Would a .30-30 Lever action be a good enough Garbage Hits The Fan rifle? Or should I bite the bullet and still go after an AK or AR.
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Would a .30-30 Lever action be a good enough Garbage Hits The Fan rifle? Or should I bite the bullet and still go after an AK or AR.
If the garbage is deer, there's only one of them, and it's less than 50 yards away, then yes, a 30-30 is good enough.
To me the RIGHT lever would be an excellent weapon for the GHTF thing.
A lever with a 16" bbl. A lever chambered in .44mag,.45LC,.454 Casull,and on the low powered end,the .357 Mag. But with the excellent loadings now (180 and 200 grain hard cast) the .357 is right up there.
In the SHTF thing you will need a fairly accurate long gun. A weapon that is capeable of putting rds. on a man sized target out to 150-200 yds. (not miles,as some people think) All the above can do this. AND !! with a magazine capacity of 8-10 shots.
Also one weapon that can be loaded like a .22,down the mag tube or thru a under side hole in the mag tube. Not thru a loading gate. Also unloaded by unscrewing the end of the mag tube and simply dumping the rds. out.
With the proper fiber optic(if sturdy) sights,or even night sights this would be a great "close" in defensive weapon.
Not a M1A or an FN but a great weapon. ------
I think that a lever action can be a great GHTF rifle! While I have both a lever action and an AR, I would grab the AR first...BUT I think that a lever action, even in 30-30 could handle a good portion of situations that you can throw at it...especially if you do your part.
But come on...you just need an excuese to buy another gun so I'll give it to you. "no the 30-30 won't do...you must go out right now and buy an AK or an AR!" :smile: :smile:
The other great thing about the lever action is that it is non-menacing - recognizable as a 'sportsman's' or cowboy rifle even to the non-gun folks - and not one of those black evil rifles. ;)
The question I have beyond everything else is how much ammo you can store at a reasonable price - and what happens if you have to engage multiple unhappy targets that aren't bearing flowers in their arms with eternal love for you as a fellow human.
I want something a hair faster on follow up shots than a lever or a bolt gun if that garbage transpires.
Lots of us folk have taken deer at over 100yds with our trusty 30-30 levers, with a single shot. Don't sell the 30-30 lever short, granted it doesn't have the quick follow up an AK does, but in the hands of a good shooter it will do the job.Quote:
Originally Posted by kairo
There are also 30/30 sabot rounds available - posted just as an FYI.
I keep a lever 30-30 in my truck. When it is hanging in the back, it doesn't get any reaction from the sheeple......try that with an AR......
If I'm planning on a fight, I'd rather have the AR (a lot more bullets available).
Mossad Ayoob mentioned something simular. A powerful rifle, however, doesn't have that Assault Weapon look. But then again, a Mini-14 doesn't have much of an assault weapon look either.Quote:
Originally Posted by joe/OH
That being said, I love my 30-30. I have a Marlin 336. It's simple, accurate, Walmart has ammo for it (although I do have reloading dies for 30-30), and best of all, it's reliable. Wanna make them tactical?
http://xssights.com/store/pix/catalo...lever-rail.jpg
Also, I stumbled across this article from Gabe Suarez about the tactical lever action.
http://www.suarezinternational.com/leveraction.html
Good enough? Yes, they have been since the 1860s (lever guns that is, not the 30/30). :wink:Quote:
Would a .30-30 Lever action be a good enough Garbage Hits The Fan rifle?
They may not be as fast on the follow up shot as an auto, but you need to watch someone who is good with a levergun, they can be damned fast. They are faster at "topping off" the magazine though. The 30WCF cartridge is not a 50 or 100 yard only proposition, you can do some excellent longer range work with them IF you're a rifleman. Here's a cute article by a friend of mine who did some long range work at the Shootists Holiday.
http://www.leverguns.com/articles/ta...0longrange.htm
Another thing to research is the ballistics of the old 30-30 vis the 7.62x39, you may find it humorous.
This is the exact subject I have spent the last 2-3 days researching. Here is what I have gathered, and my impressions of the facts.
1) Lever actions are only a tic or two slower than semi-autos.
2) Can be had in many useful calibers, but the 30-30's ballistics are almost identical to the ever-popular 7.62x39.
3) The new Leverevolution ammo extends the effective range of the 30-30. So well placed shots out to 300yrds are not out of the question.
4) If I was not snowed in, I would probably be out buying one today and giving it a try-out at deer-camp this weekend.
5) I have a feeling that the AR/AK guys are going to be very low on ammo very quickly if the SHTF. Not because there isn't a lot of it, but because the tendency will be to waste ammo because there is a lot of it and they can fire very quickly.
Who was it...?....Cooper IIRC,that said,"beware of a man that owns but one rifle,he probably knows how to use it."
This was said about a bolt or lever,NOT an auto.Timed,well placed shots will be the winner in the SHTF thing. Not keep 'em pinned down with a hail of fire,nor, spray and pray.
I'll engauge anyone that has an auto, with the lever built to my specs, at most any of the "truly reasonable ranges".
We're not talkin' sniper stuff here.-------
There ya have it in a nutshell.Quote:
and what happens if you have to engage multiple unhappy targets that aren't bearing flowers in their arms with eternal love for you as a fellow human.
Effective but slow.
and in a gunfight...slow is dead.
One hit is better then 20 misses. The lever action is less likely to jam then an AR. I t can be so dirty that the lever can hardly move but it will still function. I have known people who had leveractions that the only cleaning done on it was top run a patch through the bore after each hunting season, never cleaning any other part of the rifle.
I might concider buying an AK sometime, or if I can come up with the money an M1A. I can buy 3 lever action Marlins for the price of a cheap M1A.
In an emergency I will always grab a lever action first because of the dependability and lightness of the rifle, plus my ability to use it. I have had available and used lever actions since I was 12 yrs old.
If they had issue leveractions in Nam instead of that POS M16 there would be a lot of people still alive who died trying to clear jams.