Good posts all, figured I'd get some juices flowing.
My first rifle and deer kill was using a 7RM, since then I have dropped deer at a 1/4 mile w/a 6BR.
I get FAR more practice using smaller rounds that beat me up less, and my ears are thankful as well.
Miss vitals and things do not work out so well. Yes, I too have poursed over tables and used calculators to ad nauseaum, but it often boils down to placement using a good bullet, as MOST animals are shot at distances that any legal reasonable cartridge is very capable.
Tanner, a Grendel would not be my first choice on elk, nor if in canyon country, but if it was all I had, I would proceed. Recall our LR specialist - J. Burns, dumping elk at 1/2 a mile using a 243......a Grendel is more than capable using the right bullet.
But why not use a 6.5BR
Keep in mind the 6.5G reference was intended to illustrate that a good amount of game has been cleany dropped using a round most people view as anemic. The amount of speed/energy needed is likely far less then what most hunters are carrying. Nothing wrong with using more than minimum, just illustrating what happens when using a GOOD bullet thru vitals can do. Same thing happens when guys plink/poke at animals at double and triple the distance of what most consider a long shot.
Again, good feedback by all. Love to see Mule Deer do an article on field shot placement, and use random shooters using rifles from low powered scoped rifles in modest recoiling rounds, to the hubble scoped magnums. Results would be interesting on vital hit scores from field positions.
