vangunsmith we are talking about a 30-30 here not a 44 mag. wow set it up 1.50 high at 25 yards and you'll never hit a 15 inch target at 100 yards. you'll go right over the top. it needs to be about a 1/2 low at 25 yards. give the gun some credit at 200 yards it still has around 1000 foot pounds of energy left. which is more than enough for a whitetail. 200 yards would be well within the range of this gun. you are right a 30-30 is not a long distance gun but 200 yards is not really long distance. from what i see most hunters are way over guned for whitetails. myself i like a .308.