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Tag: 30-30 winchester

Sometimes It Pays to Shoot and Oddball Caliber

Hunting, Preparedness Articles
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remington model 700

As we all know just about all types of ammo is sold out. First the first time in my life I can not find 30-30 Winchester, or even 270 Winchester.

You want to know what I can find? 280 Remington / 7mm Express.

In the mid-1990s I asked for and received as a Christmas present a Remington model 700 mountain rifle chambered in 280 Remington. In the 1990s and into the mid-2000s 280 Remington was comparable to 270 Winchester and 30-06 Springfield. Over the past decade or so 280 Ammo went from around $18 a box to close to $30 a box for Remington core-lokt.

The writing was on the wall, either buy another deer rifle or spend a fortune on 280 Remington ammunition, so I opted for a 308 Winchester and a Marlin 336 chambered in 30-30 Winchester. This gave me three deer rifles in proven calibers.

Is The 30-30 Winchester Obsolete

Hunting, Videos
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Hunting ammunition

With the innovation newer cartridges, is the 30-30 Winchester obsolete? This question arises from comments on a YouTube video I made about stockpiling ammo.

A John Rambo commented

It’s super popular because it’s been around since 1895. It makes a good youth deer rifle.

I’ve had to help a lot of people track wounded deers that they had hit with a 30-30. A 270 or 30-06 drops them rather quickly. I usually use a lever action Marlin 44mag a lot also.

I respectfully disagree. I have seen first hand time and time again what the 30-30 Winchester does to whitetail deer.

For close to a dozen years or so my dad and I were members of a local hunting lease. I would see the deer members brought in, and sometimes helped them skin the deer.

Typical deer camp stories were told of what time the deer came out, how many there were,,,. Whether it was a 30-30, 270, 308, 30-06,,, all the deer had something in common, they were dead.

As for having to track a deer, it is all about bullet placement. In world war I and world war II, the Army used to shoot deserters. There are stories of a deserters being with an M1 garand and living for several seconds.

The story of Eddie Slovik

Picking a Rifle Caliber For a Long Term SHTF Situation

Survival Gear
2 Comments
.30 caliber survival rifle

If you were going to pick a rifle caliber for a long term SHTF situation, what would that caliber be?

For some reason I woke up this morning thinking about my 7mm express / 280 Remington and how the panic buying in the first half of 2013 caused a shortage in ammunition supplies.

When I got my Remington model 700 in 280 I wanted something that was around the 270 or 30-06, and something that would work on heavier game such as elk and moose.

In all honestly I put too much though into picking the 280 Remington. While it is a fine caliber, the price of ammunition has gone up so much shooting has gotten downright expensive. With a box of 20 rounds costing more than $25 stockpiling is cost prohibitive.

Lets be perfectly honest, there is nothing the 280 Remington / 7mm express can not do that either the 270 Winchester or 30-06 Springfield can not do.

Well Rounded Ammunition Stockpile For SHTF

Survival Gear
3 Comments
white tail deer and atv

As I was stacking a new box of 30-30 Winchester (Remington core-lokt 150 grain) and a box of 12 gauge slugs on the shelf, I started thinking about having a well rounded ammunition stockpile.

When talking about ammunition, we need to realize that there is no perfect answer. I live and hunt in southeast Texas, my longest shots are in the 125 yard range. 200 yards is a long shot for this area. The only place we get to see 200 yards, much less shoot that far is either on a pipeline or a highline.

In New Mexico, west Texas, Arizona, Colorado,,, 200 yards might be a short shot.

Talking about stockpiling firearms and ammunition for a long term SHTF survival situation is like talking about trucks. Do you need a truck to pull a boat down to the local boat launch, or do you need a tractor trailer rig to pull 60 tons?

Someone in the south with dense timber will probably do just fine with a 30-30 or 308. Someone making 200 and 300 yard shots may need a 25-06, 7mm magnum, 300 Winchester magnum, 30-06,,,. Someone in Alaska where grizzly is an everyday threat, maybe something like a 338 Winchester Magnum, 375 H&H or 12 gauge slug.

Lets use this article as a generalization, rather then an exact science.

To kick off the discussion, lets start with the two boxes I bought today:

1 box – 30-30 Winchester (Remington core-lokt 150 grain).

1 box – 12 gauge 2 3/4 inch Winchester 1 ounce slug.

30-30 Winchester

Best 30 Caliber SHTF Survival Rifle

Hunting, Survival Gear
1 Comment
.30 caliber survival rifle

If you were going to pick a .30 caliber rifle for a SHTF survival rifle, which one would it be? The contestants are: 7.62×39, 30-30, 308 and the 30-06. Lets take a look at each of those calibers, and what rifles their currently available in.

For the sake of discussion, the 30-06 is the largest caliber that will listed in this article.

7.62X39 For SHTF

The 7.62×39 was made famous by the AK-47 and SKS, developed in 1943, has seen service in major conflicts all over the world, available in civilian rifles such as the Ruger Mini-30 and various bolt action rifles.

  • Bullet weight: 110 – 155 grain
  • Muzzle velocity: 1,900 – 2,100 fps, depending on load
  • Effective range: around 350 meters
  • Availability: Plenty

There are at least 3 things that makes the 7.62X39 a good choice as a survival rifle – 1. Availability of ammunition, 2. Availability of rifles, 3. Low recoil.

Good Deer Rifle for Teenage Girl

Hunting
Comments
white tail deer and atv

My daughter is about ready for her first deer rifle, but I’am not quite sure which direction I should go. All of my other kids have a Marlin 336 in 30-30. For here in East Texas most of our shots are no more then 100 yards, and she will not want anything with recoil. With these east Texas deer, we are talking maybe 125 – 150 pounds.

I would like to stay away from calibers like the 270, 280 and the 30-06, they have too much recoil. On the flip side the coin, I don’t care for shooting deer with the 6mm or 243 either. The smallest diameter caliber I would go with would maybe the 257 Roberts.

Ruger Mini-30 in 7.62X39

The Ruger mini-30 is a semi-auto, 30 caliber bullet and effective out to our average range of 100 yards.

Stockpiling SHTF Survival Rifle Ammunition

Hunting, Survival Gear
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Whitetail deer taken with a 270 Winchester bolt action rifle

It was the last weekend of regular deer season, Saturday night. A long time member of the deer lease drives up to the camp, and backs his truck up to the scales. That is usually a sure sign that there is a deer in the back of the truck. They get the doe weighed and are stringing it up to skin when I walk out there.

As the skinning of the deer proceeds, there are a few of us standing around helping and watching. The topic turns to the cost of ammunition and bullet performance.

Like a lot of hunters, I tend to buy the cheapest ammo on the shelf – and that is usually Remington Core-Lokt. Over the past 14,,,, 15+ years Core-Lokt is about all that I have bought and shot deer with. During that time I have had no complaints. There is usually a hole going in and a larger hole going out.

The guy who shot the doe goes on to talk about Remington Core-Lokt and how he has since switched to Winchester softpoints. The rifle the guy used was a 270,,,, I do not remember the exact make or model. After talking for a little while, the person who shot the whitetail deer said that he has not been happy with the performance of the Remington Core-Lokt lately and that he felt it may not be expanding like it should. So he switched to the Winchester softpoints.

Organizing Your Bug Out Location

Preparedness Articles
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cooking post shtfThe other day my wife and I were up at the camp / bug out location checking on things. We go up there, check the doors, check the windows, look for any physical damage that might have resulted from a break in. We also take inventory – bottled water, soft drinks, plates, plastic spoons and forks, canned goods, MREs, ammo,,,, stuff like that.

While I was checking the front bed room and closet, I noticed that the closet has a lot of wasted room. In the right hand corner of the closet sites 2 or 3 ammo cans loaded with 223, 7.62×39, 9mm, 357 magnum, and 45 acp. Besides the ammo cans, there is a lot of wasted space that could be used for shelving.

Awhile back I posted a thread in the forum about organizing my MRE stockpile. But that thread only talked about organizing your MREs, but what about everything else?

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