Quote: “And here it is.. "Hit right they drop or run a bit. Hit badly and they run a lot."- weird..:)

I have often questioned the guy who says, "Man, I hit that elk solid, 3 times, right through the lungs".. To that, I say BULL shit!!! IF you truly hit it through the lungs, that elk would be in your freezer right now..but instead the rifle, caliber, wind, scope, whatever gets the blame..OR, maybe elk have 3 lungs???”

^ ^ ^ ^. This!!!!!! ^. ^ ^ ^

Yes, I think that is the crux of the issue with the .30-30....... Will it kill deer sized game? ( even big whitetails?). Of course it will!!! As Ripp points out, mortal hits will anchor game......

The issue with the .30-30 is when hits are marginal or at bad angles as the .30-30 lacks horsepower to reliably penetrate to the vitals on deer and other such animals that exceed 200 pounds. Put it through the boiler room, and the freezer is full of venison. Hit badly and at best you have a long tracking job and at worst, you lose the deer.

The .30-06 is significantly more powerful and will provide greater margin of error and offers up deeper penetration and I think that’s an important distinction......Along with more horsepower and deeper penetration comes greater tissue destruction. Some would say better to have half a deer than to lose a whole one..... Others just get close and wait for a clean broadside shot and accept the reailities of the ballistics of the cartridge they’re using and will pick their shots - or accept that if they’re not offered a good clean broadside shot or similar shot where surety of hitting the vitals is high, they will pass on pulling the trigger.