SC Whitetail Deer with a .30 Carbine?

Bullet selection is the obvious problem, even for a reloader. Whatever decent hunting bullet you choose must also feed properly.

Next, of course, is the intended use: In military combat, you're not concerned with ethical kills, nor do you have to stop shooting just because an enemy falls to the ground. In civilian self-defense, you're not concerned with ethical kills, either, but you are supposed to stop shooting when the immediate threat ceases. In hunting, the optimum is a clean and ethical DRT kill.

Hey, I really, really enjoyed driving open-wheel race cars, but they don't haul loads of cargo as nearly as well as does my pickup truck.
 
i've killed 4 deer with a 30carbine ,2 with a GI carbine and 2 with a ruger blackhawk all using corbon ammo and all under 50yards. not my first choice but it will work under the right conditions
 
a friend that lives in north Florida hunts deer with his ruger sbh 7.5" bbl chambered in .30 car.

he has no problem taking deer with it.

as in all shooting its all about shot placement.
 
Do, the question I posed is not ironic considering my taglin of "always Bring Enough Gun." That is why I am asking the question, is it enough gun? It is actually a logical progression from my tagline. Anyways...now I see hunters coming on board that have shot deer with the round and been successful. I love vintage rifles, especially military ones. The thrill would be to see if the old warhorse can be useful in my hunts. My K98 is superb, the K31 Swiss does wonders, the Lee Enfield is great. The Swede shoots sweet, the AR in 6.8 is the best of all. But, I am curious, how will this great little gun do?
 
i don't understand this conversation. the 30 carbine was used by soldiers during war to stop men. ruger makes a blackhawk in 30 carbine for hunting, t/c makes a 30 carbine barrel for its hunting pistols. people use 357 in rifles and pistols all the time for deer with great success with less power.

there is always a "better" caliber or a "better" choice. someone will recommend a 243, someone else will says that is to under powered and recommend a 270, others will say nothing under a 30/06 is suitable, someone else will up the anti to a 300 mag and before you know it someone will say nothing under a 458 mag is suitable.

know your gun, know your game and know both you and the guns limitations. i see people are hunting deer with 223's claiming good success even tho they are illegal in some states. certainly a 30 carbine within a reasonable range is a reasonable choice.
 
The carbine had it's share of wartime detractors, who compared it to the Garand, but it also had it's advocates. The most famouse being Audie Murphy, who had a habit of hunting German snipers with his. He liked his so much, that when the stock cracked, he wired it back together, and refused the offer of a replacement.
With SP bullets, the 30 carbine is a great cartridge fo HD. My CMP Inland is my goto longarm for SD, even though I have 12ga, 5.56mm, and 7.62x39 options.
I believe that deer would be a suitable use for the M1 carbine if it is used as if handgun hunting. Here in Ohio, a 5" barrel 357 handgun is legal. No reason (other than regulation) an M1 carbine shouldn't be also.
 
The award for sanity goes to rickyjames, amd and a couple others. My original question came about because people around here will hunt deer with 357 and 44's in lever guns all day. Then they pull out the underpower arguement based on anecdotal evidence from old soldiers. Nothing against old soldiers, I am becoming one fast, but sometimes we tend to protest a wee bit much about things.

I am putting the carbine through the paces. If I can be confident of 100 yard or less heart or head shot accuracy I am going to shoot some venison with it. And I will sit there channeling all the great old soldiers that used this weapon to great effect, experience a little history the best way possible.
 
OK I have no problem with shooting a deer or a hog with a .30 carbine. I have taken a few hogs with one. But there is no way I am going after bear, esp. bear that big, with one.
 
Never shot a .30 carbine, but i know 7.62x39 is a good deer killin cartridge. The two might be pretty similar. Thing about the x39 is it can be hard to hit them in the shoulder past 300 or so yards. I've got some folks in the ozarks who get clean kills on deer with .223's. The 30 carbine probably isnt underpowered at all for deer but i dont know much about it. I imagine it would be very similar to x39.
 
Fred, the AK round has some 15% more velocity and about 30% more bullet weight. The shape of the AK bullet gives a much better drag coefficient.

In general, the sights on any military weapon are coarse, and precision shot placement is not as easy as with quality sights. This gets us back to the "clean, ethical kill" which is our goal. The problem holds for the buckhorn sights commonly seen on the Winchester 94--which leads to all the comments about the range limitations.

It seems to me that quite often it is not the cartridge as a cartridge which creates problems so much as it is the total package--which includes sights as well as power. Marginal power + coarse sights = problems.
 
I shot my first deer with a 30 carbine....

looking back at the photos, it appears I double lunged the deer and got an exit wound. I was 10 at the time, so I don't recall performing critical ballistic tests to determine whether or not the round was adequate enough. However, Ido have photos of a dead (texas hill country) deer. I shot the deer at about 75 yards, and I don't think my father would have allowed me to shoot much further.

I don't think I'd try to shoot one of the canadian 300 lb'er whitetails, but I don't see any reason why it would work with good shot placement, under moderate ranges.. probably 100 yards or less..

If you shoot a deer through the heart with a 30 caliber bullet, and it penetrates in and out... or the lungs for that matter, what is the point?

I primarily use a 7mm mag for deer hunting now, but that's only because of the range I can take deer at.
 
I have killed 6 deer within a 50 to 75 yrd range with my 30. carbine. Placement is everything and that Is why I only take neck shots. The deer is down isntantly and is dead by the time I walk over to it.

I never shoot a deer while it is running and if it is walking, it has to be within a 100yrds regardless of the rifle I am using.

Everyone who hunts, should be tuned up with there shooting skills to take a placement shot with in 100yrds. If you are tuned up, you will have the blessings of toating around a very light and fast moving carbine to harvest your deer with. :) Now is the time to be at range honing your shooting skills, before firearms season opens.
 
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