If we are talking about shoulder fired cartridges suitable for big game then we can start with the .223 and go up to the super magnums.

The .223 would have an effective range of about 250 yards on deer sized animals. Where as something like the 30-378 Weatherby, 338-378 Weatherby, or .338 Lapua then their effective range would reach about 1500 yards on a deer and about 1000 yards for elk and moose.

This is only refering the cartridges ability to fire a relatively heavy and stream lined bullet at high velocity and the bullets ability to retain that velocity and energy to extreme ranges.

These numbers do not reflect the ability of any human behind the trigger and their ability to hit the broad side of a barn at 200 yards.