Back when big game hunting was a bigger part of my outdoors time I only hunted with one gun...a Marlin 30-30 lever action.

That gun killed black bears, deer, and elk...the last elk I shot was at approximately 130 yards and was a clean thru shot that hit both lungs...the elk died two steps from where it was hit.

I liked it best because it is a short enough gun that if I slung it over my shoulder the barrel didn't go over my head...and since I did all my hunting in western Washington and spent most of it in the bushes, a gun that wasn't constantly tangled in the underbrush and didn't need as much space to line up was a good thing.

There are lot of things to appreciate and enjoy about bigger, faster, heavier, and louder firearms...but the 30-30 has probably killed more animals over the last 100 years than all the others combined

Fish on...

Todd