30/30 4 whitetail deer AND blackbear?

Question

ok we all know that the 30/30 winchester is 1 of the great whitetail deer calibers. but is it moving fast enough and with enough energy 2 kill a black bear effictively? and has anyone heard about the new hornady LEVERREVOLUTION ammo? it adds about 300 more fps's and now a 30/30 is a 300 yard gun.
i have shot my grandfathers 30/30 many times and the recoil doesnt bother me its pretty light
your thoughts

i know that with the traditional flat nosed or round nosed ammo that its only good 4 100-150 yards... if u read all the details that i put u would of saw that i am talking about hte new ammo from hornady
https://www.hornady.com/shop/?ps_session=972f8bca0a1ce1053d6178439a8089f9&page=shop%2Fbrowse&category_id=617900860f0f136528b6f2d1f845cb05
will that ammo be good 4 black bear as well?

the point on the new bullet is a soft rubber-like polymer i know about it being pointed in a tublar magazine

Answer 1

Velocity and energy are very much overrated, and I'd be very much surprised to see a 30-30 that had any business at 300 yards, not because of ballistic numbers but because it's typically in leverguns with two-piece stocks that won't group tight enough. LeveRevolution is a nice idea, and it goes back to the original 160 grain bullet weight (which may not be a great idea, cutting back from the sectional density of the tried-and-true 170, but that's being picky). I have better choices, so I'm not rushing out for it, but if you have it, you should certainly do well.

Answer 2

Sure the 30-30 can kill a black bear and has done so many times. But the others are right 300 yards is too far of a shot.
Keep it under 200 and personally I would keep it less than 150 yards.

I have taken whitetail deer, mule deer, black bear and elk with the 30-30. But all were shot under 100 yards, the elk was 60 yards.
It’s a good cartridge and has been used for decades. As for the LEVERREVOLUTION ammo you may want to read this article about it;
http://www.realguns.com/archives/120.htm
There is much hype about this new product, the data shows this fact.

Fact is a black bear can be killed with the 30-30 with proper bullet placement.

Here is more info on the 30-30 that will help you.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.30-30


Here a good picture of shot placement on black bear.
http://groups.msn.com/Kenaimike/shoebox.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=1

Good hunting!

Answer 3

The old 'thurty-thurty' has killed more deer AND black bear than any other caliber in North America. A three hundred yard gun? I don't think so. One-hundred-fifty max. The new ammo may give you a few fps more, but that's because its lighter and better suited for deer since you don't need a real heavy bullet to drop a deer. For bear I'd stick with the 170 grain flat point or as Lt. said, consider switching to a .35 Remington if you're gonna be hunting a lot of bear. Bear are heavier and bigger boned animals than deer and a 170 grain bullet is about as light as I'd go with when hunting bear.

Best.

H

Answer 4

Some good answers. Yep the old thudy-thudy will do the job on a black bear. Just so all you fellow sportsman know Beedsarefunak is a hunting/fishing buddy of mine. We have spent over 20 years together in the wilderness from time to time. We are not gun experts or fishing pros, like some of you folks are. However if you want to know how bears are just ask that crazy Beedsarefunak. This guy actually crawled into a bears den and took its picture! Lol He also ran a black bear sow with cubs out of our camp at night with a shovel.

Out of a 365 day year we spend at least 80 days around brown and black bear here in Alaska’s panhandle.

Thing is we have been around them long enough to understand them. If they are relaxed they are much easier to kill. And black bears do not have the muscle mass or large bones that Grizzlies and brown bears do. So a 30-30 will work fine. But for bigger bear you would need a bigger gun.

Answer 5

The .30/30 is an all time favorite. It was killing deer and black bear long before anyone on Q&A was born, including me. I haven't seen the ballistics, but if the bullet is increased by 300 fps, then the energy has increased porportionatly, making it even better. This should also help "flatten" it's mid range trajectory, and make an already good caliber even better, so long as the increase in velocity wasn't at the cost of bullet weight. The .30/30 is comfortable to shoot, and as long as you are comfortable shooting it, you will hit more accurately, and cleanly kill more game.....I wish you as many years in the field as I have had, and as much enjoyment as well........

Answer 6

30-30 is a 300 yard gun?? Errr.......thats a very long shot for a 30-30. 80% of the time you see game within 80 yards anyways. But yeah. I have shot a bear with a 30-30. Basically the only time you are def not going to kill a bear with any rifle is when you shoot them in the skull. They are like 1" - 2" thick. But when you try your 300 yard shot make sure to aim about 35 Inches above its back. 30-30 packs a little recoil. Its not as light as a 25-06 or 7mm-08 but its not horrible. Not as bad as the time I shot my friends 7mm-Mag though or my brothers 375.......OUCH!

Answer 7

The 30/30Win dosen't get the respect it deserves in this day and age of bigger is better magnum this and that. When it first entered production it was considered a flat shooting high velocity cartridge. It was the first commercial cartridge designed to be loaded with smokeless powder. There isn't a critter in north or south America that hasn't fallen to the 30/30. Teddy Roosevelt took it to Africa and was a big fan of it.
Black bear are usually taken at well under 100yds. Pick your shot carefully as you always should and you will be fine.

Answer 8

I have heard of that ammo but i wouldnt recommend it past 150 yards for any reason with any ammo and it may humainly kill a black bear but id use a .308

Answer 9

yes i have herd of the lever action ammo and the now make scope's just for lever action rifles. I use my 30-30 for black bear and whitetails so i don't see why you would have a problem. most of my shots are inside of 75 yards.

Answer 10

30/30 is more or less a brush gun ( rifle) 300 yards is a long shot for a 30/30.

30/30 are design be short ranged maybe 100 yards or closer .Yea they can shoot further out then that but not really designed to.