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30-30 help me decide

Dmathews87 said:
Ive wanted a lever action 30-30 for awhile and i have found a few in my area. Here's the dilemma...i really want the winchester 94. I'm obsessed with it, its an American legend but all my buddies are saying get the marlin its the better gun and has the side eject for easier scope mounting. Where i hunt, very rarely can i even see clearly 100 yards and i was intending on using the iron sights anyway....so guys chime in, is the marlin the better of the lever actions? am i crazy for only wanting to use open sights?
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Get the Winchester you're obsessed with. You'll probably still be obsessed with it if you get the Marlin or something else. Not that you won't be impressed with another option, but you've put it in your head already that it's what you want and it's unlikely to shake loose.

There are better cartridges and rifles for deer, imo. You want to scratch an itch for nostalgia and have your mind made up what will do so.

That's how I see it anyway.

For a "hunting" lever action I like the takedown BLR in 7mm-08. But they'll all hunt.
 
How much experience do you have shooting iron sights? Are you reasonably confident in your abilities with them? If so buy the winchester you want and put a peep sight on it. If not, buy a 22 with open sights as well and get practicing.
 
I have a Winchester 94 30-30 with open sights. Actually it was my late dad's.

I love it. Not only for the sentimental value, nostalgia but also for it's so damn compact and light.

The ONLY issue I have with it is at around the 35yd mark the front bead starts to swallow the whole target. No way could I do or would I attempt a 100yd shot. I think this has more to do with my aging eyes then anything to do with gun or open sights.

I'd like to put a scope on it but haven't been able to justify it to myself. About 85% of my hunting is with the crossbow. This Saturday is the last day of rifle season, and if I go tomorrow and Saturday, I will have 5 hunts for the year with the rifle. Hard for me to sell myself on worth putting a couple hundred dollar scope on.

I may have to bite the bullet on this one and just do it for next year.
 
A thinner blade front sight from Skinner is the way to go if you are using any kind of iron sights.

Mine had a bead and was just too big.
 
I love my Henry Steel .30-.30 and i also have Mossberg's version. Both are fun. The Mossberg is lighter. Both have scopes as my eyes are not getting younger. I don't know how many times I gained confidence in a shot that at first I wouldn't hot have taken (because of brush or whatever) but because I had the scope on it, I took the shot and had success. They both have handgun scopes for longer eye relief for quick shooting. Opted NOT to go with see through mounts but with a variable scopes (2x7power) for quick target acquisition if driving or in super thick brush. The scope overall has not impeded my shot opportunities whatsoever and in fact has increased my effectiveness in the field because of the optics.
 
I have a Marlin 444P with open sights that I break out if we are doing drives in thick brush. I had a 1-4 power scope on it at first then took it off. Thinking of putting a small red dot on it next.
 
thedutchtouch said:
surprised i took this many posts... why not both?

if there's a reason not to then... i'd suggest you buy what you want to shoot instead of what your buddies want you to shoot. let them pull their own triggers. you'll still be obsessed with the winchester if you get the marlin.

wait i changed my mind, get the marlin, so that way you evntually wind up with both after you keep obsessing over the winchester.
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eventually no doubt i will own both, but at the moment guys around here want an average of 700-800 for either model bare gun. If i dropped 1600 on guns right now before christmas my wife will blow a gasket lol
 
I had a Marlin 30-30 when I started hunting. Hand me down lever action, I used it for several years and it killed stuff. The old model without a safety, half-cock hammer style. Then I realized the ballistics were poorer than a shotgun, so I sold it and bought another caliber. That was a good move, made many years ago.
 
I love leverguns. Pop-off answer, get both, scope the Marlin, peep the Winnie.

More in-depth answer:
I've got a Puma (repro Winchester) 92 in .357, a stainless Marlin in .444, and a Mossberg (472? Older model, trigger is in the lever, goofy design) in .30-30. All of them have Williams peep sights installed. The buckhorn sights are nice on a repro or period piece or range toy, but there are much better options in an actual hunting gun.

I'm probably going to pull the Williams of my Marlin and put a Nikon 2-7 shotgun scope on it. I tend to hunt in pretty close cover and the magnification helps me identify my point of aim when the deer is partially screened by vegetation. I love peeps but after several years hunting with both I find myself reaching for the H&R .444 with the 2-7 as my go-to, leaving my stainless Marlin as a 'foul weather gun'. But I can put a scope with good caps on the Marlin and hunt with that in the snow just as well, and have 5 rounds on tap. So that's my likely course of action. I'll probably put a butt cuff with a few extra rounds on it just for grins, but if I need 10 rounds in a day of hunting deer, I'm having an extraordinarily unlikely awful or excellent day.

A Win 94 with open sights is a beautiful gun, and will surely be a treasure. It would border on sacrilege to scope it. A stainless Marlin with a low-power variable optic - ideally in .444 or .45-70, but .30-30, .44Mag, .45LC, etc. with LeverEvolution is quite capable - would be a powerful meat making machine at any range you're likely to shoot at out of a saddle. That would be my recommendation for a light, handy hunting rifle.

I actually think it might be a bit easier to cycle a lever in a saddle - I hunted out of a Drey this year - than run a bolt. Of course a semi would be even easier but oh well.
 
Iron_llama said:
I love leverguns. Pop-off answer, get both, scope the Marlin, peep the Winnie.

More in-depth answer:
I've got a Puma (repro Winchester) 92 in .357, a stainless Marlin in .444, and a Mossberg (472? Older model, trigger is in the lever, goofy design) in .30-30. All of them have Williams peep sights installed. The buckhorn sights are nice on a repro or period piece or range toy, but there are much better options in an actual hunting gun.

I'm probably going to pull the Williams of my Marlin and put a Nikon 2-7 shotgun scope on it. I tend to hunt in pretty close cover and the magnification helps me identify my point of aim when the deer is partially screened by vegetation. I love peeps but after several years hunting with both I find myself reaching for the H&R .444 with the 2-7 as my go-to, leaving my stainless Marlin as a 'foul weather gun'. But I can put a scope with good caps on the Marlin and hunt with that in the snow just as well, and have 5 rounds on tap. So that's my likely course of action. I'll probably put a butt cuff with a few extra rounds on it just for grins, but if I need 10 rounds in a day of hunting deer, I'm having an extraordinarily unlikely awful or excellent day.

A Win 94 with open sights is a beautiful gun, and will surely be a treasure. It would border on sacrilege to scope it. A stainless Marlin with a low-power variable optic - ideally in .444 or .45-70, but .30-30, .44Mag, .45LC, etc. with LeverEvolution is quite capable - would be a powerful meat making machine at any range you're likely to shoot at out of a saddle. That would be my recommendation for a light, handy hunting rifle.

I actually think it might be a bit easier to cycle a lever in a saddle - I hunted out of a Drey this year - than run a bolt. Of course a semi would be even easier but oh well.
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Forgot to mention, the Marlin has the simplest design and the Winchester the most fiddly. For ease of maintenance, and likely reliability, I'd say Marlin (not made by Remington) wins hands-down.
 
Maverick1 said:
I had a Marlin 30-30 when I started hunting. Hand me down lever action, I used it for several years and it killed stuff. The old model without a safety, half-cock hammer style. Then I realized the ballistics were poorer than a shotgun, so I sold it and bought another caliber. That was a good move, made many years ago.
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Exactly. If you are going to shoot a 30-30....shoot the classic 30-30s. Otherwise, modernize for efficiency.
 
I have a marlin in .45-.70 and it is an awesome shooter. I love the look of an octagon barrel. I don't gun hunt but bought it to replace a shotgun for the kids to use. It shoots easier on the kids and the scope makes it clearer to see in brush also. Buy a 3-9 or 4-12 so you can crank it down in close country.
 
Dmathews87 said:
out of curiosity, whats the furthest you would shoot a deer with those open sights?
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My farthest poke at game with a peep sight was probably 30 yards or so. I've used my .444 to ring a gong at 200 yards with a peep sight, stock gold bead front sight. I consider this optimized for inside 100 yards; I'd want a smaller front sight to shoot at game farther away.

Keep in mind that we went into the GWOT with peep-sighted M16s; optics didn't become ubiquitous until some years into the fight. Infantrymen up until relatively recently engaged hostile, moving human targets at well past 200 yards with issued iron sights. Granted, this isn't hunting, but don't sell iron sights short.
(ETA finish a sentence)
 
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Dmathews87 said:
out of curiosity, whats the furthest you would shoot a deer with those open sights?
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I've kill several around 100 to 120. If I have been practicing and had good light I would shoot 150 but I've also shot a ton with iron sights. The pic of the button buck was 90 yards
 
My deer rifle is a Marlin 1895 GBL in 4570 and I love it. It’s a frikin canon and way overpowered for deer but it’s awesome and one of the only legal rifle cartridges in Ohio at the time I bought it. It’s built solid as a rock and very good quality IMO. I’m sure your Marlin would be the same way. But sounds like you have your heart set on the Winchester and that’s ok. I would say give that a try first maybe, otherwise you’ll always be left wondering (if you’re anything like me anyway). You can always sell it if it ends up not being what you thought.
 
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