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THE cartridge that can do it all. But it wasn't the first. The inspiration for the .30-06 had hatched a dozen years earlier in Germany. Like the -06, it, too, was a military cartridge that went on to stellar performance in the great gamefields of the world. Unlike the .30-06, it became a famous elephant-hunting round, which seems odd since it throws smaller caliber bullets and generates less energy than the .30-06. In fact, it barely measures up to the performance of the .270 Winchester. I haven't heard of anyone tackling elephants with a .270 Winchester, but Karamojo Bell felled, reportedly, about 1,000 elephants with six different 7x57 Mausers. (.275 Rigby in British parlance.) A The Mauser M98, of course, is the German-made, controlled-feed ficionados of the .30-06 Springfield love to celebrate its versatility. This is do-it-all cartridges and you'll notice an uncanny family resemblance. Compare the venerable 7x57 to many of today's most successful, Rif les military action designed by Paul Mauser and perfected as the Model 1898 carried by armies around the world, including Spain's, which gave Theodore Roosevelt and his Rough Riders a really rough ride on San Juan Hill on the island of Cuba in July, 1898. Fast, withering fire from the Spaniards' 7x57 Model 1893 Mausers was the painful push the U.S. military needed to abandon the .30- 40 Krag-Jorgensen and develop the M1903 T hese bullets all have the same head diameter. They include (from left): 7x57 Mauser, 7mm-08 and .30-06. enabled 750 Spaniards to inflict 1,400 casualties on the 6,600 American troops who were assaulting them. SPOR TIN G CL ASSICS 201 Springfield bolt- action rifle and .30-06 cartridge. Despite its rimmed head, the .30-40 Krag wasn't a bad cartridge design, but its 40 grains of smokeless powder could push its 220-grain, round- nose bullets only 2,000 fps. The 173-grain, round- nose bullet in the 7x57 Mauser zipped along at 2,300 fps, and its superior ballistic coefficient gave it a flatter trajectory. This, in part, By Ron Spomer