The moose study is interesting (and gains most of its validity) by the sheer numbers, which tend to even out ranges, bullet placement, etc.
But larger cartridges obviously do have some advantages. Heavier bullets tend to break bones (especially heavier bones) and keep penetrating into the vitals more reliably than smaller bullets, everything else being equal. This is more important on game that may be approaching (charging or otherwise) than anything else.
Also, diameter does have something to do with how hard a bullet hits. Once you get up around .40 caliber this really starts to have a definite effect. Combine that diameter with heavy bullets for penetration, and there is a decided difference.
Exactly where this difference begins, and what uses it has, are always going to be subject to debate. There are also hundreds of examples of angry, wounded large beasts taking a pile of .375, .416, .458 or even larger bullets before keeling over.
We must also keep things in perspective. To the average deer hunter who has used, say, a 7mm-08 most of his life, a .300 magnum may appear huge. But a .300 with 180's only uses a bullet 28% heavier and 8% larger in diameter than the standard 140-grain 7mm-08 load. Yeah, there's a difference in velocity, but only about 200 fps in .300 WSM and .300 Winchester factory loads.
Once we get up to something like a .375 H&H, however, even the 270-grain bullet is almost twice as heavy as the 7mm-08's 140, and it's 32% fatter. Muzzle velocity is almost the same. Yeah, it is going to a hit a lot harder--than either the 7mm-08 or the .300 magnum.
On the other hand, I have shot enough deer-sized game with the 7mm-08 and .375 to know that .375 does not kill deer twice as well as a 7mm-08. It might not even kill an elk twice as well, whatever that means.
Another study, done on the National Bison Range here in Montana in the 1950's, had the same shooter (a very good one) culling elk with the .30-06 and .375. The ammo was 220- and 300-grain Win. Silvertip, respectively. Quite a few elk were killed, with bullet placement noted, the elk weighed, etc. All of this was observed by Dr. Philip Wright of the University of Montana zoology Dept., who write it up in AMERICAN RIFLEMAN. (I know this partly because Phil was one of my professors, and gave me a copy, which hung around for years but eventually was lost.)
He also noted how long the elk stayed on their feet after being hit, how far they went, etc.
I cannot remember exactly the statitsics, but do remember that there wasn't a hell of a lot of difference in time on their feet, and how far they went. The only noticeable difference, Phil concluded, was that the bullets from the .375 went all the way through more often, leaving a blood trail.
Now, this was with Silvertips, which are not anything like the great bullets we have today, and in my experience not nearly as reliable as Hornady Interlocks.
Phil was an avid life-long elk hunter himself, and when I know him used a 7mm Remington Magnum and 175-grain Nosler Partitions or Bitterroot Bonded Cores.
I also cannot help but note that a 220-grain .30 bullet has a sectional density of .331, and a 300-grain .375 of .305. Sectional density does not totally make up for bullet weight, even in bullets of the same basic construction.
JB
