jmr40 said:
Just because you never plan to shoot past 50-100 yards is no reason to handicap yourself with a rifle and load that won't do better. This is my brush gun. Bought new it cost less than a Marlin 30-30 used. It weighs exactly the same even with the scope as a Marlin 30-30 naked, and is the same length. It puts 3 shots into one ragged hole at 100 yards. Felt recoil is about the same as 30-30.
.30 WCF is not an 'inherently inaccurate' cartridge. Nor is the Marlin 336 (or 36) an 'inherently inaccurate' rifle. I know you did not say that, but it seems to be what you're getting at.
Like any other rifle, they're always held back by the shooter's skill. If the shooter sucks with iron sights (which most do), you shouldn't blame the rifle.
And the cartridge has more than enough 'poop' to it. People seem to think that .300 Blackout is more than enough for the job, even though it pales in comparison to .30 WCF and is only marginally better than .30 Carbine.
jmr40 said:
The trajectory between 50-150 yards is never more than 3/4" above or below my line of sight and it still has enough power to take a deer at 400 yards if needed. The scope allows me to see game well past being too dark to see with irons and the flat trajectory along with optics allow me to shoot through tiny openings in brush not possible with traditional brush gun chamberings
In 2012, I bagged a Bull Elk with one of my .444 Marlins mentioned earlier in this thread. I used a 275 gr soft point bullet, using a .40 S&W case as a jacket, and launched at 2,332 fps (10 ft from muzzle).
The first shot went
through a tree, and was fatal.
The second shot, just to 'anchor' the bull and make sure he didn't run into
even nastier terrain, went through
another tree.
Bullet number two was recovered, had perfect expansion, and still weighed 182 grains (66% weight retention). Under no circumstances would I trust .243 Win to provide the same results ... not to mention the fact, that the .243 would be starting out with a bullet that weighed half as much as the .444 bullet ended up at
after passing through a tree, thick hide, muscle, 8 inches of bone, more muscle, and some more hide.
I completely understand that my situation is not the same as guys whose hunting generally maxes out at whitetail sized game. But, for people like me, in terrain like where I shot that bull, .243 Win is barely a step up from a pellet rifle. And a scope, unless it's a 1x or 1.5x, is a major hindrance and the most common factor in missed shot opportunities (people can't get the scope on target quick enough).
About as light as I've ever gone, even with some self-enforced limitations, was .30 WCF. Generally, I'm looking at 7.62x54R or .270 Win at the bottom end for 'brush gun' duty (and both of the .30 WCFs are .444s now, anyway).