The Ever-Popular .30 and .303 Caliber Rifle Cartridges
By Chuck Hawks
Here in North America, where I live, there is no question what rifle caliber is the most popular
for civilian use. The .30-06 Springfield is currently the best selling centerfire rifle cartridge--or
maybe it is the .30-30 Winchester, depending on whose sales list you look at. For sure the .30-30
is the all time sales leader. The .308 Winchester is in the top five, and the .300 Winchester
Magnum is one of only two magnums in the top ten (the other being the 7mm Remington
Magnum). Federal sales figures have the little .30 Carbine in eighth place. Is a pattern emerging
here? Five .30's in the top ten indicates what I would call market dominance.
Want more? The .300 is the best selling Weatherby Magnum caliber. The calibers that are getting
the most notice in the shooting press as I write this article are the .300 WSM and .300 Remington
Ultra Magnum. The only deer/woods cartridges to ever seriously challenge the .30-30 are the
nearly identical .32 Winchester Special and the .300 Savage--another popular .30 caliber
cartridge.
In Europe the .30-06 and the various .300 Magnums are also among the most popular cartridges.
In Germany, for example, the .30-06 is either in first or second place in overall sales (again,
depending on whose sales list you look at). All over Africa the .30-06, .303 British, and the
various .300 Magnums are among the most used calibers; ditto for Australia. All across Eastern
Europe and Northern Asia, where the writ of the Russian Empire and later the Soviet Union once
ran, the 7.62x39 and 7.62x54R are the dominant rifle cartridges. Ditto, of course, for China and
most of the landmass of Asia, where the 7.62x39 predominates.
Probably more successful military cartridges have been .30-.303 bore than any other caliber
(although there have been some influential 6.5mm, 7mm, and 8mm military cartridges, too).
Some of the best known military .30's include the 7.62mm NATO, .30-06 Springfield, .30
Carbine, 7.62x54R Russian, .30-40 Krag, .303 British, 7.62x39 Soviet, 7.5x55 Swiss, 7.7x58
Japanese, and 7.65x53 Mauser (used by Turkey and several South American countries).
How did the .30 caliber cartridges become so popular? It was the advent of smokeless powder
that made it possible for new, high velocity, small bore rifles (those from .24/6mm to .32/8mm
caliber) to out perform the old big bore black powder cartridges for both military and civil use.
The revolutionary smokeless powder cartridges like the .30-30, .30-40, .303 British, 6.5x55,
7x57, and 8x57 shot flatter, kicked less, and killed medium to large size big game animals as well
or better than the big bore black powder cartridges. The once dominant big bore cartridges were
now necessary only for the largest and heaviest game animals, particularly the huge thick-skinned
species like the American bison, the wild water buffalo of India, Asia, and Australia, and the
Cape buffalo, rhino, and elephant of Africa. For nearly all other plains, mountain, and forest
game the new high velocity cartridges were superior.
I think that ultimately what made the .30's so successful was that they were found to be powerful
enough to reliably take the largest game for which any small bore cartridge was suitable, without
incurring the penalty of unnecessary recoil. The early high intensity .30's like the .30-06, .303
British, and .300 Belted H&H were able to kill very large or dangerous animals like moose, kudu,
alg, leopard, lion, tiger, and the great bears just as well as the high intensity 8mm cartridges, and
a little better than the smaller 6.5mm, .270, and 7mm calibers.
The same is true for the modern magnum calibers. The post-War .300 Magnums kill just as well
and shoot just as flat as the 8x68S or 8mm Remington Magnum with slightly lighter bullets for
the same velocity, sectional density (SD) and ballistic coefficient (BC), and therefore a little less
recoil. (Or superior sectional density and ballistic coefficient for the same weight bullets at equal
velocity and recoil.) Not that any .300 Magnum is really pleasant to shoot.
In fact, it is in the magnum calibers where the smaller 7mm Magnums have finally been able to
seriously challenge popularity of the Big .30's. When comparing non-magnum calibers the .30-06
remains a better choice for really big or dangerous thin-skinned game than the .270 Winchester or
7x64 Brenneke. But among magnum calibers the 7mm Magnums tread so closely on the heels of
the .300 Magnums in performance that in North America the 7mm Remington Magnum has
consistently placed higher on the top ten sales lists than the .300 Winchester Magnum. Both are
regarded as suitable for all North American big game, and the 7mm Magnum has the advantage
of somewhat less recoil with bullets of similar velocity, SD, and BC.
For all serious .30-.303 caliber big game hunting cartridges, from the .30-30 to the .300
Magnums, some general guidelines about bullets seem to apply. For casual off-season varmint
and small predator shooting, light bullets from 100-125 grains (SD .151-.188) seem to be the best
choice. For use on medium size big game animals, including most deer, sheep, goat, and antelope
species, the 150-165 grain bullets (SD .226-.248) are usually a good choice. For large game, the
165-180 (SD .248-.271) grain bullets are favored. And for the heaviest game the 180-220 grain
bullets (SD .271-.331) can get the job done.
In powerful rifles like the .300 Weatherby Magnum the heavy 220 grain .308" bullet, because of
its sensational SD of .331, has been used successfully on thick-skinned dangerous species like
Cape buffalo, rhino, and elephant. However, I am convinced that powerful medium bore calibers
like the .338 Winchester Magnum or .375 H&H Magnum are a better choice for all species of
bison and buffalo, and the big bore calibers like the .458 Winchester Magnum and .470 Nitro
Express remain the best choice for rhino and elephant. As great as the .30's are as all-around
cartridges, prudence dictates that there are still a few situations when a powerful medium or large
bore rifle is indicated.
As a class, the .30-.303 calibers are the most popular big game hunting cartridges in the world,
and are likely to remain so for some time. It is hard to argue with their record of success.
The .30-30 seems absolutely secure in its niche. No other deer/woods cartridge even comes close
in popularity, and the newer potential challengers (like the .300 Savage, .307 Winchester, and
perhaps even the 7.62x39) are also .30-.303 caliber cartridges.
The .308 Winchester's position as the top all-around cartridge for short action rifles is challenged
by the excellent 7mm-08 and .260 Remington in North America, and several fine 6.5mm and
7mm cartridges in Europe, but the .308 continues to outsell all of them. The .243 Winchester is
actually the .308's closest competitor in popularity among cartridges for short action rifles, and a
fine long range cartridge it is, but it can never equal the all-around capability of the .308.
While the .270 Winchester (particularly in North America) and 7x64 (particularly in Europe) are
popular and excellent all-around cartridges for rifles with standard length actions, neither has
ever equaled the .30-06 in total world sales. As much as I like the .270, I am not going to be
holding my breath waiting for it to topple the venerable .30-06 from the top of the charts.
The .300 Magnums were the top sellers in their class just about everywhere until the introduction
of the 7mm Remington Magnum. And while Remington's Big 7 is the most popular of all
magnum cartridges in North America, as a group the .300 Magnums seem to have retained their
world wide reputation as the ultimate small bore cartridges for big and tough game.
Which seems like a reasonable place to conclude this piece about the ever-popular .30-.303
caliber cartridges. Since the 1890's they have been the leading big game hunting cartridges across
most of the world by almost any standard of measurement. You can read more about the
individual .30 and .303 caliber cartridges on my Rifle Cartridge Page.