By Jeff Johnston, Senior Editor

	.308 Winchester The 308 Winchester is probably the most accurate and efficient round ever devised. Compared to the .300 Win. Mag. or even the .30-06, for example, the amount of powder it burns is disproportionately less than the surprising velocities it produces from such a short case. Although some hunters believe it is underpowered, the nifty .308 is only 100 fps behind the .30-06. This lessens recoil, and in turn, enhances the shooter’s ability to shoot it well. And because the military uses the “7.62 NATO” en masse, ammo can be had on the cheap. It has proven itself time and again in competition, in war and in the field.
	.22 Long Rifle If I could have two rifles only, one of them would be a .22 LR. It is America’s most popular cartridge, period, and for good reason. You can shoot all day for pennies, and for small game like squirrels, rabbits and vermin, there is nothing better. It’s quiet, fun and good practice.
	.30-06 Springfield The slide on a hand-tooled, pre-’64 Model 12 is a work of smooth, unrivaled slickness. For a pump, the design is downright gorgeous and exceedingly pointable. At a price of $30 in 1912, it was also affordable, and sportsmen snatched them up. When production ceased in 1980, Winchester had sold 2 million.
	.375 H&H Magnum If Africa is your dream, buy a .375 H&H and learn how to shoot it. You will be rewarded by only having to lug one rifle overseas. For the 4,000 ft.-lbs. of energy it can deliver, its recoil is not too bad, and its trajectory is flat enough to hold a maximum point-blank range of 250 yards. It is smooth-feeding, and not loaded hot enough to bind actions, yet it has the power to penetrate and kill the world’s largest game, including African elephant.
	.300 Winchester Magnum If I had to pick one rifle for all hunting, it would be chambered in .300 Win. Mag. Bullets of all types, weights and designs can be loaded in it; it can be downloaded to mimic the mild-recoiling .308 Win., or uploaded to speeds exceeding the .300 Weatherby. It is inherently accurate, and may be the perfect round for elk, black bears and Africa’s plains game.
	.223 Remington If it was not for the military contract on this hyper-velocity round, the nomination probably would have gone to a better performing, pure varmint round like the .22-250. But mass-manufacturing lowers prices and the .223 Rem., while fast enough and wonderfully accurate, is priced much better than its .22 centerfire competition. And since this almost recoil-less round is one that most normal NRA members want to shoot all day long, lower price means more fun.
	.270 Winchester Little can be written here that wasn’t already elaborated by Jack O’Connor and his .277-caliber-worshipping tribe. The .270 Win. is a slightly smaller, slightly faster, slightly milder-recoiling version of the venerable .30-06. It’s fun to shoot, accurate, adequately powerful and it just plain works.
	.257 Weatherby Magnum Perhaps the perfect round for big-country antelope and deer, the .257 Wby. Mag. did not earn the favoritism of the godfather of speed, Mr. Roy Weatherby, for nothing. The fastest of the commercially loaded .25 calibers—indeed, nearly all calibers—a .257 Wby. tipped with a modern, controlled-expansion bullet like a Barnes X hits distant animals with the speed and shock of a lightning bolt. It’s also hell on prairie dogs.
	.416 Rigby The classical African round for dangerous game, the Rigby remains the high standard in ballistic performance—a 400-grain bullet at 2400 fps producing over 5,000 ft.-lbs. energy. Perhaps the all-time authority of such matters, John “Pondoro” Taylor, might dispute one point—he’d have the Rigby at No. 2. But then again, he hunted Jumbo like I do doves.
	.338 Winchester Magnum Developed in 1958, the .338 Win. Mag. delivers a 225-grain bullet at 2780 fps, producing 3,921 ft.-lbs. of energy at the muzzle. This “Alaska insurance” has proven itself as a quick stopper of North America’s largest and toothiest game.

The Grand Champion: 12-Gauge
Despite the naysayers who were weaned on rifles, the 12-gauge cartridge is the world’s best. What other round can be used for pheasants, ducks and clay pigeons on the wing, turkeys on the ground or, with modern slug ammunition, deer, bears or anything else up to 150 yards? After you hunt all these things in a single fall day, bring it indoors, stash it under your bed and rest assured that whatever bad guy decides to enter your abode will probably not exit in one piece. Blessed be thy 12-gauge!

Ron Spomer’s Top 10
1. 12-Gauge 
I’ll grant JJ this one based on versatility, but I’d hate to be limited to hunting big game with a slug gun. Boring! Maximum recoil, minimum range, mediocre accuracy. If JJ thinks the .30-06 Gov’t. is too boring a jack-of-all-trades, the 12-gauge beats it. But it will get the jobs done!
2. .22 LR 
For all the reasons JJ mentions plus it was a pioneer in cartridge development. It would be the last rifle they’d pry from my cold, dead fingers.
3. .223 Rem. 
In the right hands it’ll handle most game from small to very big. Cheap, fast, accurate, accessible, fun and effective. It’s a small-caliber .30-06, but more affordable.
4. 7x57 Mauser 
Does everything the .308 Win. does, has killed thousands of elephants and everything smaller and was historically earth-shaking. Coupled with the Mauser M98 rifle, this round changed centerfire rifle performance more than any other.
5. .375 H&H Mag. 
Actually more versatile than the .30-06, and about the same trajectory and range, just more punch.
6. .300 Win. Mag. 
JJ nailed this one. But the .300 WSM could replace it. And the 7mm Rem. Mag. runs such a close second that it’s a photo finish, especially with today’s premium bullets. Take your pick.
7. .243 Win. 
This dual-purpose round has dropped more deer and introduced more hunters to centerfire rifles than most others. Nearly all rifles are chambered in .243 Win., and millions swear by it. Mild recoil makes it easy to shoot accurately, the key to taking game with any rifle.
8. .44 Rem. Mag. 
Handgunners would be largely limited to shooting paper if this Keith-inspired powerhouse hadn’t breathed new life into handgun hunting. While eclipsed by more powerful rounds since, it remains the most reasonable for shooters to handle both on the range and in the woods.
9. .257 Wby. Mag. 
If we judge strictly on performance, we have to include this speedster. With the right bullets and versatile handloading, it can handle everything from varmints to moose with minimal recoil, flat trajectory and minimal wind drift.
10. .416 Rigby 
I’d love to go with the .284 Win., the most underrated, general-purpose cartridge ever built for general-purpose big game hunting. But I’d better throw in a big-bore for all the rhino, buffalo and elephant hunters out there: The Rigby gets the nod over Remington’s version just because it came first, though the .470 Nitro Express makes a case for romance and sheer power.

John Zent’s Top 10
1. .375 H&H 
So many talk about one cartridge that can do it all, and H&H’s classic comes the closest. Day in and day out, it ends stare-downs with elephant and buffalo, and then puts 30-pound antelope in the pot. Long range or up close, the .375 H&H’s inherent accuracy, manageable recoil and knockdown power put the “able” in renewable resources.
2. .22 LR 
If you like to shoot a lot, here’s a lifelong buddy. I hate to think about the world without the .22 LR. Nowadays, it’s underappreciated for hunting, and worse yet, many kids have never shot a .22.
3. 12-Gauge 
If I had to own just one gun … I’d rather plug deer and elk with 12-gauge slugs than try intercepting pheasants and mallards with a .30-06.
4. .30-06 
The all-time all-American caliber really can stop every game animal on this continent and has done so countless times. With the exception of pursuing King Ursus into the willows, any shortcoming of the .30-06 is on the shooter.
5. .270 Win. 
Thanks in part to great PR, the .270 Win. opened America’s eyes to the prospects of shooting big game way out yonder. Let’s pretend that stultifying “Is it good enough for elk?” argument never happened. With straight shooting, the .270 is good enough for anything short of dangerous game.
6. .243 Win. 
This is the gun culture’s equivalent of the little engine that could. You certainly could fill your deer and pronghorn tags with the overachieving .243, and a pile of caribou tags to boot. You could also count on long-range predator performance.
7. .500 N.E. 
Though the Nitro Expresses aren’t homegrown rounds, perhaps they should be. Given our big American obsession with raw power, how can we not be in awe of a sporting rifle that tosses a 570-grain, half-inch-diameter hardball at 2000 fps? When they get the bugs worked out of that Jurassic Park thing, this is what I’m taking.
8. .30-30 Win. 
Give gramps his due. The old .30-30 ushered in a new American century, helped to put blackpowder out of business (temporarily), and never met a 150-yard deer or black bear it couldn’t whip.
9. .284 Win. 
With its rebated rim and feeding issues, the .284 didn’t last long in the production-rifle arena. But its legacy lives on. The cartridge spawned a class of short-action, bantamweight rifles chambered for stubby-but-potent calibers.
10. .300 RUM 
Remington’s supersized .30-caliber Ultra Magnum was all but dismissed as pointlessly powerful and too recoil-abusive, and then was left for dead when short-mag mania hit. But someone forgot to tell serious Western hunters, who go to great lengths for great trophies.