RE: .243 vs. 30-30
Seems to be some 30-30 fans here. Has anyone tried playing with them at the reloader? Factory loads are pretty tame so they don't blow up the ancient lever guns. If you were using a 30-30 without a tubular magazine the number of bullet types you could use is large. It seems to me that there may be a lot of potential for the 30-30 with a change in gun action and some reloads. As to the question at hand, the .243 is definitely the better all-around caliber, but is prone to brush deflections (even little twigs you can't see). That is the one place that 30-30's excel. As to the .243 being a "varmint gun", unless you count the Alaskan Moose hanging on my buddy's wall as a varmint, you're wrong! His horse fell on his .338 (bent the scope) so he used his .243 to punch the moose thru the shoulders. It dropped in its tracks.