Caliber 30-30 use in Africa???

[Tubby’s Canteen]

Has anyone considered a .375 win for leopard? Still a fast handling model 94, ae allows for top mounted optics and would be .375 cal so possibly meets legal requirements.

 

[Fastrig]

Has anyone considered a .375 win for leopard? Still a fast handling model 94, ae allows for top mounted optics and would be .375 cal so possibly meets legal requirements.

Was a cool rifle and caliber, but commercially died pretty quickly....I wouldn’t take one to Africa simply because ammo is hard to find in the States so one could pretty much guarantee you won’t find it in Africa.

Aside from that, it should do very well against a Leopard, probably do well on any of the big cats. Believe the 375 win is roughly a 2200 fps round, but not sure about its energy level so don’t know if the caliber alone would suffice for some of the Africa DG minimums or not.

 

[Dwight Beagle]

Might as well make this the “Lazarus” thread. I was curious about using a 30-30 for plains game, googled it and this thread popped up.
Using a lever action with iron sights is great, until you can’t see well enough to do it anymore. My Waterloo with iron sights occurred circa 20 years ago. So it may be blasphemous but once you reach that stage then you need a scope or red dot to shoot a lever gun well.

Judging strictly from videos it sure does seem as if a wounded leopard is much more ferocious than a wounded mountain lion.

I can see taking a 30-30 to Africa for leopard, if leopard is the only animal you’ll hunt. If antelope are in the mix I’d take something else if taking only one rifle.

Having a very accurate rifle has been mentioned in this thread. In that case I’d probably leave my 30-30 at home. My 30-30 is VERY accurate-for a 30-30, but the best it can do when I’m having a good day is around 1.25 MOA at 100 yards. I own rifles that are much more accurate that I’d be more inclined to use on leopard. And I know leopards as a rule are shot at fairly close distances.

 

[Lee M]

I’ve taken Zebra, Kydu, impala, warthog, gemsbok, Nyala, etc with a bow at <30 yards. A 30-30 would have taken all of them. Inside 100 yds why not .

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

My 30-30 gets used on the farm to control baboons at way more than 100 yards. It has a greed dot Leupold AR scope on it, perfect set up.

 

[Dr Ray]

I would suggest that a scoped and accurate 30/30 for smallish plains game at very short distances would be just adequate.
But; why take a risk of losing the target when it would be far better to use a more suitable caliber. Yes I know millions of deer have been harvested using a 30/30.

 

[walk-in]

I can't speak to leopard hunting, so I won't pretend to. I can speak to the 30-30. Mine is an early '50s Model 94 with a Williams peep sight. My youngest son has an identical one a couple years newer than mine. It is, of course, an excellent deer rifle. I bought mine specifically to use on New York whitetails when I was in the army.

The 30-30 is also surprisingly popular in Alaska...especially the farther you get from the road system. I've killed more black bears with mine than with any other gun I own. Most, but not all, have been over bait. I think it is nearly perfect for that, although I know plenty of experienced bear baiters (one might say that when it comes to baiting they're masters) who prefer the 45-70 or something else. My son also killed a caribou with his a few years ago. When I was a kid I hunted with an old guy who killed moose for 40ish years in British Columbia with a 30-30. I've never done that, but I do occasionally take the 30-30 moose hunting. The 30-30 is fine for all of those.

As for bigger or more dangerous game....the first grizzly I ever killed was with a 30-30 at much too close range. Given the choice, I would not have shot it, and definitely would not have gone looking for it with a 30-30, but these things happen. I use 170 gr. bullets in mine, and the grizzly apparently found them disagreeable as he promptly died, after which I sat down for awhile to contemplate my life. In short, I don't recommend hunting grizzlies with a 30-30, but it will do the job in a pinch if you can do your part. I certainly wouldn't recommend it, and from the sounds of those who know more about leopards than I do, it probably isn't a good choice for them, either.

 

[Paul Raley]

Those of you that shoot Marlin 30-30s with the micro groove barrels that are able shoot tight groupings please share what bullets / loads you are using , would be greatly appreciated .
I have a Marlin 336 but have not yet done any real load development yet , and what I have used thus far has not been that accurate .

 

[Dwight Beagle]

Factory Remington CoreLokt 150 grain. It didn’t like 170 grain Corelokts.

 

[R.M.C.]

A 30.30 with 170 grain bullets is a lot more powerful than most people think. Inside100 yards its hard to tell the difference between deer shot with the lever gun or deer shot with a 30.06

 

[Trogon]

Those of you that shoot Marlin 30-30s with the micro groove barrels that are able shoot tight groupings please share what bullets / loads you are using , would be greatly appreciated .
I have a Marlin 336 but have not yet done any real load development yet , and what I have used thus far has not been that accurate .

I've been pleased with Remington factory 170 grain Core-lokt. I tried Winchester both in 150 and 170 grain loads, Remington 150 grain, none were as accurate. I know this isn't helpful for your handload development, sorry.

 

[Paul Raley]

Thank you for the replies thus re the ammo your Marlins prefer for getting tight groupings . I have been shooting 170 gr bullets until now so I will now experiment a bit with 150 grs .

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Thank you for the replies thus re the ammo your Marlins prefer for getting tight groupings . I have been shooting 170 gr bullets until now so I will now experiment a bit with 150 grs .

@Paul Raley
You could also try t h e 160 gn FTX or the 140 GMX projectiles from Hornaday.
Bob

 

[Paul Raley]

Obviously it has been a "couple" of years now since the original discussion above , but for those of you that might be interested , I managed to find a fairly accurate load for my Marlin micro groove barrelled 30-30 .
I used 150 gr Sierra FN bullets with 33 gr of South African S335 powder and CCI 200 LR primers . Unfortunately I was unable to chrony the load . The grouping is low on the attached target but it is a good grouping , I obviously adjusted the elevation afterwards .The distance is 100 m

 

[Hunter-Habib]

I would happily use it on bushbuck, impala & bush pig. Esp. with the 170Gr Winchester Super X flat nosed soft point.

But I would not touch it for dangerous game.

 

[Paul Raley]

I would happily use it on bushbuck, impala & bush pig. Esp. with the 170Gr Winchester Super X flat nosed soft point.

But I would not touch it for dangerous game.

Hunter Habib I agree with you , the 30-30 is good for a lot of African plains game animals , but for sure too light and too weak under most circumstances for anything bigger or tougher than Blue Wildebeest , and definitely too little gun for dangerous game , and then some might say it might be too weak for Wildebeest .

 

[spike.t]

My Winchester 30-30 was one of the rifles that arrived around Christmas in the shipment from Paul where they had been in storage ...slight problem is ammunition , as over here it's obviously not too common a rifle calibre....looking around in the nooks and crannies of the big gun /ammo vault in the gunshop I use I unearthed 4 boxes of these....bit different ...but at least something to play with...unlike my 45-70 for which no ammo is to be found....my gunshop guy has been trying to get 30-30 and 45-70 ammo for over a year for me , as I asked way before they were being shipped...but he not having much luck for some reason...

 

[fsrmg1]

Obviously it has been a "couple" of years now since the original discussion above , but for those of you that might be interested , I managed to find a fairly accurate load for my Marlin micro groove barrelled 30-30 .
I used 150 gr Sierra FN bullets with 33 gr of South African S335 powder and CCI 200 LR primers . Unfortunately I was unable to chrony the load . The grouping is low on the attached target but it is a good grouping , I obviously adjusted the elevation afterwards .The distance is 100 m

View attachment 611776

Lever guns are notorious for vertically stringing shots with different weight bullets or velocity. In saying that, you can say they are velocity sensitive, so all things being reasonably the same, a lower velocity load will print lower on the target, and as the velocity goes up, so does the grouping. If you can, chronograph the load. I've owned a lot of lever guns of all types, and noticed that even different bullet weights hit near the same point of aim if the velocity was about the same at 100 yds. If memory serves me right, on average I was getting about 0.5" elevation difference per 40-50 fps change.

 

[pilar]

My Winchester 30-30 was one of the rifles that arrived around Christmas in the shipment from Paul where they had been in storage ...slight problem is ammunition , as over here it's obviously not too common a rifle calibre....looking around in the nooks and crannies of the big gun /ammo vault in the gunshop I use I unearthed 4 boxes of these....bit different ...but at least something to play with...unlike my 45-70 for which no ammo is to be found....my gunshop guy has been trying to get 30-30 and 45-70 ammo for over a year for me , as I asked way before they were being shipped...but he not having much luck for some reason...

View attachment 611850View attachment 611851

Those Kynoch 170gr where made by Winchester and are Winchester silver tip
and contrary to what some folks think is about equal to 175gr 7x57 if both have a 24 inch barrel

 

[Paul Raley]

Lever guns are notorious for vertically stringing shots with different weight bullets or velocity. In saying that, you can say they are velocity sensitive, so all things being reasonably the same, a lower velocity load will print lower on the target, and as the velocity goes up, so does the grouping. If you can, chronograph the load. I've owned a lot of lever guns of all types, and noticed that even different bullet weights hit near the same point of aim if the velocity was about the same at 100 yds. If memory serves me right, on average I was getting about 0.5" elevation difference per 40-50 fps change.

Thanks for the advice , I need to experiment some more , but until now most of the ammunition which I have shot with the rifle has been 170 grn factory ammo of various makes and all of them print all over the place . The only ammo that has grouped well is the reload I mentioned above . From research I am led to believe that the micro groove barrel Marlin rifles are quite difficult to get to shoot tight groups .