What would be your choice out of a 14" barrel? I've never shot a deer with 44mag, but shot quite a few with a 30-30 rifle with pleasant results(for me I guess, not them). If you had to choose, which one would you prefer? I would think the 30-30 would have a bit of range advantage but would also venture that the 44 may hit a bit harder within its range. Any preference?

I would choose the 30-30 and if you handload go with the 30-30AI.

There is just a lot more you can do with the 30 cal bullets--down range.

I am a 44 mag fan but in this case I would opt for the 30-30

May want to consider the 7-30 too.

Well, my choice would be the .30-30 with 125 or 150 grain BT's. The .30-30 extends my range and hits plenty hard enough within the .44 mag's range and beyond. A bonus is that the .30-30 is a dream to handload for and an excellent cast bullet shooter. I guess that if I were to go with something like the .44 Mag, I'd go with a 10" barrel for the ease of carry/handiness. In fact, my alternate, still hunting barrel is a 10" .45 Colt.

Well, those are my thoughts anyway.

Mike

Neither, 7-30 Waters. I've had barrels come and go, but I've never been without the Waters.

But, if those are your choices, in a 14, I would go 30-30. If in a 10, I'd opt for the 44.

Not a thing wrong with the 7-30 Waters either, but if we are opening the door to other possibilities I would strongly recommend the .30-30 AI. I'd give it the edge over the 7-30 and you can shoot factory ammo in it.

Mike

My second choice in a bottleneck, close second.

I agree with the other posts I have a 14" in 7-30 Waters with a muzzle brake; came with the brake i'm sure recoil would be minimal w/o it but love it beings its there, shoots like a 223. I wouldn't give up my 7-30 Waters for all the rest of my chamberings, the 7-30 has been formed with shoulders farther forward and necked down to 7mm , so it makes for alot flatter shooting caliber than the 30-30. According to Hornady Reloading Manual a 7-30 Waters loaded with a 100 gr bullet with 40.3 grs of Winchester 748 will push the bullet to 2700fps. The 30-30 using a 110 gr bullet with 39.9grs of win 748 will only push the bullet to 1900fps. I know the 30-30 is pushing 10 more grains of bullet but this is the closest I could find as comparsion. This is just for comparsion only. If you reload you can do a lot with the 7-30 Waters, because the only load i am aware of is the fn 120gr. Federal factory round and i'm not sure of the fps, but i know it will kill deer ,because i've first hand have used there loads to do so. My local sporting goods store had 4 boxes that i could buy cheaper than buying the bullets and shells. I basically shoot them for free. Sounds like a woman coming home with 500 dollars worth of clothes that were on sale and telling how much she had saved.

Since "in the market" myself, I had just ran several searches on the subject of 7-30 W and 30-30 and 30-30 AI.

IMR load data (website) for 130 grain bullets shows veloctity up to just over 2200 fps and 150 grainers up to 2100 for the 30-30. The varget type burning rates seemed to be doing the best by their specs.

and yep, that's on the "pistol" cartridge side of the specs there. IVE never loaded them but Ive also seen simiar posts of guys hunting with it. That's right in the ballpark of what they "get".....however some was determined I have no clue but a few had chronograph readings.

On the 30-30 AI, most are posting 150-250 fps increase depending on the bullet, over the 30-30 standard loadings..

One guy had exact specs on his deer load in an AI of 120 grian BT bullets at 2683 for his deer load from his Contender. Thats a boomer IMHO.

NOTHING wrong with the 44 but in MY hands its a 125 yard on top end gun. Beyond that Id be nervous.

Factory 30-30 ammo is cheaper than the 7-30 waters if not loading ( like 8 bucks a box cheaper in Hornady) but loading would be a necessity for top performance in any of them.

Hornady seems to have the higher FPS listed for their factory 30-30 ammo. Remingtons is cheaper but loaded, on purpose, slow for old guns I would assume. There is several hundred FPS difference listed between the two companies.

I really doubt I WOULD be able to tell the dif between a 7-30 and 30-30 AI in performance. Id think there would be a bit of difference in recoil but neither is reported as horrible.

Id personally be tickled with either of them. Thompson makes factory barrels in both as well as the standard 30-30 BTW if you wanted to buy new. Custom barrels and chambers are nice but factory barrels have taken a lot of game. Depends on how deep the pocket.

I know what's gonna happen. Im gonna end up with too many guns, too many calibers.

Just info Ive found online. For myself I tend to not take ONE person's word for anything but when I see a pattern evolve in several getting similar results.?.. that I feel comfortable with.

BOTH the 30-30 AI and the 7-30 Waters have pretty big groups of firm believers.

Running the difference downrange on the two with dif bullet BCs and slightly different speeds doesnt show a large difference in drop and energy at typical pistol distances. SOME yes, but both were more than adequate for deer sized animals.

Again, this is just my findings online. As in all forums, not everyone will be getting such results. Some will have better, some worse.

The variety of calibers the Encores and Contenders come in, both being slightly different guns as well as group types of ammo........ IS A CURSE! LOL.

After i slept on it last night. I realized I probably was not giving the 30-30 AI the fair comparsion as the 7-30 Waters, I can be bias at times. I went to my P.O. Ackley manual and acutally both the 7-30 and 30-30 AI will push bullets about the same fps of the similiar weights, bc's and foot pounds of energy are very similiar as well. Only thing is 7-30 Waters ammo can be bought from Federal and a factory barrel can still be bought in a 14 or 23" barrel from T/C. LOL of figuring out which way to go. And yes the ammo for Waters is higher than 30-30 factory ammo.

I LOVED my 7-30 Waters! When I bought a custom barrel I went with the 30-30 AI because in a pinch, you can ALWAYS buy 30-30 ammo to shoot in it. The 30-30 AI is very impressive. It is my go to Contender barrel now!

Between the two choices in a 14" contender, I'd definently go with the 30/30win. See reasons above....

Buy'em BOTH!!!



Just trying to facilitate a better collection and selection.

Factory 7-30s 120 gr chronographed about 2350 for me last spring. It is easy to get the Waters up another 100 fps (or more) with handloading. My 30-30 AI was doing about 2500 with 130s but my favorite was a little slower (mid 2400s).

However, the 7-30 is my recommendation for "new" handgunners. I keep one or more to use as loaners to persons who are interested in trying handgunning. It is a very pleasant round & shoots flat enough for most uses. I witnessed two big stags (red deer) killed with it using factory ammo last fall. Both one shot kills. IMHO that is pushing that round, but they both worked.

Ditto what "Chiefs50" said..we all like 44 but 30-30 leaves many more options open..ElDee