I read somewhere that the 30-30 has taken every game animal on the face of the Earth, multiple times. Somebody put up a statistic in an old book that the 30-30 (by the publish date of this book) had killed twice as many elephants in Africa as any other cartridge.
I read another story in an old edition of Gun Digest (1977).
Apparently, some Joe Schmo decided he wanted to hunt grizzly bears up in Yukon Territory ( maybe Northwest territory, can't remember
) . He was in the beginning of the hot-sauce bottle magnum era, but decided to prove that the 30-06 in a Springfield '03 was plenty for bears.
He got to the village up there where he was going to be staying, and was surprised to see everybody carrying a Winchester '94. After some funny looks and explanations, he almost convinced them that his cartridge was superior to theirs.
He went out hunting for three days before seeing something, and that was at 150 yards. In order to prove that the 30-06 was better that the "little 30," He stepped from his sled, and went into a kneeling position. After steadying his breathing, he triggered off a shot. A tuft of hair puffed from the bears shoulder and it started to run. Joe Schmo wasn't worried, and he calmly chambered another round. With the sights lined up, he hit the bear again, and again saw the hair puff. Bear ran faster. Schmo fired and hit the bear two more times, but still didn't drop.
Puny American is frantically trying to pull icy-cold brass from his pockets and work them into the magazine, but he couldn't do it fast enough. His native companion calmly pulls his rifle up to his shoulder and expertly adjusts the ladder sight. A few seconds later and the gun popped. The bear dropped dead at 310 yards. upon later examination, all for 30-06 bullets had lodged in the opposite shoulder, hardly damaging the lungs in passing. The 30-30 had gone through the back, between two ribs and destroyed the heart, and made large holes in both lungs.
Don't know if this is true or not, but it sounds cool.....
--TK