The Best Lever-Action Cartridge You’ve Never Heard Of

Ken Waters was one such designer. A gun writer whose 50-year career included four books and hundreds of articles in magazines like Gun Digest, Waters was the quintessential gun guy. In 1976 he set out to improve upon the .30-30 by necking down the cartridge to accept a 7mm bullet, and by 1984 the 7-30 Waters was born.

The 7-30 Waters is a fascinating cartridge tailor-made for lever-action rifles. In some cases, it even beats out the .30-30 Winchester. But it failed to garner much commercial success in the 80’s, and today many hunters have never heard of it. Should it remain in obscurity, or does it deserve a second look? Keep reading, and you can decide for yourself.

Waters’ goal with the 7-30 was to give lever-gun hunters a bullet with more velocity, better trajectory, and more long-range killing power than the .30-30. He used the .30-30 as the parent case (presumably to give handloaders an easy way to obtain brass), but he necked it down to accept a 7mm bullet. He also increased the shoulder angle from 15 degrees to 17 degrees and moved that shoulder forward to increase case capacity.

The result is a cartridge that looks a lot like a .30-30 but features a lighter, narrower bullet and slightly more case capacity. Waters’ original design used a 139-grain bullet traveling 2,600 feet-per-second (fps), which is about 200 fps faster than the .30-30’s 150-grain bullet.

In 1984, Winchester released a Model 94 lever action rifle in Waters’ cartridge, which coincided with the release of Federal’s factory load. Federal engineers made a few dimensional changes and opted for a 120-grain bullet, but they retained Waters’ original vision: that light, 7mm bullet hit speeds of 2,700 fps from a 24-inch barrel.

The result was indeed a cartridge that can produce more velocity and a flatter trajectory than the .30-30. For example, these 150-grain .30-30 loads leave the muzzle at 2,390 fps, and drop 6.5 inches at 200 yards and 15 inches at 250 yards. Federal’s current 120-grain 7-30 Waters offering, by contrast, drops about two inches at 150 yards, five inches at 200 yards, and 12 inches at 250 yards.

The difference isn’t enormous, but since both bullets carry enough energy to take down a deer-sized animal at each distance, hunters might reasonably prefer a bullet that requires less holdover.

The 7-30 Waters produces more velocity and a flatter trajectory, but its biggest selling point is that it does both while producing less felt recoil. This is always mentioned in accounts of the cartridge. Writing in his famous tome, “Cartridge of the World,” Frank C. Barnes opines that “the light recoil of this cartridge makes it an excellent choice for a woman, boy, or anyone who is recoil sensitive.” Phillip Massaro also notes in “American Hunter” that “many writers of that era touted the new cartridge for its mild recoil, allowing a younger hunter to accurately place his or her shots.”

Very little recoil data exists on the nearly defunct cartridge, but what is available appears to confirm this reputation. Chuck Hawks recoil table notes that a 120-grain 7-30 Waters produces about 10 ft.-lbs. of recoil energy while a 150-grain .30-30 kicks with 10.6 ft.-lbs. This is no great shakes, but the 7-30 rifle used in testing clocked in at 7 pounds, while the .30-30 weighed 7.5 pounds. That puts the Waters even farther ahead in the recoil category, and that lead grows even larger when we start talking about 160- and 170-grain .30-30 loads.

With a flatter trajectory and milder recoil, the 7-30 Waters appeared destined to replace the venerable old Winchester in America’s deer woods. But it had a fatal flaw. That higher velocity could only be achieved with a 24-inch barrel. A big selling point of a lever-gun is its short overall length and easy maneuverability in the woods. Guns designed to get the most out of the 7-30 Waters were longer than those that Big Woods hunters preferred, which is a major reason it failed to gain much traction.

“The majority of .30-30 lever-action shooters prefer the short carbine, since most are woods hunters,” Barnes explains. “The 7-30, with its light 120-grain bullet, is unlikely to best the .30-30, .32 Special, .38-55, etc., with shots at close range. Also, it is not going to be the answer for the long-range plains or mountain hunter. When fired from a 20-inch barrel, its performance is considerably reduced.”

Another reason the Waters never really caught on is that Winchester only produced a Model 94 chambered in the 7-30 for four years between 1984 and 1988. It’s unclear whether the Waters would have continued to gain popularity if factory-new rifles had remained available, but the bigwigs at Winchester apparently didn’t see enough upside after three years to continue production.

This is a standard Winchester Model 94, but the only one chambered in 7-30 Waters was the XTR-AE.

The reasons the 7-30 Waters failed are obvious enough, but an argument can still be made for the old (former) wildcat as an excellent lever gun cartridge.

Its light recoil is a major selling point. There’s nothing better than a soft-shooting lever gun, and limited recoil can allow even a novice hunter to make an accurate, ethical shot.

The 7-30 would also shine on the kinds of landscapes where many, if not most, hunters pursue game. Eastern hunters might spend an entire season in the woods, and western hunters need better long-range capability. But many pursue whitetail on properties that include a mix of close and open country. The Waters’ ability to reach out to 200 yards is handy for a shot across a pasture, while the lighter, 7mm bullets aren’t overkill at close range. Those rifle-length barrels are a little less convenient than carbines, but they’re not totally unmanageable at short distances.

“The 7-30 is at its best in broken country, with shots varying from patches of brush and trees to open areas with shots ranging from 75 to 175 yards,” Barnes explains.

The Waters still lives on today, but perhaps not in the form its inventor originally envisioned.

After Winchester stopped production of their 7-30 Model 94, one of the only companies to take up the quirky cartridge was Thompson/Center in their Contender line of single-shot break-action pistols. Those firearms allow hunters to use pointed bullets, and even though the shorter barrels don’t take advantage of the 7-30’s ballistic potential, its light recoil makes it a nice option for handgun hunters.

For factory ammo, those Federal loads mentioned above are pretty much the only game in town (Hornady used to offer the 7-30 in their LEVERevolution line, but they don’t currently list it on their website). If you aren’t able to find factory loads online, it’s easy enough to handload with a set of dies and some fire-formed .30-30 brass.

The 7-30 Waters didn’t revolutionize the lever-gun space, but it still represents what makes gun and cartridge designers great: a relentless pursuit of better, faster, and more effective in the field. If you’re lucky enough to stumble upon a Model 94 in the 7-30 Waters, don’t let it slip through your fingers. You won’t find a more pleasant rifle to shoot, and it’ll take the biggest buck in the woods.