When John Q. Citizen packs the family automobile and heads out for his annual deer hunt, the chances are that the rifle in the back seat, along with the side of bacon and the coffee­pot, is a .30/30.

This story was originally published in the April 1953 issue of Outdoor Life. The .30/30 is the most used and the most abused of American big-game cartridges — a centre-fire that’s become an all-time ...