We did a similar site wide poll in June of 2003. Here are the results if your interested:

Best Big Game Cartridge...

Personally, the gun that I would choose to hunt everything is not there... the 12 gauge shotgun. There is nothing that that thing can't drop so if I had to keep only one gun it would be my trusty 12 ga. JMHO

I agree. The 12 gauge is by far more versatile than any rifle. If I had to choose only one firearm from my arsenal to keep, it would be my 12 gauge. The reason being that I could still enjoy all the gun hunting sports I do now, with one gun. Try shooting a grouse on the fly with a 7mm mag. No...don't, that's dangerous. But you get the idea. I can hunt deer, bear, elk, turkey, goose, duck, rabbit, squirrel, etc.

I fought with the 30-06 or 300mag for an only gun. I chose the 300 but would have picked the 06 if I didn't live in Alaska.

Yeah 30-06 probably isn't sufficient for everything in NA. I like the 12 gauge suggestion, although getting close enough to a brownie for slug effectiveness isn't my cup o' tea. No offense, but personally I think it would be nuts to hunt "everything" with a 30/30.

Sure a lot can be said for shooting skill, but a lot can be said for making mistakes too. When mistakes happen and shot placement is not optimal, speed and mass are your friends. Compared to other cartridges, the ol' 30-30 comes up short in both departments.

The 30-30 was probably the first "benchmark" hunting cartridge, more efficient than the 45-70 and 38-55 school of cartidges and more powerful and flat shooting than the .44-40 (Interestingly, this was once a favorite of many nineteenth century sporsman, including T. Roosevelt, and is now illegal in many places for deer hunting.).

I would assert that if you are close enough to use a 12 gauge slug, you are close enough for a 30-30. When you have a large, unpleasant animal in front of you it is a wonderful focusing agent, and you will be surprised how well you can shoot when you must. If a game animal can be killed with a bow, there is no reason why a 30-30 couldn't do it--you just have to place your bullet with the same precision that the archer places his arrow.

I killed my first elk with a forty yard shot from a Marlin 30-30. I found the two year old cow dead maybe fifty yards from where she was hit. Many of the people who would never think of the 30-30 as a serious hunting round have never used it. I have, and I stand beside it today saying that although not the best round, it is 100% functional if you do your part.

Just my thoughts
J

When the very similar .303 Savage broke into the commercial market competing against the 30-30, Savage sponsored several exotic hunts in Africa and the Rockies using a .303 Savage. To make a long story short it IS possible to hunt all NA game including Grizzlies, although I can hardly say it would be desireable. If I were going grizzly/brown hunting I'd definitely want something bigger.

The details are in Ontario Out-of-Doors where their firearm feature compares the 30-30, .32 special and .303 Savage.

Haha! My kind of guy!

I would pick the 12 gauge if it were there too, but for now i will go along with the 30-30, i killed an elk with it, if it could kill an elk with a 2-3 inch hide then it could surely kill anything i am going after so far..

Once i get older and able to hunt more, then i would probably go with the 30-06, because i will be hunting more bigger game other than whitetail and squirrels, ect. Maybe be after caribou, moose, bear, and a few other big critters

i would pick the 12 gauge for close range hunting but if i want to pick a long range, the 30-30 or the 30-06 will be my choice..

god bless