hunting with a 30 carbine

C

coyota1

New member
Does anybody hunt with a 30 carbine besides me? I have a Universal, but it is a good accurate shooter. I have bunny hunted with it, and I plan on short range coyote hunting, or what ever varmint that is in range.
 
My favorite "just for fun" gun of all time. Mines a "45 Rocky. With handloads using Reminington soft points or (better yet) Winchester hollow points it's more than good enough for coyotes and even jack rabbits.
 
I owned 2 of'm at different times. With a FMJ bullet they do ok for shooting small game to eat. If you can find a SP or HP that will expand they do ok on coyote sized vermin.
 
I have several boxes of hp's and sp's as well as fmj. It is legal to shoot deer with it, but it's not enough gun for a brisket shot.
 
I don't know where it is now but somewhere, I have a picture of my father with a Water Buffalo he killed with a M1 Carbine and mil ball during WWII in the South Pacific.

Not to be out done, I killed one in Vietnam with a M16a1 with M-193 ball.

IF you limit your range to 100 yards, using soft point bullets the carbine round is plenty for deer.

In normal loadings the 30 cal M1 has more energy then the 357 mag.
 
kraigway, Isn't a water buffalo considered dangerous game?? I know the 30 carbine can be loaded to produce a little over 1000 fp which is considered minimum for dear. I would like to say I did, but I don't want to wound one and not recover it.
 
No sir,

You're thinking cape buffalo.

Don't think I'd use a 30 cal on cape buffalo, I have a 375 H&H, 416 Rigby and a 458 WM for that.
 
I know cape buffalo are ornery, dangerous, and hard to kill, I just didn't know exactly what water buffalo are. I still wouldn't want to tick one off unless I was armed with your 458.
 
I have a good friend and hunting buddy that owns an M1 carbine. We have hunted (erradicated) rabbits and skunks with it, and hunted small pigs. He has also taken a few small(er) deer with it. It is a very nifty little gun, and I look forward to owning one some day.

Sent from my HTC One X
 
I killed my first deer with a 30 carbine using Winchester hollow point ammo. One heart shot on a SMALL mule deer buck at 100 yards. The bullet barely made it into the heart and stopped there.
 
I have killed most of my deer with a 357 magnum carbine. Power wise the 30 and the 357 from a carbine are very similar. I think you should be fine if you can place your shots.

Most of my shots on deer with the 357 are from my back porch using the rail and a lawn chair like a bench. Never had one go farther than 15 yards. Shot deer from a rand of 20-60 yards most of the time.

When I am actually out walking around to hunt I use a 45/70...
 
Last edited:
Are the 357's loaded for a rifle, or are they factory? As far as I know there are no 357's loaded specifically for a rifle. If there are I would like to know.
 
When I was in Jr high and high school it seemed that every country kid I knew (myself included) had one. We killed jackrabbits and coyotes with them, and also shot them like "big 22s"
Ammo was really cheap then. We bought it by the case at Sears and Western Auto.
Then one day all the surplus ammo dried up and we could no longer afford to shoot our M-1 Carbines and most of us (myself included again ) sold them off or traded them off.
I had a WW2 Inland. It was fun. They were cheap and easy to find then. They sure are not now.
 
Yeah, the price went crazy for the real ones. That's why I ended up with a Universal carbine. It does have a walnut stock and top piece (or what ever it's called). It is reliable and accurate for what I would expect for this gun.
 
as far as the hunting loads of 357 that are simular to a 30 carbine there are some hot factory loads such as buffalo bore 158 grain bullets at 2150FPS or you can hand load and get pretty close with that using slower powder.

https://www.buffalobore.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=102

the 357 magnum gains alot of power from longer barrels unlike most semiautomatic pistol rounds. that is a bit over 1600 foot pounds of energy. Buffalo bore is very good about publishing accurate numbers.

my personal loads are not quite that hot but they still do pretty good. I can get 1950FPS from the same barrel length.

and no they are just normal loads, I also know of no 357 magnum rounds loaded specifically for rifles.
 
Last edited:
Not to be out done, I killed one in Vietnam with a M16a1 with M-193 ball.
Click to expand...

Kraigwy, does that mean that you shot some poor farmer's beast of burden, or was there such a thing as wild Water Buffalo in Viet Nam? I know that Australia has wild (Ferrel) Water Buffalo, but do not know if V.N. has.
 
Kraigwy, does that mean that you shot some poor farmer's beast of burden, or was there such a thing as wild Water Buffalo in Viet Nam?
Click to expand...

Yeah they were domestic beast of burden to Vientamse, but those suckers hated GIs. We had more then one guy get medivaced because of those critters.
 
Indiana's odd caliber/ammo regs make 30 Carbine NOT legal for hunting, same with 38 Special, but 357 magnum is in either a handgun or a rifle. Go Figure.
 
I've heard of states outlawing 30 carbine, or 22 centerfire. I understand their intentions like good little bureaucrats. I believe P.O Ackley designed a 23 caliber wildcat just to be cute.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top