For me it's the .30-30 Winchester.

+1

In New Zealand it would have to be the .303 British, used by deer cullers to kill thousands and thousands of deer.

Both the 30-30 and 303 British deserve #1 position. The 303British has likely killed more animals considering the size of the British Empire.

Honorable mention goes to the .44WCF.

My mind, too, jumped first to the 30-30. I suspect, however, that more deer have been shot with the 30-06 than anything else (at least in the US)

30-30 for me

You may well be right!

I would agree with that BUT I'm NOT certain because of the 30-30s head start. I'd NOT think the 06 came into vogue as a hunting round BEFORE the end of "The Great War", (WW I)

Also over the years I've known more 30-30 hunters than 06 hunters. (that's very subjective)


My opinion only.

To me it’s the 30-30 but I guess we all have our own ideas.

The first several deer I killed was with a .30-30, which I still own and use.

I don't hunt with one, but I gotta agree on the 30-30.

Iconic for me would be 300 Savage, then the 30-30. As said earlier in this thread, 30-06 has probably killed more! But I think of Grandad and the 300 Savage, that slick looking lever action really stands out in my memories!

My answer would differ by if I was going by what I READ or by what I'VE SEEN.

Not regarded as a "cartridge" I guess but living in the area I do...........when someone had a 12 ga slug, you knew what it was going to be used for and WAS that way for decades and decades so HERE that would be the round most think of. Even with rifles now legal, a huge number of hunters still use them. Majority or not, I've no clue but I bet it's close.
Don't know how familiar most are with the number of deer killed annually in this state...........but it's a pile.
I wouldn't venture to even guess how many deer have fallen to a shotgun slug here so...........my location taints my views.

The 30-30 is probably always going to be an iconic round, but for more than just deer. Not many do NOW but stories still survive it's use in about every hunting situation imaginable including bear, elk etc...........yet I've never in my 65 years of hunting have I known a single person who owned or shot one.
But hey, this IS Indiana. lol

I am surprised a bit the 35 Rem hasn't been thrown in the pile yet unless I missed it. Even the 35 has been used here by me and others, in handguns, for deer. Yep even here the 35 Remington made "the list".

Being the oddball...........again.
God Bless
Steve

As a 13 year old, my first buck just fell over from a .30-30 which was a perfect way to start my passion for deer hunting, so how could it be anything else? I've shot them with everything up to a .300 WM and none of them went down any faster than that first one.

What? Nobody said the 30-06? It has to be up there on the "iconic" list.

.270 Winchester

Well yeah, this is the FIRST mention of the 06. I know there's at least 1 more.








I think the 270 is ALSO an iconic WT cartridge.

30-30 was first before the 06 which should be second place

.30-06

300 savage, my first rifle, all my grandfather ever carried and handed down to me by my father. Will always be a classic, all I ever needed and can’t say there has been a game animal yet the I have killed that wouldn’t have died just as well with the gun(with the exception of a few long range chucks).

MM

Mitchell -

It was a lotta years before I EVER heard of 300 Savage.
I knew of 250 Savage in the 70s. Much later to hear of the 300.

Don't get me wrong.....I appreciate and LIKE the round but it's behind the leaders in Iconism.

When you say “Iconic” all I can think of on this side of the pond is the 30-30. I would also agree with the post from our New Zealand friend that on that side of the pond I the British 303 would be the most Iconic. Funny thing is though, for me anyway, my very first deer was taken with a 303.

.30’US Army aka 30/40 Krag.

Mebbe not the most iconic, but iconic nonetheless

I think it is constantly shifting, albeit slowly.

The 30-30 had its day, then the 30-06 became the one. The gay cartridge was running second.

Today, there are so many choices, it's harder.
But it is still 30-06.

30-30 Winchester, then 30/06, then “The Gay One” AKA Liberace’s cartridge.

One of the guys in the camp next to us in Pa. carried a Krag for a long times, and made some very long shots with it. He was an old infantryman and just knew what that gun could do. He sat on a his spot on a gas line and had good crossings on both sides of him down in the bottoms. I drug one out for him one time that he shot with that Krag and his pet handloads. It was an honest 200 yard plus shot.

Here in NYS it would be the 30 30, the 30 06 and the 35 Remington.

Never owned a 30-30, but for years it was THE cartridge for whitetails. However, like others have said, the 30-06 has likely been responsible for more dead deer than anything else. I always preferred the 270 over anything else.

When I first stated hunting deer in the 1960's, there weren't many deer, deer hunters, or deer rifles around these parts. You saw more 30-30's than anything else, then military rifles, followed by shotguns with slugs. I was lucky, my father had traded for a Remington 760 in 30-06, and I considered myself to be armed better than just about anyone else. Of course, the fact that it kicked like a mule, and I flinched every time I pulled the trigger was another matter.

I've never owned or hunted a 30-30 and have zero desire to so.
That said, it'd get my vote and a distant second would likely be the 30.06.

6.5 creed.

.30-30, but is many states the .30-06 pump is the weapon of choice.. I traveled east to hunt Pa. for 15 years.. By far the most common deer rifle was the pump .30-06.. It was rather rare to see a .30-30 in the deer woods..

223AI......





300 Savage for me

For me, 30-06 is IT when it comes to icons. When I think of '06 and deer, I think of does disappearing in the high grass with only their hooves showing or a mighty buck charging off unfazed only to collapse into the barbed wire at the edge of the field.

30-30? It might have had a head start by a few years, but there were a lot fewer deer. I bought one, tried it, and put it on the shelf. It always felt anemic to me. My Marlin 336 became the designated yute rifle for my sons.

300 Savage? I only know one person that owns one. I liked the idea so much, I bought a Savage 99 in 308 WIN and downloaded it to 300 Savage levels. It is the ideal Eastern Whitetail chambering.

270 WIN? Around where I am, guys buy them for their girlfriends. It may be an icon, but it's an icon for something out west, and possibly wearing rainbow shorts.

I started hunting deer in the Reagan Administration. Along about 1987, I started hunting Kentucky. From then until about 2008 my ears were filled with 30-30 reports. Where I hunt now, you can hear 3 shot-strings a minute on the Opener. Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam!-- as the locals unloaded their magazines and retreating deer. Lately, however, the old guard is retiring from the field and the younger guys are mostly shooting '06. One shot usually does it.

My first year in deer camp (early 90's), there were 11 of us, this is what was used.

3 Remington 742 in 30-06
3 Remington 760 in 30-06
1 Marlin 336 in 30-30 my dad. Bought it back in 1957 and being a depression child would not get anything new until old one broke.
3 Browning BAR in 30-06
ME with a Mossberg 20 gauge bolt, until one of the guys borrowed me a old bolt 30-06.

Seem like what I can remember 30-06 was a hot commodity in our camp.

The 303 has also been used on game that it shouldn't be used on. In "Maneaters of the Tzavo", Col. Patterson uses the 303 on lions. Through the book he repeatedly says he shot a lion that escaped. I wonder how many injured maneaters he created with it.

30-30

30-30 closed the thread...

Karamojo Bell is always connected to the 7X57, but he also used the 303 and killed a chitpot full of elephants with it.

25/35 wcf and 30/06, dad and grandpa's rifles

+1

Or 30-06...

I've never shot anything with a 30-30. Although, I would agree it is probably the most iconic, for me the most classic is the 257Roberts.

I've shot deer, turkey, bear, and moose with the 30-30 Winchester. I haven't yet found it lacking. My longest kill on deer with one has been 200 yards. I honestly can't say enough good about the 30-30 Winchester. I wouldn't be afraid to use it exclusively for all my hunting.

.30-30 without question. They were still common in the Catskills when I started deer hunting in the 70's but so was the .30-06. I never really considered the .30-06 a "deer cartridge" but more a "big game" elk/moose cartridge myself.

W C H

Some don't understand ICONIC.

I suspect this is one of those subjective questions. Here where I live in LA, we didn't have a deer season until the 60's as the WT was virtually non-existent until then. I started hunting in the late 60's and by far the most prevalent cartridge of those I know/knew about was the 30/06. Yes-there were a few 30/30's but around here I didn't know of anyone who shot a Savage 99 in one of it's iconic chamberings.

30-30
30-06
270

In that order, killed my first deer with a 30-30 made in 1917.

Ruug

YEP !

I've known many more who used 30-06 than used 30-30 - in my arena.

ATST, the 30-30 IS iconic. We're not picking the # 1 all time most popular round.

US would be the 30-30

Canada, Britain, New Zealand, and Australia the 303.

Europe 6.5x55 Swede

This was kind of my experience as a kid/teenager in the 50s and 60s. Most of the younger to middle-aged men that hunted the few deer we had were WW 2 veterans or closely associated with them. They had learned to like the .30-06. Probably over half though hunted with shotguns. As you say, there were a few .30/30s. Our family moved to Northern Utah in the late 60s for a few years and there without question the .30-06 predominated. But I would say nationwide that the .30/30 is the most iconic.

30-30 had a big head start on the 30-06. 30-06 won't overtake due to the many, many cartridges that compete with it nowadays. If they were the only two, then 30-06 would dwarf the 30-30, eventually.

Anecdotally, the 30-06 was considered a newcomer and often too much gun when and where I grew up in the '70s.

Well, there's no wrong answer. Except for that guy that picked the 6.5 Creedmoor. He was wrong.

My first thought was the 30-30 too. Back in the day there were also quite a few 32 Specials being carried in my neck of the woods.
Now that deer have become "tougher" the 30-06 & 270 (yes, we have a couple Rainbow Warriors) fill up the gun racks in our camp.

I don’t own a 30-30, best get one!

Better make it a pre64 with a period Lyman receiver sight then.

I started with a Marlin lever 30-30 336c. I could afford it and paided $125 for it. It was a return item at Service Merchanise. Next came a LNIB Ruger M77 Tanger in 30/06 i bought from a guy for $100 who had gotten it as part of a car deal. So I wonder how many people used these iconic deer calibers , particularly the 30-30 because they where the least expensive way to get into a first effective rifle.

I would have to agree. The 300 Savage was my dad's caliber as far back as I can remember. Before he died he had asked that it be given to my son causing my brother and myself to go buy one for ourselves.

West of the Mississippi the 7mm rem mag would be on the list.

In America most cities cull deer at night when we are all sleep`n these deer -cull snipers kill all deer between the hours of 10 pm to about sunrise generally start sunday night thru Thursday night ,most people never ever know about this happening but it does ,these deer snipers kill thousands of deer every year their preferred cartridge 223-556 in a AR Platform . I would bet more deer are now killed with this cartridge 223-556 in a AR type rifle too and these AR`s all have a big silencer on the end of those AR`S too. I don`t agree with this type of deer slaughter but it happens all year long in America.

Mike

This is TO all.

The ‘most’ iconic car would be the Ford Model T.......

How many want one AS a daily driver ?

Is it the best car ‘today’ ? Rhetorical ?

I DO believe the 06 has ALREADY left the 30-30 in the dust....today. <in the USA>

I LEFT the 30-30 in 1974........have NOT missed it.

In the east, prolly 30-30; in the west, '06 or 270, historically speaking. Obviously recent trends are other directions.

MM

You may well be right. But in the woods the 30-30 still leaves little to be desired.

Mike, no argument from me on "in the woods". 30-30, 32 Special, 30 Remington, 44 Mag, 444, 45-70, et.al.

When I was a teenager my friend hunted with a model 14 in 32 Remington. He never would sell me that gun.

I prefer power and speed, so this year a 30-06 with a 130 grain Barnes bullet ,my handloads ,reason bigger bucks die hard and in a tamarack swamp in northern Minnesota its best to knock whitetail bucks down permantly. I usally use a 257 Weatherby mag, but I was given a Winchester pre 64 30-06 from a great old vet gunsmith named Harold who will`d me that pre 64,he was a great person so in his honor this year I will be hunting Whitetails with his rifle a 30-06 pre-64 as did Harold used too up north on my property. nothing wrong about a old 30-30 that`s what I started with and still have that lever,but my eye`s are not as good any more so I use a Nightforce scope these days,plus I just like a little more powerbecause bending over look`n for blood now days is harder for me.

A 243 Winchester will flatten them out in their tracks too and without the recoil and muzzle blast.

When I read the title of this thread my mind jumped to 30-06, but honestly I think it would have to be a tie between the 30-06 and 30-30.

30 wcf

Just a repeat of what has been said already. My mind jumped straight to the .30-30. But in PA you predominantly see pump .30-06s. That is slowly changing though and I see more bolts that anything now.

-Jake

YEP

30-06 Nowadays.

I like the 300 Savage model 99, a true deer and elk cart. Worked up a good load for it, I found the loads in a Handloader mag 2002 the lost 30's and rem corelokts 180gr work well also,at 100 yards I can shoot 3 shots touching cloverleaf. Nice a light to carry also, nice action, Something I like about the brass rotary, and the bullet counter window, Savage was ahead of his time. Don't get me wrong the 308 & 30/06 ect... do the job as well. I just like the 300 Savage cart for deer hunting. Aim small hit small.

22lr

30-30 no doubt. It has the history on its side.

1. .30-30 for the easy win.
2. An honorable mention goes to it’s rival, the .303 Savage.

1. .30-30 for the easy win.
2. An honorable mention goes to it’s rival, the .303 Savage.

That's right Elk!

To me, it would be the 300 Savage.

Rifle: Savage 99 with rotary mag, pistol grip and schnabel fore end, 3x Leupold scope.

What a surprise! That was my dad’s deer rifle. He also had a pre-war Win 94 carbine in 30-30. That was the “ starting rifle for deer hunting.” When he brought out the Savage 99, it was “ooh, ahhh time” for me. The big stick. With 180 grain power points in the 300 Savage.

Deer camp in the Catskills mountains, NY had Rem 760’s in 30-06, Marlin 336c’s in 30-30 (late 1960’s - early 1980’s when I was there, south side of the Pepacton Reservoir, ,) . Great guns, but that Savage was just so svelte and classy looking,

30-30, 32Spl.

Post WWII it quickly became the .30-06.