Nomercy

Here's my big issue: the .30-30 can be had in classically styled, comfortable, handy leveraction rifles like the Winchester 94 and the Marlin 336...the .30-06 is only chambered in bastardizations of a wonderful design like the BLR, which is almost as heavy and poorly balanced as it is ugly. Not to mention the price difference.

Ok, if you could find an old Winchester 1895 in .30-06 and get it to feed properly, you'd have an outstanding rifle, but if you're going for a levergun, I'd say the .30-30.

As far as picking between the cartridges themselves goes, I've got a couple of each, I do most of my hunting with the .30-06, however, I'm leaning now more towards the new .30-30 Win Ranger Compact 94 that I bought this fall...incredibly HANDY gun, and every bit as effective...but that's comparing the rifles again.

If I were buying this rifle knowing I'd need to hunt at 250yrds all the time, I'd buy the .30-06. The .30-06 is typically around 50% stronger than the .30-30, which only really makes a difference at longer ranges. The .30-06 kicks a LOT harder than the .30-30 (but the .30-30's a pop gun), but it also has more energy at 300yrds than the .30-30 has at 100yrds...but then again, you might not need that much energy...heck, the .30-06 has more energy at 600yrds than a .357mag at the muzzle, and who REGULARLY hunts anything that far?

I'd personally buy the levergun in .30-30. I really don't believe in the BLR, it just defeats the purpose of buying a leveraction. Between the Marlin 336 and Winchester 94 in .30-30, you'd be very satisfied with either.

You might also consider one of the common lever cartridges like the .38-55, .444M, .450M, or .45-70. You'd also be well served with a .35Rem in a Marlin 336. I've handled and hunted all of these except the .35Rem, and I can tell you that once you've handled a good levergun, there's just no going back.