For all the cowboys

[CharlesHarris]

A fellow living in a place which restricts civilian ownership of semi-automatic rifles can do lots worse than choosing a lever-action .30-30. The .30-30 is ubiquitous. Guns and ammo are sold just about everywhere. A rural lawman, farmer or forester could find .30-30s at any crossroads grocery.

I bought several .30-30s just to exploit the THOUSANDS of rounds of range pickup brass gleaned at public ranges over the years. Lever actions remain popular in rural areas of America because they are affordable, plentiful, and familiar and they work. In remote regions of Latin America a .30-30 is the only high-power rifle many people have heard of.

Accuracy of the average lever-action .30-30 is not spectacular, but is adequate for the utilitarian. 10cm groups at 100 metres are normal for iron sights. A peep sight provides useful improvement over traditional open sights, because it is faster in snap shooting and obstructs less of the target than open buckhorns. Use a threaded target aperture in bright light and simply unscrew the disk at twilight.

If you accept the fact that a .30-30 was a “short range” (meaning less than 200 yards in the Infantry sense) rifle, iron sights should be zeroed so that when using a “fine bead” (drawn down into the notch) factory loads strike about 10 cm high at 100 metres. This provides a 150-metre point-blank range, which defines the realistic limit for factory loads fired from a typical 1 mil dispersion utility carbine. With the factory open rear, step-elevator sights moving the sight one step on the elevator adjusts the point of impact about 1 mil 3. Setting factory open rear sights on the second step generally brings point of impact up to strike about 10 cm at 100 metres, which is a good field zero for most hunting. So zeroed, if you to take a 6:00 hold on the brisket of a deer, you will make a good hit as long as you have hair under the bead and no daylight above the bead sight.

If your deer is far enough away that the front sight bead bead covers the animal from shoulder to brisket, then hold right there and shoot. Covering the forequarters of the animal with the bead should give a solid hit if you do your part out to about 150 metres, about the maximum effective range of a .30-30. If the animal is far enough out that you cannot see enough of the animal around the bead to clearly identify the head and hindquarters, then it is probably over 200 metres and too far to shoot at and be sure of a humane kill. People who used irons sights as they were intended to be brought alot of venison home.

A “coarse bead” hold was a common long-range expedient a hundred years ago when the .30-30 was our first flat-trajectory, smokeless powder big game rifle. Here the bead is centered between the points of the semi-buckhorn, while the flat front sight base is raised to bridge the gap across the lower notch. This provides a useful zero out to 200 meters or so.

Lever guns have a less-threatening appearance than the "Evil Black Rifle" which is less likely to “scare the natives."

If you want to mount a scope on your lever gun the Marlin enables optics to be mounted low, over the bore, where they belong for snap-shooting. The Marlin breech-bolt, lever and ejector are easily removed to enable cleaning from the breech, avoiding wearing out the muzzle crown. A scope was indeed a help for anyone over age 40 to reduce sighting errors. But iron sights are simple and “best for conscript troops and farm boys,” Dad said. “Once zeroed you can forget the darned things until you get too old to see them.”