Several years ago, I was assigned the pleasant task of naming and writing about what I considered was the all-time greatest big-game cartridge ever created by the hands of mortal man. Rather than taking the easy way out by jumping right into the best of the best, I came up with a top-10 countdown that included nine cartridges that were great in many ways but still fell short of being as useful as the cartridge I placed at the very top of the heap. Those of you who have been reading Shooting Times for more than a few years might recall that my selection as the cartridge of all cartridges was nothing less than the .30-06.

Because the .30-06 is readily available in factory ammo offerings the world over and is chambered in more hunting guns than any other cartridge, it continues to be the most widely used big-game hunting cartridge.

Quite a few years have passed since I wrote that piece. During that time, several new cartridges have emerged from the bushes, but not a single one comes close to being as versatile as the .30-06. Flatter trajectories of some of the newer cartridges make them a bit better for open-country shooting of pronghorn antelope and such, whereas higher levels of energy delivered to the target by others make them a bit better on bigger stuff, such as elk and moose. And yet more than 100 years after its introduction, not a single one does it all as well as the old .30-06 Springfield.

For many years, the .30-06 has been the most popular big-game cartridge among not only American hunters but among hunters worldwide. There are logical reasons behind its great success, and at the very top of the list is the fact that it generates about the maximum level of recoil the majority of hunters can handle on a regular basis. Many of us can shoot more powerful cartridges on an occasional basis, but a steady diet of heavy recoil is no fun at all.

The key to becoming a good shot on game is plenty of practice between hunting seasons, and the less comfortable a cartridge is to shoot, the less likely the owner of a rifle chambered for it will use it for punching a lot of paper. The relatively mild level of recoil dished out by the .30-06 encourages those who own rifles chambered for it to shoot them as often as possible.

Due to its global status as a big-game cartridge, ammunition manufacturers in countries around the world load the .30-06. This is quite comforting to know when you and your rifle arrive for a hunt in a faraway land only to discover that the airline has misplaced your ammo. A supply of cartridges will probably be awaiting you at the nearest gunshop. While they may be a brand you have never heard of-- loaded with a bullet the name of which you cannot pronounce-- they will be better than no cartridges at all. If no gunshop is in the area, the outfitter you will be hunting with will likely have .30-06 ammunition left behind by clients who hunted with him before you.

Anytime a product becomes a commercial success, its options increase accordingly, and this applies to many things, including cartridges. The .30-06 leads the pack here as well, and the last time I counted, Federal, Remington, and Winchester offered more than 60 different loads. Add to those the various loads offered by smaller companies, and it is easy to see that the .30-06 offers something for everyone and everything.

Need to bump off the rascally coyote that keeps raiding Aunt Bessie's

henhouse? Remington's 55-grain Accelerator load with its 55-grain saboted bullet at 4080 fps will put a stop to such nonsense. Headed for an elk hunt and want to "magnumize" your rifle in .30-06? Federal's High Energy recipe loaded to 2880 fps with the Nosler 180-grain Partition duplicates the performance of .300 H&H Magnum factory ammunition and falls short of the .300 WSM by less than 150 fps.

Need something to make the match-grade M1 Garand you just bought perform to its full potential? Federal Premium ammo loaded with the 168-grain Sierra MatchKing is what you are looking for. I could go on and on, but you get the point; regardless of the task at hand, the .30-06 is capable of getting it done.