.44mag vs. .30-30
 

A buddy of mine is looking at buying a new levergun, Marlin for certain, but he's torn between the 1894 and the 336, .44mag and .30-30 respecitively...he wants it for hunting deer at various "short to mid" ranges, likely no longer than 200yrds.

So which would you recommend and to what ranges: I gave him my advice but I'm pretty biased, so he asked if I'd find out some more "level" opinions on the matter.

RE: .44mag vs. .30-30
 

Nomercy, IMHO, the .44 mag is a short range cartridge at best, even coming out of a carbine's longer barrel. It's still a handgun cartridge. With it's short, fat bullet, I'd limit it to use to ranges less than 100 yards.

Of the two you mentioned, the 30-30 will give much better performance on deer. Also, as much as I like the 30-30, I think 200 yards is stretching it a little. Most lever guns are not MOA shooters. In fact, most would be lucky to be 2-3 MOA shooters. That really opens up at longer ranges and makes it difficult to precisely place the bullet where you want it. With an expert shooter who has a good understanding of ballistics, and a very accurate rifle, it is capable of taking deer at 200 yards and maybe beyond. But for the average shooter like me, and an average shooting rifle, I'd limit shots to 150 yards max.

Again, that's just my opinion.

RE: .44mag vs. .30-30
 

Danny 45 summed it up well.I agree I would limit a 30-30 to 125-150 yards max.For close ranges in brush, I would rather have the 44mag.Heavier bullet weight.For longer shots I would look beyond the 30-30 or the 44mag.
Ruger Redhawk

RE: .44mag vs. .30-30
 

Another vote for the sleeker 30-30 at those ranges. Nothing against the .44 mag, but for 200 yards you want a rifle bullet.

RE: .44mag vs. .30-30
 

I agree......30-30 is the better choice.

RE: .44mag vs. .30-30
 

The 30-30 is cheaper to shoot and can be loaded hotter than the 44 mag. they also make sabboted bullets I think they are .22 cal but I have never shoot any

RE: .44mag vs. .30-30
 

Ok, I was in a kinda spiteful mood, full of pi$$ and vineagar the day I wrote this one up, so excuse me for this thread, it was an intentional trap....

God's honest truth I wanted to hear exactly what was said mind you....

Fact of the matter, the buddy of mine already shoots a .30-30 (among various others) and I'm a die hard .44mag man, I asked him when he bought his first dirty thirty why he went with it instead of a .44mag like mine (he fell in love with my 1894 and went to town to buy one, came back with a 336), he said because he wanted the flatter trajectory and more power.....

A while back we got to cussing and discussing various guns, and I brought up our leverguns, we got to running some numbers through the reloading manuals and found some interesting results, so off to the range we went....chrony and lots of targets and ammo in hand.

Granted, these were just four guns, all Marlins and relatively good shape, but our results confirmed the reloading manuals'...the .44mag is stouter than the .30-30, some loads aren't so at the muzzle, but nearly all 10 handloads and 5 factory loads were at 100yrds, at which point the .44mag was bumping around 15-1800ft.lbs., with the .30-30 pushing out between 12-1500ft.lbs......We also confirmed that the trajectory was better in the .44mag, with similar relative weight bullets that is (i.e. a 125grn .30-30 was flatter than the 300grn .44mag, but if both were loaded "usual", "light", or "heavy", the .44mag was almost always flatter flying!!! On average the .44mag rounds were an inch higher/closer to POA than the .30WCF, not a huge difference, but surprising nonetheless.

I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't done it, in fact, the only reason we did it was because we didn't believe the manuals...they were about as close as usual, and inherently correct about the "more powerful" round.

Like I said, I apologize for "trapping" everyone, I just wanted to make sure where everyone stood before I went and blew anyone's mind! Sure blew mine when we were tallying up numbers.

Check my own older posts, I've claimed the .44mag only huntable to 150yrds and the .30-30 to the same or maybe a little more on numerous occasions, even though I've hunted both to ranges 50yrds past that mark to good success...guess you learn something new everyday.

RE: .44mag vs. .30-30
 

With the right load and bullet the 44 Mag is lethal on anything it hits out to 100 yards. The 30-30 has plenty of pop left at 200 yards for deer size critters. The only factor limiting the 30-30 to less than 200 yards is the ability of most people to be able to place the bullet where it needs to be with its somewhat rainbow trajectory. My son has no trouble killing deer or hitting them out to 200 yards. This is a feat that I cannot duplicate. He could shoot that 30-30 rifle from the first time he laid hands on it. He has the touch with a rifle and shotgun that is unussual for a guy who does not shoot very often. He must take after his uncle who was a hell of a shot as well.

RE: .44mag vs. .30-30
 

The 30-30 is the better choice. What can I say that hasn't already been said.

RE: .44mag vs. .30-30
 

30-30 Win. Good luck.