I've found the thread interesting 'cause I'm looking to buy, and have been leaning towards a .308... I'm also trying to educate myself about comparable cartridges (including 7x57)
Gitano... you think the .308 has better knock down power than the 7x57 because of your experience with your wife's 7x57 compared to other calibers (including .308) on caribou. Fair enough.
Just wondering whether it was always your wife who was shouldering the 7x57?
I don't mean to imply that your wife is a poor shot or anything like that. Maybe because she's less experienced than you, she might be more inclined to take the classic double lung/heart shot like you described in your story. G???_Esq said what I was thinking, there was a big difference in bullet placement for the 2 shots you described... I'm not that experienced of a hunter either. The handful of deer I've shot (so far) have all been heart or double lung shots... Exactly where I intended it to go, 2 holes and no wasted meat. Not one has been a bang flop. They've travelled between 15 and 75 yards before expiring (no second shots needed). I haven't shot a deer with either .308 or 7x57 so I don't know if the effects would've been more immediate with another cartridge (but I doubt it). The deer that I've seen that have gone flop (other hunters) always have involved a shoulder or something other than just through the boiler room. So far, that's the common feature, not the caliber.
From the "bang flop" thread it seemed that some shooters either purposely go through the shoulder (a bit in front of where I've been shootin' them) or a bit higher on the broadside shot (closer to spine) to a get more immediate response. Anyway, I wonder whether the bullet placement preferred by the shooter has something to do with your observations (?). Or maybe like in the story... she consistently took the animals that were broadside (="easier" ?) , and you took the tougher quartering shots (more likely involving a shoulder) ?
