B & R Photography

This week lets talk about the .30 Winchester Center Fire or as its more commonly known the .30-30 Winchester. The cartridge was designed in 1895 specifically for the Winchester Model 1894 lever action rifle. It was one of the first small-bore cartridges that used smokeless powders. The .30-30 is a very popular lever action rifle round due to its ability to out shoot most magnum handgun rounds that can be found in lever action rifles but also the fact it shoots flatter and further with more down range energy. Most lever action rifles are used for shorter ranges and quick target acquisition as they are typically faster than a bolt action rifle and tend to come with iron sights installed at the factory. That said some of these rifles do come with scope mounts or longer target sights that allow the user to reach further out.

The naming convention on this one is a little different. The first .30 stands for the cartridge’s projectile caliber, the -30 stands for the standard powder charge of 30 grains. This was based on early smokeless powder developments and follows the typical naming conventions for rifles that show a black powder cartridge. The most common loadings at the time of release were a 150-grain projectile and 170-grain projectile travelling at 2,390 fps and 2,200 fps respectively out of a 24” barrel. If you are a handloader it is common to load anywhere from 130 grain projectiles all the way to 190 grain projectiles.

Most ballistics for the .30-30 say to keep it within 200 yards as the rifles effectiveness on game starts to take a deep loss in performance after this distance. I myself have owned one and it made a great light weight close quarters rifle. It would accompany me on many bow hunts as a backup when chasing black bear. Speaking of hunting this cartridge was commonly used all across Canada for taking its plethora of game animals, including but not limited to; Moose, Deer, Elk, Caribou, Black Bear, Brown Bear, Coyote, Wolf and Cougar.

While mostly found in lever actions this cartridge can be found in single shot applications due to it having a rim as well as some handgun applications.

As far as trajectory goes the

200 Yards: 7.13”

500 Yards: 126.47”

1000 Yards: 1,054.15”

(Please note the above trajectory information was pulled from https://gundata.org/blog/post/30-30-ballistics-chart/)

Short Notes.

Official Name: .30 Winchester Center Fire (.30 WCF or .30-30 Winchester or .30-30.)

Year Designed: 1895.

Designed by: Winchester.

Parent Case: .38-55 Winchester.

Rifling Twist Rate: 1:10 or 1:12 (dependent on manufacturer.)

Maximum Point-Blank Range: Roughly 150 to 200 Yards depending on cartridge loading.

I hope you enjoyed this brief overview of the .30-30 Winchester and will return next week for our next Cartridge of the Week.

Please remember to always practice safe muzzle control when dealing with firearms and happy shooting.

B