.
Paul, when you say "I could bore you for hours with anecdotes..." I always roll my eyes, because the stories are the best part of the videos.
I'd have no issues with a two hour video of nothing but "Paul stories."
Yup
@@natedouglass5119 Same
Or 2hr Video Of Funny Anecdotes 😀👍🏼
My favorite Paul video is when he spends 20 minutes talking about fake gun experts.
I got a mule deer in Colorado (Jan. 1988) with a Datsun diesel pickup truck. Excellent expansion of both front fenders, but not the penetration one would expect of a 170 grain 30-30 round.
What would that be? About a 50,000,000 grain projectile? Even at subsonic speeds, thats gonna hit em like a truck. LOL
I got a eight pointer with my Chevrolet
My mom and I got a elk on Vancouver Island with a Volkswagen van. Some deformation but the van drove us home.
The guy just shot what appeared to be around 2 MOA with open sights on a lever action. He is all that is man.
He was a firearms instructor for the US military, son.
Good eye sight and practice. Not really all that impressive.
@@LIONTAMER3D my dad was a soldier and he's the worst shot in the family!
@@josephgilboy6259 different type of shooting. If he was infantry they spray fire. No precision shooting involved things are somewhat different now but still definitely no marksman by any means
@@josephgilboy6259 He was a Marine, not a soldier. Far more marksmanship training even at the basic training level. The fact that he was later marksmanship instructor at the USMC security forces school should let you know the comparison fails.
Best thing about all lever actions, regardless of caliber, is the gun grabbers think they're just old dinosaurs only used in Western movies. They have no idea of how useful a lever action rifle is, and I hope they stay that ignorant.
True !!! I watched a guy at the range ring the steel at 100 yards offhand as fast as he could cycle that lever n hit every round !!
they won't, they never stop until it looks like the UK where even sharp sticks are outlawed.
B quiet the corn has ears.
I have a Marlin 22LR and 30-30...both lever action. Accurate as hell and never ever failed to shoot. Maybe not the "best" gun to many but to me they have handled the test of time and shoot every bit as good as the shooter behind it.
@@rvninnorthcarolina3377 My Marlin 30-30 is the same way. I'm looking for a Marlin 22 bolt action, hope to find a really good one soon, and may sell most of my other rifles and just keep the basics.
A wise man once told me “the Gun u have is a LOT better than the one u don’t” 😉
A wise man would've said "you", like an adult.
Right on.
Slappy lol don’t worry i use full words in a professional setting. I don’t feel the need to cater to your delicate feelings in TH-cam comments however
Correct
Very wise man
This guy is the best on ALL OF TH-cam!!!!
Nice shooting at that hundred yard target. As Clint Eastwood said in the movie Heartbreak ridge, " there's nothing wrong with that rifle. "
A Homage to the 30-30: During my 28 years in the US Air Force, when overseas: If I wanted to discretely talk to another American with little chance of being listened in on or if I didn't want to garbage up regular friendly frequencies, I'd transmit "Go Winchester!" Non-Americans didn't understand the Winchester to 30-30 relationship. Americans immediately knew to dial in 303.0 in their UHF or 130.30 VHF radios & we'd discuss what we needed to. This was used alot when encrypted radios were not readily available & the transitions were brief or if I just wanted to BS with a fellow American.
Thanks Paul, keep those Videos coming!
Cheers ,
Lt Col Jet
Doesn't "Winchester" normally mean you're out of ammo?
@@anthonykaiser974 Possibly another branch or area of service. But not that I came across in my USAF experience.
Cheers,
Lt Col Jet
@@anthonykaiser974 U.S. Marine Corps as a combat engineer attached to an infantry unit I can say yes, a resupply would be enroute.
@@jetdriver1jetdriver194 I don't know the timeline, but perhaps those procedures weren't a J STD at the time. We didn't really go fully joint until the 90s. Goldwater-Nichols Act only created true Joint requirements in 1986.
@@anthonykaiser974Hmmm. Could very well be.
We just used "Go Winchester" for a quick radio freq change to have a semi discrete two-way conversation. Then, we'd return back to previous freq when our discussion ended. I dont believe it was a formalized procedure. Just an informal comm technique developed by troops in the field for that purpose & only US troops would understand.
You're quite right on the joint (Purple World) time frame. Served on PACOM, J3, (USCINCPAC) Staff, Camp Smith, Hi, 90-93. Sheesh, was it really that long ago? Time flies....
Cheers
Lt Col Jet
And I’m the unlucky SOB that sits on that picnic table with the family wondering “why is it so damn sticky”!
LOL We washed it off.
and why does it smell like ozone
In texas the fire ants would love you paul
@@jeffswift2595 I'd bet Texas would love him if he put fire ant killer in the orange soda.....
ol
My Father grew up in the woods of northern BC Canada. They shot moose, wolves, black bears, grizzlys all the time with the 30-30. It was considered the best rifle and the distance they shot was not more that 100 to 150 yards unless wolf hunting. A single box of 20 shells would last for years of big game hunting. It was very important to have a handy, light, reliable rifle to pack around day in and day out. It worked back then and will work just fine now if you use it properly and know what you are doing.
20 cartridges lasts for years of hunting? Lol..
@@TTime685 poor families and not shooting other than kill shots
I heard of a guy out here in Montana that with a 30-30 and 1 box of ammo shot 17 elk in 17 hunting seasons... That's pretty impressive, to me!
@@TTime685 what's really funny is fools who think he's joking. Many of the old timers considered a box of 20 to be 20 if whatever they hunted.
Used my Marlin 30/30 for about 27 years now.....never had to shoot a deer/hog twice...and they’ve never ran more than 20 yards. Definitely underestimated. Great video.
When people would say, the book says a 30.30 is too small, my dad would say well ain't it good deer don't read......30.30 150 grn....works !!!!
Thanks for the video
please move the deer crossing signs
@@juggernautxtr 🤣
The guy that shot it 5 times was trying to make hamburger .
lol
Buffalo bill silence of the lambs
For walk-around hunting with iron sights, nothing is more natural feeling than a lever-action .30-30
I'd like to get a 30-30 and a 45-70
Perfect brush gun for alabama
@@bobbychub9991 most curtainly is.. Killed many deer in the thickwoods of alabama with my 3030.. Ive can stack nail 150 wouldnt hesitate at 200.. Although i prefer 270
@Marino You're gonna love it!
@Marino I own a Smith and Wesson 686 plus and a Marlin Winchester 30-30... hands down my favorite firearms to date. My friends all prefer more modern style firearms as well and they give me shit for my old cowboy guns lol. But, they are fun, and if you can teach yourself to be accurate with them you're just as likely to protect/feed yourself as those guys with the "tacticool" guns.. Nothing wrong with liking a classic my friend 👌
I have had my marlin 30-30 now for 47 years. It performs flawlessly.
I remember my Uncle Frank. He walked out to the woods every year with his red Woolrich plaid coat, heavy jeans, felt insulated boots, blaze orange flap "furburger" hat (in his later years) and his lever action 3030 Winchester with open sights. This of course before all the fancy high tech hunting garb and all the variety of rifles and calibers and optics that we have today. Just about every season he would tromp out of the woods dragging a buck behind him. I used a Stevens Model 325C. I didn't do as well, due to my youthful impatience. Thank you Mr. Harrell for what you do and have done. I think i'm gonna pull the Stevens out and shoot it!
That is a great story.
Sometimes hunting is about tradition, history, and nature more than it's about the coolest gadgets.
"That coyote was 60 yds away. How far did he think that 30-30 would shoot?" 59 yds. After that, the bullets just explode to prevent civilian casualties.
No, it turns 90 degrees straight down.
@@ericn7677 That sound like the 35 remington 😂
BS.
My grandad shot his buck of alife time at 200 yards with the 3030 that my brother got after he past away
My first gun wasna 3030 marlin. I used from the time i was 6 till about 10. I ve personal shot many deer with this gun from ranges around 200 yards to 25 yeard.. I wouldnt hessitate or even think about not dropping the hammer on a deer at 2oo yards... Very effective gun the length make it good for thick wooded areas.. I will often take my 3030 over my 270 in thicker woods...
3" pattern with open sights at 100 yards proves a very important point: Some guys can shoot and some can't. Buying a canon wouldn't help some boys because the can't f'ing shoot.
Grapeshot doesn't sound like it'll help with them with the cannon accuracy either
Amen. This reminds me back when I first started shooting handguns, and I bought several different models because I thought they were inaccurate. Turns out I just sucked. Now 10 years later my targets are one jagged hole. I’ve had people ask me at the range what pistol I have because they think there targets will look like mine if they buy one. lol.
The first time they ever handed me an M-14, I put 20 rapid fire rounds into a 6" circle on the KD range. The DI decided I was OK.
@@joes.7536 Yep, guns or golf, it is always a problem with the equipment. LOL
I would always dog on dudes bringing super blacks to shoot pheasant as well. That $2K shotgun doesn’t make you shoot less like shit my guy lol. This mossberg 500 field will so just as well for a quarter the money
Boy I sure have killed a lot of deer for the 30-30 to be so “insufficient.” You are spot on here Paul. My Marlin is my baby. I’ve never seen a deer run more than 30 yards after a dinner plate shot. Also I am easily grouping less than 2 inches at 150 yards, which is more than enough for deep woods hunting.
Although, it is a little light, I was standing beside my older brother when he took his first elk with a 94 30-30 carbine(20" barrel). One shot at 150 yds, the elk didn't seem to know the rifle was too small. I also watched a man kill a cattle chasing dog at over 350 yds with a 94 30-30 rifle(26" barrel). Earlier tonight, I was visiting with an elderly friend who told me that he killed moose for decades with his military issue Pacific Coast Militia Rangers 94 30-30 carbine. What you shoot is not nearly as important as how well you shoot.
Indeed.
Running dog at 350 yards. I know some people can do it. I’m just proud of hitting 2 out of 4 300 yard targets in Basic, prone, with 10 seconds to aim at a full torso target, which was smaller than the front sight post on my M16A1, circa 1983.
@@CorePathway With open sights, I like to keep my shots within 50 yds., and closer is better, I would need a scope to hit those 300 yd. targets.
When I was a boy (10or11) some of the kids at school would hastle me for using my old 30-30 to hunt moose with. They said it was too light but the moose were just as dead as if I had been using a .375 or something like that.
@@CorePathway I used to average about 7 out of 10 in the black on a baker target from 500yds back in my Marine Corps days with open sights on my M16A2. I found it hard to miss from 200 and 300 yards on the 12" round target, or the head&shoulders "dog" target. Pretty sure there's no way I could repeat that today. Scopes spoiled me.
I never knew that pumpkins were such bad asses. That last one kept a smile on his face even after his buddies exploded.
"No, seriously honey, the nail polish is for my gun."
"And I even used some on my rifle."
pinrestore ha
Testors enamel model paint is pretty good too.
Giovanni Di Marco even white out will work in a pinch
In a pinch, sure. But I wouldn't expect it to hold out for long. White Out stays soft and I'd imagine that it's not that resilient to heat or gun oil.
I have a buddy who uses a 30-30, he’s killed many deer with it. I personally use a 30-06 but I’d trust a 30-30 to take down a deer any day
The key to accuracy is and always has been the Screw holding the butt plate. You are right a .30-30 is good out to 150 yards.
I can ring a 12x12 plate at 300 yards with mine all day long off sandbag rest
I’ve fired 4 shots in my life out of .30-30, 2 at a 200 yard plate and 2 on a bear silhouette at 215 yards years later on a different range. Hit 4 for 4 all from standing. It felt natural to me, just like shooting shotgun shells with my single shot 22. At 200 yards I just put the front sight at the top of the target and clang. I think the bullet probably dropped 3 inches or something.
My buddy’s dad had given him the gun and being all excited he wanted me to shoot his rifle. I asked what it was sighted for and he said 100 yards. I said ok, picked it up and said I’ll hit the 200 yard plate (6 or 7 inch round metal plate). Clang. He looked at me and said “$50 says you can’t do that again!” I didn’t say anything, jacked another round in - clang. He says “Jeezus we got Wyatt goddamn Earp walking around here!” I just smiled and handed him back his rifle. Years later I was at the range with another friend and I said hey can I shoot your 30-30? Of course remembering the last time. I picked it up and asked where should I shoot? He says do you think you can hit the bear? I said I dunno. Clang. Reload. Clang. Smile. Hand him his gun back.
That second time was just 6 months ago. I’ve decided since then that my gun cabinet needs a .30-30 of its own.
@@darylkenny4562 just limit your shots to less than 300 yards. The energy in flat nose bullets falls off all to fast to attempt shots further than that. For an example if you aim at the top of a deers back at 300 yard, the bullet will land fifty yards short of the deer with a 100 yard zero. I toted a M94 Winchester in the scabbard on a horse a many a day loaded with 170 grain Winchester Silvertips but limited my shots to about 100 yards. Just remember, too, you will usually get just one shot off a horse’s back before they decide to visit the next county.🤓
160gr Hornady FTX extends the same terminal energy about 90-100 yards further out.
"You musta been shootin him wrong" LMAO!
I'll accept the reason for the nail polish, but you still haven't explained the lipstick and the pantyhose
The pantyhose are to help prevent chafing in the field. They’re also great shields from ticks and chiggers.
The lipstick is to mark the trees he plans on sniping from.
Ok that's a good one
Funny, but not nice! Shame on you! 😀
@Rick Liebe
Thanks! 😀
Undercover operations, no doubt.
2:09 Mr Harrell the comedian, HAHA! I think this is the 2nd time I remember him making a joke LOL! Look at that grin he has from ear to ear as well! Good stuff
Thank you. Finally someone besides me that thinks that the 30-30 is a good weapon. It's the most comfortable rifle that I shoot.
I never understood some people's misconceptions about the 30-30. It was an exceptional deer round since its inception. There are bigger, faster rounds out today, but just because there may be something better doesn't mean that a 30-30 won't do what it used to.
Vince Ruland q
There is a reason that the .30-30 has been around so long, it gets the job done. The guns and ammo are reasonably priced. I bought one for defense, out to 100 yards. It was a Marlin .30-30W for $300 new. I stocked up on ammo during hunting season. It does not look tactical, it looks like a hunting rifle, and that's how I like it. Great video Paul!
I picked up a Marlin 336C for 338$ had the big loop and a scope mount installed,if there was a situation I needed a rifle,within the range my eyes could see,I would not be out of fire power.
You are far from outgunned with that rifle! Practice with it often and it will serve you well.
380 ammo
Cause unlike most you know what youa re talking about... 170 grain round at 2000+fps.... that is a big HEAVY bullet moving fast...
chuckHart70 lol 8mm Mauser is a bit bigger and moves just a bit slower if I'm not mistaken but tbh it's too expensive
I grew up on 30-30s. I wanted a Winchester 30-30 from my teen years. I got one in 1985 iirc from a pawn shop. Still have it and it has been everywhere in the back of my cars, trucks, and airplanes. I've never shot any game with it, but I have no doubt I could. It has always been my go to rifle.
Bought my first Marlin 30/30 yesterday and this video from 4yrs ago magically pops up in my suggestions🧐
I've wacked more deer with my "dirty 30" then I can remember. Once a friend asked why not get something faster simple I said the Frist time a deer out runs it I'll sell it
Bruh 😂😂😂🤣
Good one. I haven't been deer hunting. But if I wanted to go, I would use my 30-30 because it is what I have that is best about to do the job.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
@Dacian Traveler composite tips aren’t good for levers IMO inconsistent & for what they are too expensive
I had some friends dogging on me for looking at 30-30's and .270's for deer in W NY state. "My 30.06 will shoot a lot farther!!" Just how far away do you need to shoot to kill a deer? Or that you'll actually be able to SEE it in the woods? Most deer are killed at under 50 yards... And how far do you want that bullet to travel after it goes through that deer- not to mention the misses. This isn't the great plains or the rockies...
My dad was a gunsmith at a local sporting goods store back n the day,he would steer guys to lower cost guns who didn't have a lot of money. When my dad hunted it was always bullet placement. 30 30 has put a lot of meat on the tables of Americans and elsewhere. Another logical factual video thanks. Arkansas
I used the 30-30 as a kid. It was my favorite rifle and still it in my top 5 list. at 12 years old I shot the biggest deer of my life. A 9 point with a 20" beam to beam spread. The deer weighed more than any other whitetail I've seen in my life and only 1 other whitetail that my grandfather has seen. My father hunts Mule deer and he said that it was similar in weight to a mature muley buck. I've never shot a deer that even came close to the size of that deer. (wish I could post pictures. Its one of my proudest moments but as a 12 year old I never fully understood the achievement).
Moral of the story: I love the 30-30
PS: My sister shot her first deer with it too and now we are fighting over who gets the gun in the will. haha it's mine
Ay bro I hope you get that gun
My brother inherited my grandfather's Model 94 .30-30. According to the serial numbers it was built in 1954 & my father remembers when he was a kid the day the then new .30-30 came home. This rifle was so well taken care of that even today, minus a bit of bluing on the corners, it almost looks new. We were able to ping pop cans (soda cans in the U.S. I guess) dead center at 100 yards. The best story I remember from my grandpa (and my dad and uncles) was that during the old days, butchers could go on people's farms and slaughter cattle for them. Two large steers were getting readied for the chopping block, one had been whacked with what is called a "pin gun" a sort of tool that uses a blank cartridge to fire a pin out of this mechanism that goes into the animal's brain, stuns them so that the steer can be hung upside down so the steer can be exsanguinated for butchering. The second steer (and these were apparently big steer) smelled the blood from the first steer, decided he wasn't having none of that, ripped off the nose ring, busted through a fence into the first field, busted the second fence in the second field and was headed towards the tree line where if he had crossed the last fence into the tree line, he would have been impossible to find. By then, according to my dad and my uncles, grandpa had retrieved the .30-30 from the truck, put a bullet in it and shot the steer, running shot at about 100 yards and shot him where the skull meets the spine. DRT. (Hey! That's what I was told! I wasn't even DNA then) So the .30-30 was able to drop an 800 lb. steer. I also remember my dad and uncles saying that grandpa had even killed a few moose with it but they did say that he was REALLY close, like 10 yards away. I wanted a .30-30 so bad that I went out and bought my own, got a model 94 but mine was built in 1975. Love it to pieces. RIP grandpa, you are still remembered by a lot of people.
There have probably been more deer harvested with a .30.30 than any other round. In Upstate New York the lever action .30.30 is the iconic whitetail rifle
Wow even NY has less restrictive laws about hunting than my state.
Can't hunt deer with a rifle in IL :(
I don't even hunt but I bet there would be way more rifles on the used market if you could deer hunt with them here.
Yeah, they're pretty popular in NM. I was lured in by the headline because it seemed strange to me. "Who underestimates these? Most hunters I know, know exactly what they are and aren't capable of."
I was stationed at Ft. Drum and saw some really big deer up there. Upstate NY has some awesome hunting and fishing opportunities.
A good friend of mine is a game warden..he said that the two calibers he sees deer taken with the most are the 30/30 and the 22lr (not legal...but he sees it often)
.22 took more deer than the rest put together.
I gotta say you have one of the best channels I have been able to find. Keep it up man.
I've been hunting with a 30-30 for 35 years love that gun 200 yards or 50 yards no problem
Everyone disses on the 30-30 til they see someone drop a deer at 400 yards with one🤣
Elmer Keith killed a mule deer at 500 with ruger super Blackhawk 44 mag.
Mr.Harrell: “I could bore you for hours with anecdotes. Let me tell you just two...”
Me: Yeah, here comes the awesome stories!
Yup, go ahead, give us more Paul!
30-30 is usually loved or hated. A lot of people love to talk shit about lever actions being out dated. Not true. Again, another great video. Please keep it up.
Thanks. Filming more this week.
Bill Randall but if someone likes the lever action what difference does it make ? does it still shot can uoy kill game? so does it not do the purpose it's meant to? yes it does
Mauricio Mayo It's outdated but that doesn't mean it don't work. However 30-30 is still only as powerful as 7.62×39 ballistics wise so I wouldn't give it as much credit as a .308
Bob Saget yeah I grew up to the 30-30 I mean I wouldn't say I know every single thing about or how it is as compared to other caliber guns... so the 308 is better then? I shot the 308 once I really liked it an want one
Outdated is a relative term. Hell I know guys that pay big bucks for an "outdated" nintendo and they actually play them.
30-30 is an amazing round, especially with the improvements in powder and ammo. I’ve never had a deer take a step after shooting one with my 30-30, wild hogs on the other hand I’ve had some walk a little ways.
Depends where you got them. I’ve hit some a little low and they wonder 50-75 yards before giving up the ghost, but that’s Operator malfunction. I’m personally a fan of 30-30 (30WCF)
Would 7.62 NATO take down hogs better?
@@thisismagacountry1318 7.62x51, .308 is better for hog than a 30-30, but a 30-30 works long as you ain't dumb far.
I use .338LM myself, you don't need the kinda range that can give you for hunting but it's my favorite rifle so that's kinda my go to for hunting anyway.
Hogs are tough as nails… I’ve seen some run off after getting hit with a 7mm rem mag
especially even better now with the new Hornady ballistic tip bullets that's out.
This is 5+ years old now, and should be revisited by Paul, using the newer Hornady LEVERevolution ammo. It's been many years since I hunted with a .30-30 but in my youth, I did, a lot. I only missed once, and that was because something out of my view spooked the deer at the last second, and I've NEVER had to shoot one more than once.
I would like to acquire a 30-30 some day, although I done need one. I once overheard a salesman at a Dicks Sporting Goods arguing with a customer about a 30-30. The customer wanted it for deer hunting, the salesman didn't want to sell it to him because it would only wound deer. The customer went to the manager then left without buying the gun. I really don't understand where this negative stigma came from when it comes to the 30WFC. I tend to think of 30-30, and 20 gauge in the same category. Both are both capable of harvesting most game in North America, and they are both considered to be guns for kids or old people. If a American Indian can harvest deer with a sharp rock on the end of a stick, propelled by a string, tied to another stick, anyone should be able kill the same deer with a 150 grain bullet going 2,200 feet per second.
And that's where DICK came from in the title dick's sporting goods. LOL
many say that the 30-30 has taken more deer in America than any other cartridge. Compared to the 7.62x39, the 30-30 typically has more muzzle energy, and people hunt with the SKS all the time.
I've heard .30-30 referred to as a "kids gun" many times. As well as, "it'll hit the ground at a hundred yards." and, "Maybe a .30-30 is OK for a kid." and on, and on, and on.
I hunt with a Marlin 30-30 and the bucks i kill drop in their tracks with no suffering. Just hunt with 150 grain hollow points and it will be good.
That stigma is bullshit. I'm fairly sure that if three generations of my family have all hunted with the exact same one. If my dad can kill a deer in one shot with it shooting down a pipeline, I'm fairly sure that stigma is bullshit. Actually I know that stigma's bullshit.
Just for the record, Paul shoots tighter groups “off hand” than most people shoot from the bench...lol.👌💯💯👊🏻
T Murray . He and Hickok are on another level.
I shoot pretty well off hand, but Yea, he is not one I would want on the other side of a muzzle.
T Murray it is a shame people need a truck full of crap to go shoot a few Bullets from. Especially hunting weapons and loads. I can’t remember the last deer I shot from a bench
The ' Forgotten Weapons ' guy, Ian, did pretty good shooting @ 800 yds, open sights.
@@xzqzq Gun Jesus doesn’t count; his father in heaven keeps his hands steady
I bought my girlfriend her first gun. It is a model 94 Winchester which turned out to be a pristine 1957 with a Sears buttplate. She has been my wife for 17 years and it is still her favorite. I just loaded up some FTX 160gr bullets with 34 grains Leverevolution powder tonight. I've heard good things. Paul is always a good reference for advice. The 30-30 is way underrated.
14-18 years old, 5 shots, four deer and one antelope with my model 94. All 45 yards to 130ish yards. Thanks for the vid Paul!
I love to prove wrong the trolls who put down certain cartridges, especially those which are time-tested like the .30/30. Experience has taught me that the harshest critics are those with little to no experience.
One of my friends owns only one rifle - a Savage Model 340 in .30/30, and it's the only rifle he has ever owned. He says it's all he needs. For an "emergency" situation, he has some 10 round mags I built for him, but he has enough faith in that rifle/cartridge combo to stake his life on it. So, let the .30/30 detractors say what they want - some of us know better, and in a bad situation, I want Darrell and his .30/30 on MY side.......
Kevin S:
What? A Perimeter gun in 30-30? Who would have thought?
My hand loaded Leverevolution bullet is supersonic out past 900 yards. Apparently, and as it turns out, the 30-30 is a high powered rifle. Again, who would have thought?
Note: given our utterly mad political situation, for poor rural people who have only their Grandad’s Winchester in 30-30, this is pretty good news. Indeed, a Winchester ‘92 with good sights and chambered in .357 will deal with problems out to 500 yards and beyond. Remember that our Founders went to the front lines with their hunting rifles and defeated the British, eh? Thanks for the sensible expansion of the discussion; the Second Amendment wasn’t about keeping guns for hunting but for that last unsought political expedient!
JWC
I have this exact gun. It was my fathers. When I took the butt plate off to clean it I found the original receipt inside. He must have stored it there for safekeeping and considering that was before I was born and I’m now 42, that worked great. Awesome rifle and I love shooting it. Reloading it is a breeze too, even with the lee hand press. If this gets enough likes I’ll take the plate off and look up the details for you all. I think he paid something like $25-50 for it at a sporting goods store.
If only you could upload photos. Would love to see the recipt. I bought mine second hand 28 years ago for $75 and still love the thing. Its a 68 and very accurate.
My dad's came from Western Auto about 1970, so it says 'Revelation by Marlin'. It has a lot of miles on it, and it shows it. I don't know if it'd bring $100 in an auction, but I know I wouldn't take $1000 for it. And I'd like to know what that receipt says. I always assumed his cost $50-75 back in '70, but I sure don't know
@@mikehenry7018 ahhh yes, the good ole days when you could buy a gun just about anywhere, even your local auto parts store. (Yes, I know western auto was more than just auto parts, but its the thought that counts.) They had all the cool stuff, them and monkey wards.
Glad I bought a used Winchester '94 model at a gun show about 15 years ago- I remember paying ~$120 for it. Wise purchase, considering that they're going for upwards of $1k on gun broker currently.
You’re sitting at 105 likes, time to remove the plate lol
“You must be shooting wrong” Bwhahahahaha!!! Loved that!
and it has the added bonus of being a light recoiling round.
The 30-30 might be the caliber that has killed more deer in North America and quite a few federales during the Mexican revolution. Among the firearms potpourri wielded by Mexican gerrillas under Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata, the "treinta-treinta" as they called it in Spanish had such a special place among the rebels that it was immortalized in a song called "Carabina treinta treinta"
chapiit08 - Thanks for that info, very interesting. I'm from South Tx and I have never heard that song (that I can remember), granted I'm white but I have heard a fair share of Mexican music growing up in Laredo.
I’ve never shot at a deer with my .30-.30 that didn’t fall in a heap where it stood.
I have, but when they ran they didn't get far. Been hunting with my 336C since I was eighteen and have never needed anything bigger.
My dad let me shoot a deer with his Marlin 336 when I was around 13 and after that you couldn’t pry that gun from my hands. I’ve only “tracked” one deer and it was maybe 40 yards and I hit her kinda high all my own fault at the time. We hunted/hunt WV so it’s mostly 60 and under in the hardwood ridges but none the less it does a great job. Now my youngest brother has got ahold of that gun and poor old dad hasn’t been able to get it from us in years but he loves seeing us use it. If it could only talk for just a day
Damn straight!
The sectional density means a really nasty wound channel.
@Old Luke I believe it. Because of the shape of the bullet, it dumps a lot of energy into the target. The flat nose and/or hollow points give it good sectional density.
"Dont underestimate the .30x30"
Sir, I don't think anyone does..
I've been hunting deer here in WV since 1962. I've used several of the popular calibers and always go back to the 30-30. Never have I had to shoot more than once and have used a single shot for the last 30 years and have made 3 kills at 200+ yards and 1 round fired.
I see this is four years old but still very informative.
I have an old 30-30 that uncle jokes came over on the Mayflower.
He reloads for me. He says if you can't get supper with two shots you deserve to go hungry.
He loads sharp pointed bullets in the casings and of course we can only put one in the tube and one in the chamber. They fly a lot farther than the federal store bought flat nose. We zero at 200 yards and they are 3 inches high at 100 yards but drop 12 inches at 300 yards.
Uncles home loads are really close to the new Hornady evolution rounds with the plastic nose piece. Their website shows with 160 grains at 200 yards 1916 velocity and 1304 energy. At 300 yards 1699 velocity and 1025 energy but that is where the -12 inch comes into play. So uncles spitzers and the hornady evolution rounds can give new life to an ancient rifle.
Who in their right mind has any doubts about the 30-30 round?
Desk "experts" who have actually gone hunting once or maybe twice. Probably the same people who have a subscription to every gun magazine in existence, read Soldier of Fortune religiously, disparage the 9mm while claiming the .45 ACP could bring down a charging T-Rex with one shot, etc.
It's mostly because of the flat nose on the rounds I believe. Which is a concern, but any issue found can be greatly exaggerated online.
That's easy...people who are ignorant. I've used a 30-30 for years. It was accurate and never an issue taking deer out to 100 yards which was my furthest shot.
I'm with you mister, one hell of a cartridge.
@nyhunter256 S. when my state legalized center-fire rifles for deer hunting in part of the state, friends and acquaintances of mine all went out and bought rifles. I told them to get 25-06's, .270's, or something along those lines (no one wanted a lever action of course so my recommendation of a 30/30 was also ignored). Nope, they went and bought 300win mags. I actually sighted in a couple guys guns for them, and wouldn't you know, the scopes broke because they bought rifle/scope combos from Wal Mart or where ever. Had to tell them to go get a Leupold or a Burris and bring it back so I could sight them in again.
Great video Paul - I really love watching your videos - full of knowledge, intrigue and fun!
There’s something about Paul’s videos, they feel wholesome and are very informative 😊
I have been using the 30-30 for Mule Deer, Pronghorn, and Elk since the 1960s Never let be down.
I’ve got a ‘55 Win. .30 - .30 , bought it at Gun store near me cheap , it was so beat up , had ridden on the floor of a truck in NM for many years , took it to my gunsmith & he hot blued it and his wife restored the wood ! Sweet !
One of my favorite rifles ever is the old Winchester model 94 30 30 that me and my dad used to shoot when I was a wee lad. He wound up giving it to me a few Christmases ago. So much sentimental value attached to that old rifle and still one of my favorite to target practice and hunt with.
You are my favorite. You’re a true expert with no ego, just self-confidence (as you should have). All of your videos are extremely informative and I learn something every time I watch one. I I’ve grew up around firearms.
So, thank you for your service and for help keeping those not as informed as you safe.
Probably the most common deer rifle in the Northern Great Lakes area.
Same for the South East. We have heavy woods here, so you never get a shot more then 100 meters, and the biggest thing you can find is a white tail...and sometimes the mosquitoes.
Well done video. Interesting, well paced and informative. Not to common on TH-cam.
Paul you turned out amazingly well for having such Grandioso mentors when you was young 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Killing misconceptions one step at a time. Thanks Paul. You da man
LOL... "you musta been shooting'em wrong?" I dropped my cigar out of my mouth hearing that, LOL
It's a great phrase to keep handy
If you like 30-30, you probably like John Wayne and Johnny Cash.
Cody Moncrief
I like 30-30, and yes i do really like John Wayne a Johnny Cash. :)
30 30 has taken more game in north America than any other calibre
oldredcoonhound common knowledge
oldredcoonhound everyone knows that
Yep
Really insightful, Thank You!
I met an old hunting guide in Wyoming.We talked deer ,antelope and moose stories.I asked him what rifle he preferred for hunting moose.He replied a 30-30 and I went ,now what.He said when he first started guiding for moose in the 50s a long shot was 30 yards...So i'm shaking my head and smiling .He then told me a 30-30 wa an all around rifle for shots to 150yds .My late father was the same style as in brush hunting deer.The only thing is they kick way hard for kids.It was my first best rifle till the ripe old age of 18.I have my mothers Marlin 30-30 and its most precious to me.Thanks for the video!
Have been thinking of getting one of these and I'm sold. A 30-30 reminds me of a Fender Telecaster- they've been making 'em forever & though you can mod 'em all day, the original design's just fine. No need to change a thing
Ha! Maybe a Strat is a good comparison, too and for me the most versatile and easy-to-mod guitar out there ;)
@@jicklesjingles8134 I say "Right on" to that!
What is shows it that, you're a really really good shot. That 100 yard group was exceptional.
That was a great group for open sights.. Scoped, it would not be that exceptional. I have several targets that a quarter can cover a 3 shot group at 100 yards. From a bench of course. And that's from the new issue Marlin that one hears horror stories about. True, the fitment could be better but it's a shooter plain and simple.. and most guys buy a gun to shoot and hit something with it... and then there are the safe queens which may or may not be good shooters..
actually thats about average, he is a good shot, but most lever actions are 2-3 inchs @ 100yds
@frank gulla And you are basing this on what exactly?
Deltaworks23 - anecdotes from the owners and reviewers of the millions (and millions) of .30-30 lever rifles that are out there.
Thomas Jefferson funny how his grouping got better at double the distance. 😂
5:58 “And that’s how the state of Tennessee got its flag.”
Good eye.
My 1st thought was that PH did the shooting for "Jack Reacher", that time on the range with Duval as the old Gunny. Same triangle pattern.
"Boring, outdated, obsolete, had it's day, way better modern options .............. blah blah blah". The same can be said of the K-Bar knife, the .45 ACP and the small block Chev V8. But they're all still around because THEY WORK.
Good video! There is a lot of hate lately on youtube for the .30-30. Usually by the tacti-tool dudes who try to compare it to every other round. They are like, "sure, the .30-30 will kill it, but this round here will kill it deader."
I love it when some tacticool dork tries to hate on a round because it isn't 5.56, 7.62x51, or a .338 Lapua.
"OK hotshot, how about you go stand down range of it and try to catch a few, then come back and we can have a chat about what you think of the round afterward!"
I can't quite figure out why, but to date I've never had anyone take me up on that offer...
The type that never thinks of what's on the other side of the target or on the other side of the wall behind it.
annoyed707 bingo.
Or at least make them fall harder lol.
Thank you for doing this video Paul! I have been defending the 30 30 for years against the 30 30 detractors. To this day it remains one of my favourite rifle calibers.
Another great PH vid. I used my Dad's 7.9mm Mauser that he brought back from Yurp during WWII for the first few years of hunting the wily whitetail in Northern Minnesota as a kid back in the early '70s, but then won a Mod. '94 Chet 30-30 in a shooting meet and was very happy for three reasons: 1) the shorter and lighter carbine was easier to whack through brush and trees, 2) the 2-movement lever-action is much faster than the Mauser's 4-move bolt action, and 3) every wild cow I hit died of acute lead poisoning. It got even better when I moved to MT and the saddle-gun functionality of the 30-30 paid off in spades during trail and open range hunts for Elk and mulies on the back of Miss Barbie. I never needed a scope on either the Chet or the Mauser in the north woods as I never had a shot further than 50yds anyway, and the few times I used a rifle with a scope (a 7mm Rem and a .243) it was always cold, damp, and usually raining in Minnesota in November, and so the scopes almost always fogged up and I ended up sighting through the scope mounts with the iron sights. I do like the .243 with a scope for plinking prairie dogs in SoDak, though, which along with shooting pheasants, is about as much fun as one can have in SoDak with one's clothes on.
Thanks for another good video. You always speak clearly and cover subject matter well.
The fact u have only 8800 subscribers, is a shame. Best TH-cam out here IMO
Well, he has a tad over 12K since your posting four weeks ago.
Paul should have a LOT more than 12K, but it has been climbing steadily lately.
Hands down one of the top 3 and the Best overall technical shooting channel on You Tube. I think most gun channel viewers are PlayStation warriors and are looking for explosions. As far as a service to the shooting community, Paul subscriptions should be in the millions.
he has 30k now. in 6 months thats a nice increase
Justin DeRoo-Kent 37,000 now lol
This cartridge has bagged more deer than any other cartridge in America.
"if it wasnt wooden and old it would probably be more powerful" -internet commandoes
My dad used to swear up and down that the .30-30 and 7.62x39 were the best deer cartridges and that they had the same effect on deer. His favorite deer and elk round was 30-'06 (because he had some excellent rifles in that caliber), but his anecdotes of .30-30 and the commie classic on deer stuck with me.
Paul: Thanks for a very entertaining video. Yeah, where I hunt in Pennsylvania and Maine, the .30-30 gets it done, and it gives me just as much fun as it does you by soliciting all the "advice" from the armchair experts. Dead is dead, and no deer gets dead quicker than one hit (in the right place) with a .30-30.
Carry on, brother.
Hey Brother Paul, I inherited a Model 94 with a side mounted 4X40mm scope from a parishioner who died without an heir and wanted his guns to go to a good home. I went and bought some of that new-fangled Leverevolution ballistic tip ammo and sighted the gun in at 150 yards. I killed a nice 205-lb 10-point buck at 290 yards. He folded immediately as the shot went through his lungs and heart. Lucky shot? Maybe. Seems like I kill a deer every year at 250+ yards. Seems pretty darn good for being an outdated and underpowered cartridge. Thanks again for a great video and please keep the great videos coming! Grace & Peace!
Rev. Steven Taylor , a hunter and a preacher! Good for you ! A lot of people seem to have lost touch with reality in todays world . We all have to eat . Best of luck but I don't think you need it- the fix is in.
The leverevolution rounds really breathed new life into the 30-30. I don't hunt with the 30-30 anymore but my dad still does. Easily adds another 100 yards
Rev. Steve Taylor
My first 2 deer were with my father's Marlin 30-30 (can't remember the specific model#). At seven years old, I killed a doe &a 9-point buck.
I now use a 6.5 Creedmoor Ruger American Predator rifle with a 4×12 power scope.
Last year my mother didn't shut the freezer door all the way & a lot of the meat went bad. The Lord blessed us &I killed a nice bodied & antlered deer (the one in this circle to the left), my father killed 3 total (1 before the door incident &2 after) nice bodied antlered deer, & my brother killed 1 nice bodied deer with fair antlers.
The Lord gives & the Lord takes away, praise be to the Lord in all things.
The .30-30 was always very well suited cartridge for deer.
Add a scope and polymer tip ammo, and you get just a bit more of useful gun still.
Grace & Peace Padre
Great video a marlin 336 stainless in 30/30 was the first gun i ever bought and cant wait to keep this timeless rifle to give to my son one day. I agreed 100% with your video and mine can be super accurate if the shooter does his part. Love loading with the lever-evolution powder and get some more speed out of this classic cartridge to put a little modern touch on the classic round.
I just love my old .30-30 I have several guns but somehow it is still my favorite gun. So much fun to shoot and just feels good in the hands.
Lever action 30-30 of my father's was the first gun I ever fired now that old Winchester is mine and still functions perfectly.
The 30-30 is only underestimated by internet operators. Until recent times, the 30-30 was the absolute most popular rifle for deer hunting and I know for a fact a 170gr round shot from a 30-30 will, without a doubt, take a cow moose at 100 yards. They are functionally accurate and a large enough round to handle most game in North America.
Very true. I have see an elk dropped completelystillwith one 30-30at 80 yds
I ended up with marlins 308 express rifle and I’m pretty sure it’s over kill for anything on the North American continent haha. I need a 336 in 30-30 cause the 308 round is hard to find.
William Watkins ?? Ever been to Walmart? Or any gun/outdoors store?
Dylan Clere when I said 308 I meant the 308 marlin express not the 308 Winchester totally 2 different rounds. Unless it’s different where you live the express round is hard to find here.
William Watkins oh. I'm aware, but I've never had anybody mention it. 308 win is what most mean by 308. There's one store here that's family ran, they typically have all the hard to find stuff
Love your Video's Paul ,best free information on TH-cam thank you