I see your upgrading your weapons no longer will a stick suffice?

You can't kill a deer any deader than dead..... Whether it falls right there or runs 20 steps....does it really matter that much?

And the 30-30 has killed more deer than any other caliber.

Point is....sure, a 12 guage will knock the snot out of a cotton tail rabbit...but do you really need more power than a .410?

speyrjb, have you ever used either?

20 steps in one thing. 50 to 100 yards in a cedar swamp without a blood trail is far different. I stick by my claim and will stop beating this dead horse.

OEH,

You know me, I tend to lean towards the "stout "side. When I say "stick" that is the kind of stick I'm talking about --- no "whimpy" stuff.

A sledge hammer handle and a 6' "sale barn whip" were the two tools (depending on the task at hand) I used when working cattle on a ranch in a "former life". Usually used the sale barn whip the most, on unique occasions the "stick".

EKM

Portage- pointed out something that i forgot as well. many many of the deer i have seen killed with the 30-30 the bullet didn;t exit. leaving a small blood trail. i am not positive on the numbers but i am certain at least 70% of the time the bullet did not exit. and i have seen 20 deer killed with a 35 9 by me and 11 by my dad. and on every deer the bullet exited leaveing a large blood trail. not that you needed it

Yeah the exit hole was as big as a baseball on the doe my son shot at about 35 yds. Broke both shoulders, and she kinda crawled 10-15 yds and expired.

No running off.

I haven't bought that 30/30, and may not. Y'all have me convinced I really don't need it, having the formidable 35 in hand!

So.....I have been shooting 200 gr corelokts....any suggestions on another bullet that would be better, out of the box?

i used to shoot the federal Power-Shok in 200 gr SP's worked very well. i think i might have used a box of 220 grain core lokts to and had great results. i never had large exit holes.... maybe the size of a half dollar

Maybe it is the humidity down here in the south, but I have had all pass-throughs in the 8 deer I have shot with the 30-30. All were shot with 150 gr. bullets, not the 170 gr. which should penetrate even more.

Granted, the longest shot was only about 75 yards, but 8 out of 8 is still 100%.

Don't let anybody fool you. A .30 cal. 150 gr. bullet at 2000 fps. will not have much problem passing through a thin skinned whitetail. Maybe them northern deer have more fat on them.

One of several reasons I prefer the 30-30 over my .270 in close cover woods conditions is because I think it makes a bigger hole in the deer, and I get a better blood trail.

The .35 Rem. has always interested me though. I like the idea of getting into the 200 gr. bullet realm, and I think it would make a great hog gun.

Remington doesnt make a 220 grainer for the 35 remington sorry to burst your bubble friend.

Heck yeah My 30-30 leaves a bigger exit hole then my 308 , 30-06, and 7.62x54R.

The 35 leaves and even bigger exit hole, but with my experience with the 35 rem on whitetails the deer seem to bleed out before they keel over I have had tomany times had a nice thick blood trail for about 20 yards then nothing and no sign of the deer. Ive experienced the same problem with my 308, 30-06 and 7.62x54r but with my 30-30 I always had a good blood trail leading right up to the deer.

But I also load my 30-30's with Barnes X-bullets, My load pushes a 150 grain Barnes X bullet at 2322 fps @ 3 feet. That X bullet has exited every time and leaves a nice quarter size exit hole and if it catches a rib or shoulder blade the bone fragments usually create 3 to 4 more exiting channels. when that happens the deer tends to die pretty quickly. Maybe some day I can get the barnes x bullet effect from my 35 rem if they would ever make a them in that caliber. but for now Ill keep loading those 200 grain core lokts. In my other rifles I use Sierra BTHP Game kings.