SAS nailed it. if there's a change, the internet is driving it. we can get online now and see the results that people are getting. when i was growing up all we had was gun magazines and anecdotal evidence about which cartridge "hit harder"
Unless of course, you got out and used different cartridges yourself,above and below the 30/06 threshold, rather than depend on 3rd party information.
There is nothing new about small cartridges...lots of Internet chatter,but nothing new.
Agree with what prairie goat stated above in general. I saw the same things when I started hunting the west in the 70's and it was going on LONG before I got there.Those rifles,chambered for 243,6mm,257 Roberts,250 Savage,22-250,220 swift,270,etc etc,were rolling the deer,elk,bear and antelope a long time before I arrived....they looked well worn to me.
But if you hang around home to hunt, draw your cues from limited exposure and camps full of people with 300 and 338 magnums for deer sized game,the use of 6.5's,257's and 243's to kill BG animals may seem "new" and Internet driven, but aren't.Been going on for about 100 years.
There is a strong tendency for folks to believe every trend in shooting/hunting happened during their lifetime.They haven't,not all of them anyway.
