Whats the best factory .30-30 ammo for whitetail deer? Rifle is an old Win Model 94 with iron sights only.

Winchester Silvertip 170 grain. That's what I used last season to drop a small 3pt buck at 75 yards. The li'l dude had no idea what hit him. He took one single hop and collapsed like a ton of bricks.

Other people are raving about the new Hornady Leverevolution, but I haven't tried them (yet)...

Butch A.

I have an old '94 that shoots the 150 and 170 gr Powerpoints to the same POI. Groups well. Killed a lot of deer with that rifle. It didn't like Remington Corelokts. I haven't tried the Leverevolutions yet. Looks like a great idea for longer shots. I just haven't seen the need (for me). I'm not going to shoot that rifle very far and my Powerpoints work plenty good.

With the very low velocity produced with the 30-30,most commercial bullets such as the core lokt and power point work quite well.As far as wich load will be the most accurate in a particular rifle,only actual shooting with various loads will determine that.

I sure like the LeveRevolutions for target shooting. Haven't had a chance to take a deer with them yet, though. But unless they are complete failuresin actual hunting situations, I can't see using anything else.

I have shot all the others (Coreloks, Winchesters, Federals, etc...) and will not shoot my 30-30 again without LeverEvs. I killed 4 deer, 3 hogs, and a house cat (he was trying to get into my Dad's pigeon coop) with LeverEvs this past season, and they performed flawlessly. I hear guys gripe about the price of the LeverEvs, but for a top quality hunting bullet, the difference is too small for me to use anything else.

I too love the LeverEvs, they're great. I feel much more at ease with them and will gladly pay the price for them. Hornady knows what they're doing

I'll give another vote to the LeverEvolutions by Hornady. I let my daughter use my old marlin 336 in .35 remington and she killed a doe with it this past season. I only have this one kill to go by, but if it performs the same on future kills I'll never use anything else in that gun. I liked the fact that the exit hole was a little bigger than corelokts or powerpoints. In these thickets where we hunt you need a good blood trail from the get go! I'm thinking it's that little extra velocity that gives the better exit wound, I may be wrong but time will tell.

Lever Evolution and Federal Premium w/ the 170gr Nosler Partitions

Really if you are using a open sight 30-30 any of the major brands will work fine for you. I usually shoot 170 grain federal's in mine. Though I like the Hornady Leverevolution shells are great as well andI shoot them in my .450. I've shot most of the major brands in mine and they all worked great. It will be more a matter of personnal preference.