Greatest cartridge ever invented? no magnums

6.5 X 55
I've shot a lot of calibres through a lot of deer and seen more, from .338 Lapua to 25-20WCF. I think the 6.5 does the nicest job.
If you look at military cartridge development today, we're seeing a grouping around the 6.5mm (.264) to 7mm (.284) range...

the 6.5 Grendel http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6.5_Grendel
the 6.5 Creedmoor http://www.hornady.com/story.php?s=763
the 6.8 SPC http://www.rifleshootermag.com/ammunition/remington_0303/

The 5.5mm (.223) never really had enough energy, and the NATO and 30-06 were too much, in terms of weight, size, recoil and manufacturing resources. The mid range calibres, especially with the new bullets, deliver the right amount of energy at longer ranges, with excellent accuracy and very good trajectories. The 6.5 Swede started it all.

The Brits tried to build consensus for a reasonable cartridge
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.280_British
after WW2, but the Americans were too stuck on "their" .308.
The British modelled their cartridge on the ill-fated Canadian .280 Ross and on the highly successful Swedish 6.5. The Americans should have listened.
60 years worth of stubborn later... (and who knows how many dead M16 carrying soldiers)....

PS. I forgot the British exposure to the Japanese Arisaka during WW1 (6.5 X 50).. the Japanese rifles purchased by Britain all found their way to Russia through the Lend-Lease program and the cartridge ended up in use in the first auto invented...
http://world.guns.ru/assault/as86-e.htm
 
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Im goin with the 30-06, then the 308, then the 22lr. Own and shoot all three and all have a job to do and are quite capable. As a loading platform the old 06 is pretty hard to beat and if you are stuck for ammo in a backwoods hardware store, well just guess what you will find along with some 30-30 of course.
 
.375 H&H without question. but to stay within the criteria hands down without question the .30-06, or the cartridge that Jack built- the .270. I would have to throw in .45 acp for $hits and giggles for pistols. But if you really put on your thinking cap how about the .50 BMG the only bullet that ever had an aeroplane designed after it!
 
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7x57 for me.
The 22lr runs a close second and prob'ly 375H&H in 3rd.
With those 3 rounds you could hunt the world so long as your ammo was right.
All are very old and represent either the pinnacle of cartridge design in their own time and the future of cartridge design to come.
P.S. How many of these were American inventions?
 
Greatest cartridge ever, I'm going with the 30wcf or 30-30.
That one cartridge alone drug the N American hunting industry out of the black powder area with it ultra high velocity & shocking power! It's done such a perfect job on mid sized game it's still in demand today :)
& it's as effective now as it was back in the 1890s.
 
I would say the 8mm mauser in that it was the 'inspiration' for the U.S .30-03which later became better known as the 30-06.The 8mm is the real parent of the .270,25-06,.308 and so on.
 
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