I was curios what a pre 64 Win 30-30 lever action may be worth. Here are some results
duckduckgo.com
There is a lot of variation in cost depending on condition and model but many pre 64 30-30 levers seem to be in the $1250. to $2000. US dollar range but some lower. A number of desirable rarer Winchester lever rifles/variants in different calibers are in the many thousands of dollars. Seems to be lots in the 3000 to 6000 thousand range and as high as $12000. US dollars so it is not surprising that you would get a lot of calls if you are selling a Winchester lever rifle for a few hundred. People are hoping, it is pre 64 and one of the desirable ones and you do not know what you have. The serial number tells you information such as when it was manufactured.
I have a soft spot in my heart for the 30-30 as I learned to hunt with my father when I was 11 years old using and old 1940's Savage 30-30 single shot. When you have to take a round out of your pocket, open up the rifle and reload for the second shot you learn to make the first shot count.
Got my share of Van. Island Blacktail deer with that rifle and the 30-30 caliber is OK for short range bush hunting but there are lots of better calibers and most of the deer I shot were in the 15 to 70 yard range. The 308 is a more accurate caliber and has been used for competition shooting, - not so much the 30-30. Further the lever rifle is never going to achieve the accuracy of a good tuned up bolt action rifle.
The Win 30-30 commercial ammo all uses the blunt flat faced bullets because if someone were to try putting a pointed bullet with better aerodynamics into the tubular magazine of a Winchester lever rifle, assuming you could get it in and get it to work in the action, the point of the bullet would line up with the primer of the next round in the tube and shooting recoil could result in a chain reaction and turn the rifle into a large grenade. So with a 30-30 you have a flat faced bullet that pushes air and slows down faster than bullets with better ballistics. Further they leave the muzzle of the 30-30 at a (by today's standards) extremely slow 2200 feet per seconds. Obviously these are not rifles for confident clean kills at long range. The only positive is that they are less likely to get deflected by hitting a twig in the bush than a more modern rifle throwing a bullet out at much faster speeds and may just push threw it to hit the deer.
As a kid walking the overgrown old logging roads of V.I. deer hunting, I would see the odd Grouse but only had my 30-30 single shot with a 4x scope on it, so it was not that good at shooting off their heads at close range although I did get the odd one. I mentioned this to one of my fathers gunsmith friends and he made me up a few special 30-30 rounds, - slower speed, with pointed full metal jacket bullets. Since they did not expand and were going at a little slower speed, they went right through the grouse without destroying the meat. He made me promise to never give them away or sell them and ONLY to use them in my single shot 30-30 for grouse. Not sure if that would be legal in today's world.
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Pre 1964 Winchester 30 30 lever action at DuckDuckGo
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There is a lot of variation in cost depending on condition and model but many pre 64 30-30 levers seem to be in the $1250. to $2000. US dollar range but some lower. A number of desirable rarer Winchester lever rifles/variants in different calibers are in the many thousands of dollars. Seems to be lots in the 3000 to 6000 thousand range and as high as $12000. US dollars so it is not surprising that you would get a lot of calls if you are selling a Winchester lever rifle for a few hundred. People are hoping, it is pre 64 and one of the desirable ones and you do not know what you have. The serial number tells you information such as when it was manufactured.
I have a soft spot in my heart for the 30-30 as I learned to hunt with my father when I was 11 years old using and old 1940's Savage 30-30 single shot. When you have to take a round out of your pocket, open up the rifle and reload for the second shot you learn to make the first shot count.
Got my share of Van. Island Blacktail deer with that rifle and the 30-30 caliber is OK for short range bush hunting but there are lots of better calibers and most of the deer I shot were in the 15 to 70 yard range. The 308 is a more accurate caliber and has been used for competition shooting, - not so much the 30-30. Further the lever rifle is never going to achieve the accuracy of a good tuned up bolt action rifle.
The Win 30-30 commercial ammo all uses the blunt flat faced bullets because if someone were to try putting a pointed bullet with better aerodynamics into the tubular magazine of a Winchester lever rifle, assuming you could get it in and get it to work in the action, the point of the bullet would line up with the primer of the next round in the tube and shooting recoil could result in a chain reaction and turn the rifle into a large grenade. So with a 30-30 you have a flat faced bullet that pushes air and slows down faster than bullets with better ballistics. Further they leave the muzzle of the 30-30 at a (by today's standards) extremely slow 2200 feet per seconds. Obviously these are not rifles for confident clean kills at long range. The only positive is that they are less likely to get deflected by hitting a twig in the bush than a more modern rifle throwing a bullet out at much faster speeds and may just push threw it to hit the deer.
As a kid walking the overgrown old logging roads of V.I. deer hunting, I would see the odd Grouse but only had my 30-30 single shot with a 4x scope on it, so it was not that good at shooting off their heads at close range although I did get the odd one. I mentioned this to one of my fathers gunsmith friends and he made me up a few special 30-30 rounds, - slower speed, with pointed full metal jacket bullets. Since they did not expand and were going at a little slower speed, they went right through the grouse without destroying the meat. He made me promise to never give them away or sell them and ONLY to use them in my single shot 30-30 for grouse. Not sure if that would be legal in today's world.
l
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