Jorge,
The statement that someboody "wished" they had something bigger is one of the great cliches of hunting dangerous game, but unless something bad actually happened (and it usually hasn't) then it's just speculation. It has about as much relevance to what actually happens as a government study based on faulty math and zero actual bears.
...
Count me in with the people who wished they had used something bigger. Last year I lost a cow elk, after shooting it broadside at just under 400 yards. The cartridge used was a 7mm RM with 160g North Fork SS @ 3048fps. The calculated wind drift at that range is a hair over 13 inches with 2166fps and 1666fpe. This load has never let me down before. Based on blood trail evidence (very dark blood and lots of it, including blood chest high on the brush on both sides of the trail), I believe the North Fork bullet hit the liver behind the lungs just under the spine and exited.
Assuming I could have made the shot with the same POA and my .338WM and a 225g AB launched at 2742fps, wind drift would have been a calculated 10.2 inches, possibly enough difference to hit the back of the lungs, and drop would have put POI about 3 inches lower. The bullet would have retained about 2144fps, not much different, but with 2296fpe, a 38% increase. Would the difference in POI (possibly three inches further forward and 3 inches lower), the additional frontal area of an expanded .338 AB bullet and an additional 600+fpe in retained energy made any difference? Unfortunately, no one can answer that question with any authority.
It is possible that I might have shot poorly with the .338WM, with similar results, although my last elk taken with the .338WM was at 487 yards with similar shooting conditions. After running through the scene hundreds of times in my mind, my own feeling is that it may have been one of those marginal situations where "something bigger" like my .338 might have made a difference in the final outcome, even if POI had been the same.
Sample of one, and no one will ever know for sure.
