Hahaha......It was actually 3.. I was in my ground blind and the deer almost walked into the side of it. it had to walk around me and wound up walking right in front of it

But, but sir!!! What about all those expensive magic bullets that aretouted to turn a gut shot into a bang flop every time.

Blaming a 30-30 for crippling a deer is like blaming a pen for a mis-spelled word. The people you are helping to track for need to control themselves and take better shots. Period.

Exactly!

I think you are on to something there. Many .30-30 shooters hunt in thick brush where shooting at a running deer is a very distinct possibility. Lots of people here use them since much of our terrain is thicket. We also have a lot of terrible marksmen, if what I have seen at the range is any indication. Heavy brush+poor marksmanship+running deer=lost/wounded deer. No room in that equation for the type of rifle or bullet.

I thik the fact that they are in the brush is the key. Even though the 30-30 doesn't shoot a spire point doesn't mean that it won't deflect. I don't like the term "brush gun" when I started hunting I was told that the 30-30 would blow through brusha nd small saplings without going off course. Many people still believe this and they take shots without having a clear bullet path or really knowing what part of the deer they are aiming at, they just see brown and shot.

I don't say I made a good shot if I can't find a deer because you really just can't tell. Last week I took a kid out for the first time with a 30-30 he shot his first deer. The deer raered up like it was a good lung shot. Lots of blood for about 200yards then we found the deer (we took our time and didn't push him). No lung shot the kid cut the deers throat,no entrance no exit just a slash that cut the jugular and windpipe. The point is the shot looked good even from me who wasn't shooting but it wasn't and we didn't know it till we found the deer.

I think a big problem that occur with things like the 30-30 and buckshot is that people think that they will amazingly better at shooting running deer with them. I've never understood that logic. Thinking that you'll kill deer any better with a low percentage shot just because you use a "brush gun" is just flawed understanding IMO. A low percentage shot is still a low percentage shot no matter what you use. Plugging a deer with a badly placed 30-30 round or several pellets of buckshot is not going to help that and can easily lead to wounded and lost deer.

If you pick your shots the same as you would with any other gun, you'll probably never have a problem with any deer gun.

I have killed 200+/- deer in my hunting career, and quite a few were with a Marlin 336 30-30. All I can say to this post is ammo selection and shot placement. I reload 170 gr Corelokt bullets for my 30-30's, but for ALL my hunting needs, I use Hornady LeverEvolutions.

I have killed deer and hogs with a variety of factory ammo, but there is not one that has the terminal performance of the LeverEvs.

Yep. There are plenty of hunters (if you want to call them that) who seem to have trained at the Stormtrooper School of Marksmanship (if you've seen the movies, you'll know what I'm talking about! ). They'll take any and every shot at a deer no matter how iffy it might be on the off chance that they might connect, and when they do it's often a crappy hit. Add a little pride and suddenly the .30-30 just can't kill deer anymore.

Mike

I don't know if it counts as a crippling shot when the bullet penetrates the ribs, and takes out the other shoulder, or takes out both shoulders. After such a hit the deer runs 20 to 50 yards and dies. I have also seen the same thing when I have hit them with the .270.

I am a big 30-30 fan. I think it is the perfect tool for tree-stand woods hunting where ballistics is really of no concerned. Most of my shots are a point and shoot affair. Open sights are cool on a lever gun, but in the tree stand I like a good low powered scope. It really helps me early in the morning or late in the after noon.

I shoot,
wait 15 minutes,
and then go get the deer at the end ofa short blood trail If they have not died right there.

As easy as 1,2,3.

C. Davis