Jaywalker: Yes, I have seen that survey before and I also agree that something over 338 in caliber is starting to get pretty specialized, and only for certain species. Like MD has said, ( I am paraphrasing him here,and maybe taking some license)there is not a universe of difference in lethal effect between a whole slew of cartridges in a general category,say 6.5 through 30/06 (?). I dunno where the line is.
Just a half-assed observation, but I have noticed little difference in the way a 7/08-270-280-7mag kills;270-7 mag are my favorites,mostly because I use them a lot.Next threshhold TO ME, seems to be the 300's with heavy bullets (180-200). I see bigger holes and deep penetration (larger wound channels)on elk-size stuff, and I lump them with 338's,performance-wise. Next up is 375, where everything sorta changes, wound channels get real big (yes,bigger than 338's,IME).They seem to hit very hard.
So, I guess I do not see a big difference on a lot of the things we hunt between comparable cartridges. An 06 makes a bigger hole (I think)than a 6.5 but hit well with either, the game is Kaput,and it will be tough to tell the difference.
