Probably a third of the critters I shoot in a given year will fall due to shoulder shots or head-on shots, and in those cases, the moderate chamberings seem to do just about as well as the bigger rifles. It's when they don't drop right there that I notice a difference in recovery effort. If I only hunted open woods or fields on pretty days, I'd say a 6.5 is actually more gun than is likely needed, but a forest floor of nothing but wet, reddish-brown pinestraw is not very forgiving during night tracking with a light blood trail.
I loaded some 125 grain Partitions for a Rem M7 in 260 that a friend used for a few years. Blood trails were not a problem with that combination.
