So.....lets just say you take a family member or a friend. You are essentially an unpaid guide. Your family member or friend flinches when squeezing off his 30-06 or .300 WM? Too much rifle for the shooter. Whatya gonna do then? There is a reason people stepped down from too much power. Is a 30-06 going to give you a faster follow up shot? Once again, there are a lot of studies it doesn't. That's why it may be the standard, but it went away almost entirely in the military. Hit's are more important than high energy misses.
I know you're gonna hate this but I have a friend who's shot twelve elk with a .243. I have no problem with it. My friend who hunted elk in CO, killed a big 6. pt. bull with one shot out of .220 Swift in NV, when he got a tag. You seem obsessed with power. I'm not. I'm pretty damn adamant about good shooting and picking a shot, though.
Year after year, I've watched 'tough guys' with a rifle that's too big for them (because they don't practice with it) get knocked around bad enough they've embedded a flinch that ain't gonna help anything once they get out in the woods. No follow up shot there if the chance to make a clean hit was missed in the first place.
What if the elk is quartering to you? You gonna hit him in the shoulder and ruin all that meat? Why? If he's quartering away, you have an open shot at the bread basket. Use a good bullet and he's done. A 100 gr. Partition out of a 6.5mm makes it easy...if you hit it right, and don't take shots that are out of your league. Arguing calibers/cartridges is arguing semantics once you get above "big enough".
I know you're gonna hate this but I have a friend who's shot twelve elk with a .243. I have no problem with it. My friend who hunted elk in CO, killed a big 6. pt. bull with one shot out of .220 Swift in NV, when he got a tag. You seem obsessed with power. I'm not. I'm pretty damn adamant about good shooting and picking a shot, though.
Year after year, I've watched 'tough guys' with a rifle that's too big for them (because they don't practice with it) get knocked around bad enough they've embedded a flinch that ain't gonna help anything once they get out in the woods. No follow up shot there if the chance to make a clean hit was missed in the first place.
What if the elk is quartering to you? You gonna hit him in the shoulder and ruin all that meat? Why? If he's quartering away, you have an open shot at the bread basket. Use a good bullet and he's done. A 100 gr. Partition out of a 6.5mm makes it easy...if you hit it right, and don't take shots that are out of your league. Arguing calibers/cartridges is arguing semantics once you get above "big enough".
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