Looking for a good 30-30 Saddle Gun

[Toad]

What a ridiculous looking weapon.

Keep it in perspective; that is an 1855 design of a repeating rifle. It had it's problems as does any groundbreaking design but when you consider that the standard infantry rifle of that time generally shot about twice a minute it was a bold step into the future.

WIKI:

The weapon performed superbly in combat, seeing action with the 21st Ohio Volunteer Infantry Union forces at Snodgrass Hill and at the Battle of Chickamauga during the American Civil War [3]. The volume of fire from this weapon proved to be so useful at both battles that the Confederate forces were convinced that they were attacking an entire division, not just a single regiment. In total 4,712 were purchased during the Civil War [1].

[lazs2]

The one he shows is a percussion revolving rifle and it can really ruin your day with a chainfire..  Not to mention the gas escaping from the cyl/barrel gap.. the revolving rifle was a really bad idea but....

revolvers are making a comeback in shotguns and grenade launchers.    They work really neat in those guns for the same reasons that revolvers are useful.   

I like the mini 14... it is handy and light and reliable with no recoil.   

lazs

[Toad]

Yeah, it had it's problems but they apparently got it to work at Chickamauga.

I wonder why they didn't seal the cylinders with wax/tallow like revolvers?

Ah... they did. I can see the reloading problem though, even though extra cylinders might have helped a lot.

The Colt revolving rifle
 
 
The .56 caliber 5-shot Colt revolving rifle came on the market in 1855. Before the Tullahoma campaign (24 June to 3 July 1863), Rosecrans had equipped about 1600 of his men with such rifles. It was not properly a breechloader, but once loaded, its rate of fire was considerably faster than that of a muzzle loader. However, the loading procedure was cumbersome for a soldier under fire.

The cylinder had to be removed, powder packed into each of the chambers, a bullet packed on top of the powder, the chambers sealed with wax, and finally the whole covered with grease in order to protect against the possibility of loose powder igniting all of the chambers at once, a phenomenon called chain fire. Given the size of the powder charge, this could be lethal to the bearer. The soldiers therefore loaded spare cylinders in advance, and in battle someone normally did the loading for the ones shooting, and this reduced the risk attendant with hurried loading.

In addition, the arm which normally supported the weapon was right beside the cylinder and was thus exposed to the powder flash which escapes from the gap between the rear end of the barrel and the forward face of the cylinders of all revolvers. To avoid being burned the soldier had to either hold his elbow very far away from the cylinder or support the weapon on some object.

Nevertheless it did good service for some Federal units on Snodgrass Hill at the battle of Chickamauga. For example, on the afternoon of 20 Sept. 1863, the second day of the battle, the 535 men of the 21st regiment of Ohio commanded by Lieut. Col. Dwella Stoughton of Sirwell’s brigade of Negley's division, posted on the far right of Thomas' line, expended 43,550 rounds along with some Enfield bullets (.57 caliber, but could be made to fit), and they repulsed 5 charges by much greater numbers of Confederates under Hindman. The second photo below shows the shorter carbine version for cavalry.

http://scard.buffnet.net/pages/signal/signalpages/weapons.html

[Hajo]

Looked at the Marlin 336C today.  (Gander Mountain)  Looks as if this will be my choice.


MAAAAAAAAAAAAooooooooooooo Whels 

[BBBB]

I am a big fan of the M-1 Carbine. Though, my "rough gun" is an SKS. It is accurate enough to take down game and is very reliable. They are cheap to buy to which means if it breaks, gets lost or stolen, you are not out much.

 It's accuracy is not on par with an AR-15 or even a Mini-14, but it can still reach out and touch with ease out to 150 yards. Which is more than good enough for everyday use. The rifle is damn near indestructible, mine has over 5,000 rounds though it and has gone boom every time I needed it to without fail. They are easy to use, easy to clean and easy to fix if they do ever break.

 There are detachable 20, 30 and even 45 round magazines for them. There are also lots of stock and optic options, though I have found that mine is just fine bone stock. The sights work well and the non-detachable 10 round magazine works just fine. I keep it in the back of my truck when I am out in the woods, I keep a few 10 round striper clips with it and it works just fine.

 You can buy a cheap Yugo and trick it out for not a whole lot of money. With compensator's and better optics you can tighten up the groupings pretty nice. I have a modded SKS and while they are fun and cheap to trick out they kind of defeat the purpose of a field gun in my own opinion.
My Norinco "Rough gun"

My modded Yugo. The rifle was about 100$ and I have about 350-400$ worth of parts in it and on it.

[Stampf]

My Stainless Mini....in "calm" loadout.  Have all the crazy addons and stocks, but always find myself dressing back down to this config.

A great all around shooter.

[Dago]

The Mini-14 would be a good choice for an every day field take-along gun.  This would assume you wouldn't need a larger caliber than .223.  You can still pick one up for a reasonable price, if you don't need a tack driver, and use Ruger magazines.

I doubt I would care to haul my M1 Carbine out in the woods much for an everyday gun for the simple fact that the value is going up quickly on a mil-surp M1 Carbine like mine.  The carbine is fun to shoot with light recoil.

I would recommend a stainless Mini-14.  Good all around plinker.