There can be numerous reasons for designing a new hunting cartridge: from “because I can” to non-satisfactory performance offered by existing cartridges and everything in between. One reason that has been heavily influencing cartridge designs in the United States is legislation. Many states have regulations on cartridge designs that can be used for hunting certain species within their boundaries; things like case/overall length limits, minimum caliber, straight wall only rules, etc. The new cartridge that we are taking a look at today, the 30 Whitetail, is an example of a cartridge designed to meet the law requirements, specifically the Illinois law for bottleneck deer hunting cartridges. Designed by Forster Products, the 30 Whitetail is a 30-caliber bottleneck rifle cartridge created by necking up and shortening the 6mm BR Norma. The case length is 1.4 inches and the shoulder angle is 40 degrees. How exactly this cartridge complies with the Illinois law is well explained by H&W Precision, the company that sells loaded .30 Whitetail ammunition:“Illinois has had the option to use handguns to hunt deer for several decades. The law for handgun hunting included the use of revolvers or single shot handguns. The cartridges that were allowed included any straight-walled cartridge that was .30 caliber or larger of any length or a bottle-neck cartridge that was .30 caliber or larger with a case length not exceeding 1.4". Many hunters used the 300 Blackout in AR-15 pistols and bolt action handguns since the 300 Blackout was a bottle-neck cartridge and was shorter than 1.4". In 2023, Illinois law allowed for hunting with single shot rifles with very similar cartridge restrictions. In the 2023 law, the bottle-neck description called for . 30 caliber or larger, but noted that the case length could not exceed 1 and 2/5", which is another way of saying 1.4". There are also two other caveats to the law. One says that the cartridge must have a factory available ammunition offering and the other says there must be published data showing that the cartridge has at a minimum of 500 foot/pounds of energy at the muzzle. The published ballistics data is posted on the .30 Whitetail FaceBook page and H&W Precision website www.handw.biz.” Comparing the new cartridge to 350 Legend and 450 Bushmaster, two popular Illinois-legal deer cartridges, Forster Products and H&W Precision claim that the 30 Whitetail has more energy than the 350 Legend at the muzzle and, thanks to higher-BC bullets, it outperforms the 450 Bushmaster from 125 yards on. Other advantages of the 30 Whitetail over the mentioned straight-wall cartridges are flatter trajectories, lower felt recoil and improved accuracy (1 MOA out to 500 yards). If you find this new cartridge interesting enough to give it a try, you can buy barrels chambered in 30 Whitetail from a company called Iron Door Guns. For reloaders, Forster now has their Ultra Die Set available for the 30 Whitetail. And as mentioned above, loaded ammunition can be purchased from H&W Precision.To learn more about the development of the 30 Whitetail cartridge, listen to the following episode of the Forster Products Straight Shooters podcast. Pictures by H&W Precision, www.handw.biz