Big bores have not impressed me at all.
I run a 50 beowulf.. bought it for swamp hunting.... have yet to drop a deer with it.
Over all the years, even going to 300 wtby, the round that dropped the most deer, was my 243 and 80 grain bullets. The next one has been my buddies use of 257 wtby, while I have not dropped one yet with mine, except an accidental spine shot at about 350ish yards, they don't go far.
IMHO you have to have speed and lots of it, to get enough shock to try to drop em on the spot.
Its that or shot placement.
Go with that high shoulder that so many like for some reaosn, and you should break the spine every time or at least shock it enough to hopefully bleed out before the shock wears off.
I have used a lot of different rounds in 30-30.. the last being a 150 barnes... and its still been a typical shoot, run 50-100 yards and fall over round if shot through the lungs. Nothing wrong with that either, at least for me.
And any time you decide to use the most or more frangible bullet your odds go way up of closer to bang flops, but that makes sense, since you have multiple projectiles and do more damage. The trade off is how much meat loss? Some don't care, others do.
My next try is probably going to be shooting 80 ttsx in the 257 wtby. But as much as I've fallen in love with the 300/221 suppressed... I may rarely if ever pull the trigger on game with anything else unless I just really want to. Like New Years day... its set aside for the 32-20 if anything comes around...
