The .30-30 WCF, .308 Winchester, .30-06 Springfield and .300 Win Mag are four of the top 10 most popular sporting cartridges.

From earwigs to elephants, badgers to bears, it’s tough to beat the versatile .30 caliber!

The most popular hunting caliber in the United States is still the .30. While the exact order in the lineup can differ between those of firearms manufacturers, ammunition companies and reloading dies and components sales, every Top 10 cartridge list includes the .30-30 Winchester, .308 Winchester, .30-06 Springfield and .300 Winchester Magnum.

Add to that the cult followings of the .30-40 Krag and .300 Savage, and the fact that the .300 Weatherby Magnum is still that firm’s bestseller, its easy to see why cartridges of .308-inch diameter occupy these top spots — and with good reason. Versatility of useful bullet range for handloaders spans from 110 to 250 grains in weight, and they come in every style and configuration available. Factory ammunition is available everywhere such is sold. Thirty-caliber rifles have been used to successfully take down every species of game animal on the planet.

Marlin and Winchester rifles chambered for the often chided .30-30 Winchester still hit the woods in record numbers every fall. The short, lightweight rifles with fast handling and quick follow-up shots are still doing the trick, filling freezers for 128 years from Portland, Maine, to Portland, Oregon. How many of you got your start with a .30-30?

A perusal of hunting record books proves that the .30 caliber has been a continual success with big game hunters. Townsend Whelen hunted all over North America with his .30-30 and other .30-caliber rifles. The world record Kodiak brown bear was taken by Roy Lindsley in May of 1952. A single bullet from his .30-06 did the trick. Grancel Fitz became the first hunter to take every species of North American big game with a single caliber. His choice? A custom rifle in .30-06 Springfield. J.Y. Jones repeated that exploit and recorded the journey in his book “One Man, One Rifle, One Land.” Eleanor O’Connor brained her elephant in Africa with a single 220-grain solid bullet from a .30-06! Ben Comfort won the Wimbledon Match in 1935 with a custom .300 H&H Magnum rifle. John A. Nosler, famed inventor of the Nosler Partition bullet, was also a fan of the .300 H&H Magnum. Lastly, Denny Austad took a 475⅝-inch non-typical bull elk back in 2008. Easily beating the Utah state record after verification, Austad’s bull became the new world record; he shot it with a custom wildcat .300 Magnum of his own design. I could keep going, but you get the idea.

My great-grandfather made good use of a sporterized .30-40 Krag in his day. My father and grandfather — and no doubt many of you and your forefathers — utilized Savage Model 99 lever-action rifles for the bulk of their hunting adventures. While such speed demons as the .22 Hi-Power and .250-3000 were and are great cartridges in their own right, rifles chambered for the .300 Savage and .308 Winchester far outsold and outlived those and other chamberings. The Savage 99 .300 Savage and .308 Winchester rifles in my collection both bear the signs of significant use, and with little wonder — they work very well.

In my own hunting experience, I cut my teeth on Grampa Valade’s .300 Savage. From there I graduated to Dad’s .308 and shortly after bought my own .30-06 and .300 Magnums. All have proven more than ideal for the hunting I have gotten to do in both Oregon and Idaho. Were I to hunt any game, anywhere in North America, you can bet that in the wink of a young girl’s eye my .30-06 would be coming along.

It is a rifle with which I have enjoyed many adventures and in which I have the utmost confidence. It is good to know that you have enough gun to take on anything you might have to face in the field. That’s the confidence that comes with a .30-caliber rifle.

In spite of recent cartridge developments, the aforementioned standbys as well as such recent numbers as the .300 Remington Ultra Magnum, .300 WSM and .300 PRC prove that .30-caliber cartridges are still en vogue and in high demand.

The .30 caliber is great for all of the right reasons. It’s popular because it’s proven, and continues to be proven because it’s so popular. Name any coveted centerfire rifle brand and model, whether classic or contemporary, and you’ll find that its greatest percentage of production was likely in .30 caliber. The aforementioned Savage 99, Winchester 94 and Marlin 336, the Winchester Model 70, Weatherby Mark V, Browning A-Bolt, Remington Model 700 and Ruger M77 all come to mind.

To paraphrase an old friend, the .30 caliber might be perfect for nothing but it works great on everything. I could hardly say it any better.