The .30-30 Winchester Is Still One of the Best Deer Hunting Rifles

Above, my pre-64 Winchester 94 .30-30 rifle. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

At one of the Winchester 94 Facebook pages (yes, there's several of them), a link to an Outdoor Life article from 2022 was posted.

It starts with:

Over its more than 125-year lifetime, the lever-action .30-30 rifle has arguably killed more whitetail deer than any other single cartridge. And with the cartridge’s popularity still quite high, it’s doubtful it will be unseated in that category any time soon.

Released in 1895, just a year after the popular Model 1894 Winchester lever gun was introduced, the .30-30 Winchester was the first sporting cartridge loaded exclusively with smokeless powder. The original .30-30 Winchester load had a 160-grain round-nosed bullet leaving the muzzle at 1,970 feet per second, a substantial step up from other popular cartridges of the time like the .32-40 Win. (165-grain bullet at 1,450 fps) and .38-55 Win. (255-grain bullet at 1,320 fps).

The cartridge’s speed and power, combined with the lever-action’s capacity and quickness, made it an instant hit as a deer cartridge. Before long, it became a go-to choice for deer hunters.

To read the full article, go here. 

How To Buy a Used Gun at a Fair Price

Above, used rifles at Ron Peterson's Firearms in Albuquerque. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Since I moved to New Mexico eight and a half years ago, I have purchased three guns. Two of the three of them I bought used.

I bought my Winchester Model 12 shotgun online. It was made in 1919 and was priced reasonably. The pre-64 Winchester 94 I bought at Ron Peterson's Firearms in Albuquerque. I was in town to catch an early morning flight and was browsing around the gun store for something to do. I spotted the rifle on a rack, checked it over and found it in great shape (I verified that it was made in 1962), and at a good price. I bought it (I had been looking for one anyway). Those are the only two times I bought a used gun. I have no regrets on either of them.

Outdoor Life posted an article on how to buy a used gun. It is titled, "Use the ‘Rule of Why’ to Help You Buy a Used Gun at a Fair Price."

It begins with:

A few months ago I dropped in at a local gun shop and browsed through the racks of used guns, shouldering shotguns, peering through rifle barrels and flipping price tags in search of the occasional hidden treasure. One price tag stopped me in my tracks — it was only about half what is usually asked for a “pre-owned” rifle in that model, caliber and condition, and it even had a scope! Suspecting something fishy, I cautiously slipped the bolt out and peeped into what I expected to be a rust-clogged bore. Nothing. The lands and grooves were as bright and clean as a hound’s tooth.

To read more, go here. 

Lever-Action Rifle Tips and Shooting Techniques

Above, yours truly with my Winchester 94 lever-action. Photo by Larry Lucier.

For those of us who are lever-action rifle enthusiasts, the following article by Dave Emary in Outdoor Life will provide some tips and shooting techniques.

The article was posted in February (wow, it's amazing we're in July already) and the contents are just as valid now as they were a few months ago.

It begins with:

My love affair with lever guns started with a plastic Winchester M94 —— my first toy gun —— and was cemented by my first real rifle, a Winchester 9422 Magnum that was a graduation present. Like me, countless other hunters have fallen under the lever-gun spell. But as we know, fine accuracy isn’t the forte of the platform. That said, there are ways to improve groups and increase the range of your beloved .30/30.

To read more, go here. 

A Lever Action .30-30 Winchester Is Still One of the Best Deer Hunting Rifles

I have not been a hunter. However, I do understand the necessity of hunting to keep animal populations under control do that they don't overrun their food supply.

I have several friends in New Mexico who do hunt deer, elk and other game. Hunting season in New Mexico for deer, for example, is generally from late October through early November. 

In my area, we do have deer and elk populations. Several does got into my inner yard last year. They

tend to go after an apple tree that's in front of my garage. 

I don't know what rifles and calibers are used in New Mexico deer hunting. But, apparently, the .30-30 Winchester in Winchester 94 lever-action rifles are still popular over the years. A 2022 article from Outdoor Life is currently making the rounds online. 

It starts off with:

Over its more than 125-year lifetime, the lever-action .30-30 rifle has arguably killed more whitetail deer than any other single cartridge. And with the cartridge’s popularity still quite high, it’s doubtful it will be unseated in that category any time soon.

Released in 1895, just a year after the popular Model 1894 Winchester lever gun was introduced, the .30-30 Winchester was the first sporting cartridge loaded exclusively with smokeless powder. The original .30-30 Winchester load had a 160-grain round-nosed bullet leaving the muzzle at 1,970 feet per second, a substantial step up from other popular cartridges of the time like the .32-40 Win. (165-grain bullet at 1,450 fps) and .38-55 Win. (255-grain bullet at 1,320 fps).

The cartridge’s speed and power, combined with the lever-action’s capacity and quickness, made it an instant hit as a deer cartridge. Before long, it became a go-to choice for deer hunters.

As major ammunition companies caught on to the .30-30’s popularity, they began manufacturing loads specifically for lever guns—the two most popular were topped with 150-grain and 170-grain round-nosed slugs. The reason for the round nose was obvious—since the gun’s tube magazine held ammunition stacked tip-to-primer, a pointed-nosed bullet denting a primer could lead to an accidental discharge in the magazine. Ironically, that round-tipped ammo led to the cartridge’s fall from grace when longer-range cartridges with pointed tips and superior ballistics hit the market years later.

Yet despite competition from the .308, .30-06, and .270—all fine deer cartridges in their own right—the .30-30 has continued to be popular with many hunters over several generations.

To read more, go here. 

The 9 Best (and 6 Worst) Things About Lever-Actions

Above, the pre-64 Winchester 94 I bought in 2019. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Regular readers of this blog know that my favorite rifle is my 1962 Winchester 94 .30-30 lever-action carbine that I bought seven years ago. 

There are many other lever-action rifles available. Some are better than others, as in anything manmade.

John B. Snow posted an article at Outdoor Life on the nine best things about lever-actions and six reasons why they suck. If course, that's one man's opinion. It is still worth reading.

The article beings with: 

The first centerfire rifle I ever laid hands on was a lever action, a .30/30 Model 94 that was produced in Winchester’s factory less than 20 minutes from my childhood home outside New Haven, Connecticut. It was in a display rack with a dozen identical 94s in a hardware store in town. I was already the proud owner of a Daisy Red Ryder BB gun so I knew how it worked, and the first time I cycled the lever and heard the unmistakable chik-chik sound it made I was hooked. I’ve been under the spell of lever actions ever since.

Lever actions are truly America’s rifle. With all due respect to our iconic bolt actions, the ubiquitous AR, and the Kentucky squirrel rifles of old, the lever gun is the first among equals. And their popularity keeps chugging along, despite the antiquity of the platform.

There are so many things to love about lever actions but, if I’m being honest, they have their drawbacks too. These are the qualities that make them awesome, along with a list of their shortcomings.

To read more, go here.

Jack O’Connor On America’s Number One Sporting Rifle

Above, purchasing my Winchester 94 in 2019 in Albuquerque. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Regular readers of this blog know that the Winchester 94 lever-action rifle is my favorite firearm. I had been looking for a pre-1964 rifle in .30-30 caliber for some time. 

I got lucky in 2019 when I was in Albuquerque to fly to Fort Lauderdale, Florida to embark on a cruise to Key West and Cuba when I was perusing in a gun store and found one in great shape and at a great price. I put it on layaway and picked it up when I returned from the cruise.

According to Jack O'Connor, the Winchester 94 is still America's number one sporting rifle. Outdoor Life has posted an article of his on the rifle.

It starts with:

When John Q. Citizen packs the family automobile and heads out for his annual deer hunt, the chances are that the rifle in the back seat, along with the side of bacon and the coffee­pot, is a .30/30. John Q. may be a California fruit grower, a Pennsylvania steel worker, an Illinois clerk. He may be after white-tails, blacktails, or mule deer. But wherever he lives, whatever he hunts, he is probably armed with a .30/30.

To the great bulk of America’s hunters, the terms “deer rifle” and “.30/30” are practically synonymous, and the .30/30 has probably killed more deer than any other rifle ever made. In that respect, its only rival is probably the old .44/40. The .30/30 has been on the market since 1894·, not far from half a century, and by 1927 a million Model 94 Winchesters had been sold, most of them chambered for it. Strange as it may seem, the Model 94 carbine in .30/30 caliber is still Winchester’s best seller, and .30/30 cartridges lead the list for all ammunition companies. 

To read more, go here. 

Jack O’Connor’s Opinion of the Old .30-30 Winchester

The .30-30 Winchester cartridge is an old cartridge. It was first introduced in 1895 for the Winchester 1894 (or Winchester 94). It was the first smokeless cartridge.

Below is the beginning of an article first published in 1953 in Outdoor Life, which is an interesting read. It was posted yesterday in Yahoo! Life.

It begins with:

This story was originally published in the April 1953 issue of Outdoor Life.

The .30/30 is the most used and the most abused of American big-game cartridges — a centre-fire that’s become an all-time best-seller, like Fanny Farmer’s cookbook. It made its bow almost 60 years ago — in 1895, to be exact — in the Winchester Model 94 rifle. It created a revolution in big­-game cartridges compared to which the introduction of such sensational mod­ern jobs as the .270 Winchester and the .220 Swift were but tempests in teapots.

The .30/30 was the first American smokeless-powder cartridge developed solely for big game. It made its ap­pearance at a time when the big old black-powder cartridges were at the peak of their evolution. It vanquished them as speedily as a P-85 jet fighter would destroy a Spad of World War I. It was the father of a whole line of me­dium-power, medium-range cartridges known as “cartridges of the .30/30 class,” but whereas most of the others are dead and dying, the good old thutty­thutty is still going strong.

By 1914 over 700,000 Winchester Model 94 rifles, mostly in .30/30, had been sold, and by 1927 the millionth such rifle was prettied up and presented to President Calvin Coolidge. President Harry S. Truman got No. 1,500,000 in 1948. That’s a whale of a lot of hunting rifles!

 To read more, go here.

Most Accurate Rifle Ammo

Above, one of my personal ammo boxes. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Firearms are constantly being tested by different entities for how well they shoot, workmanship, construction and other factors. Like anything else, some guns are better than others.

So is ammunition. I hadn't given it much thought, personally. But like firearms, some ammo is apparently better than others.

Outdoor Life has posted an article on the "Most Accurate Rifle Ammo".

They begin with:

At Outdoor Life, we’re always seeking to improve how we test and write about gear. The methodology used with our gun tests is something we’ve developed over decades and is, without question, the most comprehensive and rigorous you’ll find. Our signature evaluations include annual shakedowns of the best rifles, best handguns, and best shotguns.

While we’ve written about ammunition plenty in the past, I’ve never been fully satisfied with how we — or anybody else in the outdoor industry — has gone about testing it. Traditionally, an ammunition company would send out a few boxes of a new offering and the writer would blaze through the rounds. Typically a glowing report would follow shortly after, with some numbers from three- or five-shot groups to back it up.

Evaluating ammunition based on such a small sample size has never been our approach. And though we take pains to shoot ammunition in meaningful quantities — we request a minimum of one case of ammo (200 rounds) and more typically two or three cases for a given load — harvesting the data from all that trigger pulling has been difficult.

Our goal is always to gather good accuracy data through multiple rifles (whenever possible) but that’s only part of the equation. We want to collect velocity data as well, capturing the average muzzle velocity, extreme spread (ES), and the standard deviation (SD). Lastly, when applicable, we want to shoot it at distance to see how it behaves at longer ranges. All this is critical to understanding whether a load is consistent or not.

To read more, go here. 

Who Killed the Side-by-Side Shotgun?

Above, the Manton side-by-side shotgun. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

At present, I have several shotguns in my gun collection. The most recent purchases were my Winchester Model 12 (or Model 1912) and a Remington Model 870 Express. Both are in 12 gauge.

I also have a Mossberg 500E .410 Pump Shotgun that I inherited from my dad. 

I also inherited from my dad is a side-by-side (or double-barrel) Manton shotgun made in the 1800s. I didn't know I had it until I found a gun case with something in it and opened it to find the shotgun. I believe it is also a 12 gauge. The Manton is the only side-by-side shotgun I have.

Side-by-side shotguns is the topic of an article from Outdoor Life that was originally published in 1972. It was posted yesterday. The title of the article is "Who Killed the Side-by-Side Shotgun?"

By the way, cartoon character Elmer Fudd is occasionally depicted carrying a side-by-side. 

The Outdoor Life article begins with: 

No other type of firearm conjures up such images in the mind of the beholder as does the side-by-side shotgun. The true believer has only to open the action of a classic side-by-side and he is transported to a land where autumn leaves flutter across frosty earth, where great hunting dogs hold motionless points, where a flannel shirt and old wool tie feel just right under a worn-in shooting coat, and the whole world smells of damp tweed, Rangoon oil, leather hunting bags, and the smoke from old-fashioned paper shotshells.

Reams of manuscript paper have extolled the virtues of the side-by-side, but to my knowledge no one has actually succeeded in divulging its mystique. Whether the 1970’s will go down in history as the golden decade of the side-by-side double remains to be seen. Frankly I doubt it. However, there is no doubt that the side-by-side is making a rather startling comeback from its low point of the 1950’s. At that time, rumor was that the side-by-side would soon be as extinct as the dodo.

While researching for this blog post, I did notice a great number of side-by-side shotguns are for sale.

To read the full article, go here. 

Winchester 94 A Woman's Favorite Deer Rifle

Above, Winchester 94 .30-30 rifle. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

I have rarely, if ever, noticed articles on the Winchester 94 by women shooters/hunters.

One has just been posted at Outdoor Life by Alice Jones Webb. It is about her hand-me-down Winchester 94 that she inherited from her grandfather. It is her favorite deer-hunting rifle.

It is a pre-64 made in 1942.

Here's a snippet from her article:

A Hand-Me-Down Cowboy Gun

I was only 19 when I inherited my grandfather’s beat-up old Winchester 94. My uncle claimed the gun had a lot of character. I thought it looked like it had been dragged 100 miles through gravel, soaked in a mud puddle, and then left to rust in a dusty corner. 

I’d had my heart set on a shiny new semi-automatic rifle chambered in something fast and topped with some high-class glass. Mine would be a rifle that would turn heads at the deer check station and mark me as a serious deer hunter. But that fantasy was crushed by this rusty, scratched-up old cowboy gun that spit empty cases out the top, making a top-mounted scope thoroughly impractical. 

Now that I’m older, with decades of deer seasons under my belt, that Winchester 94 chambered in the immortal .30-30 is one of my prized possessions. I still think that flashy guns, hot rod cartridges, and shiny new optics are fun to shoot. But shooting isn’t deer hunting. 

I now realize that Winchester Model 94 was exactly the gun I needed. 

To read the full article, go here. 

The Best Lever Action Rifles

Above, yours truly with the Winchester 94 bought in 2019. Photo by Larry Lucier.

Until 2019, I had not owned a lever-action rifle. I've wanted one, more so during my retirement years, but hadn't gotten one until I found a 1962 vintage Winchester 94 (or Winchester 1894) in .30-30 Winchester for sale at an Albuquerque gun store I was browsing in.  

It was the model I was looking for and it was in great shape and the price was reasonable (just under $500). Most importantly, it was a pre-64. So I bought it.

Now, it seems everyone else are looking at lever-action rifles these days. Some say they've made a resurgence in popularity. 

One may ask, What are the best lever-action rifles?

Outdoor Life had posted an article by John B. Snow answering that very question earlier this year. It is a mix of new lever-actions being produced along with the classics. It is no surprise that the Winchester 94 made the list.

It begins with:

When I was a kid, there were three reasons I wanted a lever action rifle. First, they were cool. Second, because I grew up just outside New Haven, Conn., the historic home to Marlin and Winchester, they were my hometown guns. Third, they were cheap.

Only one of these things is still true. Lever guns always have been and always will be cool, though they will never again be cheap, nor—barring divine intervention—will they ever again be produced in Gun Valley.

Writing about the top lever action rifles is a bit tricky. Do you focus on the best of all time, which is a great for us nostalgic sorts, or do you talk about great lever action rifles that you can buy new? (Though given some of the lingering shortages, it might be more accurate to say the lever guns you can put yourself on a waiting listing for.)

I tilted this list of the best lever action rifles in favor of those you can order new. Though if you have a hankering for one of the old-time classics, there are plenty to be had on the used market. Just don’t expect to find any bargains. Nearly all quality lever actions command a premium.

To read more, go here. 

The Ammo Shortage 2023

Above, Cabela's ammo shelves during the height of the shortage. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

In many ways, the ammunition shortage still goes on.

Granted, it is less severe than it was over the past two years. In recent months, I have found the ammo shelves fully stocked at Cabela's in Albuquerque. Two years ago, they were almost totally empty. But not all calibers are available and some types of cartridges, like hollow points, are harder to find.

Recently, I had to go online to find .357 Magnum hollow point ammo. Cabela's had .357 Magnum ammo, but not in hollow point, the last time I went there. If I can't buy what I want, I won't buy. 

Above, Cabela's ammo shelves after the shortage started easing. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Outdoor Life posted an article, "The Ammo Shortage Revealed These Truths" last week.

They begin it with:

In his four decades of running D&G Sports and Western in Glasgow, Montana, Darrell Morehouse has never seen ammunition pricing and availability as unpredictable as it’s been in the past three years. That’s telling, considering the several ammo shortages he’s seen through the decades.

Sure, some of what Morehouse calls “crazy-ass” dynamics stem from supply-chain uncertainties and binge buying fueled by the Covid-19 pandemic. But his view from the gun counter at an independent sporting goods store in eastern Montana isn’t that different from the business manager of a bullet manufacturer in Utah.

“We’re in reaction mode, just trying to keep up with changing situations almost on a daily basis,” says Michael Painter, director of marketing and product management for Barnes Bullets. “We’re probably better off than a lot of our competitors because we’ve brought so much of our manufacturing processes in-house, but I can tell you that every day is some kind of a new challenge.”

One day it might be a scramble to find a new source of gunpowder that Barnes chooses for its factory-loaded ammunition. Another day it might be absorbing a jump in the commodity price of copper, the metal that Barnes, as a pioneer in the non-lead ammunition movement, requires for many of its products. Another day it might be negotiating terms with the distributors who put boxes of the company’s bullets on the shelves of retailers like Morehouse.

To read more, go here. 

How To Buy Ammo Online Without Being Totally Ripped Off

There's an old adage: "If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is!"

That especially goes for some online ammunition deals one may come across during these ammunition shortage days. There's some scam artists out there ready and willing to rip people off by posting "too good to be true" deals on ammunition.

Fortunately, Outdoor Life has posted an article on how to buy ammo online without getting totally ripped off.

They begin it with:

If you’ve been to a sporting goods store or gun shop recently you’ve probably noticed that the ammo shelves are painfully bare. Yep, the ammo shortage (which has a variety of contributing factors) is continuing on with no clear end in sight.

The huge demand for ammunition in the consumer market is still outpacing the production capabilities of the ammo industry, and prices are double and sometimes triple what they were a year and a half ago. These issues are only spurred on by the constant threat of stricter gun control measures. While many gun owners have been hoping these conditions would be temporary and that things would go back to normal quickly, it now looks like this is how it’s going to be for the foreseeable future.

For many gun owners who want to buy ammunition now, finding it online is their only real option. But buying ammunition online is fraught its own issues. Ammo prices fluctuate wildly, shady pop-up web sites look to scam consumers, laws vary from state to state, and stricter ammo purchasing legislation is being proposed all the time. But the upside is that you can find ammo online, and if you’re diligent and patient, you can find it at somewhat reasonable prices. Here’s what you should know before you go to purchase ammunition online.

To read more, go here. 

Report: Rangers Face Abuse and Threats

Above, a park ranger at work in Yellowstone National Park. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Park rangers provide a valuable service to visitors to our national parks and national forests. In all my interactions with rangers, they have been positive experiences. They are great people, but they are increasingly being subjected to abusive behavior.

Outdoor Life has an article on what park rangers face these days. It's a sad state of affairs and it must stop.

They begin with:

Abuse and threats go hand-in-hand with being a forest or park ranger in 2019, according to a new report recently released by the Government Accounting Office. 

Rangers for the Forest Service, National Park Service and other land management agencies catch the brunt of everything from hostile language to threats with weapons to domestic terrorism, says the report, breathlessly titled Federal Land Management Agencies, Additional Actions Needed to Address Facility Security Assessment Requirements. 

The investigation was requested by Congress and reviewed threats against public land managers from 2013-17.

To read more, go here.