It is a great cartridge, but it was developed in 1892. There are other cartridges that were developed before it that are still being manufactured. It is not "THE" oldest. The 7.92x57 Mauser (1888), the 7.65x53 Belgian Mauser (1889), the 7.5x55 Schmidt Reuben (1889), 6.5x55 Swedish Mauser (1891), 7.62x54R Russian (1891) and the 303 British (1889). They are all great cartridges. I do agree with you that the 7x57 Mauser and the 30-06 are two of th best all round cartridges.
