Long Ranger 30-30

[JEBar]

OK, I know that Henry doesn't offer a 30-30 in their Long Ranger Line .... in a different thread a while back I posted the following comment : if Henry was to come out with a Long Ranger 30-30 I'd be hard pressed not to buy one .... with our Model 94 we have the normal limitations in the types of bullets we can use .... with a clip fed rifle, we could load any/all the wide range of 30 caliber bullets on the market .... that would be something I'd really enjoy .... since then, I've been thinking about it and the more I do, the more I believe Henry would have another major hit on their hands .... in addition, the more certain I am becoming that I'd order one .... as best I have been able to determine, all lever action 30-30's in current production employ tube magazines .... consequently, all currently available commercially made 30-30 ammo uses flat-point bullets .... as a result, the .30-30’s biggest drawback is it is a shorter-range cartridge .... the Long Ranger's magazine would allow the use of all current factory ammo (which for liability reasons Henry would emphasize) but it would also allow reloaders to use all 30 caliber bullets which can be used with a 308 (a point which for liability reasons Henry could not promote) .... per info from RCBS, 30-30 dies have been for decades and continue to be today among their top 10 sellers .... if Henry was to come out with a Long Ranger 30-30 they would have a lock on the market of all those who may be interested in expanding the caliber's performance .... over the last few days I've made a couple of calls to Henry and have spoken with two people about all this .... they both listened, seemed interested, and asked very pointed questions .... neither could or would get specific but both said Henry has plans to expand most of their lines in a manner that will make many people happy .... as noted, no promises but hope abounds ...

[JCN]

Would it be better than just shooting 308 out of a 308 Long Ranger? I mean, if you are going to buy a rifle for unique loads mays as well just get the rifle in 308 right?

[ditto1958]

I really don’t see where there’d be a market for the Long Ranger in 30-30. As good as the 30-30 cartridge is, the .308 offers a lot of advantages. In fact, I guess you could say that 90% of the reason for the Long Ranger’s existence is so you can shoot .308 in the first place instead of 30-30.

[North Country Gal]

The Hornady Lever loads with the gummy tips do a great job of extending a 30-30's effective range, so you still have that option for a traditional tube fed 30-30 lever gun. The one issue I've encountered with the Hornady lever loads is that some of the 30-30s I've shot love them and some of the 30-30s I've shot hate them. Just have to try them in your particular gun.

A more practical and easily doable solution for the sake of using spire point 30-30 loads would be for Henry to bring out their single shot in a 30-30. I'm actually surprised they didn't chamber their new single shot in 30-30 from the get go. It's a no brainer. Contender folks like me have been shooting the 30-30 spire point loads in our Contender rigs for many years with great success.

[ditto1958]

Yup. A Single Shot in 30-30 would seem to be a given.

[Sir Henry]

How about a .22LR Long Ranger? Or better yet a .17HMR Long Ranger.

[JEBar]

that is certainly a choice .... I have a long standing preference for 30 caliber .... we have and use 30-30, 308, 30-06, and 300 WBY rifles .... until we became interested in Henry rifles, we didn't own any center fire rifles in any other caliber .... we already have the 1970 Belgium made BLR 308 that was the first rifle I ever bought for myself .... its extremely accurate, we still load for it and fire it often .... in hand loading our own ammo, we have enjoyed taking each of these calibers to their best performance .... this has been true for 30-30 as can be seen in a thread about the Nosler/Winchester Combined Technologies bullets .... however, the restraints innate to tubular magazines remain .... I wish back home that I had access to a rifle range where we could fire it and others at 200 or more yards but we don't .... about 150 yards is the longest .... most of my shooting is from a bench rest, I prefer using a scope on my rifle and I thoroughly enjoy shooting at 100+ yards .... I'm looking forward to firing our Henry 44 Mag and 45-70 on Tuesday on a 200 yard range near our campground .... I really don't expect the 44 to be very effective but who knows .. .. we have reports of 45-70's being used at a couple of hundred yards and I'm very curious to see how it will preform .... someday I hope to have a Long Ranger 30-30 that we could take to such a range .... for those who like them, a single shot 30-30 would most certainly allow the same opportunities for bullet development and I think that would be a good thing for Henry to consider .... we all have our preferences and a single shot handgun, rifle, or shotgun simply isn't for me

[Mistered]

A long ranger in 30-30 Would be a redundant concept. Most of the appeal of a 30-30 lies in the gun itself, light and handy and not necessarily the round. The long ranger was designed primarily to be chambered in higher velocity, rimless rounds.

[JCN]

That's sort of what I was thinking. You'd lose capacity and gain very little beyond a free floating barrel and detachable mag.

[JEBar]

That's sort of what I was thinking. You'd lose capacity and gain very little beyond a free floating barrel and detachable mag.

having a rotary bolt (similar to the one used by Browning in their BLR) and a detachable mag would be 99% of my motivation to purchase one .....