Quote:
Originally Posted by RPKESQ
A .30-30 will do the same as a .45-70 with greater versatility without handloading. People forget what a great killer the .30-30 is with the 170 gr. bullets. Much better sectional density and penitration. With the new soft plastic tip bullets they offer much better trajectory too. Plenty of loads available and commonly available everywhere in NA.
The .30-30 eclipsed all former lever action rifle rounds until the Win. 1895 .30-'06 came out. Every species of game in NA from Polar Bear to Pronghorns were routinely taken easily with the .30-30.
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True, on smaller game, like deer up to the size of mulies, a .30-30 is all you need. However, with first hand experience in actually killing animals with both, I'll have to say the .45-70 hits much, much harder. It penetrates far deeper, if loaded properly. Hard cast semi wadcutter bullets (I use the RCBS .45-400 gas check bullet cast from wheel weights and quenched) it will shoot lengthwise through an elk and exit. No .30-30 will ever do that.
The factory loaded 400 grain JSP's in the .45-70 won't do that either. The only way to achieve that kind of performance is to handload, or to buy the Garret or Buffalo Bore ammo. That said, the standard 400 grain soft point at 1300 fps will out-penetrate any .30-30 loading. Not as dramatically as a hard cast semi wadcutter, but it still represents a healthy increase in penetration over the .30-30.